Prices at popular New Zealand butcher chain The Mad Butcher are actually quite sensible, and the pricing and management structure of the company does not suggest the influence of a madman, a new consumer study has found.

The study, conducted by two postgraduate students at Otago University, surveyed prices from more than 20 Mad Butcher stores around the country, and found that, contrary to the company’s claims that it has “mad, mad prices,” they are actually anything but.

“Peter Leitch, the Mad Butcher, is supposed to be stark raving mad,” said the study’s co-author, Jason Peach, “or so we are led to believe, anyway.”

“The idea,” he explained, “is that, because the Mad Butcher is so mad, his prices will be too; they’ll be absolutely insane, the kind of prices that only a deranged individual would place on anything.”

Despite this, says Peach, an extensive survey of stores around the country suggests otherwise; The Mad Butcher’s prices rest just above or just below the industry standard.

“We honestly don’t think that’s a coincidence,” he said.

The butcheries’ supposedly “mad” prices include $5.99 for a kilogram of fresh Tegel chicken thighs, and $10.99 a kilogram for marinated pork spare ribs.

“These are pretty good prices,” said Peach. “But they’re not mad.

“If we were looking for mad prices, we’d expect something more like, $10,000,000 for one saveloy, or 10 cents for anything in store for the next 32 seconds provided you’re wearing cowboy boots. Those are mad prices.”

Peter Leitch himself did not appear to be affected by mental illness, and if he was, it “certainly does not affect the management of his company, which he runs to great success, actually.”

Peach believed these facts could open Leitch to charges of false advertising under the Fair Trading Act, but did acknowledge that there were some plausible explanations for the discrepancy.

“Perhaps, if you were truly mad, you’d play the long game,” he suggested. “Maybe you’d reel people in with these seemingly normal prices, and then sting them with million-dollar prices later on. Or maybe you’ll wait ‘till profits are at an all-time high, then just burn down all your buildings for no reason.

“Or maybe the meat has dangerous chemicals in it that are slowly killing us? Or perhaps The Mad Butcher meat is people?

“These are the questions we have to start asking if we can’t find the evidence in the pricing.”

Leitch did not wish to personally comment on this story, which Peach stressed was “not the reaction of a lunatic.”