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Brick House Meats Will Sampson and Jacob Brandt are dairy farmers, fast friends and business partners, running Five Star Dairy and Sunrise Dairy in Gaylord together. They recently pooled their resources to start a whole new business venture: Brick House Meats. “Last year during the pandemic, everyone was calling us for hamburger and we said, well, we can’t really do that. But then we got a weird idea: Hey, we should buy the meat market!” Sampson said. Brick House Meats opened in Gaylord in December 2020, and Sampson and Brandt set to work learning the butcher shop business. “It’s been going good,” Sampson said. “We’ve kept the old clientele and are drawing in new customers with new products, and different types of brats and summer sausages.” In addition to standard cuts of fresh beef, pork and poultry, Brick House Meats’ specialties include the popular Pinske burger, sausages and pepper sticks. Crowd pleasers include hot sandwich options, such as pulled pork, and meat and cheese trays. They also offer full-service custom processing and smoking. The Gaylord meat shop is a community institution, operating for decades as Pinske’s Meat Market and then as Lang’s Meat Market before Sampson and Brandt stepped in. “It was the oldest and longest-running business in Gaylord,” Sampson said. “We knew going into it the facility was old, and we wanted to upgrade it aesthetically so we started remodeling with the retail section, and we’re just going to keep working our way through remodeling the whole facility. Eventually, we’d like to expand.” The pair felt the city needed an independent meat market, especially with many meat markets no longer processing meats for farmers. The community agrees and keeps the store, and its four-person staff, busy as customers pour in from Sibley County and beyond. “Everyone has just been tickled pink that the meat market stayed open and the old Pinske recipes are coming back. ...The community outreach has been great,” Sampson said. Brick House Meats 409 Sibley Ave. Phone: (507) 237-2350 Facebook: @brickhousemeats
This program provides professionals (age 21 to 40) with opportunities to make new connections and get familiarized with the amenities available in Greater Mankato. With its one social and one professional development event each month, this is a great way for employers to attract and retain talent.
For nearly 40 years, this has been the premier leadership development training program in Greater Mankato. From September to May each year, in 1 to 2 full-day monthly sessions, including an overnight in St. Paul, attendees are presented with a variety of opportunities to further develop their leadership skills necessary to take their career and organization to the next level.
A Community Navigator is a super-connector with a robust network and knowledge of Greater Mankato. As a personal guide, they help new community members meet people with similar interests and get plugged into Greater Mankato. The program was developed to contribute to to the success of attracting and retaining newcomers to the area.
This program provides a professionally-facilitated, confidential and trusting two-hour environment for executive-level leaders to give and receive the benefit of their experiences to help resolve business challenges. Monthly participation allows leaders to make better strategic decisions, focus on the right things, improve communication, and build long-term relationships.
Professional Development Series is an opportunity for the business community to participate in a series of workshops focusing on leadership training. Each series typically consists of 3 - 4 workshops focusing on topics necessary to build upon one’s leadership skills as they boost their career to a whole new level.
greatermankato.com/programs
