9 minute read
Gaylord
GAYLORD 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.
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“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
DEVELOP YOUR WORKFORCE
WITH GREATER MANKATO GROWTH PROGRAMS
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.
LAKE CRYSTAL Arcadium Tattoo
Patrick Marshall and Cynthia Marshall have lived in more places than many people visit in a lifetime. Both children of military families, they met in high school in England, then continued on their independent orbits to other foreign places — only to find each other once more in Minnesota.
“The tattoo on my knuckles says homesick. I never had anywhere I really truly called home,” Patrick Marshall said. “I’ve been in Minnesota for 12 years, so I think I’m a Minnesotan now.”
The Marshalls married in 2020 and found the perfect place to call home in Lake Crystal.
“We fell in love with a Victorian house and couldn’t not have it,” Cynthia Marshall said.
In June 2021 they opened Arcadium Tattoo on Lake Crystal’s Main Street, where they provide custom tattoo work in a friendly, welcoming environment.
Cynthia Marshall manages the shop’s bookings and business details while Patrick Marshall provides experience, vision and artistic talent.
“Patrick does the heavy lifting with the tattooing and I chat with people when they come in, book their appointments and help them suss out ideas,” Cynthia Marshall said.
Patrick Marshall is an award-winning tattooist with more than 10 years of experience. He said most of his customers come armed with photos and ideas, which he converts into a design, sometimes drawing them on his clients’ arms with Sharpies to give them a feel for how the finished work might look.
“I’m a contract artist and I do custom work ... I’ve tattooed people from ages 18 to 90. The oldest client I’ve had was 90, and he got a portrait of his wife and a portrait of his dog,” Patrick Marshall said. “The biggest thing for me is I want the customer to leave happy. And I’m willing to work with them until they do.”
It didn’t take long for word of the new business to get out. Arcadium Tattoo is now booking appointments six months in advance.
As Patrick Marshall observed: “When you make one person happy, they tell a lot more.”
Arcadium Tattoo 125 S. Main St. Phone: (507) 726-2036 Web: arcadiumtattoo.com
The MAN ATO
Your Ideas Start Here
MOUNTAIN LAKE Botanist
When the pandemic shut down the Twin Cities and remote work became an option, Adam Bryant and Karina Bryant moved to Mountain Lake, Karina Bryant’s hometown. There was just one problem.
“There are two things that we really like,” Karina Bryant said. “I love craft beer and Adam loves fresh cocktails. So, we found ourselves consistently driving to Sioux Falls and Minneapolis to get libations.”
To solve their dilemma, the Bryants opened the Botanist in July 2021. Built in a beautifully restored old bank building in downtown Mountain Lake, the Botanist celebrates the science and art of mixology. Karina Bryant is the bar’s owner, while Adam Bryant is her self-described and willing slave and chief mixologist.
“I’m more of a chemist mixologist, so I view every drink as an equation in balance,” Adam Bryant said. “What you want is a cocktail that’s nuanced and complex, that not only looks great, but tastes great. It’s a balancing act.”
Adam Bryant’s passion for a well-made cocktail inspires the Botanist’s cocktail menu and monthly specials. It contains a mix of classic, pre-prohibition cocktails and seasonally inspired concoctions. The Botanist also serves excellent local beers, mocktails and milkshakes.
Milkshakes? Yes, indeed. Milkshakes that will satisfy your every childhood dream, with flavors that include strawberry unicorn, Snickers chocolate and vanilla supreme.
“I wanted a nonalcoholic option that not only tasted wonderful but looked beautiful when I set it in front of you,” Karina Bryant said.
The Botanist’s food menu features a selection of small plates and appetizers made with locally and internationally sourced ingredients, such as Bavarian pretzels, woodfired pizza and chocolate truffles.
Although it’s only open on Friday and Saturday evenings and for special events, the Botanist has already attracted quite a following.
“It is going incredibly well,” Karina Bryant said. “We’ve been really, really, really busy and at least one night a weekend we’re standing room only.”
Stay tuned. The Bryants have big plans for the Botanist’s future, including adding a wine cellar and a basement speakeasy.
Botanist 302 10th St. N. Phone: (970) 235-0250 Web: thebotanistbar.com
BANKING THE WAY IT SHOULD BE
Here for you today and tomorrow
GREENSEAM: SOLVING COMPLEX ISSUES IN THE REGION
What does it mean to be a part of the GreenSeam?
The GreenSeam region, made up of counties in southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa, is the home to many innovators on the farm, factories, and educational institutions all solving food and fiber production challenges. Their combined effort supplies the rest of the world with these life support materials.
What is unique about the GreenSeam region?
Many years ago, early in my career providing automation solutions to the agriculture industry and before GreenSeam was formed, I was at an agronomy trade show in Dallas, TX. As I browsed the floor map consisting of over 100 booths, I realized that over 70% of them represented companies based in Minnesota! These companies were mainly innovators and solution providers for this important part of the agricultural inputs industry. I find this to be very unique about this region and it is also true for other sectors of our diverse agriculture industry that is constantly growing in the GreenSeam. How does GreenSeam, the organization, shape the future of agriculture, businesses, and communities in the region?
GreenSeam connects all the different ag innovators, industry sectors, communities, educational institutions, government departments, investors, and food production companies into a unified organization. GreenSeam works on the challenges facing the agriculture industry and its efforts benefit everyone who lives and works in the GreenSeam region. These challenges can be overcome only through collaboration and GreenSeam is the catalyst for those interactions. What brings you and Kahler Automation to the GreenSeam table?
As a company that provides automation solutions to the agriculture industry, Kahler Automation is honored to be a part of the GreenSeam organization and we appreciate the work being done to solve issues facing agriculture, food production, and our unique rural life style we all enjoy here in the GreenSeam. Wayne Kahler
Kahler Automation Wayne Kahler, Founder and Chairman of the Board for Kahler Automation Corporation, is a life-time resident of Fairmont, Minnesota. He has spent his life’s work supplying electrical and automation solutions to agricultural operations in rural America. As a volunteer on GreenSeam’s Board of Governors, Kahler is very excited about projects and campaigns in the educational field, helping students become more aware of the interesting ag industry career opportunities and many high-tech employment positions constantly opening in the GreenSeam region.
ELEVATING OUR REGION
AS THE WORLD-CLASS FOOD AND AGRIBUSINESS EPICENTER
GreenSeam is committed to the long-term prosperity of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa by strengthening collaborations and partnerships, growing businesses and their workforces, as well as the communities they call home.
You are GreenSeam. Connect with us to find out how we can help support the growth of your idea, business, or workforce.
