14 minute read
BEHIND THE MEAT COUNTER
How four Illinois cattlemen are proving the vitality of beef production and consumption in our state.
By Olivia Hoots
It may seem obscure to some, but butchers and local beef retailers in Illinois are not decreasing in number, they are multiplying. The drive of beef producers to maximize the value of their product combined with the increased consumer demand of local product has resulted in a thriving market for smaller processors and meat markets. Four Illinois cattlemen are proving the beef industry is alive and well from the pasture to the plate as they grow their retail locations in an effort to steward the industry. What connects each meat shop is the ability for shoppers to stare right at the farmer when purchasing their next meal.
Fritz Meat and Processing
Born and raised in the community of Jerseyville, at only 30, Adam Fritz has established a name for himself by taking problems he sees and turning a profit on opportunity. Before the year 2020 even happened, he saw a great need for a processor in the area after Hansen’s packing shut down processing in 2018. Plans came to a halt and yet eventually morphed into an offer from Ryan Hansen of Hansen’s Packing and Good Buddy’s Meat Market, for producers Adam Fritz and Ted Prehn to purchase the facility and restart the operation to include a kill floor and custom processing once again.
Bill Hansen founded Hansen’s Packing in 1952, then they built the original building in 1962. He was known to call everyone “good buddy.” His son, Dave Hansen and his wife, Paula, eventually took over the business and after 54 years Dave is still working there to this day.
Over time the business expanded both their facilities and product offerings – including the famous Hansen and Burns hams. Good Buddy’s Meat Market opened in 2007 as the company’s first retail store and by 2013 Dave’s son, Ryan, felt it was his turn to take over the whole operation.
Meanwhile, Ted Prehn, who retired from 35 years in real estate and began raising cattle in Jersey county 14 years ago, and Adam Fritz, who grew up raising cattle in Illinois and has a Masters in Beef Cattle Nutrition from the University of Illinois, had plans of their own.
Twenty-twenty opened their eyes to the need for a processor to return to Jersey county. That is when Adam got serious about opening a processing facility across from the packing company. “Overnight I went from being able to schedule an appointment for 30 days out to 13 months out,” Ted expressed.
But in 2023, Ryan approached Adam with one question: “We are ready to sell, why don’t you buy us,” Ryan offered. On October 12, the papers were signed and Adam and Ted were off to the races. On October 13 they started processing deer, and by mid-December had processed 677 of them, even those of travelers from all over the country.
“Adam has learned real quick to be a proficient deer skinner,” Ted says.
Their next goal is to start custom processing livestock again, and though there is a lot to do to prepare the facility, Ted hopes to be processing within the first quarter of this year, 2024. There are things that need to be modernized and prepared, but the facility is there and can do the job once updates are finished.
This is the main need Adam and Ted intend to capitalize on. Though they plan to keep the legacy of the company through the store and packaging, the processing will bring great value to the Jersey county community and beef producers therein.
“That’s our goal in taking what Hansen’s started fifty years ago and enhancing it with additional custom processing, deer processing and slowly adding our own flavors and brands,” Ted says. Since this is a retirement endeavor for Ted, he hopes to inspire Adam to continue growing and building upon the ideas he is developing, focused on both expansion and modernization.
“In five years I am hoping Adam is well on his way and business is going and we’re killing 20 cows a week and 40 hogs,” Ted says. “Our goal at this stage is to get up and running and then we’ll have a better idea of what our needs are once we get things going and determine what the demand is in the market in the community and go from there.” They have heard livestock producers are “clamoring” to get their product processed by them.
Ted also hopes they will be able to add much more locally raised beef and pork to their retail store. Currently, the largest part of the business is wholesale, which provides products to grocery stores in rural communities.
That has always been the core of Hansen’s, and will continue to be as it transitions to Fritz’s Meat and Processing. This is one of the ways Adam hopes to be a steward of the industry both as a producer and a consumer. “Being open and honest with people, and doing it on a community level is very important,” Adam says.
Ted has learned a bit about the consumer during his past 14 years in the business, as well as from the time he spent with his grandfather visiting processors in central Illinois. “The consumer wants to know where their food is grown and raised,” Ted says. “I think that is one of the things we as a small processor and small producers are able to offer to the consumer is that smaller, locally raised, locally owned, locally grown, locally processed products.”
He believes in 2020 consumers began to ask themselves what would happen if something happened to large processors. “This helps our community be sustainable, be able to feed its local community with good, locally raised product and also give our farmers a better profit margin by selling direct.”
“It has got to make an impact on the community,” Adam says regarding people that come into town to have their animals processed. “The entire vibrancy of a local, rural, community is being able to provide all these services, both the service for the farmer and a service for the consumer.”
That is Ted’s favorite part of it all. “I have got that personality of being a pioneer,” Ted says. “I like to go in and get things rolling and then back out and let someone else come in and run it and take over.” You can tell he enjoys watching Adam run the day to day operations and developing new ideas. “I always told my mom I was either going to be a vet or a butcher,” Adam says. “And here I am.”
Ted’s wife looked at him one day and said “How do you know how to do all of this?” For Ted, it is simply God-given. “Animal husbandry is not something that everybody can do. It takes the right personality and the ability to know what an animal needs and wants to make them happy.”
“That is one of the things both of us have is the ability to know how to love and take care of our animals so they have a good life right down to your plate,” Ted says. This is the kind of producer consumers need to hear from, the one who knows every inch of the business.
Adam also likes the information part of his jobs in the livestock industry – chatting with consumers about how things are done. “We can say from every step of the way like birthing baby pigs or calves, we know everything about them until they show up here, and then we know how it is handled here and out the door. From day one to on your plate,” he says.
“We came to it from a producer’s point of view, from a standpoint of need – knowing we needed it, knowing our community needed it,” Ted says. He wanted consumers to know it really is a “cool” process from beginning to end. “I was building a portfolio of real estate bricks and sticks and over the years recognized ‘Do I really want my legacy to be a bunch of buildings in town or is there something richer and deeper?’ and realized I want my grandkids to understand the wholesomeness of small-town rural communities and how the community props each other up and supports each other. That is really my reason for my doing this new career,” Ted says. “My real goal is to have my hand in the whole process from beginning to the end.”
Adam believes there has been a trend in local foods for a while now, but the 2020 year made local foods desired even more so. Adam did a study through SIU which showed many consumers believe local is better, that they would drive further to get local, etc. He believes producers should consider how to market the “local” idea. “I think it comes back to being open and having those conversations. People want to hear from actual producers, that is why Ted and I have been successful in marketing local animals, because we are knowledgeable and willing to talk and educate people about how we raise them and why we do it,” he says. “I love to raise animals and I like meat, so it is a great combination.”
Ted hopes their expansion of the existing business will give back to the community that has given both of them so much, and serve consumers the best quality meat along the way.
Sage City Market
Moving onto land with acres in Central Illinois meant an opportunity to buy cattle and sell beef for IBA Board Member Wes Hornback. Though he originally moved to Monticello to be a livestock consultant, he soon discovered a need for connecting with consumers, and Sunset Acres was born.
Wes and his wife, Sara, were selling quarters and halves from their cattle when their customers started to want individual cut options, which led them to sell at farmer’s markets. Once there, they were able to have conversations with consumers about how they raise their cattle, including topics like vaccines, feeding and sustainability. From the same conversations they were able to discern what consumers were really looking for when grocery shopping. He was able to understand that they have a desire to know where their food comes from and have confidence it is top quality and of the utmost safety standards, while also supporting a family in their own community.
All of this made Wes passionate about local food and producers who stand right behind the meat counter, and beginning in November 2023 he was the guy behind the counter. Sage City Market opened just before Thanksgiving last year, and provides a variety of Illinois meats. They source beef from their own farm and ES Meats out of Maroa, pork from Lorenzen farms in Chrisman and poultry from MKS Livestock in Lincoln. They offer a variety of cuts and some specialty items such as pork carnitas, Italian beef and beef jerky, as well as hot meals on Mondays.
Soon Wes hopes to expand his selection of local products. “My idea is to be able to provide one location where you can get pretty much everything as local as possible, from meat to eggs to cheese to lettuce to rice, noodles, seasonings, and sauces,” he says.
The idea of local is important to Wes because of sustainability. “It is fresher that way, the quality tends to be better, and it does not have to be super expensive to be able to buy local and the money is all in one community,” Wes says. “If a local producer takes their animals to a local processor, then they can either sell to someone like me or the end user, and everything stays close to the local community.” Local food stores make it easier for consumers to understand the farming processes and connect a farmer to their food. He also enjoys supporting the other beef producers who sell their product in his store.
Wes believes Sage City Market is a great opportunity to break the consumer stigma, because while producers often believe it is of no use to engage topics such as implants and antibiotics with consumers out of fear they will not understand, he sees it as the best opportunity for explaining it. “People that come in are excited to see all the things Illinois can provide,” he says.
Processing of beef has been in the spotlight since 2020, but Wes keeps a positive outlook. Demand for livestock processors has gone up in the past two years and Wes believes it is because more producers are selling directly off the farm after finding they can capture more value that way. Wes hopes as this becomes more popular, there will be more consistency of both costs to produce livestock and price at the market.
The Butcher Shop
Dale Pfundstein opened The Butcher Shop in November of 2017, getting his start by selling his own beef but his now high-level of demand requires much more meat. Not only that, but the shop now sells everything from fish, seafood, turkey breasts, to their popular stuffed chicken breasts brought in from Wisconsin.
In 2023 the two existing small shops outgrew themselves and the new shop along the highway bring in many passersby. “We’re in the busiest stretch of the highway in Sterling and Rock Falls now,” Dale says.
The new shop allows for an even more diversified selection of products such as pies, lamb chops, soup, and even a salad bar.
Dale believes local food and the freshness of it is what drives people to support local retailers like himself. The personal interaction experienced at small retailers is valued by certain consumers when compared to a grocery store chain experience. Dale especially likes that he can offer his customers special slices, cuts and weights, whatever is needed.
He believes he was lucky to be open before the events of 2020. The Butcher Shop supplied meat grocery stores could not, often rationing out how much each customer could bye to make sure each community member could get meat.
Facebook is what Dale attributes to the popularity of small retailers like himself. For many, social media is the best way to get the general consumer interested in local foods.
Dale values what his customers and the general consumer perceive about his meat shop. “We put a window in the cutting room so people can actually see that their back there cutting meat,” he says. If someone requests something out of the ordinary, the person on the other side of the wall prepares it for them. “Then they are going to be happy as the Dickens because they got what they wanted,” Dale expressed. This allows each customer to feel valued and grows consumer trust in producers and processors.
Providing the consumer a high-quality product every time is something Dale values, as well as every producer mentioned previously. “When you are cutting up your own beef and seeing it on the table, you sure can tell the difference between one animal and the next,” he says. That is the beef producer side of him talking.
It is becoming increasingly common for our very own next-door beef producers to also be the ones standing behind the meat counter. This is a great way to take false information about beef production and transform it into a business that spreads truth about the industry directly to the consumer. These producers are doing it, so what can you do to educate your next-door neighbor about beef? These Illinois cattlemen are giving their communities a taste of the beef industry they are a part of, proving beef retail is alive and well from the pasture to the plate. Tell your neighbor to ask for the producer the next time they have a question at their nearest beef retailer.
