Meat+Poultry - November 2018 - 16

COVER STORY

MEAT+ POULTRY | 11.18 | www.meatpoultry.com

Usinger's processes
more than just
sausage products
today. Among the
non-sausage offerings,
Fritz says bacon is by
far the most popular.

STRATEGIC FIT
"In hindsight, it was really the right move," says Fritz of the
company's investment in the new plant. It allowed Usinger's
to maximize its ability to focus on specialty processing and
increase its capacity, which had become challenging at the
aging plant. The company now employs about 160 workers.
"We were able to streamline our processes," Fritz says,
which is critical "when you make as many products as
we do. We're small-batch, multiple changeover; like a big
job shop."
"We're not like the real high-volume manufacturers that
have dedicated lines that run the same product for two shifts
without any changeovers. We're constantly changing over.
That's how we're built," Fritz says. He says the company's
longevity is directly attributable to its ability to be nimble
more than 130 years after its founding.
"We know where our niche is," he says.
About one-third of Usinger's business comes from copacking products with special claims, ranging from certified
organic to certified humane raised to grass-fed beef.
"We have all the programs in place to be able to back the
label claims," Fritz says.
Usinger's partners with Midwest-based raw material
suppliers that specialize in premium products that support
the product claims the company stakes its reputation on
and has come to be relied on by its growing number of
co-packing partners.
Long before production claims were commonplace,
Usinger's calling card was and continues to be, its use of
fresh ingredients and the Old-World technique of smoking its
sausage products over an open, wood-burning fire.
"On our heritage products we haven't changed the
formula from how my great-grandfather made them," Fritz
says. Utilizing open fire pits has also been a signature

Joel Crews - Sosland Publishing Co.

demand for more diverse products. Usinger's willingness
to process small batches of specialty products and expand
its product offerings filled a niche many other companies
couldn't or wouldn't. Today, the company manufactures
about 125 different items under the Usinger brand in addition
to a growing amount of private label production including...
"A lot of ethnic products and some real Old-World stuff,"
Fritz says of the company's specialties, "along with highervolume products like summer sausage," which is Usinger's
signature item and top seller.
Early in his tenure, Fritz recalls Usinger's was at a
crossroads, as production demands were outpacing the
capacity at the aging plant and expansion could no longer
be ignored.
"Back in '83 we built a new sausage kitchen," adjacent to
the original plant, says Usinger of what is today referred to
as "The 83 Kitchen."
The plan at that time was to build out Usinger's
processing facilities to the street corner and transition out
of the original, multi-level plant, mostly because economic
development in other parts of downtown was somewhat
stagnant. But Usinger's leaders agreed to tap the brakes on
plans to continue with the next phase of construction as
city officials began to invest in revitalizing the downtown
area and other properties that were better suited for food
production became available in the area.
"The decision was made that this wasn't the best use of
that land," Fritz says of the property adjacent to the original
plant which it owned all the way to the end of the block.
The Usingers soon learned of some land the city was
acquiring within a couple of miles of the headquarters that
was previously used as a railroad switching yard. The city's
master plan was to convert the site to an industrial park, but
they didn't have any confirmed tenants at the time.
"We jumped at the chance and said we were interested,"
Fritz says, adding that the property was better than
starting with a greenfield project because this land was
already equipped with the infrastructure from the previous
business.
After agreeing to purchase the plot about 1.5 miles south
of the original facility in the early 1990s, the family owners
envisioned building and moving operations incrementally to
the new site while maintaining the historical building on the
Milwaukee Riverwalk.
"We're not the kind of guys who can go out and just build
a new plant from scratch," Fritz says.
The first phase of the "Florida Street" project in
Milwaukee's Florida Yards business park, included the
construction of a 22,000-sq.-ft. distribution center, which was
built in 1993, followed by the processing plant about 10 years
later. The processing portion spans about 50,000 sq. ft. and
includes raw processing, thermal processing and ready-to-eat
packaging operations.

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Meat+Poultry - November 2018

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