A lot has changed in the sausage-making industry over the past 75 years, such as consumer trends and overall expansion. But at least one thing has stayed the same – the need and appreciation for great employees.
This is the message from Steve Harrison, the vice president and general manager of Old Wisconsin Sausage in Sheboygan County. Old Wisconsin Sausage is celebrating 75 years of sausage making. He describes how it feels.
He says a lot of the recipes go back to when the company started. While the tradition and history is still there, some products have evolved for convenience, new packaging or shelf stability. This is due to changes in consumer demand.
“We’ve concentrated on shelf-stable product, we’ve concentrated on the snacking area,” Harrison says. “Probably one of the major changes that we’ve seen over the last number of years is the Keto diet, and years ago, you wouldn’t have necessarily thought that sausage would be an item that you would look at being a part of a healthy diet.”
He says the Keto program has driving demand for sausage. And even more, demand has skyrocketed for turkey sausages to more than 50 percent of Old Wisconsin’s business.
A challenge for the business in the past year alone has been inflation and supply chain pressure.
“I don’t know that we go a day where somebody hasn’t notified us of price increases,” Harrison says.
He shares that in his 43 years with Old Wisconsin, he’s never experienced something as simple as pepper coming from Vietnam preventing sausage from being made.
Looking ahead on the next 75 years, Harrison expects the concentration on food safety and convenience to continue. And Old Wisconsin is anticipating continuous changes in ingredients, flavor preferences and consumer habits to influence how its products change.
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