On the second week of our location tour series, we will be visiting the wholesale plant and business office in Gordonville, PA. In case you missed last week’s post, we are taking our customers on tours of our three locations, as we realize that not all of our customers are familiar with the different locations. Each location is super important and plays a crucial role in Stoltzfus Meats’ operations. So without further ado, let’s check out the plant and office!
The History
As we learned last week, Stoltzfus Meats started in 1954 when Amos Stoltzfus started selling some Lancaster County products at the New Castle Farmer’s Market. As those products began to grow in popularity, Amos took the opportunity to purchase some land from his father in Gordonville, PA. This is where Amos and his brother, Ben, built a small butcher shop in 1960 to handle the growing demand for their products. They produced sausage, ham, and bacon out of their butcher shop, which continue to be three of our most popular products to this day.
The production facility can be seen in the lower right-hand corner of the above image. It is located right along route 772 in Gordonville, PA.
This small butcher shop was the very first version of the wholesale plant portion of the business. In 1969 and 1971, the butcher shop was expanded to allow for an increase in production. Using the same recipes created by Amos, the demand for Stoltzfus Meats’ quality products continued to grow throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Another expansion project occurred in 2016 to create more space for meat processing. Because of the continued support of our wonderful customers and great partnerships with local businesses, we recently wrapped up another plant expansion which was completed in the fall of 2020.
Wholesale Plant
Each week, thousands of pounds of products are produced and sold to local distributors and stores, including our two retail locations in New Castle, DE and Intercourse, PA. In recent years, our products have made their way to retailers up and down the East Coast. Many of the products produced at our facility are award-winning, including our sweet bologna, ring bologna, hams, scrapple, and bacon.
Our wholesale production team is made up of highly skilled and efficient individuals who have many years of experience in the meat industry. From our expert meat cutters, to our smokehouse operators, to our quality assurance protocols, to the people in our packing rooms, to our orders fulfillment team, each employee plays an important role in the production process. It’s because of this team’s commitment to making high-quality meat products that we can continue to serve our customers with the same products they have loved for years!
Business Office
Perhaps the most behind-the-scenes location of all, our business office is connected to the wholesale plant. In some ways, the business office is the “hub” of the company. The business office is made up of our sales team, human resources, marketing, and our administrative personnel.
This team works closely with our wholesale customers, taking orders and working on product development. Additionally, they work with the employees and managers of each location to create a larger team across the company as a whole.
Thanks for joining us for this glimpse into our wholesale plant and business office location! We hope you enjoyed learning more about this portion of the business. Join us again next week for the final stop of our location tour as we look around our store and restaurant in Intercourse, PA!