The St. Joe Meat Market is more than a hundred years old. Originally a bar, it transitioned into a meat market in 1905 and has had generations of Pfannensteins working there throughout the years. The current owner, Harvey Pfannenstein, grew up working at the meat market with his 8 siblings. They now have 30 employees (3 of which are Harvey’s brothers), and many are nieces, nephews, daughters, and sons. It’s a true labor of love.
The Pfannenstein family was born and raised in Central MN. “I got married to my wife Carol, we had five children and decided to build and raise our family near St. Joseph because it is a good community and we enjoyed being close to our families,” Harvey shared.
Although they’re a ‘small’ business, their footprint and reputation are anything but small. “We have won multiple awards on a state and national level. Some national product winners include our Maple Breakfast Links, Fresh Pork Sausage, and Braunschweiger. We’ve won many state-level awards in snack sticks, dried beef, uncooked and cooked summer sausage, smoked salmon, ring bologna, smoked turkey, braunschweiger, bacon, wild rice sausage, beef jerky (regular and ground), brats, sausage, and maple breakfast links.” Many of their products are sold wholesale to local businesses, too.
Is your stomach growling yet?
The St. Joe Meat Marketing offers USDA-inspected products and slaughter for local farmers, in addition to their retail store. “We provide quality meat products and strive for customer service, we always want people to feel welcome and leave being confident in their cooking! The Meat Market makes over 100 different kinds of sausages, anything from bologna, wieners, snack sticks, summer sausages, and over 60 kinds of brats.”
Being 117 years old doesn’t mean they’re all ‘same old, same old’ – the meat market is always innovating. “We love trying new things! We recently added a new smokehouse to our production and have been making some new items like BBQ Rubbed Smoked Ribs, Smoked Riblets, Smoked Pork Loins, Cowboy Beans, our new brats flavors like Black and Bleu Brats, Spinach Feta Cheese Brats, and Jalapeno Beer Cheese. We love hearing ideas from customers so share yours with us!”
“We love our customers and are so grateful for our local supporters, if you haven’t stopped in, I encourage you to. We are thankful to have a great family of employees that look forward to helping you with your next meal!”
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