Governor Tony Evers was in the area yesterday, as he took a tour of the Salm Partners sausage manufacturing plant in the Village of Denmark.
The Governor was shown around the plant by Salm Partners President and CEO Keith Lindsey, who literally showed him how the sausage was made.
“We always say working in the legislature is like making sausage. Believe me, the legislature doesn’t look anything like this,” the governor quipped. “This is a really great organization that has a great footprint all across the country.”
It wasn’t just a leisurely trip, as the Governor was touting the creation of and investment of $10 million into the Meat and Poultry Supply Chain Resiliency Grant Program.
“We are really glad we have been able to spend several million, tens of millions of dollars helping processors upgrade their facilities,” Evers said. “I think it’s our responsibility as a state to help the local meat processors survive the pandemic and make sure they are getting good food to market.”
Lindsey was happy to see the governor and the state as a whole show support for the meat industry.
“When the beginning of the pandemic hit, we took out jobs as essential workforce very seriously,” he told us. “I think what we saw is that as Americans walk into grocery stores and see empty shelves, it doesn’t make them feel good. We took a lot of pride in working very hard through the pandemic to keep those grocery store shelves filled.”
Salm Partners was founded in 2004 by four brothers and has seen growth and expansion ever since.
They built a second manufacturing plant in 2019, which also helped them survive and thrive during the pandemic.
Also, while on the tour, there were numerous large white barrels filled with liquid smoke, which was made by Kerry Red Arrow in Manitowoc.
Lindsey explained that they have been partners since the foundation of Salm Partners, and their liquid smoke is “a crucial ingredient in our process.”
