Meat company's high standards can comfort the consumer
Food Safety is a Priority for Tim Schinkel and Thomas Schinkel, Schinkel's Meats
Schinkel’s Legacy follows stringent safety measures, sources from local suppliers, and wins countless awards for flavourful meats, giving consumers great comfort when they serve the local brand on their dinner table.
Schinkel’s Legacy operates in a 7,500-squarefoot facility with 11 employees producing more than 50 meat and deli products. Tim Schinkel’s kielbasa, summer sausage, countrystyle bacon, and black forest ham, etc., have won numerous industry awards, and sales have jumped a whopping 300 per cent as a result.
Schinkel’s recipe for success can be contributed to several factors. Schinkel prefers to buy local, sourcing his pork, poultry and beef from suppliers who share his high standards.
“I’ve always been a big believer in knowing your supplier. When you know your suppliers you know how they operate and you know what to expect. They’re not just suppliers, they become friends who share a lot of the same business philosophies and quality standards,” says Schinkel.
Schinkel’s company has invested a lot of money in equipment and safety procedures to be certified by Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), a sciencebased food safety system that is used to help ensure the safe manufacture of food products. This program requires a lot of training and documentation and a yearly on-site audit for recertification.
“We work diligently to ensure continuous improvements in our process, including increased food safety awareness,” says Schinkel. “We’re quite confident the work we’ve done in the past will pay dividends.” Recently, Schinkel’s Legacy has gained customers from the Greater Toronto Area, expanding upon his existing clientele of independent butcher shops from the regions of Chatham-Kent, Essex, Lambton and Middlesex.
The family-run business started in 1963 when Tim’s father and uncle opened their first butcher shop in Essex. In 1985, they opened Schinkel’s Gourmet Meats in Chatham, and in 1993 Schinkel’s Legacy began as a natural offshoot of those operations.
“Consumers’ increasing awareness of where their food comes from and the precautions the company takes to ensure safety, can only benefit businesses like Schinkel’s Legacy who deliver a wide variety of safe and delicious products across a reliable network,” says Chatham-Kent’s Business Development Coordinator Lori Gall. “It’s very comforting to know that from farm to plate, quality control is paramount in delivering a superior product .”
For more information, please contact Economic Development Services at 519.351.7700/1.866.542.5994 or at ckeds@chatham-kent.ca