Three generations of Alewels keep family-owned butcher shop thriving
Apr 2, 2008, 08:23
Lisa Handke
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Alewel's meat business goes back three generations, to when Hugo Alewel started a butcher shop in Concordia, Mo. Ownership of the business passed to Hugo's son, Roger Alewel, then to Roger's son, Randy Alewel. In the early 1970s, the Alewel family opened another butcher shop in Warrensburg, and operated two plants for about a decade, until they sold the Concordia shop in 1982. Randy still owns and manages Alewel's Country Meats in Warrensburg, though he was recently deployed for military duty in Kosovo for a year or more.
While Randy is away, his father Roger is coming out of retirement to run the meat plant, and his son Austin Alewel is also stepping up to manage the shop over the summer. Austin, 19, is a freshman at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He is pursuing a business degree, and said he is open to the possibility of taking his turn as owner of the family business someday.
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| Alewel's Country Meats was established in Warrensburg in the early 1970s, and sells the "down-home stuff you can't get at a grocery store," said Austin Alewel, potential fourth-generation owner of Alewel's. (Photo by Lisa Handke) |
Austin started out in the plant's clean-up crew, and has gotten experience working in the other sectors of the butcher trade, including slaughtering, cutting and processing, making sausage, packaging meat, and also the business aspect of selling the meat to the public. Austin said the market maintains 15-20 employees, depending on the time of year, to complete all the different tasks, on site.
Deer season is always the busiest time for the meat market. Austin reported that hunters bring in about 1,000-1,200 deer for the shop to process. The shop sells deer jerky and ground venison during deer season in their front retail store.
Alewel's building was expanded a few years ago to make a bigger and more attractive retail section.
"We wanted to let the community know that we don't just slaughter, that you can buy retail here, too," Austin said.
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| The retail section of Alewel's was expanded a couple of years ago and includes around 30 different cheeses, and an assortment of marinades, relishes and condiments to dress a steak. (Photo by Lisa Handke) |
"We sell the down-home stuff you can't get at a grocery store," Austin said. Alewel's also sells its own brand of barbecue sauce.
Customers can also buy deli sandwiches in the market at lunchtime every day, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Austin said the reason the market started selling cheese and condiment products in their store was because customers who bought deli sandwiches liked the dressings, and wanted some to buy and take home.
Customers can also purchase whole sides of beef or other large quantities of meat at the market. Alewel's gets its meat from local farmers to slaughter and distribute. The meat market buys it beef and pork from just two farmers, Austin said, so it is easy to make sure the animals are up to the shop's standards. Area residents can also bring in their own animals for the market to slaughter, and get their meat processed however they want.
Alewel's standards are what set the market apart from grocery stores when it comes to buying meat. Austin explained that meat is classified into "select," "choice," and "prime" grades, ranked according to its marblization and fat content. Grocery stores only sell select grades of meat, while butchers sell choice grade. Alewel's can get prime cuts of meat for customers upon request, Austin said, but it is more expensive and there is generally not much demand for it in the Midwest, so the shop does not keep it on hand.
With the more widespread availability of supermarket meat, the local butcher business in America has almost vanished. Austin does not worry, however, about his family business disappearing.
"We have actually seen growth in our business in the last few years, in both retail and processing, so it is not dying, it is doing well," he said.
With its custom butcher service and convenient retail meat sales, Alewel's Country Meats should continue to thrive in Warrensburg. Each new generation of Alewels keeps the family business alive, providing the community with quality local meat and passing down the heritage of the trade.
