Sheboygan-based
Old Wisconsin Sausage, Inc. a manufacturer of sausage and various smoked meat snack sticks, plans to use a newly acquired facility to boost its production capacity.
In December, the parent company of Old Wisconsin
purchased a facility located at 3402 Crocker Ave. in Sheboygan. The company bought the building from
Johnsonville for $22 million, state records show. The acquisition of the plant doubles Old Wisconsin’s footprint in Sheboygan.
The newly acquired building is in addition to the two existing plants the company has in Sheboygan. Those facilities are located at 5030 Playbird Road and at 2413 Union Ave. Old Wisconsin is headquartered at 4036 Weeden Creek Road.
Old Wisconsin also has a facility in Montgomery, Illinois that will reach capacity by the end of 2025, according to
Chuck Pfrang, vice president of plant operations.
Old Wisconsin’s leadership team had been searching for a new site to expand into for several months. The company is seeing strong growth within the deli stick segment of its business, according to Pfrang.
“Our operations in Sheboygan are heavily focused on the production of semi-dry sausage, in the form of shelf stable deli-sticks and summer sausage,” he said. "This new(ly acquired) plant will allow us to dramatically increase our capacity to meet the future needs of our customers for this and other types of meat products.”
Pfrang estimates that “hundreds” of employees will be needed to operate the newly acquired facility, but did not have a more specific number at this time. Old Wisconsin plans to use automation to allow its employees to focus on less menial tasks like heavy lifting.
The Crocker Avenue plant will have a phased opening, beginning this fall and lasting through late 2026.
Old Wisconsin plans to stick to its core competency in producing snack sticks, but there is the possibility the manufacturer could expand its portfolio of flavors.
“Recent expansion in our product offering has been around different flavors and proteins,” said Pfrang. “Looking back 15 years, most of our product was made with beef and pork in just a few different flavors. Today, turkey has become the driver of growth with other proteins like chicken starting to take root. Beyond that, we have recently introduced several new flavors such as hot and spicy and our honey brown sugar turkey.”
