HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-07-27, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017.
Bachert sausages live again at Auburn family business
BMW LY Shirirr Groodwis L Family
NO FILLERS
I00'Y% LOCAL Pork
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A family effort
A desire to have the sausages that her father Keith used to make led Shirlee Groothuis (nee
Bachert) and her husband Brent to open Bachert3 Premium Sausage. Originally, they couple
worked out of the Auburn Community Hall, but, since 2016, the sausages have been produced
in their home shop on the edge of the village. From left, Keith and Janet Bachert, Esther,
Joseph, Andrew, Joshua, Shirlee and Brent Groothuis. (Denny Scott photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
For Brent and Shirlee Groothuis
(nee Bachert), making great pork
products has led their start-up
sausage company to new relations
and increasing farm gate sales.
Brent and Shirlee live on the east
side of Auburn on the north side of
County Road 25 and, for the past
several years, have been producing
sausages through their company
Bachert' Premium Sausages.
In 2015, the couple started to
make the sausages professionally
after they found that customers,
especially those in the Walton area,
missed the sausages Shirlee's father
Keith used to make.
The couple, accompanied by their
children, 12 -year-old Esther, nine-
year-old Andrew, seven-year-old
Joshua and five-year-old Joseph,
primarily sells its products at the
Goderich Farmers' Market on
Saturdays, but is seeing more and
more business at the farm gate shop
with each passing year.
Making the sausages is a family
tradition for Shirlee, who was born
and raised on her family's farm
outside of Walton, which is the home
of Bachert Meats Inc. Her parents,
Keith and Janet, and her five siblings
ran the family company.
"I helped to get it on a computer
system and worked there every day,"
she said.
In 2000, at age 24, she left the
farm and moved to Chicago with her
new husband Brent.
Local 4-H teams `Go for the Gold'
The couple stayed state -side until
2005 when she and Brent moved
back to partner with her brother
Marvin and his wife Wendy to
continue the family business as her
parents retired.
"We were coming back to be
partners with them," she said. "We
lived on the home farm for three or
four years."
At that point, Shirlee felt that God
wanted something else for her.
"We sold our shares back to
Martin and Wendy," she said. "We
bought our home in Auburn in
2010"
Their home in Auburn, which is
across the road from the Auburn
Grill, is now where the sausages are
produced, however, when the
Groothuis family first started the
couple was working out of the
Auburn Community Hall.
"The idea came to mind when
Marvin and Wendy stopped doing
retail work," Shirlee said.
Shirlee said both she and other
family members missed the sausage
her father made, but, without the
retail aspects of the business, the
family abattoir no longer provided it.
"We looked, but we just couldn't
find the same profile," Brent
explained. "Everything either had
fillers in it or didn't match the
flavour.
"We told Keith we wanted to start
making sausage for ourselves, so we
reached out to Marvin to provide us
with local, government -inspected
pork," he said.
Soon Brent and Shirlee found
themselves hauling their equipment
and product to the Auburn
Community Hall to make sausages
under the inspection of the Huron
County Health Unit.
The company worked out of the
hall for just over a year before the
family built its own processing shop
attached to their home.
Since opening their own shop, the
company has continued to grow and
they attribute that to keeping the
recipe the same as her father used,
even when introducing new lines.
The couple say that the Goderich
market, where they do most of their
business, provides a good
opportunity as, with free samples,
the products seem to sell themselves.
"Someone once asked Keith what
he put in his sausages to make them
taste so good," Shirlee said. "He
answered it isn't what he puts in that
makes them good, but what he
leaves out.
"It's kind of an art form," she said.
"You have to have just the right
amount of fat and have the right
combination of spices to make it
work."
Keith is often on site at the new
business, helping to make sure the
family recipe gets out to the
customers.
Brent explained the recipes were
simple, including locally -sourced
pork and spices. The pigs that go
into the sausage are slaughtered at
the family abattoir in Walton.
Currently, the company processes
batches of 400 to 600 pounds of
pork per month and has recently
branched out into smoked boneless
pork chops. They have also invested
in equipment for bone -in pork chops
and will be pursuing that soon.
Brent and Shirlee are glad the
company is doing well because they
want their children to have the same
opportunity that Shirlee did to get
into the family business.
"It's why we named the company
the way we did," she said. "There are
three generations involved."
Currently, the company sells six
different flavours of sausage and
boneless pork chops and all the
products are gluten-free.
Products are available from the
farm gate Monday through Saturday
or at the Goderich Farmer's Market.
For more information, call 519-
357-8713 or e-mail at
bachertpremiumsausage@gmail.com
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Let everyone know about
your new bundle of joy!
Call for prices and details
519-523-4792
or 519-887-9114 )
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Going for the gold
The South Huron 4H Sheep Club earned a second -place win at the Huron County `Go for the
Gold' competition earlier this month. From left: Graham Falconer, Evy Verschaeve, Grace
Hallahan and Julia DeJong. Not shown are Kyley McGregor and coach Jolande Oudshoorn.
(Photo submitted)
On July 19 the Huron County
local 4-H Go for the Gold
competition took place at the
Clinton United Church.
Five teams participated: the Huron
County Plowmen's IPM team,
Hensall Lifeskills team, the South
Central Dairy club team and two
South Huron Sheep club teams,
testing their 4-H and general
knowledge trivia.
Each team played each other in a
round-robin format with all teams
playing well.
The top -scoring team was South
Huron Sheep Club #2 and the
Hensall Lifeskills team in second
place. Both teams played
vigorously.
The final round took a twist and
the Hensall Lifeskills team was
determined to be the winner.
Congratulations to Katelyn Parson,
Continued on page 12
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