Schultz plant sees continuity, change

Jennifer Brookens — Staff Writer
CEYLON — Businesses that are family-run and have half a century of experience are a rarity in today’s world. But not only is this the case with Schultz Butchering Plant in Ceylon, but the business also is expanding into a new avenue.

“My grandfather, Arnold Schultz, built the butchery here in 1954,” said Lance Schultz, who now runs the plant.

“In 1976, my uncle Jack and my father Joe purchased it from my grandfather and I officially took over in June 2006.”

Schultz said that the butcher’s shop has been a part of his life as long as he can remember.

“When I was in kindergarten, on my off-days, I would be with Dad at the butchery,” he said.

The butcher shop has stayed with the family, but a few changes have been made. An addition was put on in the early 1990s, and in recent years, the company has been able to streamline and do more business.

“Once, we were so busy we were holding appointments for six months to a year for processing,” Schultz said. “But now we’re able to streamline.

“We implemented a whole new packaging system,” he added. “We’re now vacuum packing all of our products, and we’re able to do it for the same amount of money, so we’re giving the customer more for their money and the response has been outstanding.”

There are also some up-and-coming changes.

“We process cattle for the majority of the year,” Schultz said. “Then when spring comes, that’s when we do hogs. The response has been excellent, so we plan to extend hog processing to the end of May.”

But the most exciting change is the addition of Five Lakes Fundraising Products, which is being overseen by Schultz’s fiancee, Amber Holmers.

“We’re providing product for fund raising,” Holmers explained. “Our first one is for the Lakeview Jr. Service Club, and that fund-raiser is going on until April 16.”

Five Lakes Fundraising Products is operating in conjunction with Skoglund Smokehouse, located in central Iowa.

“They handle our pigs and do our smoking,” Schultz explained.

“They also made sausages and beef sticks, and they asked us to cover the state of Minnesota for fund-raisers,” Holmers added.

“We have an excellent reputation as a custom processing site,” Schultz said. “So this endorsement is something; we don’t just endorse anything.”

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. Jack and Joe Schultz are still cutting up meat in the butcher shop.

“Keeping a place clean is very important, especially dealing with food,” Joe Schultz pointed out. “The biggest compliment I ever received is a doctor who came in here and said, ‘This place looks like an operating room.’ That’s got to be the biggest compliment I could have.”

“We spend an hour and a half to two hours a day just cleaning,” Schultz added. “It’s just part of the process; there’s no way around it.”

And while Schultz has implemented some of these changes, he doesn’t plan on changing what already works.

“I’m learning from my dad as he learned from my granddad,” he said. “Some things just shouldn’t be changed.”