Driftless Provisions- a Wisconsin charcuterie
Driftless Provisions, located inside the Food Enterprise Center of the Vernon Economic Development Association in Viroqua, Wisconsin, has brought the art of Charcuterie to the Driftless area. Keeping with the sense that the Driftless area in general, is known for its thoughtful food growing and production, the owners of Driftless Provisions Ryan Wagner, Justin VerMeer, and Spencer Schaller acknowledged there was an absence of Charcuterie both specifically and generally. “There weren't very many charcuterie makers or salami makers in the United States,” said co-founder VerMeer.
Charcuterie, is a type of meat preparation that steers away from the common practice of adding fillers and preservatives, giving people a healthier choice. Charcuterie, in general, and salami produced in this fashion, was present in the US, but did not catch the public eye until the early 2000’s.
“We got started in 2000, but we got started in earnest in 2019 with a Kickstarter for funding to get co-packing going with our recipes,” VerMeer said.
Prior, Driftless Provisions founder Wagner, had been making salami at the Driftless Café in Viroqua for about a year, that proved to be a stepping stone to a larger venture.
Wagner grew up on a farm in Eastern Wisconsin near Oconomowoc. He grew up hunting, and butchering deer was of course a main stay. “I butcher deer and processed with some old school German butchers. So, I've always been around the bolognas, summer sausages, and the kielbasas. And then, when I was in living in Milwaukee, I started eating a little bit nicer food. I had salami before, but the salami there made other salami taste like crap.”
That experience piqued Wagner’s interest. Going to school at the time attending a Masters in Business program, he was looking for a venture to put his efforts towards. He could not find salami that tasted like it did in Milwaukee pretty much anywhere in the Mid-west. “I thought, well, if I think the salami I had is good, then other people must too.”
Wagner decided to move to the Driftless to pursue his venture in producing salami and thought that a place known for its wholesome farming was a good place to start. Not to mention the cost of living is cheaper than in a metropolitan area.
Wagner, along with Schaller, honed several salami recipes while working at the Driftless Café. Eventually, the pair moved on and found a few different businesses to produce their salamis. At the time, Wagner pointed out that he and VerMeer focused on marketing and sales to get their product out to the public.
After about a year of pushing hard to build their business, this past January, Schaller joined Wagner and VerMeer in Driftless Provision’s current facility. After some modifications to their space, the trio began production the end of February. “Like Justin said we were co-packing before, but now with another round of funding, we have our fermentation chamber and our dry curing chamber. All of our salami is now produced here in house. That’s all happened this year and it's been growing ever since,” said Schaller.
VerMeer added, “It's just sort of been on an insane growth curve. There are a lot of other companies that have popped up, and we feel we're really well positioned since we've been refining our products over the past four years. But that was generally just this idea of like, we'd like to do something good. Here's a vacuum that we could fill and craft, something we'd like to get better at, and develop good food that is Artisan rather than I suppose something more conventional.”
Originally using organic hogs, Driftless Provisions transitioned to humanely raised hogs. With no standard definition for humanely raised hogs, the reason they made that transition, and how they identify communities as organic, had a lot more to do with what the hogs are fed than their lifestyle and how they're housed.
“How we define humanely raised? There are a couple of criteria that are important to us. There are no antibiotics, that is vaccination is often a side effect of poor housing. Social housing which is gestation crate free. Hogs are social animals, so we're buying from farms that raise them in group housing. Hogs that aren't forced to market weight early, putting stress on their bodies, and hogs that are fed a vegetarian diet, which means they're not given animal byproduct as a feed. All around, these things we think contribute to a better food, agricultural system, and something we're more excited to sell. It gives our customers and those people out there who don't want to give up meat, but are a bit discouraged by some of the conventional methods, an opportunity to participate,” said VerMeer.
Using heritage pork, specifically Berkshire hogs for their products, Schaller noted they use only whole muscle and grind the meat themselves which affords quality control. For a wilder taste, Driftless Provisions produces a few salamis blended with elk, venison, and bison sourced from Wisconsin farmers.
Currently, Driftless Provisions’ products are sold in 70 grocery stores throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, parts of Iowa and Illinois. Wagner said their goal is to be in around 100 stores by the end of the year.
This past summer, Driftless Provisions added a line of fresh products they offer locally including Italian sausage, bratwurst, smoked Andouille sausage, and bacon. Along with dabbling a little bit in hotdogs and breakfast sausage, the trio are just kind of figuring out what other things they can produce with keeping salami their main focus.
Schaller said, “I think growth wise, the sky’s the limit. We want to make sure that we're purposeful in how we grow, keeping the customer and farmer in mind.”
Driftless Provisions’ focus is on product quality, wholesale, and direct word of mouth consumer relationships. VerMeer admitted recognition and the marketing boost that goes with it is also important. “As a marketing guy that's where I put almost all my energy. That said, we have a couple of awards that we're very pleased with. We received the Good Food award last year for our spicy Finnochiona, and nominated for our Loukanika and venison.”
The Good Food Award is given by the Good Food Foundation, which is a group based in California. The foundation looks at the whole lifecycle of the product; the animal raising standards including the packaging and production standards. In addition, the foundation asks the questions, is this a product that is contributing to a positive transition in our food systems, and is it a fine product?
This year, the Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors awarded Driftless Provisions first place for their Finnochiona, and highly awarded them for their Andouille and spicy Finnochiona. They also took third place at the Wisconsin State Fair for their bacon.
As Driftless Provision’s growth continues, Wagner said their wholesale accounts for a majority of their business, while their ecommerce is picking up steam. “We expect to probably do in this last quarter what we've done all year through our online store.” With the holiday season coming up, the holiday gift packages they put together, will have a significant impact on sales.
Driftless Provisions will soon be expanding their space and operations at their current location, effectively increasing production to meet a growing demand for their products.
“It's a sort of double-edged sword, right? It's taking a business that was solely sales and marketing, and adding operations which had its host of good and bads. But having control of the process, of the quality assurance, is huge. We're still dealing with it today, taking product and making sure that it is exactly what we want it to be before it goes on to market. But we're running out of room so we need to grow,” said Wagner.
Follow Driftless Provisions on Facebook, and purchase their products on the web at driftlessprovisions.com.
