Meat + Poultry - March 2016 - 89

He was so serious about changing the
direction of his life that his college degree is
in biblical studies, languages and theology,
with an eye toward the ministry. In fact, he
graduated summa cum laude from Grace
College in 1984.
"But I went back to Morton to work in the
meat business and I fell in love with it," he
explains. "I knew then the meat industry was
where I was going to be."
By 1992, he was president of RMH. He
immediately began building on the strong value
and entrepreneurial foundation he inherited
from his grandfather and father.
"From 1957 to 1990, the scope of our
business didn't change, but the size and the
sophistication did," Rocke points out. "My
father was a very aggressive person, and we
were downstate Illinois' largest independent
slaughter plant. We also did custom processing
and retail sales, and I got involved in the
business very early.
"By the time I was nine years old, I was
coming home from school, hanging offal and
making lard - things nobody else wanted to do."
The Rocke family had someone else running
the retail end of things. But the retail manager
retired. "My dad didn't know about toilet
paper or diapers or the other things we were
selling - just meat." So while the retail part
of the business was retained, the name of the
company became Rocke's Meating Haus, with
the emphasis on the meat part of the business.

FAMILY TRAITS
There's no doubt Jon Rocke inherited the
ambition of his father. He moved the business
far ahead of what was typical for its time.
"Our back end was custom slaughter and
processing. We made our front end a 'carriage
trade' - meat and a hot deli - the first deli of its
kind in Central Illinois."
Thanks to the drive of Rocke and his father,
Rocke's Meating Haus became a destination
business in the state.
"People were willing to drive in those
days - they came from Chicago all the way
downstate. We decided to sell USDA prime that
came from our back shop and we had a federal
grader come out."
Rocke made the company a "meeting
house" as well as a meating house. "We put in
chairs and tables for seating. I really grew up

in the retail front - cutting meat in the prime
shop - waiting on customers. I became very
good with people, and I was able to sell our
products. I wanted to have the whole supply
chain from harvesting to processing. We did
a lot of smoked ham and bacon, and we were
involved in the AAMP (American Association
of Meat Packers) cured meat product shows."
Rocke notes, though, that things began
changing in the meat industry in the 1980s.
"When I was growing up, all farms in
Illinois had livestock as well as grain. Today,
the only livestock on a lot of farms is the family
dog," he jokes. At the same time, a lot of the
small "locker plants" from the time were also
disappearing.
"That changed the business, and I knew
I had to do something," Rocke says. "I knew
we had to reinvent ourselves." And that's
what Rocke has done throughout his career. A
couple of years ago, Rocke and his wife Jolene
reignited the business by putting together two
concepts - a farmer's market strategy as well
as mail order.
"When I look back at RMH, our meat
businesses, I see three pillars that I've always
set up for us," Rocke says. "They are 'people,
promises and possibilities,'" he says. "The meat
industry is a people business, and I've always
felt that people are the most important part of
it," he says. "Some people in the industry think
it's all about the animals, the processing, the
selling, how good a butcher you are. And it's
true, the animals are important, the products,
the sales. But it all really comes down to your
relationships with other people; building those
relationships. This industry starts and ends
with people. If we're not in business for people,
who we're helping to feed, then what are we in
it for?
"Promises in this business are very
important - keeping your word. To everybody
you deal with, including both customers and
vendors. The people you have relationships
with in this industry have to be able to trust
you, or it's not going to work out.
"And the third pillar is 'possibilities'. You
can't be afraid to be innovative. I'm not afraid
of innovation, I've done a lot of innovation
in my career - and you can't succeed in this
industry if you're not innovative. You have to
think that you can do anything, that anything is
possible in this business."

"The meat
industry
is a people
business, and
I've always
felt that people
are the most
important
part of it."

www.meatpoultry.com | 03.16 | MEAT+ POULTRY

89
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat + Poultry - March 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - March 2016
