Meat + Poultry - September 2016 - 67

T

he Great Depression, the taking of
your land by eminent domain, and a
devastating tornado. Those are the kinds
of events that would smash hearts and dreams
for most families. But like they say, what
doesn't destroy you can make you stronger.
That series of disasters all served to
establish and bloom a small family owned
meat processing business today known as
Mom Wilson's Country Sausage Mart Inc. in
Delaware, Ohio.
For H.D. Wilson and his son H.H. Wilson,
the Great Depression stirred fears of losing
their 300-acre farm when hog prices fell and
they needed to continue feeding their family
and generate income. Rather than sulking and
just feeding the family with their livestock,
they used their on-the-farm butchering and
meat processing heritage to make sausage
the family would later sell from the back
porch of their home. Their marketing plan of
desperation in 1959 was a sign that read "Ring
Bell...Will Sell."
Seeing hope from that small success, H.H.
(Horace) and his wife Fern later converted a
garage to make more room for their fledgling
new enterprise and hung out a shingle that
touted the name H.H. & Mom Wilson. Neighbors
in Delaware were quick to recognize the quality
of their products and kept coming back.
In 1965, a tornado destroyed the family
farm and nearly every structure on it. Horace
and Fern used their life savings to convert
a garage to a meat processing facility and
generate more income than they could by
selling hogs at the low rate of 9 cents a lb.
The state decided to convert US Highway
23, the road that ran past their business,
from two lanes to four lanes. This was the
main north-south highway from Columbus
to northern Ohio and threatened to take the
land on which their business and home stood.
The state was prepared to execute the right
of eminent domain to take it, but the family
agreed to let them have it if they would grant
access to the new road for the farm and
business. The agreement was accepted and
again another possible tragic event was averted
and transformed into a blessing.

PASSING THE TORCH
By the mid-70s Fern and Horace were looking
forward to retirement and initiated a plan to

turn over the meat business to their daughter,
Sue and son-in-law, Dennis Snavley. Dennis
had taught high school for three years and later
spent five years as the principal at the school.
Horace and Fern, now known as Mom, enlisted
Dennis and Sue, an elementary school teacher,
to work for them on weekends.
"I was raised on a livestock and crop
farm in western Ohio and Sue and her family
talked me into moving in to help operate the
business," Dennis, now 72, recalls. "We saw it
as an opportunity to keep a wonderful family
business alive and to help it grow. We kept the
same recipes and the business simple.
"We are in an agricultural community and
today the college town of Delaware has 38,000
people. But the growth from Columbus (20
miles south) kept creeping to our area."
Sue agrees with the blessing in disguise by
noting that today nearly 30,000 vehicles pass
their meat business each day.
The 3,500-sq.-ft. shop is mostly retail based,
using 16 part-time employees plus family
members to run the operation. They woo
drivers along Route 23 with nearly 70 small
folksy red and white signs kindred to the old
Burma Shave campaign that entice potential
customers with such messages as "Put R Skill
In Your Skillet" and "No Fatty In The Patty."
"We have 1,500 sq. ft. of retail area with a
decor that says 'home and family' to those who
come in to shop," Dennis explains. "We have
a limited amount of space and can't flood the
place with a Cracker Barrel-type of overload
on antiques. Sure, we have some antiques and
photos, some old equipment, even farming tools,
on display. But our thought is to highlight the
generations of our business in a tasteful way."

"We saw
it as an
opportunity
to keep a
wonderful
family
business alive
and to help
it grow. We
kept the same
recipes and
the business
simple."
- DENNIS SNAVLEY

NEXT GENERATION
Sam Snavley, 37, is the next generation to join
the team. The son of Dennis and Sue, Sam
came on board after earning a degree in public
relations and spending a decade in the banking
industry.
When queried about the difference between
banking and meat retailing, Sam fielded the
question like an All Star: "In banking, you just
punched in and punched out. It just ran itself
and you did what you were told to do. Here, I
get to work much longer hours for much less
money. But it's coming home and being part
of what our family has always been, working

Dennis and Sue Snavley
have been running Mom
Wilson's Country Sausage
Mart since the mid-70s.

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