Meat+Poultry - October 2022 - 67

could look at the way the management seems to
celebrate everything. The local brewery fashioned a
special beer for the grand opening. There is free coffee
for customers who donate to a local charity and a
lucky child selected takes home a hat full of money.
Gross connected with local entrepreneur Teal Belz,
owner of Golden Heart Performing Arts and Sunlight
Farms. Belz was willing to step in and help Gross get
the business up and running. Teal was instrumental in
the start of the company. She helped with everything
from the HACCP plan to designing special lettering for
pricing labels and introducing Tommy to Logo Contest,
a service he used to develop the Tommy G's logo.
Gross served as president of the Rotary Club of
Fairbanks (2021-22). He believes that if you are going
to live in a community you donate to that community.
He donates to hockey and softball teams, community
events, 4-H and many other worthy causes.
" My mother once told me 'you'll never have a
nickel in your pocket because you always give it
away', " he said, laughing. " I should probably rein that
in a bit, but we like to help our neighbors because we
all depend on each other up here. "
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It is his warm personality and genuine caring about
others that makes him a standout community member.
He offers this explanation:
" There is something special about food. When it is
consumed at the dinner table with family, or even in
the form of a snack stick, there is something about it
that brings everyone closer together. It is our greatest
expression of love, trust and intimacy, a sort of
communion if you would. "
Gross may have a way with words, but he also
has something special going with his voice. He's a
classically trained tenor who has performed with the
local opera company, in the British Isles, Portugal and
even at the Vatican.
Oh, and what was the thing that made his
commercial ham a grand champion in its first outing?
He used Frohling's recipe but added 100% Alaska birch
syrup to the cure. Teal Belz and her husband Nate
produce the 100% birch syrup at their local Sunlight
Farms. That special syrup also appears in a blueberry
breakfast link sausage and they're experimenting with
a jalapeno pork jerky. Tommy G's may soon be offering
a 51% reindeer sausage and perhaps reindeer steaks.
In the year since Tommy G's Meat & Sausage
opened, they've expanded the retail shop by another
20 feet. He has spared no expense in the design
and build out of his operation - from equipment,
ingredients, product quality and customer service
for a reason special to him - the people of Fairbanks
deserve it and the animals deserve it.
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www.meatpoultry.com | 10.22 | MEAT+POULTRY 67
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