By Chris Aldridge

Kentucky Ag News

FRANKFORT — It’s been more than seven decades since an entrepreneur in Evansville, Indiana, who called himself Uncle Charlie, began selling meat out of the back of his Dodge pickup truck.

On his first day of business, Uncle Charlie sold about $50 ($610 today) worth of ice-cooled minute steaks, beef roasts, and sausage.

“At one time, they had four locations,” said Keith Schlosser, who bought the only remaining location of Uncle Charlie’s Meats in Richmond, Kentucky, seven years ago.

“We don’t do any slaughtering,” Schlosser said. “We’re a further processor, and we’re USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) inspected.”

Today, Uncle Charlie’s has retail stores in Lexington and Richmond, and delivers to local retailers. Its meats are distributed in 14 mostly Southeastern states by food service companies, such as Sysco and US Foods.

“Our footprint is Ohio and everything south,” Schlosser, who lists his duties as “owner, president, and truck driver, if needed.

“We’re a family-owned business,” he added. “My two sons and my wife are a big part of it. Everybody has a role.”

Schlosser says Uncle Charlie’s has tripled in size in the past seven years under his leadership.

“When I took over, we were in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, and it’s grown from there,” he said, naming Bill Hurst, his director of business development, as instrumental in the growth. “He used to be at US Foods in Cincinnati.”

Bacon has been a big part of the growth, available sliced, diced, or ground.

“We cure all our own bacon, 40,000 pounds per week,” Schlosser said. “If you’ve eaten the bacon at Wild Eggs’ (18 restaurants in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio),    that’s ours.

“One of my sons developed our bacon seasoning. Most big bacon processors use Liquid Smoke. We use real smoke from hickory and apple wood chips.

“We want to keep growing our bacon line up to 100,000 pounds per week,” he added. “We’re close to adding a second shift.”

Uncle Charlie’s most popular product predates Schlosser’s ownership.

“Pork tenderloin is what we’re known for,” Schlosser said. “Our tenderloin recipe is a closely guarded secret. People say it’s the best marinated pork loin out there. It’s in a lot of grocery stores, restaurants, and even convenience stores in Florida and Alabama.”

Schlosser still offers sausage and thinly-sliced “minnit” steaks that were sold 73 years ago out of the back of Uncle Charlie’s old Dodge. Other products available include pork chops, bacon/beef hamburger patties, and country ham, both raw and brown sugar cured.

“We’re continuing to grow,” Schlosser said. “We keep spreading our footprint out slowly.

“We’re currently looking to make an acquisition on the pork-related side,” he added. “My sons are working here, so we’re going to be around a while.”