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The Grote & Weigel meat processing company has been saved from closure and 40 people will retain their jobs at the Bloomfield institution. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.
Just last month family-owned Grote & Weigel announced it would have to close, after 122 years in business, overburdened by debt and dented by the recession. At the time, owner Michael Greiner said he was hopeful that a sale might still be arranged, and his optimism has been rewarded. The famous hotdog maker has been acquired by a Massachusetts based company, Rachael’s Food Corporation, a division of another family business, J Polep. Greiner says there’s just one word to describe his feelings.
“Thrilled. Everybody is thrilled. A lot of smiling faces that we haven’t seen smiling for many many months now, and we’ve called all the employees – they’re all coming back.”
The new owner has committed to keep the business operating under its present name and rehire all of its employees. Greiner himself will remain for the time being as general manager. He says the sale is exactly the opportunity the company needs to become a success once more.
“Obviously their fleet of trucks and sales organization will make a great contribution here to increasing our business, which is sorely needed. We need more volume. So it just works out very, very nicely for everyone concerned.”
J Polep stepped in at the very last moment for Grote & Weigel – a bank auction was to have been held next Tuesday to sell off the Bloomfield processing facility and all of its contents. Now instead, production of hotdogs and Grote & Weigel’s other signature products will resume the week after next.
For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.
