Three individuals with outstanding lifetime contributions to the meat business are set to be inducted into the Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame at a May 4 recognition ceremony. The individuals are:
Phil Hinderaker took a small equipment company in Lodi, Wisconsin, and through hard work, vision and leadership, transformed it into a world leader in cooking, chilling and packaging technologies. Hinderaker stepped into the role of president at Alkar in 1985. At the time, the company was relatively small, with $7 million in annual sales. When he retired in 2005, Hinderaker had grown the business into a $58 million-per-year enterprise. He expanded the business into international markets, installing cooking and chilling equipment in South America, Europe, Russia, Asia and Africa. Along with making innovative equipment, Hinderaker made sure that Alkar advanced the industry’s knowledge of cooking and chilling processes to help processors achieve their goals of making products safer, better and faster.