Prior to 2015, Jesse Smith had no connection to the meat processing. Four short years later, he is the founder of a successful locker plant and the new owner of a thriving further processing business. After seeing a need in the marketplace, Smith and his wife, Shelly, founded Diller Locker in Diller, Neb. Earlier this year, the couple purchased C&C Processing from Smith’s brother-in-law, Chad Lottman.
“I was looking to start my own business, but we live in a town of about 260 people. I had a lot of good ideas that wouldn’t work in a small town, and we as a family didn’t want to move to the city,” Smith says. “My brother-in-law Chad, as he was growing his business, had a couple of opportunities come up that would require him to discontinue his slaughter operations. He talked to me about that to see if he was interested.”