Mike Sloan is one of the owners of the Hermann Wurst Haus Market and Restaurant, alongside his wife Lynette. These two have an extensive history in the meat processing industry.

After working for other employers, Mike and his wife started their business in the small town of Hermann, Mo., in September 2011.

“So now, 12 years later, we make 45 flavors of bratwurst, we make 12 flavors of bacon, 10 flavors of summer sausage … along with many, many other products,” Mike Sloan said.

“We’re open seven days a week, and we have indoor/outdoor seating, and we do have an all-you-can-eat breakfast every Saturday and every Sunday,” he said. The Sloans opened their deli at the same time as the Hermann Wurst Haus.

Sloan has won various awards for his work. “I’ve got state awards, regional awards, American Association awards, 29 awards from Germany, Frankfurt, and probably the ones that are the hardest to win are the ones from the American Association of Meat Processors,” Sloan said.

He cited his German Bologna award as one of the awards he is most proud of, and he has won it around four or five times.

Sloan’s business sees mail-order sales increases during the holidays, as well as after the send-out of their monthly e-newsletter, which goes out to about 15,000 subscribers.

Sloan also noted the tourist appeal of Hermann, Mo. During the first five months of the year, Sloan offers classes to tourists and any others who are interested. Those classes include Bacon 101, Summer Sausage 101, Wurst 101, and others.

Sloan emphasized the importance of the experience for the customer. “Most everybody has good products, but what they don’t have is the experience for the customer,” he said.

Sloan has recently expanded into a second location, which open and located around an hour out from the Hermann Wurst Haus. “It was a existing 11-year-old business that was struggling, and it was built about 11 years ago, and it was modeled after the Hermann Wurst Haus,” he said.

He said he purchased the facility in January 2023 and changed the name to Fulton Wurst Haus and Butchery, which is quite similar to The Hermann Wurst Haus Market and Restaurant. “What is different there is we actually do the slaughtering and harvesting of livestock there,” Sloan said.

Sloan emphasized the importance of passion in business. He also noted that that passion has to translate to sales. “Nothing happens until you sell it. Drive people to the cash register … whether that’s by the plate, by the pound or pallet. Or plane. I haven’t done that one yet.”

“I’ve always said that there’s only one thing I like making better than brats and bacon, is selling brats and bacon,” Sloan said.

He commented that although he thinks it’s impossible to make the perfect bacon, he will keep trying to make it.