The family business first began back in 1959 after Founder Martin Linz won a massive $65,000 playing a dice game. Already an experienced butcher, Martin Linz took his winnings and decided to open his very own butcher shop in Calumet City, Ill., naming its Linz Meats.

After joining the business in the early 1970s, Martin’s son Robert Linz recognized the strong competition in the retail meat business, particularly with large supermarkets, and decided to expand to both retail and wholesale and began supplying to Chicago restaurants.

Current owner Fred Linz joined the business during high school, which is when Meats by Linz began exclusively focusing on wholesale distribution.

Though the business started as a local operation, it quickly grew into multiple new markets and expanded its demographics. Fred Linz noted that networking with local chefs enabled his family business to attract new customer bases.

Image Credit: Sammy Bredar

“Fast forward, we’re currently selling all over the world,” Fred Linz said. “Throughout the United States, throughout the Caribbean, throughout Mexico and Asia as well.”

Now, with four generations in the business, Meats by Linz continues to focus on steak origin, quality, taste and consistency, operating as one of the largest independent meat purveyors in the world. Fred Linz’s son Zac noted that trust, personal accountability and transparency are paramount to the Meats by Linz business. “We really do push our trust, and what we say is what we’re going to do, day in and day out.”

With such strong growth, Meats by Linz relocated from its original butcher shop in 2004, moving into a larger facility. After three expansions at the new facility, Meats by Linz needed to expand again. This spurred the business’ relocation from Calumet City, Ill., to Hammond, Ind., with the new and improved operations officially opening in 2024.

“It’s given us a lot more opportunities to do things that we didn’t have the space to do before,” Fred Linz said. “We’re currently doing some retail work. We’re doing a lot more grind work than we have in the past, because we were just limited on space, and we can only fit so much equipment into the old facility.”

Image Credit: Meats by Linz

With this new facility, Meats by Linz is focused on efficiency. Fred Linz emphasized that their new facility has also enabled stronger labor efficiency and employee quality of life.

Meats by Linz offers their own branded beef program: Linz Heritage Angus. This USDA-certified Angus program, founded in the early 2010s, specializes in genetics, breeding and butchering.

Meats by Linz wanted a program they could have full control of, inspiring them to create this program. In 2012, Linz Heritage Angus began working on the live side.

“We own the cattle from the beginning all the way until the end,” Fred Linz said. “We’ve got a true conception-to-plate program, from genetic selection to the feedlot, back to the ranch where those calves came from, to the feedlot, to the harvesting facility, and then here to Hammond where do our wet-age, our dry-age, and our custom-cutting for our custom specifications.”

At its new Hammond facility in Indiana, Meats by Linz operates one of the largest dry-aging facilities in the United States. “We’ve got over anywhere from 17,000 to 19,000 subprimals in our dry-aging room on any given day,” Fred Linz said. “I believe it’s the largest dry-aging room in the United States, if not the world.”

Most steakhouse menus consist of wet-aged steak items, but dry-aging continues to grow for Meats by Linz every year. “For us to sell as much dry-age as we do, it’s pretty impressive,” Fred Linz said.

Throughout its rapid growth and continuous improvement and innovation, Meats by Linz stays true to its family roots. Fred and Zac Linz both thank their team members, to whom they credit much of their success, as well as their four generations of family leadership, which continues to show deep dedication to the Meats by Linz mission.