Today we’d like to introduce you to Kent Wenzel.
Hi Kent, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born and raised in Hamilton. After graduating from High School I moved to Dallas Ft. Worth thinking I’d seen enough of Hamilton, but after 10 years, I came back after growing up a bit. Its a small town and everybody feels like they are family. If your child is doing something wrong, they will tell you—not to be bad, but to be helpful. If you are sick, they help you, Its a quality of life that is hard to find and now I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
After returning from Dallas I began working for my father in his store during deer season. The days were long, 10 to 12 hours processing the deer, making sausage, and so forth. I thought maybe I could do this. But I had an idea about a meat market as well. When I opened my own business in 2003 I needed something to bring the customer in the front door. We put out signs that said, ‘Come to Wenzel’s and Bite my Butt’—our Pork Butt Fridays. ‘The Mole,’ I call him, a local businessman, he came to me and said the church women were sure upset with me. I told him they were the same ones who were coming in to get the sandwiches. Over the last 23 years we have developed an entire line of Bite My Butt products and full menu of specialty sandwiches. We have daily specials throughout the week with the Pork Butt Sandwich and “Greater Tater” being customer favorites.
In addition to expanding the deli side with great lunches we offer specialty meats and cheeses and sausages prepared in our store. Our retail area includes a great selection of our own kitchen prepared casserole style entree dishes and pies, cookies and snacks.
We also provide special occasion catering both on and off site. Our Bison room is capable of handling up to 50 person parties and our Wenzel Hall up to 175.
Over the years I have been fortunate and grateful to have had some wonderful team members who have shared and been instrumental in my vison and success of the business.
We are looking forward to many more years of providing our customers with a great dining experience in a unique environment and a fine selection of products to take when you just dont to want to cook.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have definitely been struggles over the years. Economic downturns which impact us all have been some of those struggles. Certainly the COVID era resulted in a downturn in business as people chose to not eat out as often and we saw a decline in our retail sales. Through it all we have been fortunate to have a regular return customer base whose patronage was and is so instrumental in our ability to weather the hard times. Like many other small business owners we have at times found it challenging to build and maintain a consistent team.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We have been in business for 23 years. We offer a deli which can prepare and package cold cuts, cheeses and specialty meats to go as well as a sit in dining area where customers can order from our menu of specialty sandwiches and daily specials.
Our retails sales area include specially on site prepared sausages, brats, beef sticks, jerky, snacks, cookies along with a great selection of entree casserole style dishes prepared in our own kitchen. We are known for having great lunch specials, with the loaded Greater Tater served on Wednesdays and our Pork Butt Sandwiches on Fridays being customer favorites. In addition to our normal retail deli sales we are offer a wide selection of specialty dishes suitable for catering at special occasions and events and have the ability to host events of up to 175 people at our location.
We also have specialty meat and cheese trays available for any of your special occasions and also gift baskets which can be made to order and shipped if needed. Customers are welcome visit our website and place orders for delivery.
We are particularly proud and grateful to our customers who have given us our success over the years. We have many customers who commute on the weekends through Hamilton from the Ft. Worth area to Austin and San Antonino who have made us their normal stop for a great lunch and to pick up one of our many specialty items.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
There were so many, but I think one that stands out was when I got my Stephens double barrel 20 gauge shotgun from my dad for Christmas. I still have that gun today and have fond memories of many dove hunting excursions with my older brother.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wenzellonestarmeat.com
- Facebook: Wenzel Lonestar Meat Company
