Martin’s to close shop, hand over recipes

After 18 years of making homemade sausages, hams, and bacon in Barwick, Anson Martin, owner of Martin’s Meats, is closing up shop–but not without passing along a few trade secrets first.
Martin, with the help of two of his daughters, will be spending the next few months training and teaching the employees at Sunset Ridge Processing Ltd. in Emo how to “make the sausage we used to make,” he said.
“And the ham and bacon curing,” he added, noting Sunset Ridge approached him with the deal.
“The girls did the sausage, [and] supervised that,” Martin continued. “I’ve been supervising the ham and bacon curing.”
Since Martin bought his Barwick shop in 1980, it’s been a family-run business. But with family members growing up and moving away over time, maintaining it has become harder.
“Our facilities were a little crowded for what we wanted to do in rush times,” said Martin, noting their business had grown beyond what they could handle.
He added no such problem existed with Sunset Ridge’s large building and state-of-the-art equipment.
Training at Sunset Ridge has gone well so far, Martin said, and will continue over the next three months.
“But we’ll be keeping tabs periodically on them to see the quality is where Martin’s Meats used to be,” he added.
Martin’s Meats officially closes its doors March 25. And Martin said after 18 years in the meat business, not doing it is going to take some getting used to.
“It’s going to be something I’ll be missing,” he said. “Interchanging with the customers–I’ll be missing it.”
But he won’t get out of practice entirely, noting he wouldn’t mind taking on the occasional job from Sunset Ridge when things get too hectic.
“My business would really be just sitting there so if a fall rush comes, we can take the excess,” he said.