Knoche's butcher shop for sale, 'priced to give new owners the opportunity to succeed'

Karl and Mary Wellensiek leave Knoche's butcher shop during one of their several visits during the week.

Mike Maier, left, uses a machine to put casings on homemade brats, as Nancy Lehr weighs out candy that is bought in bulk and put into smaller containers to sell at Knoche's Old Fashioned Butcher Shop, 5372 Old Middleton Road. Maier has been an employee at the shop for 43 years, and Lehr, who is owner Steve Knoche's sister, has worked there 44 years.

Steve Knoche, who put his 84-year-old Knoche's Old Fashioned Butcher Shop up for sale Friday, hopes someone will carry on the business but knows that's probably unrealistic.

"Keeping the Knoche's name on there would be awesome," he said. "But you can't just come in here and take over these wholesale accounts."

Knoche's has seven employees, four part-time and three full-time, said Stephanie Knoche, 57, who has owned the shop at 5372 Old Middleton Road with her husband for 25 years.

She said one of them may be interested in buying the West Side business, but it's unclear.

Steve, 68, said both his daughter's husband and his son have good-paying jobs and don't need the aggravation of running a mom-and-pop shop.

"You don't make a ton of money," he said. "It's a tough business nowadays. It's only me and maybe a couple other stores in the city that are like me anymore."

Steve said he's up against Hy-Vee, Metcalfe's Market and Whole Foods Market, which is building a 50,000-square-foot store not far from Knoche's. "It's a tough situation," he said.

According to its real estate listing, the couple is asking $450,000 for the 5,700-square-foot Knoche's Food Center building, which is advertised as "one of Madison's business landmarks since 1938." The building was built in 1922.

The listing encourages buyers to "explore new opportunities with an established history of being one of Madison's finest butcher shops" or to bring their own ideas to the location, which is zoned for neighborhood mixed use.

Steve Knoche said as a meat seller, his products go through daily state inspections. Anyone who intends to carry on the business would have to understand hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP, he said.

HACCP is a food safety system that keeps biological, chemical and physical hazards in the production process from causing the finished product to be unsafe.

The sale includes all equipment, vehicles, real estate, inventory, the Knoche's name, customer lists and the possibility of taking over Knoche's beer, liquor, tobacco and food and drink business licenses.

It's "priced to give new owners the opportunity to succeed," the listing says. "Continue the legacy or build your own."

Steve Knoche, co-owner of Knoche's butcher shop, talks to employee Mary Hennick at his desk in the shop. Hennick has been working there 11 years.

Steve, who began working at his grandparents’ store when he was 8, said it has been hard to find workers, and the store has taken a big hit because of road construction out front.

"It's just killed our business," he said.

Stephanie said sales are down about $1,500 a day. "It's not been a good summer," Steve added.

They said the shop has been doing OK due to its large wholesale business. They run two trucks, delivering meat to 65 bars and restaurants, which accounts for about 40% of their business. The other 60% is retail.

Stephanie said Knoche's is one of the biggest ground beef wholesalers in the state, with its meat used by the Oakcrest Tavern across the street, Vintage Brewing, Badger Tavern, Laurel Tavern, Riley Tavern, Jordan's Big 10 Pub and Sconnie Bar. Smoky's Club, before it closed, was one of its biggest accounts.

Stephanie said the shop is so busy providing meat to bars and restaurants, they’ve had to turn new wholesale business down.

She got choked up as she reflected on her best memories over the years. "We’re just kind of like family. We banter. And especially on the holidays, we all get together and celebrate the hard work being done."

Tim Oesterle, of Mount Vernon, gives his meat order to Brett Nev at Knoche's butcher shop. Oesterle grew up in the surrounding neighborhood and remembers Knoche's from his childhood.

Steve said they had two offers on Monday and four people came to look on Tuesday, but they’re not accepting offers until more people have a chance to see the property.

Teaching the retail side to someone would be easy, he said, but training someone on the wholesale side would be tricky.

The book of rules and regulations he has to abide by is 4 inches thick, Steve said. He needs to write plans for his raw ground meat, his marinated meat and his sliced meat. He also has to create letters of guarantee and chart all the temperatures.

"It's a lot of work," he said, joking that he and Stephanie have almost "gotten divorced three times over the years" because of it.

Stephanie said Steve is an avid hunter who will be able to do more hunting in his retirement, and they’ll take more trips to Arizona to see their grandchildren.

"It will just be nice to get up and have a cup of coffee in the morning and not have to go to our business," she said.

Knoche's Old Fashioned Butcher Shop is up for sale after 84 years in business. Stephanie Knoche, above, owns the business with her husband, Steve Knoche.

Stephanie said they even go in on Sundays, when the shop is closed, to check on the shop and get ready for the week.

"It's just time," she said. "It's sad, but it's time."

Steve calls himself a people person who's gotten to know a lot of his customers in the 60 years he's spent at the shop.

"We’ve got so many faithful customers," about 300 of whom he said he knows by name.

Steve said his meat is so high-end he has customers who drive up from Janesville. He also gets customers from as far as Minocqua who come once a month to stock up on meat, and he ships steaks to customers who have moved to Florida and Arizona and don't care how much it costs.

"There's something to our meat market," he said. "I don't know where the heck I’m gonna buy meat if I sell this place. That's gonna be a problem."

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"You don't make a ton of money. It's a tough business nowadays."

Steve Knoche, of Knoche's Old Fashioned Butcher Shop

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