Kramer’s Sausage closing after 59 years

La Porte City locker, founded by German immigrant, ‘did the old style’

Dec. 30, 2022 2:22 pm

LA PORTE CITY – As a local sausage company closes its doors, packages of meat linger in almost empty coolers next to faded signs sporting German puns.

Kramer's Sausage Co. in La Porte City is closing after 59 years of providing the state with quality casings.

Joest Kramer, the son of Heinz and Heide Kramer, who founded the business in 1964, said he's closing the business because of health concerns.

Also, many of the locker's longtime employees recently retired.

Kramer said he was set to close the business in October, but he stayed open a bit longer to complete some orders. Then, people were asking about Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys and hams, delaying the closing till year's end.

Then, his father, who’d worked at the locker until he was 84, died in November at age 88. He still came to the locker every day until very recently, setting up from as a greeter and making tea and coffee for the workers.

Heinz Kramer, according to his obituary, was born in Collinghorst, Germany. At age 14, he apprenticed to the local butcher and sausage maker and took trade classes.

He immigrated to Canada in 1954 and was a sous chef on a freighter ship for a year before going to work at a packinghouse in Winnipeg. While working there for three years, he learned more about the trade and perfected some of his own recipes — including his famed fermented sausage.

After marrying Heide, the couple moved to Maryland where Heinz worked at another packinghouse. The two moved to Waterloo after Joest was born and where Heinz worked at John Deere for 11 years.

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He opened Kramer's Sausage in 1964.

The friends he made at John Deere helped him with the electrical and mechanical components at the locker. He built his own cooler after teaching himself about refrigeration.

His obituary said he always sent his friends home with meat.

Joest Kramer said the recipes his father perfected came with him from Germany. He also mixed his own seasonings and cures.

"A lot of people buy a pre-mix, so that's kind of a difference," Kramer said. "We did the old style. The old style stuff, all the time."

In a Facebook post, the locker said it will not be selling the recipes because they were "like works of art" made by Heinz.

Over time, things changed in the meat industry. About 25 years ago, cheese was added to some products, Kramer said, noting his father was "blown away" by the idea.

"Why would you put sausage and cheese? Never!" Kramer said, quoting his dad. "You’d never do that in the old country."

Kramer said the business’ top sellers were fermented summer sausage and smoke-cured beef. Kramer's also was at the Iowa State Fair every year, selling its giant turkey legs.

The locker also processed deer meat for hunters.

News of the locker's closing brought lots of people for final visits.

"Everybody wants this, one of that," Kramer said. "And I hate to disappoint people. So I said, OK, I’ll make you guys what has been ordered. And then I made the mistake of answering the phone and then (people) wondered about hams and turkeys."

He said this year was his bestselling Christmas ever, noting friends and former employees came back to help fill the orders.

"It's ridiculous," he said. "There was a cooler the size of this room, full, just over a week ago. And now it's turned off."