Kurt G Schmitz Senior, or KG, Left Germany and came to America just before WWII. As a young man growing up in Germany he saw that the only opportunity was for those who were willing to join the ruling party. Unwilling to go along to get along he traveled to the land of opportunity, America, where anyone with an idea and the will to work can be successful. KG arrived in San Francisco with next to nothing and took a job sweeping the floor in a sausage kitchen. He took pride in his work and kept the floor spotless, going so far as to reprimand the older more experienced employees for not wiping their feet and dirtying “his” floor. The owner took notice of this work ethic and took on KG as an apprentice teaching him the trade. After KG learned the art of making sausage he borrowed a few dollars from his uncle and went into business for himself.
It was around this time that KG married his English teacher, Eve, and together they ran their Sausage Kitchen on Castro Street, making sausage and other artisan meats. They were making consistent quality meats and before long they made more money than they knew what to do with. The cash was piling up, literally, to hear KG tell it there were stacks of cash filling up the office.
But KG is head strong, “What’s right is right!” His employees didn’t see things his way so they conspired to load extra product on the trucks and sell the meat without an invoice pocketing the cash for themselves. It wasn’t long before KG discovered their thievery but it was too late as they had taken everything.
KG and Eve packed up the two boys and started over in Ukiah.
Living in the country gave them the opportunity to raise livestock and make farm fresh meats. At some point KG (who inherited and manage to pass on the family lead foot) accumulated a number of speeding tickets and lost his license to drive.
Not one to be deterred he learned how to fly, acquired a small plane, and was able to continue his business trips via air. The going was tough but over the years with the help of family they built a successful business.
In the seventies KG and sons moved the office and warehouse back to the bay area to our current location. For the next decade they built up our brand of beef and western veal with thousands of cattle on ranches in Texas and California. Supplying restaurants, distributors, grocery stores and meat markets all over the west coast. They had their ups and downs but the business thrived into the eighties.
KG retired and sons Kurt Jr. and Paul continued to run the business. Over a period of several years the meat business changed and the brothers could not agree on anything. One thing led to another and the business fell to pieces, in an effort to keep it going KG put most of what he had saved back into the business but it was all for not. The brothers parted ways not speaking to each other, Paul left the meat business and Kurt Jr. and KG struggled to rebuild the business.
The business hit bottom in the mid nineties ceasing all trade in the spring, but Kurt Jr. and his oldest son Clay Schmitz started again. It was a struggle to rebuild the Schmitz name that had been tarnished in the family feud, and even more of a struggle to adjust to changes in the bay area as most of the producers have been replaced by distributors. Over the next decade Kurt Jr. and his son re-established the Schmitz name, slowing regaining the customers that we have been doing business with for decades. With the addition of Kurt Jr.’s youngest son Scott Schmitz in the new millennium we have become even more focused on making the best Natural meats - Top Choice, Prime or better.
Kurt Jr. and Paul have reconciled and we have great family dinners together enjoying tender delicious steaks with some of Paul's wine (Paul is now a vintner). It’s been said that if you’re making a lot of mistakes you are learning faster than everyone else, well over the past sixty years we have learned a lot. Our experience is what enables us to have the finest quality meats and get them to you at a fair price.
