Mark Eifert worked diligently in the German specialty meat shop that his father Klaus and his mother Ingrid built just outside of Honesdale, Pa., in 1977. As a teenager he spent time in Germany working to refine his skills in crafting authentic and traditional German meats by apprenticing in a couple of meat plants.

When his parents retired in 2008, Mark took over the business and focused on keeping things running smoothly at the Alpine Wurst & Meat House. He also was in charge of the 140-seat restaurant his parents created within the confines of the 15,000-square-foot facility. The meat business was not only frequented by locals but was quite a tourist destination being located close to New York and New Jersey.

“Things changed dramatically when COVID hit,” Eifert recalled. “We couldn’t get or keep employees and the tourism aspect vanished because people were leery of traveling. We had to close the restaurant, which is used more for storage space still to this day. I tried to find someone to manage the restaurant but never seemed to find the right person. So, I turned all my efforts to the meat processing.”

Mark’s wife Gretchen continues to work beside him. She not only tackles the secretarial responsibilities, but assists in marketing, financial concerns and stepping in to finish or take over work that needs a helping hand or two. She works alongside him and operates as his “right hand” in most phases of the plant management, and still finds time to make her signature apple strudel.

Staying true to tradition

Alpine Wurst & Meat House is thriving by sticking to its traditional German roots and recipes. Their offerings of all things wurst, brats and smoked sausage are on display in a colorful retail shop where anything from Black Forest ham and bacon, smoked pork chops, Kassler Rippchen (smoked pork loin cured with salt and spices), bockwurst, weisswurst and traditional sauerbraten can be found.

And the taste is something beyond belief, a statement that can be verified by the judges from the German Butcher’s Association when Alpine earned medals for bauernwurst, skinless all beef franks, bratwurst, krainerwurst, braunschweiger liverwurst, liver spread, and pork and beef natural skin franks at international competitions in 2016 and 2019. The competition was held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and both Mark, and his father Klaus were invited to Frankfurt, Germany, to receive their medals.

The meat shop features a full-service counter for steaks, roasts and chops. Their beef is all Choice or Prime. There is a deli that delights with its freshly prepared sandwiches, salads and sides. The shop is also stocked with seafood and a variety of imported dry goods, including chocolates, Hengstenberg pickles and their outsourced Black Forest cake. There are cheeses and a wowing variety of locally made breads.

“Getting and keeping good employees is paramount,” Eifert said. “We need to see their motivation and willingness to make our company better. I tell applicants that if you use your abilities to make our shop and business better, the better off you will be.”

Alpine has 26 employees and trains those showing the right motivation. They are strongly rooted in the community and for years have sponsored school tours of their facility. They are members and participants in programs sponsored by both the Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors and the American Association of Meat Processors.

The variety of German-inspired meat products available at Alpine Wurst & Meat House has been recognized for excellence by the German Butcher's Association. (Source: Alpine Wurst & Meat House)

Full-service food safety

When the Eiferts began focusing more on the processing side of the business after the restaurant closed down, they also took the opportunity to grow the business in a new direction. To that end, construction is about 70% complete on the facility to make room and logistical changes to add a high-pressure processing (HPP) system (a Hiperbaric 135) that uses high isostatic pressure transmitted by water to deactivate any pathogen in packaged foods and beverages.

Alpine for years has transported some of its product line to Connecticut for HPP treatment. But Eifert decided to purchase a system because of the cost and time involved in sending the products out, getting them HPP treated, and returning them to the Honesdale plant. Eifert said that a 500-lb pallet of packaged product can be processed in a HPP system in about five minutes. Previously, Alpine sent between 8,000 to 10,000 lbs of product for treatment per week.

“Not only will we be saving on the transportation cost and labor cost by doing this in-house with our own system, but we’ll be able to provide this service to other companies as well for their products, and act as a toller for this service,” he explained. “We want to focus more on co-packing and private labeling our niche products in addition to HPP tolling for other food manufacturers.

“This process not only kills any pathogen in a product, but it can also extend the shelf life of two or three weeks to that of a few months. That means we don’t have to use preservatives and can have our products wrapped in a label that shows the real ingredients we put into that product. It keeps what we call traditional German-style products as genuine as they can be for the longest time.”

Eifert went on to extol the benefits of HPP to other food products.

“It can be used for dry soups, even raw meats,” he said. “The foods that can be made safer without preservatives include seafoods, spreads, craft alcohol, dairy items, cold brew coffees, juices and smoothies. So, we will be able to provide that service for our customer base, which includes more than the 400 supermarket groups and convenience stores we now serve. That service could grow from there with new customer firms.

“It also means that our products can become eligible for food programs in health care facilities, retirement communities, even schools. You can bet we will continue to work on that certification for our products made under the HPP system.”

It’s that kind of forward thinking that recently earned Alpine Wurst & Meat House the Innovator of the Year Award for businesses in Wayne County.

Additionally, construction on a fourth smokehouse is nearing completion at Alpine. It will include an air purification system – proof that Eifert is serious when he says he’s focused more on processing.

Alpine Wurst & Meat House is now co-packing products for businesses that ship and sell their wares throughout the United States, but somehow, the company still honors the traditions that Eifert’s parents instilled in him. It’s the little things like smoking trout, venison or wild turkeys for local sportsmen or processing and smoking meats for area farmers to sell under their own label for extra income.

“We’re still a hometown company,” Eifert said. “That means we remember and honor those who supported us when we were struggling, their children and the little guy.”

And it turns out that Eifert again donned his “focus more on processing” thinking cap. Alpine Wurst & Meat House recently developed a new product idea at Alpine. It’s called “Steacon,” a New York strip beef loin that is cured and smoked and sliced like pork bacon.