When JS Strickland opened a convenience store and gas station and later a barbecue restaurant in Hattiesburg, Miss., in 1980, he likely never dreamed that enterprise would eventually become a standout in the family-owned meat business category.

His grandson, Dustin Strickland, 34, is the operator and owner of what evolved in 2012 into Strick’s Specialty Meats and Strick’s Catering, and recounts what brought that transformation about.

“I was a teenager when I came into the shop to help with deer processing,” he said. “I learned how to do it at the shop but had aspirations of going to culinary school. Somehow, I kept my culinary school mindset, although I never went to culinary school. I just focused on what customers might want.

“My ignorance about everything meat was probably a blessing in disguise to the growth of our business. I fixed my mind on things that I thought customers like me might like and did everything in a different way than any area meat processors were doing. Maybe that’s what brought us to where we are today.”

Dustin’s parents, Ken and Trisha are still involved in the business, but it was his concept of how game processing should be customer friendly that resulted in a growth to 5,000 sportsmen who annually bring in their deer, antelope, axis deer, elk, wild hogs and other game animals for processing.

Strick’s restaurant was originally 3,000 square feet and included the convenience store, barbecue restaurant and some retailing. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area in 2005, Dustin began employing his personal concept to upgrade the restaurant and move more into game processing. By 2012 the total operation had morphed into a restaurant and specialty meat shop, still with a heavy emphasis on game processing. Gone were the four gas pumps and the convenience store. The enterprise was then located in a strip mall 20 miles south, about a quarter mile from the University of Southern Mississippi campus. It now has expanded to 12,400 square feet. The family took over other storefront suites to expand their capabilities.

Smoked sausage rules the meat counter at Strick's, which produces plenty of specialty blends. (Source: Strick's Specialty Meats)

A different game plan

Here’s a quick look into what Dustin did differently in his game processing that now accounts for about 85% of Strick’s meat business which goes from early October through mid-February and some later sausage and snack stick processing that can run into April.

“I knew if I was getting my own deer processed, I would not want a 30- or 40-lb bag of one kind of product,” he explained. “I would want it in individual packages like you would find in a grocery store. It would be vacuum sealed and convenient to retrieve in exact portions from the home freezer.

“I wanted to be ‘mom friendly,’ meaning that no box of meat packs would exceed 25 lbs. It would mean that if we used a certain size box the customer could put that box into their home freezer. It meant that if we somehow screwed up on an order, there was no charge for that order.”

Dustin says that most of the orders were picked up by women or wives and that he wanted them to be happy with the purchases rather than feeling it was a troubling chore to get their finished game meats.

A quick visit to the Strick’s website — stricksspecialtymeats.com — details the company’s rules about accepting only clean, boned out or quartered game carcasses...or paying a $6 per bone removal charge. A whole carcass brought in results in a $40 breaking fee. Their list of finished product options is a mind bender. They offer small individual batch processing for smoked sausage, summer sausage, snack sticks and smoked or pan sausage.

“There is a confidence level that a customer is getting only meat from the animal they brought in,” Dustin said. He points out that the business is planning classes for small groups on such topics as making sausage or meat sticks, cutting and grinding your own game carcass and other topics that some say, “gives away your secrets.”

“In the long run, many of our customers will be able to do their own processing, but we think eventually that few hundred dollars they spend to have us do that backbreaking work will be money well spent in future years,” he said. He’ll also be able to sell customers casings and seasonings if they continue to do their own processing in future years. By the way, his company also will smoke game meats for a bit under $2 per lb.

Putting himself in the customers’ shoes has also paid dividends for Strick’s Specialty Meats. The shop does about 15% of its sales volume in retail sales, featuring over 50 versions of sausages as well as meat snack items like jerky and sticks.

Dustin said he noticed that customers were confused with the difference between the meat sales area, the barbecue restaurant and the catering department. The store has 10 employees and another 15 who handle restaurant and catering activity.

“I saw that customers coming in might wait five or 10 minutes to pick up an order,” Dustin said. “That was time that they could be shopping for other things we had to offer. We rethought our original concept of a convenience store and really became a food business.”

For example, the gas pumps, propane gas tanks, cigarettes and similar convenience items are a thing of the past. His mother Trisha now runs a bakery that might sell 150 cakes a day and can produce their own baked breads for the catering division. Dustin noted that the bakery sales now amount to more than those lost gas, propane and cigarette sales combined. It also ended the customer confusion about what this business is about.

Those meat eaters who come in to shop at Strick’s Specialty Meats can find virtually all kinds of fresh or smoked meats on display, from ostrich, alligator, turtle soup, antelope and seafood to cuts of every style, in addition to their barbecue roots fixings. They were honored with a People’s Choice award and as the Best BBQ In The ‘Burg. They certainly haven’t forgotten their barbecue restaurant roots which opened the doors wider for their catering department.

Strick's also caters about 400 events a year with meals ranging from chicken and brisket to seafood boils. (Source: Strick's Specialty Meats)

Catering credentials

Strick’s caters about 400 events a year from office and lumber business parties throughout the area and they once participated in a post Hurricane Katrina recovery event that helped feed 15,000 people. Their reputation in catering goes back to July 4, 1980, when the original country convenience store featured fireworks and some of the South’s best fried chicken. When the family realized they would have to work through that holiday period, they brought in a few grills to cook ribs and a few extra chickens for themselves. Many customers got a whiff and a taste of those grilled items and never stopped coming back.

But the guy who never lost his “culinary school mindset” began offering takeout or dine in family meals of pork ribs, pulled pork, chicken halves and brisket. The Strick’s boast that the processor “can cater any event” has overflowed to holidays where whole or half hams, brisket and other fare is featured. There is also a formal catering menu from Strick’s BBQ that goes from $20 a person for a chicken and brisket meal, to a seafood boil at $25 per person and on to a $40 per person hand-carved prime rib meal with all the trimmings.

Smoked sausage still seems to rule the meat counter at Strick’s. Specialty blends like green onion and cheddar, pineapple and pepper jack, andouille, are being upgraded to what were “high caliber” blends with more expensive offerings like their muffuletta, bacon mozzarella, Philly cheesesteak and chipotle mango seasoned sausages but still sold for no more than $5 per lb.

Just how good are the products emanating from Strick’s Specialty Meats? Let’s explain it this way: a few years ago, someone suggested Dustin consider joining a meat association to learn more. He traveled to Pennsylvania to attend the Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors 2015 convention and a processing seminar at Penn State University’s meat lab. He won an award for the small diameter sausage he entered into the cured meats competition. In 2016 he became involved with the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP) and this year entered the American Cured Meat Championships in Omaha, Neb., and walked off with the Grand Champion honors for his whole muscle jerky, and a few other awards. And, as a bonus, he was elected to a three-year term on the AAMP board of directors.

When asked what’s ahead in his thinking, Dustin replied that the growth in his business is prompting him to consider eventually moving the processing operation to a separate location.