Wurstmeister creates a legacy in downtown Hermann
During busy weekends in Hermann, visitors to Hermann Wurst Haus can’t miss owner Mike Sloan. The longtime wurstmeister stands just inside the front door as the smells of sausage, bacon and more waft outside and lure guests in. He welcomes them to the store, hands them a lunch menu and points out the smoked products for sale.
“I love making sausage and I’m good at it. But if I had to do just one thing, it would be greeting people and telling them about who we are, what they’re smelling and what they’re going to taste,” Mike says. “I’ve come to love running the business from the front door and selling our brand and our products. I want to become the Colonel Sanders of sausage.”
Mike and his wife, Lynette, own Hermann Wurst Haus in the Gasconade County seat. Today, they produce more than 5,000 pounds of award-winning smoked sausage and bacon each week. Their products are sold in the store, served at restaurants across Hermann, stocked at grocery stores and even available 24/7 in a vending machine.
For Mike, learning how the sausage is made has been his life’s work. He grew up working at his family’s meat market and processing plant in nearby Swiss before he and Lynette started their own venture. They purchased a former auto parts store in June 2011 and opened Hermann Wurst Haus less than three months later.
“I was 53 and didn’t want to make a career change. Making sausage is what I did best,” Mike says. “Hermann was a great tourism town already, but I felt like it was on the cusp of amping up.”
The shop began with five flavors of sausage and has expanded steadily. Mike says they now sell about 3,000 pounds of bacon and 2,000 pounds of sausage each week. The lineup includes 45 sausage varieties, 12 flavors of bacon and 10 kinds of summer sausage.
Some of the most popular sausages are caramelized pear and Gorgonzola, beer and bacon and Best of Show bratwursts. “The Best of Show is very traditional; the biggest choice might be whether to have it with mustard or not,” the Three Rivers Electric Cooperative member says. “The pear and Gorgonzola is so unique that people just have to try it, and the beer and bacon’s name sells itself.”
The sausage menu isn’t limited to one style or region. In addition to traditional German bratwursts, Mike makes Cajun boudin, andouille and jambalaya-style sausage, Mexican chorizo, Polish kielbasa and several Italian varieties. Unique options include Buffalo blue cheese, jalapeno and peach, bloody mary, Alfredo chicken and even macaroni and cheese bratwursts.
The top selling bacon at the Wurst Haus is hickory-smoked bacon, a three-time national grand champion and 10-time Missouri state champion. “It’s a bacon world nowadays — it gets eaten morning, noon and night,” Mike says. “People also like our apple bacon for something a little sweeter, and I really enjoy our coffee bacon.”
Mike takes pride in more than 600 awards Hermann Wurst Haus has collected through the years, many displayed inside the store. He enters one competition each year at the local, state and national levels, as well as an international contest in Germany every three years.
“At this point, we use the competitions to keep our staff trained and motivated about what we’re doing right or wrong,” Mike says. “I don’t want us to become complacent.”
Mike says the products entered in contests are the same as what is sold in the store, with one exception. “It’s about 60 percent flavor, and we know we’ve got our flavor down,” he says. “So at that point it’s a beauty contest. You’re just looking for that perfect-looking slab of bacon.”
Mike prepared for Hermann’s slower months after Christmas by creating a Wurst Making 101 class. “We were just trying to get by that first year and decided to do this one-time class in January 2012,” he says. “When the class was over, the hands went up asking, ‘What’s next?’ ”
Since then, he has added Makin’ Bacon 101, Summer Sausage Making and Whole Pig Butchery. Mike estimates more than 4,000 students have taken their classes.
Alongside the retail store, Hermann Wurst Haus has a deli counter where guests can order smoked creations and housemade sides — such as German potato salad, deviled egg potato salad and red cabbage — to eat inside or on the patio along First Street.
For those who arrive after hours, Mike has them covered. In 2021, he installed what he jokingly calls “the stupidest thing I ever bought, but in a good way.” Four years later, Missouri’s first meat vending machine just outside the Wurst Haus’ front door is still stocked with bacon, brats, jerky, snack sticks, summer sausage and German chocolate cake. Eggs are expected to be added soon.
After more than a dozen years, Hermann Wurst Haus has become a cornerstone of downtown Hermann, Missouri’s most German city. “Hermann as a whole is a showcase for us all to be proud of,” Mike says. “I consider our store an experience. Whether it’s the smell as they walk by or the sight of sausages on display when they come in, it’s an experience they’ll remember long after they leave.”
For more on Hermann Wurst Haus, call 573-486-2266 or visit hermannwursthaus.com.