In the tiny community of Brookside, in the town of Pensaukee in Oconto County, a small butcher shop is preparing to close its doors after years of providing fresh cuts of meat and butchering services to Oconto County residents and other customers.
Melotte’s Meats, at the crossroads of Brookside Road and County Road J, will close April 3, and the equipment and buildings will be offered up for auction May 2.
Owner Jerry Melotte said he has to sell the business because of a failing mound septic system that is too costly to upgrade. One option would be to add another mound cell with an aerobic treatment unit, he said.
“The unit itself is about $45,000,” Melotte said. “It’s just too expensive for me at this stage.”
Melotte has capped the system, essentially creating holding tanks, and has them pumped once a week.
“I’ll get out while I can,” he said.
Twenty-seven years ago, Melotte purchased the building, which housed an IGA business, tore out the shelves, added two freezers, a cooler and the processing area, then opened the doors.
“The ceiling was stuffed with feed bags for insulation,” Melotte said with a chuckle. I must have hauled out 25 or 30 truckloads.” Years ago, a feed mill was located across the road.
The business is known for its deer processing, with customers coming from as far as La Crosse and Milwaukee and points north to have their deer processed.
“I’ve got guys that have been bringing deer here every year if they get ‘em,” he said, chuckling again.
Melotte’s Meats will process about 550 deer during bow and gun season. In its best year, 1,000 deer have been processed.
During deer season, Melotte works from 5 a.m. to about 2 p.m. and can process about 80 deer. This includes boning out the animal, which many other butchers don’t do, he said. About a week after the nine-day gun hunt, all the deer brought in have been boned out.
Then the venison sausage-making begins, with processing every week until it’s finished.
“I never made sausage until I got here,” Melotte said. “It was a learning experience. Now I just totally enjoy it.”
Melotte said one of the keys to the successful business is his “pickiness.”
“I’ve turned meat away if it wasn’t clean enough,” he said. “If I won’t eat it, I won’t make it. I won’t put something in someone’s sausage if I won’t eat it. I believe in good service, good quality.”
Janet Frank is the only full-time employee and has been working at Melotte’s for about seven years. She said she is sad to see the business close.
“Jerry’s a great guy to work for,” Frank said. “I’m going to miss working for him the most.”
She said the store has been a central place for area residents to meet.
“We have regulars that come in and stand around and talk … catch up on the local gossip,” she said. “I’ll never have a job like this again. That’s the saddest part for me.”
Ann Ristow, of Abrams, is one of the regulars. She has been coming to the store for about 20 years.
“I thought my husband was kidding me,” Ristow said of the closing.
She spoke about the high quality of the meat, while ordering hamburger, a beef roast and pork chops.
“I’ll have to refigure all of my meals,” she said.
Melotte plans to work for his brother, Harold, who owns Melotte’s Distributing in Green Bay, a restaurant supply business. But it just won’t be the same.
“I’ll really miss the people,” he said.
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