Keith and Jaci Birnschein opened Door County Custom Meats to provide a place for local farmers and hunters to have their animals processed for meat. They processed more than 6,000 pounds of meat their first year, including brats, summer sausage, venison, and bacon – doing it all with recipes handed down from Keith's grandfather. They built a brand new, state of the art processing facility on their
small farm in Door county, complete with a 12 by 32 foot walk in cooler, and insulated walls that can be steam cleaned after processing an animal. Much of his business comes from area hunters, and local farmers who want one or two animals processed for their own use. While the busy season is obviously fall and winter, after the deer hunting seasons, there is plenty of work to keep this family busy all year round. The idea for the processing facility came from Keith's memories of his grandfather, working at a local food market. Watching, and helping, his grandfather inspired his love for this kind of work. While he would have loved to go into business with his grandfather, it was not meant to be. So now he operates his facility, fulfilling his grandfather's dream along with his own. And this truly is a family affair. The custom-built facility was designed by Keith himself. Keith's son helps with the processing which makes this truely a family business. The trophies on the wall – antelope, pheasant, and deer included, are all Keith's. While this is obviously a business, designed to turn a profit, it is not all about the money for Keith and his family. When hunters bring in deer for processing, they can sign up for the Hunt for the Hungry program, and the meat – and the processing – are then donated to local food pantries at no cost to the food pantries, or the hunters.
