Butchers are a dying breed, but the customized expertise they offer is needed now perhaps more than ever. It’s a responsibility co-owners of the Von Hanson’s franchise don’t take lightly.
Brothers Darren, 26, and Dustin Pfeffer, 28, and longtime family friend Matt Sand, 24, and his father Mark are the current owners of the Plymouth store (originally owned by Pfeffers’ father Kevin), which they helped build in 1999. The second-generation Von Hanson’s owners are proud of the franchise timeline that hangs on the wall.
As with all Von Hanson’s, custom is really the name of the game: Specialty sausages (consider the venison sausage list), wild-game processing, “really any idea a customer has, we tell customers—sometimes even on the phone afterwards—how best we’ll prepare and how to cook it,” Dustin says. “We’ve got a lot of longtime regular customers.”
“It’s easy, and probably the most fun part of the job, for us to experiment and try new things, to try out new recipes,” Darren adds. “Each year we’ll have new kabob flavors or marinades.”
The full-service store (the back of the shop includes meat grinders, smokehouses and a full kitchen for recipe creation and testing) is increasingly also Plymouth’s one-stop grilling shop. Especially in months March through November (and even December for the holidays), the shop is hopping with locals stopping by to select prime cuts of meat, along with side dishes, seasonings, even beverages and fresh-baked bread daily (year-round).
Summer staples include bratwurst and sausage. And this month they’re sharing their top picks for prime cuts of meat to throw on your barbie this grilling season:
THE MEAT OF IT
Pictured from bottom to top:
1. Thick porterhouse steak, premium black angus
2. Premium black angus New York Strip steak
3. Chicken kabobs (in any variety of flavors/marinades)
4. Bratwurst (still strung together)
5. Center-cut beef tenderloin
