Godshall’s Quality Meats is known for its all-natural turkey bacon. The Telford, Pennsylvania-based company began as a “small town butcher,” according to Ron Godshall, COO and president.
The family-owned and -operated business, which is in its third generation of leadership, recently showcased its newest product, angus steak bacon, at the IDDBA expo in Atlanta, Georgia.
Godshall’s has been known for its all-natural turkey products since introducing them in 1994. Today, the brand can be found nationwide in Sam’s Club and 6,000 other retail locations.
At the beginning of 2022, it launched all-natural beef bacon.
“It’s hard to say whether the product is more steak or bacon,” Godshall said. “If you fried it crispy, you’re going to think it’s bacon that tastes like steak or not so crispy.”
To showcase the product, the company featured appetizers for expo-goers to sample. They included a Philadelphia soft pretzel with cream cheese and a bacon-wrapped potato chip with creamy horseradish sauce.
Retail sales of the angus steak bacon launched in March at six major retailers. According to Godshall, the company has commitments to enter 16 more retailers “before the end of the summer.”
“The steak bacon has actually exceeded our expectations,” he said. “We make a lot of beef bacon products and we have for years. The problem with beef bacon, with it being a whole muscle product, the higher the grade of beef, the more fat it has. It tends to be inconsistent…so we asked, ‘What’s the best way we could revamp this beef?’ And as with all our products, we’re using all-natural wood.”
Early returns on the bacon have been promising for the company, which also fared a bit better than most during the pandemic.
Despite a 30 percent drop in workforce, Godshall said the company increased its sales, which he attributed to teamwork.
“At its worst, I mean, everybody who knew how to make product was on the floor making product,” he said. “I was on the floor making products. My daughter, when she was off of school, she was there.
“Needless to say, we didn’t fill all the orders going through that time, but we did actually hit a new plateau in sales. I think [that happened] because we actually do have a very close-knit business and we treat our employees as family.”
For more information, visit godshalls.com.
