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Wolverine History
Wolverine Packing was founded by the late Al Bonahoom who operated exclusively as a lamb and veal processor until the early 1960’s. During this time, the company went through many transitions and eventually evolved into one the leaders in the lamb and veal slaughter business. Wolverine Packing was a pioneer in the development of fresh vacuum-packed lamb and veal, which today is the industry standard.
In the early 1960’s, Wolverine Packing started utilizing fresh lamb and veal by-products from their own slaughter and processing plant. This decision enabled the company to create their portion-control division which started processing breaded and unbreaded veal patties for the retail and food service industry. Since this time Wolverine Packing has evolved into the production of patties of all species plus many specialty meat and poultry products.
In 1970 Wolverine Packing ventured into new territory when
they opened a beef breaking facility. This new division fabricated
carcass cattle into wholesale primal cuts of beef that were
vacuum packed and boxed for distribution to the retail and
food service industry. This division rapidly grew and by the
mid 1970’s was fabricating over 3000 cattle per week.
In the late 1970’s however, the industry was drastically
changing as the major packers in the west began fabricating
on their own. This was to be the way of the future, so Wolverine
Packing made a decision to phase out the fabrication arm of
it’s operation and begin the distribution of boxed beef
produced by the major packers in the west. This was the beginning
of our distribution division, which today is the nucleus of
Wolverine Packing. In the last twenty years, the company has
grown into a nationally recognized distributor of beef, pork,
poultry, lamb, veal, seafood, deli and much more.
To accommodate our growth, we built a new 50,000 square foot
plant in 1990. Over the last ten years, the company has twice
expanded the plant to the current state of the art 110,000
square foot facility.
The future of Wolverine Packing remains bright. In 1998 Wolverine started a steak cutting operation primarily for the food service industry. All indications suggest this will be a great addition to our already full service manufacturing and distribution operation.
We directly attribute our growth and success at Wolverine Packing to our dedicated group of employees, including warehouse personnel, clerical, sales, purchasing and the Bonahoom family, who still today owns and operates the company. Our corps of employees has always been able to adapt to industry change and use this to reach new goals and venture into new territories.
Wolverine Packing has grown from a 30 million dollar company in the late 1970’s to a company that will exceed 600 million dollars in sales for the current year. We have a lot to be thankful for but most of all we thank all of our customers for giving us the opportunity to service their businesses.