You want it ... YOU GOT IT

Along Hwy. 162 between Bangor and Four Corners, Wis., Gary and Emily Craig have spent the past 23 years expanding the meat-processing and catering business next to their home.

Craig's Meats & Catering started in 1979 as a meat-processing business in a small metal building constructed near the couple's house. The Craigs expanded into catering about five years later and have added on to their facility several times.

Today, they have 10 full-time, year-round employees, including their daughter, Sherry. The Craigs usually have another 10 to 15 part-time employees, including their son, Brian, who also is an auctioneer.

At first, the business mainly processed area farmers' livestock for them. As the number of farmers continued to shrink, the Craigs stepped up their catering and promotion of their sausage products.

Gary, 57, was raised on a dairy farm near Burr Oak, Wis., and Emily, 52, was raised on a dairy farm near Cataract, Wis. He worked for Northern Engraving Corp. for more than 19 years, before the couple started the meat-processing business.

For years before that, Gary made deer sausage at home for his family.

"We all love to eat and eat to live," lie said of the decision to go into the meat processing business. "I figured that was something that is always going to be there."

The Craigs acquired meat-processing equipment and some old German-style sausage recipes from George Wuensch, who had operated meat markets in Bangor and Middle Ridge, Wis. Wuensch was a friend who had become ill and wanted his sausage-making tradition to continue.

Today, Craig's Meats & Catering makes a variety of sausage products, such as hot sticks, beef sticks, jalapeno sticks, ring bologna, wieners, summer sausage and Polish sausage. It also makes several varieties of jerky, as well as steaks, hamburger, hams, hickory-smoked pork strips and bacon.

Cheeses such as Cheddar, jalapeno, mozzarella and pepper Jack can be incorporated into the sausage products. "We'll custom-make sausage products," Craig said.

The shelves of one room are lined with spice containers. "I formulate all the spice blends for everything we make," Craig said, including sausage products and catered food.

The business processes beef, pork, lamb and exotic meat such as buffalo and emu.

Craig said he hopes to continue processing deer for hunters. He said he will know more after he attends a meeting of Wisconsin meat processors later this month. The meat processors will hear from state Department of Natural Resources and state meat inspection program officials and others about chronic wasting disease found in some deer in the Mount Horeb, Wis., area.

Besides meat products, the Craigs' retail store sells cheese and fish. "We always have walleyes in stock," Craig said. "We special-order other kinds of fish," which are available at various times.

The Craigs also have wholesale customers, such as Hansen's IGA grocery stores and some area restaurants, taverns and cheese stores.

Their retail store mainly attracts customers from within 100 miles. "But a lot of out-of-state people stop here" when they're in the area visiting friends and relatives, Craig said. "It's nothing to see somebody leave here with 50 pounds of jerky.

"Everything we do is made with real hickory wood," Craig said, as he pointed to the three smokers in the processing facility. He soon will add a fourth smoker for meat products.

The business also has pig roasters, portable grills and a concession stand.

"We'll cater anything, from prime rib to chicken to ham sandwiches," Craig said. The Craigs also will work with individuals and organizations on both what they want and what they can afford, he said.

"We can cater any size event, from five to 5,000 people or more," he said. "We've catered events for 5,000 people, but I wouldn't be afraid to cater even larger ones." Most catering jobs have been within 100 miles, Craig said, "But we've been known to go farther."

Several rooms in the main two-story Craig's Meats & Catering building are filled with catering equipment such as salad bars, coffee pots, meat slicers, coolers, roasters and food holding pans.

Craig said his business can provide everything from silverware to tables, chairs and large canopies for outdoor events. Craig's Meats & Catering also has access to banquet facilities throughout the Coulee Region.

Craig said the meat and catering business and all of its employees follow the strictest food safety regulations and practices, including Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point regulations. Craig said the latter regulations track such things as product arrival, cooking time, cooling time and many other aspects of food handling.

CRAIG'S MEATS & CATERING

* WHAT: A meat-processing and catering business owned by Gary and Emily Craig. They started it in 1979, next to their home.

* WHERE: N9064 Hwy. 162, between Bangor and Four Corners, Wis. It's along Hwy. 162, about 10 miles north of Hwy. 16.

* STORE HOURS: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. most Saturdays - in the summer the store closes at noon Saturday. There are extended hours during deer season.