Sausage-maker's sales are sizzling

JOHNSONVILLE, Wis. — Johnsonville Sausage Co. CEO Ralph Stayer gets a real bang out of making bratwurst better.

Last month, following tradition, he lit a firecracker in his office waste basket to celebrate a change to its "Heat & Serve" precooked sausage that made it taste as good as a fresh-grilled brat.

"I've gone through quite a few waste baskets," said Stayer, 62. "We celebrate innovation here."

With this year's barbecue season sizzling and the Atkins diet on the ropes, Stayer lit into how the company his father began on Oct. 1, 1945, helped turn the bratwurst from a little-known spiced pork sausage into the nation's "fastest-growing protein" among grillers.

"There's a thousand little things that go into making a great-tasting sausage," Stayer said. "It's just attention to detail, every darn one."

Like other regional flavors that have spread across the country, such as Chicago-style pizza and Tex-Mex cuisine, the bratwurst's popularity has become a source of local pride in Wisconsin — alongside beer, cheese and Green Bay Packers football.

"We introduced bratwurst to America," said Johnsonville group vice president David Finch.

But Johnsonville, unlike other food makers that sold out to conglomerates — despite a brief minority ownership by Sara Lee Corp. — has stayed owned by the family that founded it.

Last year, led by bratwurst sales, Johnsonville became the nation's largest sausage brand by revenue, and its brats are now sold seasonally at some 4,000 McDonald's nationwide, in 16 NFL football stadiums and in stores in 38 countries outside the United States.

Johnsonville claims brats' popularity among U.S. grillers grew faster than other sausages, pork, fish and hot dogs in the four years through 2003 while steak, chicken and hamburgers shrank. According to ACNielsen, prepackaged and measured bratwurst accounted for about $260 million in domestic annual sales until mid-July. That's up 31 percent from four years ago, compared to 10 percent growth for all packaged meats.

Johnsonville total sales this year through May grew 19 percent to $440 million, making it bigger than Sara Lee's Hillshire Farms at $369 million. Johnsonville claims about 60 percent of its sales come from brats.