Eat a sausage, help the economy

ABC12's Randy Conat tells us about a Flint Township meat company that supplies a lot of the hot dogs and brats that we'll be enjoying.

The sizzle of hot dogs and brats on the grill tells you summer is here. For those who enjoy Koegel meat products, you have a German sausage maker to thank. Albert Koegel came to Flint in 1916.

"Grandpa moved here. He began taking care of some of the commissaries the General Motors workers were staying at," said Koegel Meats President John Koegel.

Eventually, he built a meat packing plant on Kearsley Street in Flint and his reputation for quality grew. Probably his best known product was his Vienna franks.

"Grandpa learned that in Germany. We're not quite sure where he perfected it. We think he perfected it in his butcher shop in downtown Flint. Adding spices and different things and came up with the recipe we're using today," Koegel recalled.

Koegel's built a new plant in 1972 on Bristol Road in Flint Township. 120 people work there and turn out 32 products that are sold all over Michigan. There are hopes they can get into markets in northern Ohio. The company has no plans to leave the Flint area or to build a plant elsewhere.

"We have a lot of capacity here. We could add another shift," Koegel said.

If you choose to cook with Koegel's this weekend, you'll be part of a great tradition and you'll be supporting the local economy at the same time.

The folks at Koegel's say 100,000 pounds of their meat products will be eaten this weekend and much of that will be their famous Viennas.

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