About Us
Our Story
Heritage Meats has been the friendly neighborhood butcher shop providing great cuts of farm-raised local meat and minimally processed meat products since it was established as a family-owned business in East Olympia in 1977. Our production facility and retail store have become a local fixture and attraction nestled along the railroad tracks next to Highway 12 in Rochester, WA. Over time the team has grown, our building has gone through a change or two, but the mission is still the same—we source the best meat from great local farms, harvest humanely and responsibly, partner with other small local businesses, and process and produce a wonderful line of protein products as free from anything but what nature added as we can accomplish. From our grass-fed and grass-finished beef, to our robust artisan sausage selection, to our large complement of hand-crafted smoked meats, the Heritage Meats team ensures that the animals we source are raised and harvested locally and humanely to produce the best taste, quality, and integrity that we can for our community of customers.
At Heritage Meats our process is simple: we are committed to local sourcing, humane handling and harvesting free from the use of hormones or antibiotics, and quality production that sets the bar in our industry. We turn to our community of local growers to source quality animals that are humanely raised with an eye toward sustainable small-scale practices. Our partnership with small producers that meet our standards for quality and consistency in practices and production ensures that our customers receive a diverse, but consistent, supply of only the best local protein products.
We also utilize a local harvesting facility that emphasizes humane handling and care for the animals we have selected. We believe that treating our animals with the best standards of care. This includes being certified by government inspection, providing clean and sanitary conditions, allowing the animals freedom from crowding and safety from harm and hazards.
We believe the best care and attention possible for animals we harvest is central to a truly excellent protein production process for our customers. Each animal we select is provided this care and consideration from selection to harvest: this is a point of pride for us at Heritage Meats.
Processing is the final production step for the animals we select. The care, cleanliness, and craftsmanship applied at this stage ensures the quality and consistency throughout all the steps we take is reflected in a final product. Whether it is fresh cuts of beef, pork, lamb, or poultry products, our process and standards are the same. We never apply any of the dyes, antibacterial chemicals, gasses, or artificial additives that are common to the meat industry in any of our fresh cuts. We exclusively use extreme low oxygen packaging in our processing, and, while this often dulls or dims the color of our beef and pork products slightly, it safely and naturally preserves the quality, flavor, and consistency of our fresh cuts for our customers and allows for long-term frozen storage. At Heritage Meats we are proud that our process ensures that the ground meats and fresh cuts we produce for our customers are always fresh, safe, natural, and additive-free. Our artisan sausages and smoked meats are hand-crafted and blended from our own recipes using the best ingredients with a commitment to minimizing additives.
From start to finish at Heritage Meats, our commitment, our mission, and our mindset is implemented at every production step to make sure that each product is a complete picture of local and natural quality, care, consistency, and great flavor that a protein product should always have—we believe our community and our customers always deserve it.