Cher-Make Orders Help Keep Staff on the Line and the Hungry Fed

Due to the seasonal nature of business for Cher-Make Sausage Co., the company typically reduces their number of employees in early November to correspond with reduced orders.

Thanks to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin purchasing product from Cher-Make during their slow season, full-time employees were able to work full weeks right up to December 23 and the seasonal employees were able to remain employed longer. Cher-Make has approximately 150 full time, year-round employees and increases their workforce by about 30% from spring until approximately Mid-November to keep up with summertime grilling and shelf stable summer sausage.

“When we were able to align our open capacities with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s needs, there was a great opportunity to not only to take care of our Cher-Make families, but on a larger scale help many families throughout Wisconsin,” shares Tom Chermak, CEO of Cher-Make.

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin received 110,400 packages of hot dogs and 23,760 packages of polish sausages from Cher-Make. Chermak shares that a batch of sausage takes approximately three to four days to blend, stuff, smoke and package. During this time about 20 to 25 employees were directly involved in the crafting of these items.

“It was nice to be able to help relieve some of the stress that people are under today and take off some of their burden,” says Donna Abbet, packaging line leader at Cher-Make.

The funding for such a large order from Cher-Make came from a grant Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin received from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). The COVID-19 Food Security and Wisconsin Products Grant helped Wisconsin food banks purchase Wisconsin food products for distribution to people experiencing food insecurity.

“We had to mobilize very quickly to find Wisconsin-based food manufacturers that could provide us with significant amounts of product in a short amount of time,” explains Jeff Joslyn, director of food resources. “We worked together to determine what Cher-Make would be able to provide in the timeline we had.”

Cher-Make not only helped Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin by creating delicious products for those facing hunger, but the company also provided the food bank with a cash donation as well.

“We wanted to make a cash contribution to not only help Wisconsin residents, but also as a way to say thank you to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin for helping our Cher-Make families meet their personal needs,” says Chermak.

Also on the blog: Read about how Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is supporting more critical local businesses, while solving hunger here.