The History of Smokehouse Venison Processing

In the early 2000’s, in the back room of Broadway Certified Grocery, Bill Baker started his deer processing cutting up animals after hours for his friends. Self taught, he quickly gained the reputation of being fast, fair priced and offered the hunters a “new” boneless way to provide venison for their families.

Outgrowing 2 previous locations and having to resort to a full time operation out of demand, he moved to his present day location. This is where Bill says “Divine Intervention” occurred. He had hired Walter Stocker a Swiss immigrant to help at the new facility with just a brief conversation on meat cutting not knowing the wealth of knowledge and work ethic that this man possessed.

One day while waiting for a delivery of a new smokehouse, Walter asked Bill what he knew about smoking meats. Bill’s response:

“Absolutely nothing but we’re gonna learn!”

Walter’s response was:

“I’ve been making sausage and running a smokehouse all my life! My family back in Switzerland owned a butcher shop!”

As Bill would say – “Game Over” from there.

Walter’s help over the years was instrumental in the learning curve for the smokehouse to be recognized as now having some of the best tasting products in Northern Illinois. Walter worked into his 80’s, working circles around anyone who got in his way.

Recently Bills hobby has turned into a viable part of the business, the Smokehouse is now offering in house european skull mounts as well as camo dipping.

Future plans include wild game sauces and seasonings as well as an apparel line of t-shirts, hoodies, hats and can cozies.

Enjoy looking at our website and check back frequently because if you haven’t seen or tried our product recently, you haven’t tried us!