When I visited Scott Hattersley, owner of Sugartown Smoked Specialties, at the company’s new stand at the Westtown Amish Market, it felt more like visiting an old friend than someone I interviewed four years ago for my article “A Day in the Life of Sugartown Smoked Specialties.”
After spending five minutes at the stand, it’s obvious Scott and his team are passionate about their lineup of stellar smoked game, seafood and other meat products. According to Sugartown Smoked Specialties, the ingredients for a successful business are simple. All you need are fresh, high-quality ingredients, the finest equipment available, a team of passionate people and openness to new opportunities.
Always Say Yes
When Sugartown’s original business plan was written 24 years ago, Scott only planned to sell smoked game and fowl birds—duck, pheasant and quail. Nowadays, 70 percent of Sugartown’s product lineup is seafood, including smoked nova, Tasmanian and rainbow trout, Arctic char, smoked salmon, scallops, Chilean sea bass, dips and more. All of Sugartown’s products are preservative-free, cured, ready-to-serve and gently accented with a smoky flavor.
A large portion of new business comes from co-packaging opportunities and starts with a phone call asking, “Could you smoke _____?” That is exactly how two of Sugartown’s latest items—smoked coffee and locally sourced, heritage roasted pork—made it onto the menu. This smooth coffee with a hint of hickory will change your morning routine. Sugartown has already sold thousands of pounds since last December.
Bringing in the World’s Finest Equipment
Over the past few years, Sugartown has grown more than just its product line. In 2013, the company gave its Westtown Road production facility a much-needed makeover to keep up with the growing roster of products and clients. Sugartown also brought in a new walk-in freezer, since all of its products are preservative-free and frozen immediately.
Two of the new pieces of equipment are total game-changers for the business: a rapid chiller, which immediately chills products after smoking them, and a computer-controlled, vertical smokehouse, which can accommodate up to four times more product than the old smokehouse (think 160 salmon sides now compared to 40 sides before). The company’s renovation also included adding a larger packaging room with a state-of-the-art slicer that can cut paper-thin salmon in just a mere 22 seconds!
It’s a good thing Sugartown tripled its production area because Hattersley expects to smoke even more than the 17 tons of protein and 26 tons of portobello mushrooms that were smoked last year. Sugartown has big plans for its 25th anniversary in 2017, starting with selling five of its seafood products in seven Wegmans stores—in Allentown, Concordville, Downingtown, King of Prussia, Malvern, Montgomeryville and Warrington.
New Distribution
When the Concordville Wegmans was being constructed, the corporate office sent employees to scout potential local vendors. One employee thought Sugartown’s product at Hill’s Seafood looked exceptional, and the top seafood manager from Wegmans in Rochester asked Scott to send samples. When Scott followed up a few days later, the manager said, “Are you kidding me? I just finished chewing the Arctic char, and that is the most amazing smoked fish I’ve ever eaten in my life. I want to you to send me samples of every seafood item you have.”
Scott sent out samples, waited a few days, called again and heard a phrase you don’t often want to hear during a business transaction. “Scott,” the guy says, “We have a problem.” As Scott imagined the worst, the guy continued, “Your stuff is so good, we don’t know what to bring in.” Wegmans selected five products in the end, all of which completely sold out in under two hours during the first day of sampling at the Concordville store.
“One thing I would urge your readers is don’t just stick with the same thing. We’ve got so many different products involved in the brand now. Don’t be afraid to try something different,” said Hattersley. “We’ve always prided ourselves on not being cookie cutter. My mantra has always been, if and when we become a cookie cutter company, I’m locking the door, walking away and doing something else. I don’t want to be one of those giant places that just rubber-stamps something and kicks it out the door.”
It’s that zest for artisanal greatness and trying new things that have fueled Scott’s successful company over the past 24 years and will sustain him over the next 25 years.
Sugartown Smoked Specialties can be purchased at the Westtown Amish Market, located at 1165 Wilmington Pike in West Chester; and at Country Butcher, Hill’s Quality Seafood, Janssen’s Market, Kimberton Whole Foods and Lancaster County Farmers Market.
- Photos: Sugartown Smoked Specialties
