Logan’s Sausage Company, a growing family business out of Alexandria, is expanding its operations to Strasburg.
The company agreed in October to a $500,000 purchase of just under 25 acres within the Northern Shenandoah Business Park to construct a food manufacturing facility.
The company produces more than 100 sausage products and, as of 2022, also makes the regionally popular Gunnoe’s Sausage. Its food products can be found at Food Lion, Walmart and smaller regional grocery stores.
According to Vice President of Operations Cliff Logan, manufacturing space in Alexandria and the surrounding area has become increasingly sparse, mandating the expansion into the Shenandoah Valley.
“Manufacturing is getting pushed out of the area we are in. This is a family business. We’re thinking long-term. We’re pretty sure we can be out in Strasburg for as long as we want to be,” Logan said. ” For right now, this is an expansion. But we can move out there completely in the future.”
The project is still in its early stages, with Logan stating that the facility will not be up and running for two years or more.
When it does, Logan said the operation will employ as many as 30 workers and may expand that workforce in the years to come.
“There could be a lot more eventually,” Logan said.
Slaughter will not take place at the plant, Logan said. He said operations within the plant will be similar to a small butcher shop.
“We bring meat in, already bone out, ground it up, add spices, a lot of it is fresh, some of it is cooked. It’s not a hugely complicated process what we’re doing,” Logan said. “Folks aren’t going to have to worry about a truckload of pigs driving by.”
Logan’s sausage was launched in 1987 in a small kitchen and has grown between 5% and 10% yearly. The Strasburg facility will be focused on further expanding Logan’s reach throughout the East Coast and producing products for both retail and food service.
Logan said his father started the company in a small shared kitchen in 1987. It soon expanded into a larger facility nearby. However, Logan said, that time in the kitchen still is the origin of many of the products the company makes today.
“The butcher who introduced my father to sausage making was an Argentinian guy. He taught us how to make Argentinian sausage,” Logan said. “There was a guy making tortillas and taco meat; he gave us a recipe for Mexican sausage. Another cook gave us a recipe for Salvadorian sausage. Another guy had an Italian restaurant; he gave the recipe for Italian sausage.”
Those same principles guide the way the company operates today, according to Logan.
“We make it the old-fashioned way,” Logan said. “My brother and I are here making sure everything is as high quality as we can possibly make it.”
— Contact Ryan Fitzmaurice at rfitzmaurice@nvdaily.com