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Snapshot: Three Things You Didn't Know About Weber's (according to owner Steve Desmond)

The company is family- and locally-owned, as it has been for 88 years.
"Basically, the business is owned by the granddaughter of the founder, and I am married to her."

Secret recipes are the secret to success.
"To this day, only three people know the recipes. Me and my foreman, and I guess a third if you combine Suzanne [Joseph C. Weber's granddaughter] and a few others who know parts of them."

Three years ago, Weber's Mustard made it to its second continent.
"About three years ago, I had a call from a research lab in Antarctica, and some people down there were from Western New York and were interested in our products. I think we sent it to New York City, and they picked it up by FedEx—paid for by the buyer's account."

Connect with Weber's on Facebook, and with Made in Buffalo to learn more about Buffalo-made products.

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Locally Made=Local Jobs and Local Support

Believe it or not, Sahlen's Packing Company has been run by a Joe Sahlen since it was founded in 1869. You know his name, or rather, their names, from your favorite hot dogs. And Mark Battistoni, Sahlen's regional sales manager, loves working for them.

"I'm a family business guy," Mark says. "At the end of the day you have people who put their name on the package, and respect and love what they do."

Sahlen's has operated out of the same location on Howard Street since its founding, in a neighborhood once full of stockyards and slaughterhouses. From the same building today (although it's expanded over the past 140 years), Sahlen's employs 75 full-time union workers, a number that swells to 120 as the hot dog season ramps up.

"In Buffalo, our logo is as known as Coke or Pepsi or the Buffalo Bills," Mark says. And he thinks that deep awareness from customers—who from Western New York doesn't remember growing up with Sahlen's?—is the reason the company ships over 15,000 pounds of hot dogs around the country every year.

Another reason may be a desire to support a Buffalo business competing with behemoths. "We're just a Davy amongst Goliaths," says Mark. "We're up against people like Sarah Lee and Tyson."

So Buffalonians, both at home and around the country, keep showing love for Sahlen's. Just last week, Mark got a call from an ex-Buffalonian, now living in North Carolina, who wants to sell Sahlen's at her restaurant and small chain of hot dog stands.

As the company expands its market, Sahlen's hopes to keep giving love back to Buffalo workers as well.

"Outside of Western New York, we sell far more deli meats than we do hot dogs. We concentrate a lot of efforts on new territories for those deli meats. It's an opportunity to bring more high paying jobs to Buffalo."

Sahlen's is growing their hot dog business as well. They work with small purveyors in Cleveland and Atlanta, as well as in Florida and the Carolinas.

"Little by little, you find the good operators," Mark says. "And customers will say, 'Wow, that's a great hot dog!'"

Hot dogs are cheap and the market is competitive, so something a little less tangible drives customers to Sahlen's.

"It's not as much a need," says Mark, "as it is a love."

Did you know...?
For the 2010 Buffalo Walk to Cure Diabetes, Sahlen's will feed nearly 4,000 hot dogs to the hungry fundraising walkers.