When the local butcher shop in downtown Altoona, Wisconsin bears the name “Rump’s,” there is sure to be a good story behind it.

“Over the years, our building was a county sign shop, an army center, even a storage place for funeral caskets,” says owner Bob Adrian. “There once was an old butcher shop on the corner, so why not return a full-service meat market to the neighborhood.”

Adrian learned a great deal over the years about processing handcrafted meat at home from his step-dad, John, who is Bohemian, and also known by the nickname, Rump.

“We wanted a brandable name for our business,” says Adrian. “It just fit.”

Adrian paired up with head butcher and sausage maker, Dan Horlacher, and they were on their way to making Rump’s a reality. Horlacher, a former grocery store meat cutter, butcher and sausage maker who had been dealing with Rick McLimans at Excalibur for ten years, brought the trio together to start making a plan.

“Rick consulted with us about our meat products and the best way to proceed as a new age butcher shoppe. Rump’s made test batches of sausage with Excalibur while we were under construction. We spent a year with them developing the right flavor profiles.”

Adrian and Horlacher launched Rump’s Butcher Shoppe in October 2014. With nine employees on staff, the business has quickly grown as the best place to buy meat, earning the title three years in a row in VolumeOne magazine’s “Best of the Chippewa Valley” Reader Poll. Rump’s was voted “Best Local Business” in 2014, the first year it opened.

Their mantra? It’s all about high-quality local meat, well done. Adrian says Excalibur Seasoning has a lot to do with that. The partnership goes back over a decade now. About 100 Excalibur products are used in their more than 220 products sold at Rump’s. Almost everything – with the exception of a handful of items – is gluten free and all of it is MSG free.

“We love our partnership with Excalibur. They have so much variety that the possibilities for us are endless. Their R & D team continues to make new flavors so that we can improve and press forward to make better products. It’s a great relationship.”