The award-winning Missourian has been in the meat processing industry for over 40 years, opened Germanic European-style restaurants, and operates an online business for those who cannot partake of his hospitality in person.
By Del Williams
Mike Sloan’s career began at a young age at his parent’s meat processing business in Swiss, Missouri. This is where he perfected his skills and recipes, working his way to the president and operating manager of his family’s business, Swiss Meats & Sausage Company.
In June 2011, Sloan and his wife Lynette ventured out independently, purchasing an old auto parts store in downtown, historic Hermann, Missouri. With the help of friends and contractors, they began renovating immediately and opened the doors to the Hermann Wurst Haus in historic downtown Hermann in only 75 days. Sloan continues to develop and showcase his expertise with creative bratwurst and sausage recipes at the market and restaurant, which has become an iconic gathering spot for locals and tourists in Hermann.
Like most traditional artisan chefs, Sloan is particular about where he sources his meats. During his 46 years in the industry, Sloan has formed many relationships with local farmers, and most of the beef, pork, chicken, and turkey he purchases is from farms within a 300-mile radius. Sloan also has his own meat processing facility. In addition to handling the meat for his businesses, he processes deer for hunters and livestock for local farmers and ranchers.
“We were farm-to-table before we even knew what farm-to-table was,” says Sloan.
Over the years, Sloan has accumulated over 600 international, national, state, and regional awards, including 16 best-of-show honors and 29 international awards from the German Butcher’s Association in Frankfurt, Germany. His most recent national recognition award was at the American Cured Meat Championships (ACMC) in July 2023 in Charlotte, South Carolina. Sloan won Reserve Champion for Venison Soppressata.
“I’m proud of the awards because they don’t just give them away – you must earn them. The German awards are very special to me because Germany is the epitome of the meat industry and sausage makers. It’s where it all started,” says Sloan.
Today, Sloan serves award-winning Germanic European-style meats at two locations in Missouri – at the Hermann Wurst Haus in Hermann and the Fulton Wurst Haus in Fulton. The restaurants are a can’t-miss experience for any meat lover. Each location is just a ten- to fifteen-minute detour off the busy Interstate 70 that connects Kansas City to St. Louis.
The restaurants serve a culinary bounty of Sloan’s 45 flavors of bratwurst and 12 flavors of bacon, among other mouth-watering offerings like beer-marinated brisket, house-smoked turkey, and even German bologna. Sloan takes no shortcuts like adding “liquid smoke” to bacon. Instead, he dry cures and wet cures his bacon and hickory smokes it for hours.
Rounding out the offerings of the restaurants’ bountiful menus are house-brewed craft beers, specialty sodas made with natural cane sugar, and his wife Lynette’s family recipes of delicious side dishes. The tasty sides of German Potato Salad (packed with bacon), Red Cabbage, Onion, and Cucumber Salad, among others, are ample in size to make meals by themselves. A variety of cakes—including German Chocolate—are available for dessert.
Of course, the brats and Sloan’s never-ending quest to discover new taste combinations are reason enough to make a pit stop.
“We have so many different flavors that were not even thought of 15 years ago,” says Sloan. “One of the brats we make, our number one seller, is a caramelized pear and Gorgonzola cheese bratwurst. As soon as we tell people it’s made with caramelized pears and Gorgonzola, their mouths start watering before they have even tasted it,” he adds.
With his full beard and sturdy butcher appearance, Sloan embodies a Wurst Haus owner one would expect to find serving up sausages along the Rhine River. Regarding bratwurst, Sloan is an artist in the kitchen and a crusader for his beloved German sausage with its distinctive flavor profile, often featuring notes of nutmeg, coriander, ginger, caraway, and other spices.
Sloan is not shy about his ambitions, good-naturedly proclaiming, “I want to be the Colonel Sanders of bratwurst.” He now serves his hearty meals and German-styled sausages in decidedly American-sized portions to back up his point.
His passion for creating traditional and new sausage flavors and curing bacon is equal to his devotion to delivering an authentic German experience for his guests. The warm-toned, wood-tabled dining hall lined with cold cases filled with meat and wooden barrels hanging from the ceiling invites a party atmosphere with the enticing smells of marinating and roasting meats.
Sloan has continued to develop his craft and become a community leader. He has been the chairperson for the Hermann Wurstfest for many years and is a past president of the Missouri Association of Meat Processors (MAMP). He is also a two-time hall of famer, inducted into the Hermann Wurstfest Hall of Fame in 1997 and the MAMP Hall of Fame in 2012.
At the German-themed festivals of Maifest, Oktoberfest, and Wurstfest in Hermann, you might even see Wurstmeister Sloan himself at a cart selling bratwurst and soft German pretzels, calling out to passersby, “How about a brattie (pronounced ‘brottie’) for you and your hottie?”
In Hermann, the Wurst Haus Market features an extensive retail shop emphasizing made-in-Missouri products, gourmet foods and sauces, sausage-making supplies, and much more. The Hermann Wurst Haus brand features its line of wurst beers, sodas, sauces, spices, and seasonings.
For those with late-night cravings after hours in Hermann, Sloan has installed refrigerated vending machines stocked with Hermann Wurst Haus national grand champion smoked meat products such as bratwurst, bacon, summer sausage, snack sticks, jerky, and sandwich specials.
To share his passion with those in the mood for gourmet Germanic European-style meats,
Sloan caters and welcomes group tours of Hermann Wurst Haus, complete with boxed lunch, and he offers two team-building classes, Sausage Making 101 and Makin’ Bacon 101. In these classes, Sloan enthusiastically shares his passion and years of experience with his students as they work together to make a delicious product.
For those who can’t wait to cook themselves, Sloan happily provides his favorite smoked meat product recipes and cooking tips for bacon, bratwurst, and more.
To entice Missourians and those nationwide who cannot enjoy his hospitality in person, Sloan became a pioneer in selling his award-winning products online, shipping even his beloved brats packed in dry ice. For meat lovers, there are now hundreds of items on the online store, including all the bratwurst flavors, bacon, smoked meats, jerky, snack sticks, artisan sausage, summer sausage, bologna, salami, and variety packs.
To this day, Sloan and his wife Lynette continue to live and breathe their true passion, creating award-winning bratwurst and sausages with their own business for everyone to enjoy.
All photos courtesy of Hermann Wurst Haus
Article originally published in the July/August 2024 issue of Missouri Life.
