Everyone on the Excalibur Seasoning sales team – including President & CEO Mike Shrier – made the trip to Des Moines, Iowa for what is a favorite event of the year – the AAMP Convention.

John Brewer, Excalibur’s VP of Sales & Marketing, shares the show’s highlights.

For the Excalibur sales team, the annual AAMP Convention is an opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet new members – who this year set an attendance record at the sold-out event.

“We were extremely busy the first day of the event,” Brewer says. “New processors in attendance spent quite a bit of time in our booth discussing ideas and technical questions with our team.

“Others visiting us were enjoying our protein samples. Our Loaded Bacon Cheeseburger sausage blend and Honey Flavor Sweet & Hot jerky blends seemed like the first of the samples to leave our display,” he quipped.

In the midst of sharing product offerings on the trade show floor, another popular topic of conversation focused on growth and expansion.

“While inflation and labor challenges seemed to be the topic of discussion in most circles, we heard about more new plant construction and expansions in our conversations with people than I can remember in my 23 years of attending AAMP. This group of processors is resilient. They know how to deal with obstacles and continue to grow. It’s exciting to hear this news. It’s the lifeblood of our business.”

And several customers of Excalibur Seasoning brought home the bacon – one of them literally – at this year’s American Cured Meat Championships:

• Grand Champion: Bardine’s Country Smokehouse (Crabtree, PA) in the Bacon (Heavyweight) category
• Grand Champion: Louie’s Finer Meats Inc., (Cumberland, WI) Old World Dried Fermented Sausage
• Reserve Grand Champion: Karl’s Country Market (Menomonee Falls, WI) Semi-Dried Sausage (Cooked, Non-Fermented)
• Reserve Champion: Karl’s Country Market, Dry Cured Country Bacon and Cooked Ring Bologna
• Reserve Champion: Louie’s Finer Meats Inc., Ham – Bone-In (Lightweight)
• Reserve Champion: West Bend Sausage Plus, (West Bend, WI) Jerky – Whole Muscle
• Champion: Bardine’s Country Smokehouse, Jerky (Restructured)
• Champion: Sailer’s Food Market & Meat Processors Inc., (Elmwood, WI) Ham – Semi-Boneless

Congratulations to all of the winners. We’ll see you next year at AAMP 2023 in Charleston, South Carolina.