Thielen Meats rebounds from fire

PIERZ – It's been more than a year since Joe Thielen woke up to a nightmare.

The fourth-generation butcher learned through a 5:30 a.m. phone call that Thielen Meats was on fire. The nationally acclaimed meat market is in Pierz, a town with fewer than 2,000.

"The first few days were pretty emotional," admits Joe, a co-owner who has worked at the market since he was in high school.

"We didn't have any idea what we had or if we were even going to be able to rebuild. We had no idea what we were going to tell the employees or customers."

The March 14, 2014, fire at 310 Main St. N was the result of a broken gas main. A driver passing by at about 4:30 a.m. called it in.

The roof was completely destroyed. The entire contents of the store had to be thrown out.

Joe said the estimated damage was near $500,000.

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But almost as fast as the smoke cleared, the market that opened in 1922 and moved to its current location in 1961 was in the process of being rebuilt.

Despite the insurance companies estimating the rebuilding process would take about 2-3 months, Thielen Meats re-opened in about a month, just in time for Easter ham sales.

"You don't realize what you're capable of until something like that happens," Joe said. "You go from being a meat cutter to rebuilding an entire meat market."

Now, a year later, it's business as usual.

Although there's one noticeable change — longtime owner Keith Thielen, Joe's father, retired earlier this spring.

Joe now runs the market with his brothers Matt and Andy. Their great-grandfather Phil started the market as an add-on to his furniture store, and their grandfather Lerald set up the current location.

"Every generation has made some sort of mark on it," Joe said. "I think it's something to be proud of. It's a very unique tradition to be part of."

One tradition that's been passed down is the store's bacon, which has been profiled in the New York Times and used by television personalities Martha Stewart and Amy Thielen — Joe's first cousin.

The bacon is also sold wholesale to restaurants and is featured in Lunds and Byerly's among other stores.

The Thielen bacon secret?

"Over the years we've found the nicest pork bellies available — that's where it starts," Joe said. "We are pretty fussy with what we will buy."

Following the Thielen family recipe, the bacon is cured for two days in a brine before being smoked for eight hours. It's then sliced and packaged.

Thielen Meats has a trio of old-fashioned smokehouses that are operated manually. Each can hold about 1,200 pounds.

"It's not the most efficient way of doing things, but I think it's what sets us apart," Joe said. "Most of what we do is laborious work. That's just how we do things here in farm country. In the metro areas I don't think you have people willing to work as hard or get down and dirty like us."

And that farm country attitude has helped Thielen Meats speedily rebuild from last year's fire and carry on the family legacy.

"It sure seems like a different feel with the customers now," Joe said. "Everybody seems like they are really dedicated to this place. They may have always been but we really realize it now."

Follow Jake Laxen on Twitter @jacoblaxen.