Bourbon County, Business, COVID-19, Food

Bronson Locker Expands Due To Demand During Pandemic

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Helen and Chubb Bolling, owners of Bronson Locker. Submitted photo.

 

The Bronson Locker is USDA inspected meat. From their Facebook page.

Bronson Locker, 504 Clay Street, Bronson, KS has been expanding during the COVID 19 pandemic.

“We have had an overflow of work,” said Helen Bolling, who along with her husband, Raymond, known as Chubb, owns the meat locker. “We have had to put on more employees. We expanded our business.  A new cooler, a new processing room.”

“People are buying local meat,” Bolling said. “People are wanting farm-raised meat. We are USDA inspected.”

Several Bourbon County meat producers provide meat to the locker, she said. J.D. Russell and Kevin Gleason from the Redfield area; Ryan Tuchscherer, Fort Scott; Henry and John Ericson, Hiattville all provide meat to Bronson Locker, to name a few, Bolling said.

They have spent a large amount of money to expand their meat locker business that processes beef, swine, sheep, and goats, Helen said. During deer season they add deer processing too.

From their Facebook page.
The waiting list to process beef is up to Dec. 2021, Helen said.
“We are accepting deer anytime,” Mandie Ericson, wife of Helen’s grandson Garret, said.
Mandie and Garret hope to buy the family business from Chubb and Helen someday, Mandie said.
They do not sell deer meat, they merely process it.
Currently, Mandie is the supervisor, Helen said.
Mandie Ericson, Helen and Chubb Bolling and Garret Ericson at the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce Forks and Corks Event 2019 at the Riverfront Event Center. The Bronson Locker has won the Taster’s Choice Award at the event for two years in a row. Submitted photo.

From the Bronson Locker Facebook page:

“For people discouraged about the waiting list for beef appointments…
“It is always a good idea to… call and check regularly. We want your business as much as you want to sell your beef or stock your freezers.
This week we were able to work seven people up off the waiting list. This week alone. Don’t feel discouraged we will make sure we take care of as many of you as we possibly can without sacrificing quality.
“Thank you to the farmers and families for all of your continued support.”
They are currently selling beef bundles at 25 pounds for $100.
“They average $4 a pound for this farm-raised beef,” Helen said.
The locker is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be contacted at 620-939-4575.

 

 

Family Owned and Run

They have twelve full-time and two part-time employees, all from Bourbon County, she said.

This is a family-owned and family-run business and 10 of the employees are family.

Besides Chubb and Helen, their son Mike is a butcher. In addition, Amber Ericson, their daughter, works at the locker when she is not teaching school at West Bourbon Elementary School in Uniontown. Helen’s nephews Jesse, Robert and Jim Kuns, the Bolling grandchildren Mandy and Garrett Ericson,  and another grand-daughter in-law, Tyler Ericson, all work at the locker.

 

In addition, they have a long-term employee, Tom Bradbury, technician, “who keeps us up and going,” Mandie said.

 

The family has purchased some of the buildings adjacent to the locker and have opened an antique store on the main street of Bronson as well.

 

The Bollings own several adjacent buildings to their locker business. Submitted photo.
Chubb and Helen Bolling added an antique shop in an adjacent building. The shop is named THAM Antiques after Tyler, Helen, Amber and Mandie. Submitted photos.

 

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