Proven Process
Nappanee Resident Starts Deer Processing Business
Writer / Matt Keating
Photography Provided
Jon Helmuth, owner of Heritage Custom Meats in Nappanee, enjoys working with his neighbors and helping them out. Its something that makes him happy, and it also makes him feel closer to the Nappanee community he loves.
He works in a business where he is able to see his friends regularly, and his shop is also an extension of an old, fondly remembered business in the Nappanee area.
I started this business in 2022 as a service for our hunting community, Helmuth says. My great-grandfather had a butcher shop back in the 1940s and 1950s right next door to where I now live. The name Heritage Custom Meats LLC is a nod to that.
Helmuth has thoroughly enjoyed continuing in the same business.
We are a family-based operation, with hired help only during the main harvest time of November, Helmuth says.
Heritage Custom Meats does deer processing.
Locally in the last few years, we have had a number of butcher shops stop taking in deer, as they are plenty busy processing pork and beef, Helmuth says.
Helmuth stepped in to help out. I saw an opportunity to help fill the need of our hunters, taking their game from skinning, cutting, and all the way to processed, ready-to-eat summer sausage, snack sticks, jerky, deer brats, sweet bologna and more, Helmuth says.
Helmuth loves his work.
Deer processing is not something we do on the side only after the beef is done for the day, Helmuth says. As our slogan says, We care for your deer.
Helmuth can process different meats, bratwursts and other items. His customers have told him they greatly appreciate it.
Hunters can choose to keep the steaks separate, or they might prefer to have those cuts made into jerky, Helmuth says. 
Summer sausage, snack sticks, ring bologna and the 4 sweet bologna are other options of processed meats we can do. We also have deer brats for the grill enthusiasts among us.
They have all been popular.
Heritage Custom Meats offers many other services as well.
We will take the game, debone, cut, grind, smoke, vacuum seal, label and box the meat, Helmuth says. If they have freezer space, some hunters prefer to debone their own meat and bring it all after the season closes.
Helmuth notes that Heritage Custom Meats uses a high-quality smoker.
We use a Southern Pride rotisserie smoker for the smoked meats, and we always use a minimum of three different kinds of woods, Helmuth says. The theory is, by mixing the wood species up, we end up with a smoke flavor that is balanced but not too strong.
This thorough method has been a very big hit with customers. The customers really like the flavor, without tiring of a single smoke flavor, Helmuth says.
Helmuth uses a variety of wood types, which has also earned him a strong following with his regular customers. Sassafras, apple, cherry, hickory and oak are some of the wood types we mix in the smoker, he says. The same goes with our seasoning mixes.
The variety of woods has been appealing to customers.
Helmuth also goes out of his way to make sure all of his customers keep returning and recommending him to family and friends.
We strive to have a balanced product, pleasing to a wide range of tastes, Helmuth says. I enjoyed sharing meat samples with
friends and acquaintances this past summer, and they always say everything they had was great, so it must be working.
For more information on Heritage Custom Meats LLC, located at 536 Beech Road in Nappanee, call 574-546-0640.
