Johnsonville Buys Salm Partners

2024 began with some very big news for one of Denmark's largest businesses, Salm Partners. In a press release dated January 3rd, Entrepreneurial Equity Partners, which has been an investment partner of Salm Partners since 2020, announced that the pre-cooked sausage giant had been sold to Johnsonville, LLC of Sheboygan Falls. The next morning, The Denmark News sat down with Salm Partners CEO Keith Lindsey to learn more about this historic purchase and what it means for the future of the company and the Denmark community as a whole.

Salm Partners was founded in Denmark by four brothers in 2004. The Salm's were looking to "change the sausage and hot dog market" with a "better product at a better cost". They now operate five "co-extrusion, cook-in-package" production systems and have grown to produce 15% of the fully-cooked sausage available in the United States. They currently operate two large facilities in the Village of Denmark where they produce "better tasting, clean-labeled products with extended shelf life relative to sausages produced using conventional methods".

In November 2020, Salm Partners was invested in by Entrepreneurial Equity Partners (EEP), a Chicago-based private equity firm "focused on the food and consumer packaged good industries" with the Salm family maintaining a "significant stake" in the company. In the three years since, the company has undergone even more growth with the latest large addition to their site on Hager Road opening this fall. Now, the company is experiencing its biggest development to date with the purchase by Johnsonville LLC.

Johnsonville is no stranger to Salm Partners. The two companies have worked together for over a decade. According to Lindsey, Johnsonville recognized Salm's unique technology and saw its immense benefits to their brand. They also were attracted to the expanded capacity offered by the acclaimed firm. He explained that Salm Partners will be maintaining their name and will continue to serve the same customer base with their high quality product. Lindsey says he and his company are "excited to be aligned with such a great, well known company" adding "this will be a beneficial partnership for us and the Denmark community".

While Johnsonville's acquisition comes with good implications for Denmark, the decision will also result in the closing of their Meadowside plant in Sheboygan County. Lindsey explained that Johnsonville is working with the 390 impacted employees to find them new positions throughout the organization, including in Denmark.

According to Lindsey, Salm Partners has "no current plans to expand further", noting that they do have the land to do so and it was "always an option". They are still hiring to fill positions in their newest addition and will be working on transitioning all production from Johnsonville's Meadowside plant to Denmark over the course of the next year. Lindsey states that this historic acquisition is "good news for Salm Partners and good news for Denmark", adding his company is "excited to keep growing in Denmark" and "looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead for us and for Johnsonville as we make the world's best cooked sausage".