Bavarian Meats is an American meat producer and processing company based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington. The company supplies meats to various

delicatessen Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

s and grocery stores in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

. From 1961 to 2020, Bavarian Meats operated a delicatessen of their own in Downtown Seattle, including a space at

Pike Place Market Pike Place Market is a public market in Seattle, Washington, United States. It opened on August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States. Overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront on Pug ...

Locations

Bavarian Meats is a wholesale supplier of meat products for

s in the

. The company also produced packaged meats for sale at grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest. Bavarian Meats also has stands at several Seattle-area stadiums, including

T-Mobile Park T-Mobile Park is a retractable roof stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and has a seating capacity of 47,929. It is in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, near the western t ...

, where they offer the "

Mariner A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the ...

Dog",

Lumen Field Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, t ...

, and

Climate Pledge Arena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of Downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was or ...

. Since 2021, the company has sponsored the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

; the team's logo is featured on packaging for Bavarian Meats' " Seattle-style sausage".

Seattle delicatessen

Bavarian Meats operated its own delicatessen at

in Downtown Seattle. The shop served German cuisine such as

bratwurst Bratwurst () is a type of German sausage made from pork or, less commonly, beef or veal. The name is derived from the Old High German ''Brätwurst'', from ''brät-'', finely chopped meat, and ''Wurst'', sausage, although in modern German it is o ...

, currywurst,

knackwurst Knackwurst () (in North America sometimes spelled knockwurst () refers to a type of sausage of northern German origin from the mid-16th century. The many available varieties depend on the geographical region of their production. Etymology and ...

, Jäger

schnitzel A schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutt ...

with

spätzle Spätzle (or spaetzle; ) is a type of pasta or dumpling made with eggs, typically serving as a side for meat dishes with gravy. Commonly associated with Swabia, it is also found in the cuisines of southern Germany and Austria, Switzerland, Hung ...

and

knödel Knödel (; and ) or Klöße (; ) are boiled dumplings commonly found in Central European and East European cuisine. Central European countries in which their variant of ''Knödel'' is popular include Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, ...

, and weiner schnitzel. The menu also included Reuben sandwiches and

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...

cured bacon. The bratwurst meal had sausage,

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferm ...

, potatoes, and mustard. The Wrecking Ball sandwich, called an "edible tribute" to the

Alaskan Way Viaduct The Alaskan Way Viaduct ("the viaduct" for short) was an elevated freeway in Seattle, Washington, United States, that carried a section of State Route 99 (SR 99). The double-decked freeway ran north–south along the city's waterfront for ...

by John Knicely of KIRO-TV, had

pulled pork Pulled pork is an American barbecue dish, more specifically a dish of the Southern U.S., based on shredded barbecued pork shoulder. It is typically slow-smoked over wood (usually outdoors); indoor variations use a slow cooker. The meat is th ...

, ham,

coleslaw Coleslaw (from the Dutch term ''koolsla'' meaning 'cabbage salad'), also known as cole slaw, or simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly either vinaigrett ...

, pickle, and barbecue sauce. Products stocked by Bavarian Meats included German elderflower syrup and

Haribo Haribo ( ) is a German confectionery company founded by Hans Riegel Sr.. It began in Kessenich, Bonn, Germany. The name "Haribo" is a syllabic abbreviation formed from Hans Riegel Bonn. The company created the first gummy candy in 1960 in the f ...

gummies.

History

German immigrant Max Hofstatter ("Grandpa Max") established the sausage-making business at Pike Place Market in 1961, initially in the Municipal Building, which caught on fire in 1974. The family-run business operated mostly via

take-out A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

service, but offered on-site dining at times and had a retail branch to supply

butchers A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

and other delicatessens.

Andrew Zimmern Andrew Scott Zimmern (born July 4, 1961) is an American chef, restaurateur, television and radio personality, director, producer, businessman, food critic, and author. Zimmern is the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the Travel Chan ...

visited the shop in 2017. Bavarian Meats moved its production facility from Belltown in Seattle to

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in 2017, selling its former building to an investment firm with plans to build a residential and hotel tower. The Pike Place delicatessen closed in 2020. The family issued a statement suggesting a possible return, saying: "During this challenging time in all our lives it may take us a few extra months to find a home, however, find a home we will!"

Reception

Naomi Tomky included the bratwurst meal in

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis Ne ...

's 2016 list of "The 50 Best Things to Eat and Drink at Pike Place Market", writing: "A lunchtime trip to Germany, courtesy of this little meat shop and their lunch counter. The simple bratwurst meal ... is as German as it gets, but also shows off what this place does best: cook good meat. In 2018, Leslie Kelly of ''Seattle Magazine'' wrote, "Bavarian Meats not only has one of the most interesting deli counters in the city, it’s become a destination for sausage lovers looking for their lunchtime link fix." Kelly said the Jalapeno Popper Bratwurst "will warm you right up down to your wool socks, with those fiery peppers, cream cheese and caramelized onions tucked inside the casing, turning this German classic into something that once you try it, you're going to go to bed thinking about and wake up craving. Yes, it's that good."

References

External links