Located in a small storefront among a strip of businesses in the heart of South Milwaukee, Milwaukee Sausage Company (1200 Milwaukee Ave.) has gained a good reception in the couple of months they’ve been open. According to owner Mark Maciejewski, the butcher shop-style storefront is selling sausage as quickly as they can crank it out.
“We sell out almost every weekend,” Maciejewski boasts of his handmade sausages, inspired by his family favorites.
“My grandparents made Polish for Easter and Christmas,” Maciejewski says, adding that as he got older, he helped them in the process. “It wasn’t until I shot my first deer, I started making hot sticks. They didn’t turn out well but that was the start of getting into this. I started making bulk chorizo and then branching out into other ideas I had.” Maciejewski’s trajectory is much like a homebrewer who evolves into a craft brewer—he originally made sausage for friends and family, then spent the last two summers set up with his wares at a farmers market booth before he “decided to make the jump” into a brick-and-mortar business.
He still also works as a plumber and coaches softball. “That’s about it, I keep it simple,” Maciejewski says. His three daughters help in the shop on register, and each has a sausage named after her, following their favorite recipes—you’ll find The Stella, The Sophia, and The Olivia as part of the menu’s lineup.
The key to making a good sausage, Maciejewski says, is custom cutting the ingredients, “and [using] original flavors instead of just buying bag mix—everything is my own recipe.”
Milwaukee Sausage Company’s biggest hits so far include the classic Polish, just like Maciejewski’s grandparents used to make for the holidays, and a standard brat. But the bestseller so far has been The Southsider, inspired by Maciejewski’s favorite pizza. It’s got mozzarella, mushroom and onion, and South Milwaukeeans have embraced it as their new favorite. Chorizos and Italians, an andouille, and a Buffalo chicken with blue cheese crumbles (“The A-A-Ron”), are among the other offerings on the menu.
Plans for Milwaukee Sausage Company’s near future include making use of what little floorspace they have to include racks of handmade spice mixes, offering sausage-making classes, and getting their shipping and distribution system in motion.
Milwaukee Sausage Company is open Wednesday-Friday 3-7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. You can find more info at milwaukeesausageco.com.
