"I graduated from eighth grade, went about two months of high school and my mother said 'What are you going to do?'" said Floyd Alderfer. "I said, 'Work.' And I think I have worked in the meat business ever since."
Sixty years ago, Floyd was making 50 cents a day, bought his first meat truck for $35, and started his business on a $500 bank loan.
"It was a lot at that time," he says. "On a handshake. That's how you got it."
Fast forward six decades. Now when you visit their booth at the back of the Lancaster County Farmer's Market in Wayne and you'll find Floyd, his sons Denny and Keith and mom, Elizabeth.
"She's the Chairman of the Board," Denny says of Elizabeth.
And they are still doing it the old fashioned way!
"We still use all of our hand knives and sharpen them and trim everything up," Floyd says. "We age it all about 20 days before we start to cut it."
It's a dying art and industry. For the Alderfers, it's all about being locally sourced and factory-free.
Today they're now serving the third generation of Floyd's original customers.
For more information:
Floyd K. Alderfer & Sons 389 W Lancaster Ave, Wayne, PA 19087 (610) 687-0432
