Meeting Jones Dairy Farm

My sister and I grew up on Jones Dairy Farm breakfast sausages. In fact that’s the first thing my Mom mentioned to me when I said that I would be meeting the folks from Jones Dairy Farm this past weekend. And both my own kids love sausages, whether for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, so it’s a tradition that has continued to this day.

So how was I going to say no to a weekend adventure? Especially when it was taking place at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

I wasn’t.

With iced coffee in hand, at the unforgiving time of 6:20 am on Saturday morning, I set out for the campus. The CIA side of the visit will come in another post, likely next week. For today, we focus on Jones Dairy Farm.

First of all, I hate to admit it, but I didn’t even know they made bacon. I don’t know if I just wasn’t paying attention, and maybe really did know but just didn’t know that I knew …? But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. If you saw my bacon picture on Instagram on Saturday morning, you know what I thought about the bacon.

Amazeballs.

Just the perfect amount of crispiness, and fat, and chew, and black pepper.

And if we didn’t have a full day ahead of us that morning, I totally would have gone back for more.

In fact, I even texted Sarah across the table that we should, because, you know, there is strength in numbers.

There were many employees from Jones with us that day, and they gave us quite an education. On the company, their goals and mission, their product line, and even the proper way to break down a pig and how to cut a ham (easy YouTube videos available right from their site; they made it look so easy, mostly because it is).

Jones Dairy Farm is a sixth generation family business, and I love that. If you are a family member, you are not automatically in the business. You have to first go out in the world and prove that you can earn a living on your own, without relying on the family name. Once you have done that, you can come into the fold. Starting at the bottom. The current President/CEO, Philip Jones, went to France and earned his culinary degree. And came back and started at Jones in maintenance. No nepotism there.

Being a strong proponent of clean eating, aside from the core family values, I loved their commitment to their ingredient list. Or lack thereof. Eschewing what their competitors might do to drive down price, they stick to just a handful of ingredients in their sausages (pork, water, salt spices, collagen casing). Things you can pronounce. Things you can feel good about eating and letting your family eat. Even though they could stuff their sausages with sub-par items to keep the cost down and compete on a price level, they choose not to. No artificial coloring. No preservatives. Gluten-free. Basically no crap.

And I couldn’t be more pleased to know that.

Because long-term, the savings might not be in your wallet, but it’s in your health.

And what is more important?

Beyond the breakfast sausage that our family loves, the Jones Family also offers scrapple, fresh ham, turkey bacon, and Canadian sausage (which I use when making breakfast sandwiches, love the value size packages from Costco).

The education that we received over the weekend, paired with really getting a pulled-back look at the core values of the family company, couldn’t have been more eye opening. It’s moments like that that reinforce a connection to a company. Any company.

And so, my pursuit for their bacon is on.

*Although this is not a sponsored post, my hotel stay was comped.