Ed and Regina Woods, owners of Woods Smoked Meats, a meat processing plant with a retail store and deli located in Bowling Green, has announced the sale of Woods Smoked Meats to HWC Meats, a partnership between Mike Sloan of Hermann Wurst Haus in Hermann, Cory Hawkins, who owns Central Missouri Meat & Sausage in Fulton and Steve Bolton, Woods Smoked Meats general manager.

Ed Woods is retiring after 70 years in the meat processing business. He is legendary in the industry, having won over 645 state, national, and international awards for his smoked meat creations, at the State Meat Processors Convention, state fairs, the American Cured Meat Championships and the prestigious IFFA German Butchers Association Show in Frankfurt. Germany.

Woods was inducted into the American Cured Meats Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2017, Woods was inducted into the prestigious National Meat Industry Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Atlanta,

Georgia. Woods Smoked Meats is one of the top three to four award winners in the United States.

He earned a degree in food science and nutrition with an emphasis on meats from the University of Missouri. After graduation, he worked at Wilson Certified Foods in Kansas City before returning to Bowling Green and going into business with his father who had been operating a grocery store and meat market since 1947. Woods would build his business into a thriving meat processing plant, retail store and deli, specializing in ham, bacon and sausage.

“I feel confident that with these three industry leaders at the helm, the Woods Smoked Meat brand will continue to thrive with the highest standard of quality,” said Woods, who is happy for the sale of Woods Smoked Meats to his industry friends and general manager.

Sloan brings 55 years’ experience in the industry to the partnership. His career began at his parent’s meat processing business. In 2011, he and his wife Lynette, opened Hermann Wurst Haus, Missouri wine country’s premier meat and sausage shop, and deli, specializing in smoked meats such as bratwurst, bacon and sausage.

Over the course of Sloan’s career, he has won more than 500 national, state and regional awards, including 14 best of show honors and 29 international awards at the German Butcher's Association.

Hawkins has been in the industry for 35 years. Central Missouri Meat & Sausage is a USDA inspected processing plant, supplying meat to wholesale distributors, grocery store chains, and restaurants along with their own restaurant and retail

store.

Bolton is the boots-on-the-ground guy who has 25 years’ experience at Woods Smoked Meats.

“The Woods Smoked Meat, Hermann Wurst Haus, and Central Missouri Meat & Sausage brands complement each other exceptionally well and will deliver an improved value proposition to staff, employees, customers, and stakeholders throughout the industries,” Sloan said. “By having three processing businesses, two of which are federally inspected, one state inspected, we will be able to expand our customer base through central Missouri and beyond.”