When life hands you lemons, look for ways to make lemonade. While not always easy, that is the attitude Jared and Stacey Nikkel, owners of Sully Locker and Market, continue to live by after an electrical fire in October 2016 destroyed the building where their business had been located since 1946.

“As soon as we learned all our staff was safe, our top priority immediately became compensating our customers for their meat that was lost,” says Stacey. “Around 30,000 pounds of beef and pork were destroyed in the fire, and it was important to us that we take care of those customers first.”

Jared and Stacey then began the difficult and emotional process of reflecting on the business they have owned since 2012, endlessly talking about all options, and ultimately making the decision that they wanted to rebuild and come back bigger and better.

Supportive small-town community
“Taking that leap of faith to rebuild was influenced heavily by the unending expression of community support,” Stacey says. “The community was very supportive of us during our first four years, and there has been such an outpouring of love this past year. This definitely played a part in our decision to reopen.”

The new Sully Locker and Market is on the west edge of the town of Sully in southeast Iowa, in a building that was purchased and expanded on three sides. While insurance settlements helped with most of the building and land purchase costs, the Nikkels were also recipients of a $225,000 loan from Pella Cooperative Electric Association and Central Iowa Power Cooperative to help expand freezer and refrigeration capacity, purchase new processing equipment, and install new lighting systems.

Funds for the loan were initially provided to the electric cooperatives through a USDA Rural Development program, which helps cooperatives and other intermediaries establish revolving loan funds to support expanding and emerging private businesses in rural areas. USDA Rural Development has helped create more than 150 active revolving loan funds throughout the state. These revolving loan funds have more than $31 million available to support growth opportunities for small and emerging rural businesses.

USDA Rural Development helps
“As illustrated with Sully Locker and Market, our revolving loan fund offers us a flexible and responsive funding mechanism to support business growth and community vitality,” says Jon Miles, chief executive officer of Pella Cooperative Electric Association. “Providing access to low-cost financing options, in addition to technical support, has proven to play an important role with many of our community businesses.”

Pella Cooperative Electric Association has had its revolving loan fund for more than 15 years. Information about rural electric cooperatives and local and regional development organizations managing these funds, and the counties each intermediary serve, can be found at rd.usda.gov/ia or by contacting USDA Rural Development.

The new Sully Locker and Market began processing meat in early October and held a grand opening for its market items in early November. “As we started down that road to rebuild, we realized our new facility needed to be quite a bit bigger and our original location was just not feasible,” Stacey adds.

LOCAL SUPPORT: Outpouring of community support played a big role in Jared and Stacey Nikkel’s decision to reopen and expand the products and scope of Sully Locker and Market.

New facility handles more production
The new facility has a processing area that is almost three times as large as the old one. Up to 12 cattle and 10 hogs can now be processed each week, with the possibility of doing more in the future. More staff have been added to handle the additional production, and the business now employs 12 team members, four more than before.

Along with the increased production, there is also an expanded area where customers can buy meat products, as well as a variety of locally grown foods. “Several years ago a community survey indicated a grocery store was something people really wanted.” Stacey says. “Before the fire we had talked about different ways we could add on, or maybe buy a different facility. So the idea was always in our future; we just did not believe it would be so soon.”

EXPANDED: “With expanded storage and processing areas, we can now handle up to 12 cattle and 10 hogs per week, and have room to increase in the future,” says Jared Nikkel.

The Nikkels watched the retail side of the business grow steadily during the past four years and have started adding new meat products to their line, including skinless bratwurst and different flavors.

“The community is ready for us to be back open and so are we,” Stacey says. “There continues to be a movement with customers wanting to know where their food products come from. The locally grown products offered in our market allow us to assist even more in making that connection.”

Leach is public information coordinator with USDA Rural Development in Iowa.