Minnesota State Fair recognizes Morgan’s Meat Market

Old Fashion cooked summer sausage prepared by Morgan’s Meats of Waseca was named both “Grand Champion” and “Best of Show” at the 2026 Minnesota State Fair.

 

Dean Morgan, who, with his wife, Barb, owns Morgan’s Meat Market in Waseca, shares that the winning entry for the state fair was the same as the product sold at the store: “Anytime we do a competition we use the same recipes as we do in our homemade case in the store,” he shared. “The only thing we changed this year was the fermentation cycle in the cooking process.“

 

Another product, a Homemade Breakfast Omelet Sausage Link, also received high rankings, according to Dean. He reveals the breakfast link was made by company employees from scratch, and contained eggs, sausage, seasoning and hashbrowns.

 

Dean mentions that Morgan’s Meats generally provides entries to four competitions a year, and he regards the Minnesota State Fair Processed Meats as the most important. He explains that the Minnesota Association of Meat Processors booth is located in the dairy building where approximately 100,000 people walk by and see the winning products.  He also mentions the meat processors’ competition is a friendly one between meat markets and other meat shops from northern to southern Minnesota.

 

Dean says Morgan’s products are very frequently among the winners in the competitions it enters, proving themselves against products from both Minnesota and South Dakota.

 

Dean has been working in the meat industry since 1985. He started his own business in New Richland in 2003, running it successfully until 2021. At that time, he bought Lau’s Meat Market in Waseca where he continued his success, returning to the same building where he began his career in 1985.

 

Morgan’s Meat Market is a USDA inspected facility and also a private label processing facility where they make a wide variety of products including sausages like Snack Sticks, Summer Sausage, and Beef Strips. Morgan’s has ramped up their business as they have just signed a contract to make 20,000 pounds of snack sticks per month for a private label. Although they only recently added onto the back of the shop, with this contract they are already working to put in another addition that will include a 40 x 80 ft. freezer, loading dock, and smokehouse. 

 

One of many goals for Morgan’s Meats is to make up to 20,000 pounds of snack sticks per day. “With the amazing staff and additional room for production this goal is possible” says Dean.        He also shares that Morgan’s Meat Market was honored to be one of the facilities the Minnesota Association of Meat Processors visited on Sept 10. Visitors were provided with a tour of the facility and a luncheon catered by Kelm’s BBQ. 

 

More information about Morgan’s Meats and its product line is available on Facebook or at the company website, www.morgansmeatmarket.net.