Wilhauk history

The original Wilhauk Beef Jerky building

Beef is in their blood

The history of the Family business from its beginning in 1965

In May of 1965, Ben Wilhauk purchased Quality Meat Market in downtown Leduc. The town boasted a population of 2,000 at the time. Ben had learned custom killing, cutting, wrapping and sausage making while working at a plant in Barrhead, Alberta. He brought brother Tony in to help him and taught him the trade while the two worked at the Market, making homemade sausage and cutting, wrapping and selling sides of beef and pork they purchased from federal plants in Edmonton.

In August it was decided that a full custom killing plant was needed in the Leduc area. Ben's dad, Pius Wilhauk Sr., came into the business and moved the rest of the family from Camrose and purchased an acre of land north of Leduc near the auction mart, which was owned by the Sept family. On that acre they built their plant and called the business P.J. Wilhauk & Sons Custom Killing. In 1969, Pius Jr. left his job in Fort MacMurray to come help at the new plant. That acre of land is now 6053 - 47 St. in Leduc and is still the home of Wilhauk Beef Jerky today.

After finishing his hockey playing career 1968, Alex Wilhauk soon joined his father and brothers in the family business. They would custom kill beef and pork at the plant and then transport the meat to the Quality Meat Market, where the product would be cut and wrapped for sale to their customers.

In 1970, Tony left to become a meat cutter at Woodwards in Edmonton.

In 1971, after Pius Sr. retired & Pius Jr. left to become a Physic Nurse in Claresholm, AB, the Quality Meat Market was sold and the killing plant was expanded to include cut & wrap facilities, a sausage kitchen, a meat curing room, a custom smokehouse and, of course, enough coolers and freezers to keep their product fresh.

In 1972, Alex & Ben became partners and Leduc Meat Packers Ltd., was formed.

In 1974, the business was growing fast, so Norm Wilhauk joined the family business, leaving a rig job to help his brothers.

In 1982, after years of suffering with back injuries while performing this gruelling work, Ben was forced to leave the company. He sold his 50% of the business to Norm. Now Norm and Alex were partners in the business.

In 1984, Leduc Meat Packers Ltd., started making Beef Jerky. As word spread and more people began asking for this new product, the Wilhauk’s realized something special was beginning to grow.

The plant continued to fill custom killing and cut and wrap orders, even as the jerky end of the business was gaining ground.

In 2004, as Alex was beginning to consider retirement, his youngest son Dean was preparing to take over Alex's half of the business.

Dean would have been the first Wilhauk in the third generation to take ownership in the family business, but his sudden passing in 2005 changed that. Many of his generation worked at the plant, but Dean would have been the first owner. After Dean's tragic passing, his brother Trent left his career and joined the family business to help his father and Uncle Norm.

In 2006, after many sleepless nights, Alex & Norm made the difficult decision to close the custom killing, cut & wrap portions of the business to focus on making beef jerky and sausage.

In January 2012, Norm officially retired, and Alex purchased his 50% of the company.

Meanwhile, sales and demand for the product slowly continued to grow.

On January 16, 2013, Alex Wilhauk lost his battle with Small Cell Lung Cancer at the age of 68 years old. Trent inherent 100% of Leduc Meat Packers Ltd and will continue to honor his father's legacy by continuing to offer excellent products and customer service that was the calling card of the Wilhauk name.

On April 8, 2016, Wilhauk Beef Jerky was born when Trent Wilhauk changed the name legally from Leduc Meat Packers Ltd. to Wilhauk Beef Jerky Ltd. In October of 2016, Wilhauk Beef Jerky Ltd. became the owner of two registered Canadian trademarks, one for “WILHAUK BEEF JERKY” and the other for our famous logo. This all came about due to Trent's vision of continuing to expand the popularity of the product not only in Alberta but across Canada.

Wilhauk Beef Jerky is now famous in Alberta and all over Canada and the United States. Customers have even sent packages of Wilhauk Beef Jerky all over the world, often to Canadian troops serving their country in Afghanistan or other war-torn countries.

Wilhauk Beef Jerky Ltd. is proud of its history and the community it serves. We continue to look to the future. We look forward to seeing everyone in our Leduc store soon.