By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Bob Frobose’s father didn’t want to keep his son on the farm.
After a few bad years, Frobose said, his father sold his herd when he retired in 1974. When Frobose graduated from high school in 1971, and decided not to go to college where he hoped to play basketball, he stayed in the food industry, training to be a meat cutter in a small grocery chain.
Bob Frobose behind meat counter at IGA.
He’s still a meat cutter, but now he owns the store.
And he raises the cattle he processes.
He had no problem keeping his own sons in agriculture. All three – Ben, Jake and Zach – are involved in the family business, which now has a number of enterprises. And with grandchildren now romping around the barn, they look forward to this being a fifth generation operation.
Frobose told the family’s story during a Food Processing from Farm to Plate event, sponsored by the Wood County Farm Bureau earlier this month.
The tour began fittingly in the Frobose barn in Pemberville. “Dad had made it pretty clear that after he retired he didn’t want me to have anything to do with farming,” Frobose said. “He felt there were better opportunities off the farm.”
Cattle in Frobose barn
Frobose said he had a good upbringing on the farm though. Both working with the animals, and shooting baskets wherever he could hang a hoop. He joked that now he could tell everyone he was a good player because no one remembers otherwise. “You’re still good,” a grandson chimed up.
His father’s attitude toward agriculture didn’t mellow at all in his old age. When his grandsons got steers to show at the fair, “he didn’t even like that,” Bob Frobose said.
That was shortly before his death in 1989. A few months later, Frobose’s mother approached him: “I bet you’d like to get some cattle back in the barn wouldn’t you?”
In 1990, he had 60-75 head of cattle, and an almost 40-year-old barn, and some learning to do.
Working with his father, he said, he just did what he was told. Now he had to now re-educate himself “so basically you don’t kill the animals. … We had some growing pains.”
The farm no also raises pigs in fall through spring.
That includes having to find market for the meat. At one point, it was sold in Whole Foods. While the meat can’t be sold as organic, the beef is as close to organic as it can get without earning that designation.
“We don’t use and antibiotics or growth hormones in the feed,” he said.
In 1999, the Frobose family bought the Meat Locker, a landmark business in downtown Pemberville.
Zach Frobose cuts into a beef quarter.
Frobose ran the farm while working his other job getting up at 3 in the morning. He was working 90-100 hours a week. He didn’t want to leave that job until everything was paid off, he said.
Along the way his sons joined in and shared their father’s love of the work. Ben Frobose said while some people fish or golf, “our hobby is our work.”
That keeps them close to home and family, which is a benefit, most of the time.
The family now owns and operates the Pemberville IGA Foodliner and a carryout store.
The tour of about 30 people got behind the scenes look at both the IGA and Meat Locker.
The family had run the meat counter for the IGA before they had chance to buy the store five years ago. As with the farm, it has been a work in progress.
Bob Frobose said since they’ve taken over they’ve updated about 80 percent of the store, at 209 Bierley Ave. That includes installing LED lighting, which saved the business.
Jake Frobose, who manages the store said, the lighting refit cost $24,000, but quickly paid for itself in reduced electricity costs. His father noted the store saved $6,000 on its bill in the first six months.
The family’s philosophy is to reinvest 50 cents for every dollar it earns, he said.
That’s important in trying to keep up with giant competitors including Walmart and Kroger. Bob Frobose said every week he’s approached about buying another grocery store. Times are not good for smaller stores, he said.
“We try to develop different things that they’re not going to do,” Bob Frobose said.
That includes selling 80 types of bratwurst from downhome varieties such a beer bratwurst and exotic mixtures like a mango habanero bratwurst.
They all sell, Jake Frobose said.
At the Meat Locker, a few blocks away in the downtown, Ben Frobose said, “I enjoy the ability to be as creative as possible.”
He and his brother, Zach, who manages the Meat Locker, demonstrated how they make their own hot dogs with beef and pork trimmings from the store, not the hooves and lips and other filling that goes into mass produced hot dogs.
The Meat Locker has been a presence on Pemberville’s Front Street since the 1870s.
The business has a smoker in a back room, the locker which gives it its name, a cooler for aging meat, meat cutting area, and the storefront.
The locker stores both the store’s meat as well as meat for those who have purchased a large quantity. A few people on the tour, checked on their stocks.
All the family’s businesses, Zach Frobose, said “has allowed us to be involved in agriculture, and gives our children the opportunity to be involved in agriculture.”
The tour ended with a picnic with bratwursts as the main course, fitting given the farm family’s dedication to feeding people.
