Henry Thumann opened his first delicatessen in Wallington, NJ using the finest, leanest cuts of meat cured and prepared with little salt, no fillers or extenders, and no MSG. Given today’s health conscious attitute—with fat, salt, and artificial flavors and colors labeled with a Scarlet Letter—it may come as a surprise that Thumann started his business in 1949.

Today, the Thumann name is synonymous with high quality, and the company is among the largest manufacturers of premium deli products in the nation. The challenge, vice president Bob Burke, Jr. said, is to maintain the company’s standard for quality while meeting the ever-changing demands of grocers and consumers.

“A lot of supermarkets are looking for grab-and-go products, which we resisted for a long time,” Burke said. “We like our products to be sliced fresh, but the consumer is looking for a certain amount of convenience. We try to balance these factors and do what we think is right for our product while keeping our premium image and aspect.”

Old fashioned
Headquartered in Carlstadt, NJ, Thumann’s processes a full line of fresh poultry, beef, pork and dairy products along with soups, salads, frozen foods, and condiments. The privately owned company employs 220 and generates an average of $100 million in revenue annually.

Henry Thumann started his business with family recipes prepared in a family atmosphere, and that tradition continues today. Burke is the third generation of the Thumann family to take the reigns, and he said he’s tried to run the business in much the same way his father and grandfather did.

“It’s a very old fashioned culture,” Burke said. “We don’t use inter-office memos or lots of e-mail. We communicate face to face and tell each other what’s on our minds. That creates more of a warm, friendly atmosphere. It’s the opposite of an onerous, corporate atmosphere, and it creates an open and honest workplace.”

Despite having one of the largest, most modern meat processing facilities in the east, the company still uses expert butchers who take extra time and care to prepare each item for processing. Further, numerous items are still handled and packaged the old fashioned way—by hand— to make sure the products are not bruised or damaged in any way.

But one area in which the company is leaving old-fashioned methods behind is its infrastructure. “We have a bit of an ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it mentality,” Burke said. “But we got to the point where we were pushing a lot of paper, so we decided to invest in a new ERP.” The company just got started on the project, but when completed, the system will help Thumann’s create efficiencies in processes, eliminate redundancy, and create stronger tracking and data reporting.

Creating quality
The company’s technology leap will have a profound effect on employees—it will make their jobs easier. And providing an environment where employees can work safely and efficiently while having the opportunity to grow within the organization has been critical to Thumann’s success.

Because the plant is continually washed for sanitation purposes, the area is often damp. In an effort to make the work environment more hospitable, the company recently conducted a research project to find work boots with the best tread pattern to prevent slipping. “It can be slippery in the plant, and slips can lead to injuries,” Burke said. “We worked with our insurance company and friends in the industry to find a product better suited to our environment.”

The company was able to find boots with a different tread pattern to provide better traction. Since the boots were purchased a year ago, the accident rate has dropped, and the plant has become a safer place to work. Said Burke, “Making high quality products starts with having a safe work environment.”

Moving forward, Burke said the company is beginning to explore new flavors and packaging to meet consumer demand for grab-and-go products. However, he added, Thumann’s will never lose sight of its main goal: quality. “There’s a market for cheaper processed foods, but we like to promote the healthy aspects of our products.”

“It’s about sticking to your philosophy,” Burke concluded. “There’s always pressure to compromise your philosophy. Sometimes you want to try new things, but some things you have to resist because in the end it could compromise the quality of the product, and that’s not what we’re about. Thumann customers are very loyal because of our quality, and we don’t want to do anything to change that.”