Sparrer Sausage began in 1935 as a vision by two men. Earl Klemme, an established sausage peddler in Chicago went into business with a gentleman by the name of George Sparrer who was a retired Wurstmaker from Germany. Over the next three years, Earl and George peddled a variety of homemade sausage products out of their trucks and distributed them all over Chicago. The partnership between Earl and George proved to be an overwhelming success and in 1938, Sparrer Sausage Company was born.

Over the next decade, Sparrer Sausage continued to flourish and by 1950, the product line had grown to over a dozen items. Some of the items offered by Sparrer were summer sausage, beer sausage, mettwurst, and hard salami.

In 1953, Richard Graves married into the Klemme Family, and after his obligation to the Air Force was met, he began learning the business from Earl. Then in 1968, Earl sold the business to his son-in-law Richard.

Richard ran the business for thirty years and expanded Sparrer’s customer base from independent grocer to large chain stores. Sparrer was distributing their products to more customers than ever before and soon enough, Sparrer Sausage could be found in California to New York and everywhere in between.

In 1998, Richard stepped down from his position and passed the business on to his son and third generation, Brian Graves. Brian continues to run the family-owned business today and has brought the factory into the 21st century through continuous improvements in the plant and the modernization of manufacturing processes.

Sparrer Sausage Company, Inc.
Mission Statement
Sparrer Sausage Company is dedicated to providing the highest quality food products by utilizing traditional and modern manufacturing methods. Satisfying and exceeding customers’ needs and expectations is our mission.

Sparrer Sausage Company, Inc.
Quality Statement
Sparrer Sausage, a food manufacturer, is dedicated to consistently providing safe and high quality products to all customers. To achieve this, our employees, including top-management, are fully committed to develop, document, implement, evaluate, monitor and continuously improve all programs that assist in providing the highest quality to meet and exceed customer expectations.