Bacon has been a boon for meat processors large and small.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Throughout 2016, bacon has been big business for processors, and MEAT+POULTRY editors have interviewed numerous sources to discuss the staying power, innovations and growth of this item. Below are 10 of the top stories to run in the Bacon Business e-Newsletter.

Taking a stab at sticks
Western’s Smokehouse is a small meat processing business based in Greentop, Missouri, and like a lot of other small meat processors, it’s been getting into the bacon business in a big way.

Christmas bacon from The Country Butcher
Repeat customers come into The Country Butcher in Tolland, Connecticut, seeking to find what 54-year-old owner Stephen Boyer has created for them lately in his boutique-like but old-fashioned American country processing business.

Chomping at the bits
Not unlike other types and cuts of meat and poultry products, including skirt steak and chicken wings, the byproducts of what seem to be a limitless demand for bacon have also become a red-hot commodity.

Vermont Smoke & Cure is a typical small meat processor with an identity that is distinctively Vermont and New England.

Local bellies
The home-grown appeal of Vermont Smoke & Cure’s bacon products fuels its growth.

Bringing back bacon to America
When Tony Baker was a kid, on the drive to his grandparent’s house in southwest England, his parents would often stop at a butcher shop along the way. One of the things he remembered them buying was back bacon.

Burgers’ Smokehouse: Bursting with bellies
Processors ride the wave of bacon’s popularity however they can and California, Missouri-based Burgers’ Smokehouse has found its own unique way to capitalize.

Making bacon in a big way
Nolechek’s Meats, a meat processing company that’s been operated by four generations of the Nolechek family, makes lots of bacon in a big way.

Rodizio Grill celebrates bacon with a variety of meat skewers that include bacon.