LINCOLN, NEB. — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) confirmed that it would hold a reopening ceremony for the Loeffel Meat Shoppe on May 3.

Attendees can try recipe samples and view demonstrations on food safety, knife care and proper knife usage in the home kitchen from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. UNL will also have store sales and giveaways.

“We’ve been in the process of making some updates to the store and to our inventory,” said Jordan Wicks, extension meat specialist for UNL. “We’ve expanded our retail hours and are now offering some fresh beef and pork items, alongside our frozen inventory.”

The location, which has been open and operated since the 1960s, is a USDA-inspected retail meat sales operation that sells cuts of beef, pork, lamb, goat, smoked and sliced sausages, brats, naturally cased wieners and multiple ready-to-eat snack sticks. New hours for the on-campus retail store will be Tuesdays from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Fridays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Sales from the shop help offset costs associated with the academic programs in animal science. Livestock will be harvested and processed for sales in the Loeffel Meat Laboratory with assistance from Nebraska students in the department.

“Our customers always tell us we’re one of the best-kept secrets in Lincoln,” Wicks stated. “We wanted to have an event to thank our current customers for their business, but also provide some added value from the excellent resources that we have here on campus for the community.”

At Loeffel, UNL students learn how to process, package, and sell the products they process, along with developing new items in the location, like the Jalapeño Popper Bratwurst, which was a two-time national award winner. 

“Our students do fantastic work, and our products are a showcase of that,” Wicks added. “The future of meat processing, whether at large plants or your local locker, starts with students having hands-on opportunities like the ones we provide at the university.”

The facility is named after Professor William J. Loeffel, the first meat scientist at the UNL, who was a faculty member from 1919 to 1962 and served as chair of the department from 1938 to 1959.