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WHY INDIANA?
Meats by Linz started in 1963 as a butcher shop in Calumet City, Illinois, after founder Martin Linz won $65,000 in a dice game and decided to use his winnings to go into business. Proudly family owned—and with four generations in the business—Meats by Linz has grown into one of the largest independent meat purveyors in the world. After almost 60 years in Illinois, the family announced in 2022 that the company would move its headquarters across the state line to Hammond, Indiana.
Meats by Linz knew a decade ago that it would need a new facility, and it began considering locations in both Indiana and Illinois. “Indiana rolled out the red carpet and had a better incentive package,” said Bart Vittori, the company’s chief financial officer.
“The business climate is more favorable in Indiana,” he said, noting that the move reduces the company’s costs for taxes and insurance, among other things. “It just made more sense from a business standpoint.”
The trick was to find the right site. The city of Hammond assisted with that, assembling the 10-acre site about a mile from Hammond’s downtown, which is in the midst of a renaissance.
It helps that the new Meats by Linz headquarters is only a little over a mile from the Illinois facility that it vacated. That meant little to no disruption for the company’s 400 employees, about half of whom already live in Indiana.
A WINNING MOVE FOR INDIANA
When Meats by Linz decided to move across the state line into Indiana to a new headquarters just a little over a mile from its old home in Illinois, it proved a point Indiana officials have been making for years: “It’s more economical to do business in Indiana.”
And the company gives Hammond another win in its continuing renaissance. Meats by Linz brings 400 employees and new life to a 10-acre site about a mile from downtown, which is being transformed by new development. That includes a train station that will be built to serve the newly expanded South Shore commuter line, making the trip from Chicago to northwest Indiana faster than ever.
Meats by Linz is an endorsement of Hammond’s momentum and is expected to spark additional development in the vicinity of the company’s new headquarters.
“Having an internationally known company like Meats by Linz relocate its global headquarters to Hammond is a huge economic development victory for our city,” Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott said in June 2024 at the ribbon-cutting for the new facility.
“This is a great national company that supplies fine steakhouses. “To have them in Hammond is awesome,” McDermott said.
Meats by Linz brings other benefits to the community, including its support of the Boys & Girls Club of Northwest Indiana. The company sponsors several events for the Boys & Girls Club, and Meats by Linz employees volunteer their time to help kids served by the organization.
The company also donates its product and provides other support to police officers, firefighters and other first responders in the area. And it acts as a sponsor for major events presented by the City of Hammond.
At Purdue University Northwest, Zac Linz, the company’s vice president of operations, has given presentations about the beef industry to the school’s tourism and hospitality students. Meats by Linz also donates product to the school and has provided judging and mentoring for Purdue Northwest’s digital marketing competition.
FAST FACTS
WHO: Meats by Linz, one of the largest independent meat purveyors in the world
CUSTOMERS: The world’s top steakhouses, restaurants, resorts, country clubs, casinos, cruise lines and sporting venues
OWNERSHIP: Family owned since its founding in 1963
HEADQUARTERS: Moved to Hammond, Indiana, in 2024
INVESTMENT: $52 million
FACILITY: 120,000-square-foot office and production facility, including the largest dry-age rooms in the world
JOBS: 400 moved from Illinois; 50 new jobs to be created