Sklenarik’s Smoked Meats Still Thriving in Miles After 39 Years

Sklenarik said his business is probably best known for its smokey turkey, which has won numerous awards, along with smoked sausage and summer sausage. Its beef jerky and ham are popular items as well.

The store also carries canned goods such as pickles and beets, and salsas from Fernandez Restaurant in San Angelo and Juan Billy’s Fresh Salsa in Ballinger.

Sklenarik began working at the business when he was in high school when it was still known as the Miles Locker Plant.

He purchased it from Bob and Betty Kvapil in 1985.

Sklenarik credited his customers for the business’s success and longevity, but he was also grateful for other small meat processors around the state for helping him get off the ground, including Max Stabel from Ranch House Meat Company in Menard.

“You’d think I’d be competition, but he was one of the first ones to reach out to me and say, ‘This is how you do this, and this is how you do that,’” Sklenarik said. “There’s a network of all these small plants helping each other out.

“Now, I’ll have somebody call me and ask how to do this and how to do that, and I’ll share the information. There’s enough business for everybody, and we help each other out.”

He said Ray Rabroker from Slovacek’s in West, and Rod Klemke from the Klemke Sausage Haus in Slaton were other business owners that helped him in the early days.

Sklenarik said the business has seen its share of rough times, which led him to diversify its offerings over the years.

They went from strictly custom meat processing — a service that allows you to have your animal slaughtered and processed for personal use — to adding the retail storefront in 1991.

Over the years, beef jerky became a bigger part of the business.

Sklenarik’s eventually expanded from running one smokehouse to three. 

“It didn’t happen all at once,” he said. 

While COVID-19 ended many small businesses, Sklenarik said it was actually the opposite for him.

“People started filling their freezers like crazy,” he recalled.

Sklenarik said his brother, Mark, is a partner in the business. He also gets help from his wife, Marla.

Sklenarik’s has two longtime employees, Marlon Rankin and his sister, Chel’C Rankin.

“They’ve been around since Day 1, and they never went away,” he said.

Sklenarik, 62, is nearing retirement age, but he said he doesn’t have plans of stepping down anytime soon.

“We’re just going to keep chugging along like we’ve been doing,” he said.