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The production facilities of the Boneberger butcher shop in Schongau || I recently visited the 'hallowed halls' of the Bavarian butcher shop Boneberger in Schongau. You surely remember: In the meantime four previous articles, In my last post, I told you about the history of the Boneberger butcher shop; we visited one of their branches together and cooked with their high-quality products. In my fourth article, I also introduced you to the new vegan products from "Creativeaty," and today, in the fifth installment, I'm focusing on the Boneberger production facility in Schongau. I had the opportunity to see it for myself and learned what makes their products and traditional butcher shop so special, including their slaughtering and meat selection processes.
Production in Schongau
Fine Lechtal ham matures here – I've already had the chance to try it.
As you've already learned in my previous articles, the Boneberger butcher shop, established in 1966, stands for top quality, homemade freshness, regional products, and transparency for us customers. In short, what you buy at Boneberger is always fresh, high-quality merchandise, completely homemade, and sourced from Schongau. Boneberger's production facility covers approximately 2,500 square meters across three floors and is divided into different departments and a production line further subdivided into various sections. Everything, from the regionally raised animals in the barn to the finished, packaged product for the Boneberger delivery vehicles, comes from a single source.
Anyone who's never been to a slaughterhouse probably doesn't have a very realistic picture of it; at least, that's how I used to feel. At Boneberger's Schongau facility, every step is highly structured, coordinated, and above all, hygienic and clean. The production area, including the slaughterhouse, is located right next to the cattle and pig barns. Besides top quality, a stress-free process for the animals is the highest priority. The pigs, cattle, and calves go directly from the barn to the slaughterhouse and are stunned quickly and stress-free within the first stage. Slaughtering takes place twice a week at the Boneberger butcher shop.
Highly trained Boneberger employees use their extensive expertise to ensure top-quality products.
The meat passes through various departments and, after the animals leave the barn and are slaughtered, ends up in the butchering area. Beforehand, it undergoes another quality check and is sorted into different grades. Boneberger uses warm meat processing. This means that the meat is processed while still warm, within two hours of slaughter. This ensures that the meat retains its top quality, freshness, and intense flavor and aroma.
After the butchering, carried out by trained butchers, the meat goes – depending on the product – to the respective specialist department within production, namely the sausage-making, curing, and stuffing departments. I was allowed to enter each department and observe the sausage-making process, the mixing of sausage meat (needed for liverwurst, white sausage, meatloaf, etc.), the skewering, and the portioning and butchering of the different cuts and pieces of meat. I was also given a glimpse into the Italian aging cabinets, cooking ovens, and smokers used for the various types of salami, ham, and sausage. (Incidentally, only a few butcher shops make their own salami. Making top-quality salami is not easy. Boneberger even has Italian aging cabinets and specially trained staff who know precisely which step, temperature, and amount of smoke each type of sausage requires.)
Because the animals are slaughtered on two days of the week – twice-weekly slaughtering is rare for butchers – you always have top-quality, unconditionally fresh products in the butcher shops. This means that Boneberger stores offer freshly made Weisswurst daily, as well as fresh meat and sausages every day.
Only beef and pork from Upper Bavaria are processed in the production of Boneberger products.
What kind of meat is used at Boneberger?
For me, regional sourcing is at least as important as quality when buying meat. Boneberger Butcher Shop processes exclusively Bavarian meat, thus focusing on quality from Bavaria. The pork you buy from Boneberger comes from various farmers in the Bavarian Oberland region. To ensure the animals are treated well and to guarantee the best meat quality for us, none of the farms are more than 50 kilometers from the Schongau production facility. The butcher shop also has a quality control system that can trace the journey of each animal – from birth to arrival at the production facility. Before an animal is slaughtered, it is, of course, thoroughly inspected and its health is checked. The animals' feed is also important: right up until slaughter, the pigs bred for the butcher shop are fed exclusively and appropriately for their respective growth phases with digestible feed based on grain and corn. Another quality criterion.
At Boneberger, you only buy beef from animals raised in the Bavarian Oberland region. The "Boneberger animals" grow up in a natural and healthy environment, are primarily fed grass and hay grown on the farms themselves, and are monitored by Boneberger's own feed consultants to ensure the animals receive optimal nutrition. Pasture grazing and the slow growth of the cattle are also crucial factors in meat quality. Further evidence of their high quality standards: only about 80 individually selected farmers, with farms located no more than 50 kilometers from the Schongau production facility, are Boneberger's quality partners. On these farms, the animals are raised slowly and stress-free for up to two years until they reach slaughter weight. Before slaughter, the cattle, just like the pigs, are inspected and selected – only absolutely flawless animals are sent to slaughter.
Only the best quality meat ends up in the butcher shop's counters.
When buying veal, we can also rely on the top quality of Boneberger butchery. They work with a single Bavarian calf-fattening farmer who breeds exclusively for Boneberger. Boneberger is Bavaria's largest calf slaughterhouse; very few butchers slaughter purely Bavarian animals. Good rearing conditions, slow growth, high-quality feed, and complete traceability from birth to the farm are all part of the veal processed in the Schongau production facility.
I appreciate that, as customers of Boneberger, we can expect complete transparency regarding the origin of the meat. This includes the clearly identifiable origin of each animal, as well as open disclosure of its rearing practices. These include group grazing, feeding primarily on grass and hay grown on the farm, and ample exercise – all criteria that ultimately contribute to the outstanding quality of the meat, as does the stress-free slaughtering process. The short transport routes deliberately chosen by Boneberger butchers, along with stress-free slaughtering, also contribute to the premium quality of the meat. (Of course, the quality of the meat and compliance with all these standards are continuously and thoroughly monitored to ensure consistently high-quality meat in their butcher shop products.)
Boneberger also makes various, very fine salamis himself.
When you buy poultry from Boneberger, it also comes from Bavarian farms. Special attention is paid to species-appropriate and fair rearing as well as healthy feeding for these animals.
Everything is homemade and only the best quality products go to the butchers.
The next (and final) part – what to expect
I hope you'll enjoy buying your fresh meat and sausages from Boneberger's butcher shop even more in the future. When you visit, remember to ask about Creativeaty's vegan products and try their vegan Bolognese sauce.
Personally, it's very important to me that I only find the best quality meat and sausage in my shopping basket, so I'm all the more pleased that I can rely completely on Boneberger's butcher shop. Another plus is their commitment to animal welfare and their exclusive use of regional partners.
In my next, sixth, and for now final article about the traditional Boneberger butcher shop, I'll be picking up another batch of fresh sausages and some grilling supplies from their store. I'll show you just how delicious Boneberger's products are with another cooking and grilling session. I'll also summarize everything I've learned. Until then: happy meat and sausage shopping at Boneberger! (You can see more photos from the production process in the slideshow below.)
+++ This article was created in cooperation with Boneberger GmbH butcher shop. Thank you! +++
The production of the Boneberger butcher shop in Schongau
Industrial Park Outer West, Dr.-Manfred-Hirschvogel-Straße 1, 86956 Schongau
Boneberger – Locations
Website – BONEBERGER BUTCHER SHOP
Pictures:
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- Boneberger also makes the finest salami himself.
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- Highly trained Boneberger employees use their extensive expertise and top-quality equipment to ensure the finest products are produced.
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- Fine Lechtal ham matures here – I've already had the chance to try it.
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- Everything is homemade and only the best quality products go to the butchers.
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- Everything is homemade and only the best quality products go to the butchers.
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