Dayton Meats of Malcom brings home the bacon

     Dayton Meat Products of Malcom earned 11 top honors at the Iowa Meat Processors (IMPA) annual convention held Feb. 16 – 18 at the Gateway Center in Ames. Pictured are, from left: Bill Dayton and his son, Jake, who are surrounded by many of the awards and honors the business has received for its top quality meat products. Employee Austin Strachota, who is not pictured, also attended the meat processors convention.

By J.O. Parker       
 
      Dayton Meat Products of Malcom recently added 11 more championship plaques to its long list of awards and honors from the 2023 Iowa Meat Processors Association (IMPA) annual convention.
      Bill Dayton, Jake Dayton and Austin Strachota represented the Malcom-based meat processing business at the convention held Feb. 16-18 at the Gateway Center in Ames. 
      The local meat processor received the following honors:
      Grand Champion - Bacon
       Reserve Grand Champion – Cottage Bacon
       Reserve Grand Champion – Restructured Jerky
       Reserve Grand Champion – Small Diameter Smoked Cooked Sausage
       Reserve Grand Champion – Meat Snack Sticks
       Reserve Grand Champion – Summer Sausage
       Champion – Bone in Ham
       Champion – Dried Beef
        Champion – Specialty Ham
        Reserve Champion – Jerky Whole Muscle
        Reserve Champion – Cooked Ring Bologna
      The business is known for its award-winning meat products and customer service. The company processed mor than 700 beef, 700 hogs and 45,000 pounds of deer meat each year. 
        More than 400 championship honors won by the meat processing company line the walls of the business at 102 Montezuma St. Jake and Strchota prepared all the meats for the competition.
      Lawrence Dayton and his father-in-law, Bill Osmond, started Malcom Locker in 1959. Lawrence's wife, Edith, joined her husband in the business in the mid-1970s. Bill joined his parents in the business in 1976. In 1980, Dayton Meat Products was formed and Bill and his brother, Dave, became partners with their father and mother.
       Today, the business is owned by Bill and his two sons, Jack and Josh, who are third generation owners.The company has nearly 20 full- and part-time employees.
“It is always a good experience attending the convention and cured meat show and learning new tricks of the trade,” said Strachota.
            “The plaques are nice to win, but we wouldn’t be where we are today without our customers,” said Jake. “We have a great customer base.”