Sadler’s
role in business community noted during
Rotary talk
Barbecue producer employs
about 350 at Henderson facility
Employing an average of 350 full-time
workers at its Henderson plant, Sadler’s
Bar-B-Que Sales’ contributions
to the local economic environment
are enormous.
That was the principal message brought
to Henderson Rotary Club members Friday
by the guest speaker, Randy Sadler,
Sadler’s Bar-B-Que Sales vice-president.
Family unity is one of the chief reasons
for the family-owned business’
success for more than 40 years, Sadler
said.
“Anything to
do with an employee, my brother (Ricky)
handles; anything to do with the product,
Jason (brother-in-law) handles; and
anything to do with selling, I handle.
It amazes me that our talents fit
in these areas,” Sadler said.
“We’ve never, I mean
never, had a squabble about this,
that or the other in the plant,”
he said. “There’s an unselfishness
around the people who work for us.
We’re just really blessed for
that.
“I tell people
the story and they honestly don’t
think I’m telling the truth.
Now, we have some days that are strained
like you would in any business, but
at the end of the day, we’ve
never left that building where we
weren’t all on the same page.”
Sadler reminded Henderson Rotarians
that his business is “just barbecue,
not rocket science.” The method
used to cook the meats is the same
way as when his grandfather ran the
company. “The way we cook the
product – we have wood on the
bottom, meat in the middle and a stack
on top – and we leave it alone
for about 18 hours. The temperature
never goes above 200 degrees, so it’s
the old-fashioned way,” he said.
When Sadler’s began to lose
employees a few years ago to other
area companies for higher wages –
but no health insurance coverage –
some plant supervisors raised concerns,
he said.
“It was a
real simple thing for me if they don’t
care about the insurance, let’s
cut it out and just have insurance
for our salaried employees. It costs
us more money than it costs them.
“And Dad (Harold Sr.) said,
‘Well I’m not going to
let our people be a burden on this
community. If they work for us, they
can go to the hospital and know their
bill’s going to get paid.’
So that’s Dad’s feeling
about his partnership with our town.
It just really showed me something
in the way that he does business,”
he said.
“There I was
thinking, real simple, dollars and
cents, they don’t want the insurance…we’ll
keep a good employee, we’ll
pay them more an hour and let the
chips fall where they may. Well, I
changed my mind that day.”
Sadler also gave full credit to one
individual for the overall good fortune
of the family’s barbecue business.
“In the mid-1980’s, Dad
and Mom decided to bring in a ‘silent
partner.’ Dad has said that
the partner has run our business a
whole lot better than he and Mom did…of
course that partner was Jesus Christ.
“He turned our business
over to the Lord and says He’s
been the nest business partner he’s
ever had,” Sadler said. “He’s
got resources like you could never
tap into. That’s the other reason
I know for our success and we don’t
take light of that, either.”
