Schneider’s Quality Meats is celebrating 50 years of business in Monroe County.

The business began in 1966 when Clayton and Jeannette Schneider opened the doors of a family store in old town Valmeyer.

“Valmeyer had three stores but Schneider’s had the biggest selection,” remembered longtime employee Cecelia Vogt upon her retirement after 45 years with the business.

They sold groceries and sundries at two different locations in the bottoms prior to the Flood of 1993.

Like nearly everyone else in Valmeyer, Schneider’s was pushed to higher ground in the flood, and reopened in Waterloo at its current location off Route 3.

Six years later, when Schneider was ready to retire, he sold it to Mark and Robin Lengacher.

“Mark has always been in the retail business,” Robin Lengacher said of her husband. “He always wanted to own something of his own. We looked and looked at a lot of businesses and he found this one. We loved the community. It seemed like a great place to raise a family.”

Mark started out working long hours doing a little of everything and a whole lot of many things in his new store.

“We lived in Glen Carbon and he commuted for a year,” Robin said. “Some nights he stayed at the Super 8 motel.”

Within a year the family relocated to Waterloo with their son, Jared, now 21 and a student at the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College. A couple years later, their daughter, Emily, now 12 and a seventh grader at Waterloo Junior High School, was born.

The business has continued to evolve to meet the needs of a changing community.

They started catering and expanded their retail side, something Mark had plenty of experience with.

When they purchased the business, there was only one flavor of bratwurst.

“We have more than 40 different flavors of brats right now, and a Brat of the Month Club,” Robin said.

They provide meats to JV’s Downtown Bar & Grill, Mama’s On Main and Papa Vito’s. They created the “Grizzlie Brat” for the Gateway Grizzlies several years ago — a sauerkraut and applesauce brat they still sell. And the fruit of their recent partnership with Stubborn German Brewery — the Stubborn Brat — is already flying off the shelves.

The Lengachers strive to provide quality and service that shoppers won’t find elsewhere, and they credit many of their longtime employees for making that goal a reality.

“Our customers know employees by name. They know about their kids and their grandkids,” Robin said.

“Schneider’s has a few employees who have been here longer than we’ve owned it. We have a good group of employees who are dedicated and who we appreciate very much.”

In fact, in the past few years two women — Vogt and Rayma Rippelmeyer — retired from Schneider’s, each after working for the business for more than 40 years.

It’s that familiarity, the smiling faces greeting shoppers, the shelves and cases full of quality merchandise, that have kept Schneider’s popular and successful for five decades.

Mark Lengacher summed it up for the Waterloo City Council on Monday night as the business was honored for its 50-year milestone.

“If it wasn’t for the employees and the customers, there would be no Schneider’s,” he said.

To celebrate 50 years in business, Schneider’s is offering 50 days of deals on their products and will host a party at the store this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with free brats, giveaways, vendor samplings and special prices.

Schneider’s is located at 1323 N. Illinois Route 3. For more information, call the shop at 939-5252 or visit www.SchneidersQualityMeats.com.