‘Meat’ the Family Behind Schulenburg’s Iconic Market

Positively Inspirational

In this monthly series, local realtor Andrea Schutter Riebeling does a Q & A with local business leaders about what inspires them. This month’s interview is with Lukas Smrkovsky, who owns and operates City Market in Schulenburg along with his father Roy.

1.) What is your business?

City Market is a third generation, family owned and operated meat market that specializes in the manufacturing and wholesaling of smoked sausage products to businesses all over the state of Texas.

We have a fully stocked retail meat counter where customers can browse all our smoked sausage products, as well as a variety of steaks, smoked bacon, beef jerky and several delicious marinated items. We also serve freshly cooked brisket and sausage everyday for lunch, and have an expanded BBQ menu on Saturdays where customers can order BBQ from our pit room.

2.) How did you get started?

We were founded in 1943 by my grandfather Rudy Smrkovsky and his brother Tony Smrkovsky. They purchased an existing meat market from another Schulenburg family and began operating under the name City Market. They would process people’s livestock at their slaughter facility and deliver the meat back to them, cut to their specifications and wrapped. In the late 1970s, Rudy built a new retail market, at our current location, to be closer to the Interstate. My father Roy Smrkovsky took over ownership of City Market in 1982.

He began wholesaling the various sausage products to other businesses thus charting a new course for the future of City Market. In the early 1990s Roy built the first dedicated sausage processing room where they could focus on stuffing, smoking, and packaging our “Schulenburg Sausage” under State Inspection. Over the years, our processing plant has undergone three expansions, to keep up with the wholesale demand, with another expansion planned for the near future.

3.) How long have you been in business?

We’ve been in business for 80 years, founded in 1943.

4.) Is this a family owned business?

City Market is a thirdgeneration family owned and operated business. Currently owned by the father and son team of Roy and Lukas Smrkovsky. We have 13 employees, some of which have been with us for over 20 years.

5.) What kind of service do you provide?

We offer a wide variety of hand crafted, small batch, smoked sausages and our famous homemade wieners. We also have a fully stocked retail meat counter – chops, bacon and smoked beef jerky. I highly recommend trying our marinated beef and chicken fajitas. Our bread and butter is making sausage for other meat markets, BBQ restaurants, bakeries and small mom and pop grocery stores all over Texas. We sell sausage under our name, but we can develop a recipe and custom label for other companies wishing to offer a custom product of their own.

6.) Tell me something unique about your business?

We were one of the first sausage companies to offer a jalapeno sausage and we once made a 40 ft. long, one piece hotdog wiener for a promotion in West Texas.

7.) What is your background?

Roy Smrkovsky graduated from Schulenburg High in 1963 and attended Texas A&M University where he graduated with a degree in ag education in 1967. After graduation, Roy was commissioned into the United States Army. After a short stay in Houston, he returned home to Schulenburg where he married Carolyn Niesner. He took over City Market from Rudy and Louise Smrkovsky in 1982. Lukas Smrkovsky graduated from Schulenburg High in 2004 and attended Texas A&M University where he graduated with a degree in construction science in 2008.

8.) What do you suggest to others who want to venture out and take a leap of action in the future of their career?

I strongly believe that if you are passionate about something and want to make it your livelihood, that you should take the leap of faith and chase your dreams. Life will not hand you anything, you need to take it. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, and life is too short to potentially live with the regret of not trying. Success is not guaranteed, but if you ask any successful entrepreneur or business owner, they will tell you that they have learned more from their failures than they have from their successes. I’ll be the first to tell you that owning a business is not as glamorous as many people believe. You must be prepared to dedicate every waking minute of your life to it. The long nights, weekends, missed vacations, all that time will be spent working in and on the growth of your business. You are not only responsible for your family, but for the families of those you employ. It’s a difficult path to follow, but at the same time it can be extremely rewarding and satisfying.

9.) Do you believe in college, trade school, or any training?

I don’t feel that everyone should go to college. I know many very successful business owners and community leaders that didn’t go to college. College is a stepping stone on your way to your goal. If the profession you seek requires a specific degree, then college is absolutely necessary. I feel that trade schools should be recommended to students who don’t need to attend a four year university. These kids might have skills that would make them very successful tradesmen or women, and after a specialized trade school, they could have a very gratifying career.

I can tell you that making sausage does not require a construction science degree, but many of the valuable skills I gained by working with owners, managing schedules and crews, and planning the completion of a project overlaps with owning a business.

10.) How did you decide to make Schulenburg, your home?

Schulenburg has always been our home. Both my parents, my wife and in-laws were all born and raised in Schulenburg. There’s something special about a small-town spirit and sense of community we all share. We knew we wanted to raise our children the same way we were raised. In the country, a family business gave us that opportunity, and we jumped at the offer.