ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The owner of independent supermarket Foodsmart has created a thriving category by producing a sausage based on a traditional recipe from his native country.
Toua Xiong, an ethnic Hmong born in Laos, makes about 700 pounds of Hmong pork sausage in-store daily, using a simple recipe consisting of fresh pork, green onions and eastern spices similar to those used in Thai and Cambodian cuisine.
"The sausage has a unique, different taste and it's easy to cook and delicious to eat," Xiong told SN.
What also singularizes his product from others, he suggested, is that he grinds his meat only once and coarsely grinds his spices.
U.S. Census Bureau figures for 2000 reveal the Hmong population in Minnesota has greatly increased over the past decade, with more than half residing in St. Paul. Many of them seem to be buying his sausage, too, because Xiong can barely keep his product in stock. About 80% of his customers are Hmong, Xiong said, who tend to eat the product as part of the main meal, often with rice.
Production of the 12-inch sausages, which come hot and regular, starts at 7 a.m. -- he has two employees who know the craft -- and the first batch gets set out in the self-service meat section about three hours later. Production, using a single grinder, continues throughout the day. Each 2.5-pound package contains four sausages, which sell for $2.99 a pound. A bulk packet containing 10 sausages sells for a lower per-pound price.
Xiong opened his 25,000-square-foot store in 1997 and started making sausage a year later when "there was no Hmong meat product." He's tweaked the formula several times since then. Now, he says, there's a "very big demand." He welcomes special orders -- customers often take large quantities of the sausages when visiting relatives -- and says sausage sales increase during holidays.
Xiong also cross markets his sausage in the deli department, which sells the product either pan- or deep-fried.
Not surprisingly, Xiong is looking to expand his business by establishing a manufacturing plant just for sausage, which he'd like to mainstream -- not only his famous Hmong pork variety but also additional turkey, beef and smoked kinds for consumers who don't eat pork.