Chef Martin Knows Sausage

Chef Martin Wallner still gets up early to make the sausage. Born to a family that owned a butcher shop founded in 1929 in Graz, Austria, he was already helping around the shop by the age of four. His grandfather was a sausage maker, and the process was a family event shared with father, uncles, and sons.  

“In those days, before supermarkets, there were 66 little butcher shops—sausage makers—in my hometown. There were seven outdoor markets year-round.”  But by the 1970s, affected by the supermarket revolution, that number had dwindled to just 5 butcher shops, and Martin’s father, who was by then running the family business, saw the writing on the wall. His advice for Martin was to become a chef, as the future of sausages looked dim.  

Chef Martin’s Mission 

As a young man, Martin attended culinary school and worked at a restaurant specializing in fine Austrian food. At that restaurant, a well-traveled chef brought the world to him in a dish, and he got inspired to see the wider world and experience its flavors.  

After an apprenticeship in Austria and stints in Toronto, Canada, at the World Trade Center in New York, in Puerto Rico, Vienna, Austria, and Minneapolis, MN, Martin settled in Germany. But in 1998, finding his work unsatisfactory, Martin decided to move to Chicago, where he began to work for Wolfgang Puck. Martin worked his way up to Regional Kitchen Director, a position he held for a number of years. 

The World in a Bite 

He always nurtured a desire to bring his beloved Austrian cuisine to America. Eventually, his vision became reality in 2006, when he started Chef Martin’s Alpine Brand sausage company in Chicago, IL.  His goal was to make sausages as they did back home, all naturally, in small batches, with authentic recipes from Germany and Austria—some of them inherited from his family. He began small, selling sausages out of a cooler in local German neighborhoods. As his business grew, and his smiling face became associated with quality sausage, he changed the name of his company to Chef Martin’s Old World Butcher Shop to better reflect his background and intention.    

“I just make it here like in the old country – I am not a creator or an innovator; I just make something the way it has been done for hundreds of years,” said Chef Martin.  

As he made a name for himself around Chicago, Chef Martin caught the attention of Fortune Fish & Gourmet. In 2014, a deal was struck, and Martin joined the company as Corporate Chef, bringing Chef Martin's sausages along with him. This partnership was a natural fit; Fortune was able to get more sausages to more customers and continues to expand its reach, while preserving the artisanal nature of Chef Martin’s products.  

The Tradition Continues Today 

Chef Martin insists that he is not a celebrity – he wants the sausage to be the star of the show. Nevertheless, when Chef Martin puts on his lederhosen or his apron, a crowd gathers to experience the flavors and have fun with him. His enthusiasm for food—and sausages in particular—is contagious in the best possible way.  

He still supervises the small-batch production to ensure the highest quality and consistency in his sausages. It all begins with pork raised without antibiotics or added hormones.  When he first looked at sausage in the stores here, Chef Martin was surprised at all the fillers and junk ingredients being used. He wanted his products to be clean and natural: gluten-free and made without nitrates, MSG, or preservatives. He uses natural casings for “Sausages That Snap!” 

Chef Martin makes everything from traditional Bavarian bratwurst, Käsekrainer (his personal fave), and Bauernwurst, a beef and pork sausage also known as Thüringer, to classic hot dogs, andouille, and even a brat with Wisconsin-style cheddar and fresh jalapeños, and stuffed into a pork casing. He was also able to revive a family recipe from 1923 to make a “Better Than Bacon” breakfast sausage that tastes like home—even to those who have never been to Austria.  

Available in food service, large format packages, and retail packs for grocery stores, Chef Martin’s Old World Butcher Shop sausages are a true original. Just like Chef Martin himself, who embodies the typical gemütlichkeit—geniality, hospitality—associated with Austria.