ADRIAN — The Marks Trading Company makes a point of carrying food from as many local producers as possible. But the downtown Adrian grocery store has more in common with its newest producer than just geography. For both companies, a big part of their story revolves around the Launch Lenawee business incubator program and the Adrian Armory Makerspace Kitchen.
Grocery store owners Gwynne and Jay Marks were part of the Launch Lenawee business incubator’s first graduating class. They also used the kitchen at the Adrian Armory in the early days of their business, which started out with mixing and packaging sustainably grown spices to sell at farmers markets. They opened their store in 2022 about a block north of its current location, and moved to 142 N. Main St. at the end of last year.
Their newest supplier is BOR Meats, founded by Bryan McEldowney — who makes his products in that very same incubator kitchen.
BOR Meats produces a rotating selection of sausages using traditional methods, clean ingredients, and small-batch care. Customer favorites include roasted garlic and sage, jalapeño-cheddar brisket, breakfast sausage and goetta, a pork-and-oat breakfast sausage inspired by German immigrants.
McEldowney and his wife, Anne, who grew up in Tecumseh, had been making sausage as a hobby for a number of years. They got good enough at it that people said they should do it for a business, but they didn’t take the idea seriously.
“Our friends encouraged us for a long time to do this, and we said no, it’s not what we want to do,” he said.
But when the McEldowneys decided to move from Cincinnati to be closer to Anne’s family, he said, “I told her that I’d just be open to anything and everything that came my way.”
The result was BOR Meats, an artisan, handcrafted sausage company rooted in tradition and committed to clean, small-batch production.
McEldowney first heard about the Marks Trading Company from the staff at Launch Lenawee.
“I left my meeting with them, came over, and introduced myself to Gwynne,” he said.
Until that point, he’d been selling to friends and family and at farmers markets, and Gwynne Marks helped him navigate all the extra steps that were required in order to sell in stores — the additional licensing, the labeling, the UPC codes.
The store started carrying sausages by BOR Meats in late June.
“This partnership is what the Armory is all about,” said Mark and Mary Murray, directors of the Adrian Armory Makerspace Kitchen. “We love seeing our local businesses support one another, and we’re proud that the kitchen can be a launchpad for so many passionate entrepreneurs.”
