Middlebro is home to Von Slick’s, but also has other claims to fame:
WINNIPEG — A small butter company from a tiny town in southeastern Manitoba is now a world champion.
Von Slick’s, which manufactures infused butter in the community of Middlebro, won first and second prizes in early October at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.
Infused or flavoured butter combines butter with other ingredients such as garlic, red pepper, mushrooms or sweet flavours like caramel.
Read Also
Alberta crop diversification centres receive funding
$5.2 million of provincial funding pumped into crop diversity research centres
Von Slick’s Finishing Touch product was awarded first place in the innovation and creativity category at the World Dairy Expo. The company also won second in the flavoured butter category for its unique infused butter in a push tube.
“Von Slick’s is the first and only Canadian butter company to ever win first place at the World Dairy Expo,” said an email from Von Slick’s.
“We were the only Canadian winner (this year).”
The company founders, Landon Kroeker and Rob Segnotta, attended the expo, where they received the awards Oct. 1.
“It gives us more confidence that we’re on the right track,” Kroeker said from Winnipeg.
The two friends and now business partners met several years ago, when they both worked at Buffalo Point Resort, which is on Lake of the Woods in the extreme southeastern corner of Manitoba.
Segnotta is a chef and ran the kitchen at the resort. He is originally from Salmon Arm, B,C., and moved to the region because his wife is from southeastern Manitoba. Kroeker grew up in Steinbach and was a hockey coach in Swan River, Man., before taking a job in marketing at Buffalo Point Resort.
Flavoured butters are more common in Europe, and Segnotta had experience working at restaurants in England and France.
“A chef would make it in the restaurant, roll it in a budan (saran wrap) and freeze it,” Kroeker said.
“Then slice it off, if they were topping a steak or ribs or potatoes or whatever.”
Segnotta created his own flavoured butters to serve at Buffalo Point, which prompted an idea for a business.
It was a large leap for Kroeker and Segnotta, who launched Von Slick’s in January 2021.
“Neither Rob nor I have worked in consumer-packaged goods before,” Kroeker said.
They built a commercial kitchen in a house in Middlebro, the closest village to Buffalo Point, where they now produce a range of flavoured butters, including garlic confit, mushroom, roasted red pepper and wild blueberry.
Segnotta is responsible for making the product, which is sold in a push tube that looks like a tall can of beer.
“Nobody was doing it in a tube…. Most finishing butters are sold in a tub,” Kroeker said.
“You get the flavour, but you’re missing the presentation and ease of use.”
The advantage of a tube is that the infused butter can be frozen, one slice or two cut off for serving and then returned to the freezer.
Since starting their business nearly four years ago, Kroeker and Segnotta have learned that selling a novel product to consumers is not simple.
Von Slick’s infused butter is stocked at dozens of grocery stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, but getting shoppers to understand the product has been a challenge.
A shopper at a Co-op in Saskatoon might look at the product, but if they don’t know what it is and how to use it, they’re not going to purchase.
“The consumer has been another battle, to educate,” Kroeker said.
In 2025, Von Slick’s will focus its marketing efforts on restaurants and the food service industry. The idea is to get the product on plates at hundreds of restaurants, which will hopefully build consumer awareness and understanding of the product.
“We are hoping to get our marketing into their menus … that (Von Slick’s) is being used on steak or whatever,” Kroeker said.
The struggles with marketing and the recent award in Wisconsin are representative of the highs and lows of running a business.
The last three years and 10 months have been both exciting and difficult for the founders of Von Slick’s.
“It makes me feel alive. There are a lot of good times and a lot of stressful times,” Kroeker said.
“Rob and I … we see it as a huge adventure.”
Fun facts about Middlebro, Man.
Middlebro is home to Von Slick’s, but also has other claims to fame:
- It is the easternmost community in Manitoba.
- In the early 1900s, the town was called Gravel Pit because the Canadian National Railway used the area for storing gravel.
- It has received two gold medals for the best tasting water in the world.
Source: Rural Municipality of Piney
