PS Seasoning is expanding its home meat processing lineup with four new kits — Fresh Italian Sausage, Pepperoni Snack Stick, Smoked Maple Bacon, and Jerky (Candied Jalapeño) — available September 15 at psseasoning.com and select retailers. Each kit ships with pre-portioned seasoning, cure where applicable, casings, and step-by-step instructions, collapsing the sourcing and formulation work that typically stalls first-time home processors. Retail prices run from $11.99 to $29.99 per kit.
The Market Signal
The timing is deliberate. According to The Power of Meat 2026 from FMI and the Meat Institute, protein has grown in importance for 42.0% of Americans, and 45.0% of shoppers say they are actively trying to prepare more meals containing meat or poultry. Fall hunting season amplifies that demand specifically — all four kits are formulated to work with wild game, giving hunters who bring home venison, elk, or wild boar a direct path to finished product without commercial processing fees. For butcher shops and meat markets that also serve the home-processor segment, this kind of supplier-direct kit signals a channel shift worth watching: the same customer base they serve is increasingly getting formulation support from upstream ingredient suppliers.
Commercial Expertise, Consumer Packaging
PS Seasoning, a third-generation Wisconsin company operating under parent entity Dervati alongside Pro Smoker equipment, produces more than 5,000 unique seasoning blends and over 80 million pounds of seasoning annually for commercial processors, meat markets, and butcher shops. The new kits bring that R&D depth — including four certified Master Meat Crafters with University of Wisconsin–Madison credentials in meat science and food safety — into a sub-$30 consumer package. "Meat processing is a craft, but you don't have to be an expert to make a great first batch," said Stephanie Neu, Master Meat Crafter at PS Seasoning. "Starting with the right ingredients, measurements and instructions makes all the difference."
Alongside the kit launch, PS Seasoning released a free Meat Block Calculator that applies commercial formulation logic to home-batch quantities: operators select a seasoning, enter raw meat weight, and receive exact measurements for seasoning, cure, and water. The tool mirrors what the company's commercial customers use at scale, effectively bringing procurement-grade precision to the home-processing workflow. The four additions bring PS Seasoning's total home processing kit count to 27 SKUs.
What Operators and Suppliers Should Track
For foodservice operators, specialty retailers, and meat-category buyers, the PS Seasoning move reflects a broader pattern: suppliers that built their base in B2B foodservice and commercial processing are packaging that expertise for D2C and retail channels to capture margin and brand equity directly. Butcher shops and independent meat markets that stock PS Seasoning products gain a complementary sell-through story — kits can drive attachment sales on casings, equipment, and bulk seasonings. Retailers evaluating the home-processing category for fall should note the sweet-heat Candied Jalapeño Jerky Kit as a proxy for where flavor trend intelligence is landing: the sweet-heat profile continues to outperform across snack, charcuterie, and protein categories heading into Q4.
For ingredient suppliers and co-manufacturers watching the direct-to-consumer protein space, the Meat Block Calculator launch is a particularly sharp move — it creates a retention and upsell mechanism that competitors without a commercial formulation heritage cannot easily replicate. Operators sourcing private-label seasoning blends or evaluating specialty food brand launch strategy should benchmark PS Seasoning's kit architecture as a workable template for bridging commercial and consumer channels.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
