Dayton Meats of Malcom brings home the bacon

Dayton Meat Products of Malcom recently added 11 more championship plaques to its long list of awards and honors from the 2023 Iowa Meat Processors Association (IMPA) annual convention.

Bill Dayton, Jake Dayton and Austin Strachota represented the Malcom-based meat processing business at the convention held Feb. 16-18 at the Gateway Center in Ames.

The local meat processor received the following honors:

Grand Champion - Bacon

Reserve Grand Champion – Cottage Bacon

Reserve Grand Champion – Restructured Jerky

Reserve Grand Champion – Small Diameter Smoked Cooked Sausage

Reserve Grand Champion – Meat Snack Sticks

Reserve Grand Champion – Summer Sausage

Champion – Bone in Ham

Champion – Dried Beef

Champion – Specialty Ham

Reserve Champion – Jerky Whole Muscle

Reserve Champion – Cooked Ring Bologna

The business is known for its award-winning meat products and customer service. The company processed more than 700 beef, 700 hogs and 45,000 pounds of deer meat each year.

More than 400 championship honors won by the meat processing company line the walls of the business at 102 Montezuma St. Jake and Strchota prepared all the meats for the competition.

Lawrence Dayton and his father-in-law, Bill Osmond, started the Malcom Locker in 1959. Lawrence's wife, Edith, joined her husband in the business in the mid-1970s. Bill joined his parents in the business in 1976. In 1980, Dayton Meat Products was formed and Bill and his brother, Dave, became partners with their father and mother.

Today, the business is owned by Bill and his two sons, Jack and Josh, who are third generation owners. The company has nearly 20 full- and part-time employees.

“It is always a good experience attending the convention and cured meat show and learning new tricks of the trade,” said Strachota.

“The plaques are nice to win, but we wouldn’t be where we are today without our customers,” said Jake. “We have a great customer base.”