{"url":"https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-10-17/conger-meat-market-rochester-opening","markdown_url":"https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-10-17/conger-meat-market-rochester-opening.md","title":"Conger Meat Market Opens Fourth Shop in Rochester","headline":"Conger Meat Market to Open Fourth Location in Rochester on October 21","description":"Conger Meat Market opens its fourth location in Rochester on October 21, a 1,600-square-foot shop selling Wagyu beef.","section":"Expansion","published_at":"2026-10-17T18:04:44+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-17T18:04:44+00:00","author":"News Desk","key_takeaways":["Conger Meat Market will open a 1,600-square-foot shop at 1340 Salem Road SW in Rochester on October 21.","The Rochester store is Conger Meat Market's fourth location, joining shops in Conger, Albert Lea and Forest City, Iowa.","The new shop will sell Wagshire patties, beef and fruit bars, and a premium meat stick line launching in January."],"companies":[{"name":"Conger Meat Market","is_primary":true,"profile_url":null,"website":"https://wwww.congermeatmarket.com"}],"source":{"publisher":"Yahoo","title":"Conger Meat is ready to open its new Rochester shop","url":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/conger-meat-ready-open-rochester-171900672.html"},"other_sources":[],"tags":["Expansion","Conger Meat Market"],"body_markdown":"Conger Meat Market will open its new Rochester shop at 1340 Salem Road SW on October 21, its fourth location. [Yahoo](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/conger-meat-ready-open-rochester-171900672.html) reported the opening. The 1,600-square-foot store will sell fresh and frozen meat, including Wagshire patties and new beef-fruit bars, with a premium meat stick line launching in January.\n\n## Conger Meat Market's Rochester Store Details\n\nConger Meat Market is a more than 90-year-old USDA-certified processing facility based in Conger, a southern Minnesota town near Albert Lea with fewer than 200 people. It is known for Minnesota- and Iowa-raised wagyu beef, Berkshire pork, chicken and turkey, as well as traditional Czechoslovakian-style sausage and bologna. The Rochester shop, the former home of Dunn Bros. Coffee, sits next to Budget Blinds and across from Kwik Trip. It will be staffed by two full-time managers with butcher experience and a team of six employees.\n\nThe store will carry a full line of fresh and frozen meat products straight from the processor, including cuts of steak, ground beef, roasts, bacon, ham, hot dogs, brats and jerky. One popular item is the Wagshire patties, made of 50% premium Wagyu beef and 50% Berkshire pork. Rochester shoppers will also find Conger Meat Market's new packaged, ready-to-eat snack line of beef and fruit bars, made of smoked beef, cranberries and apples.\n\n\"The meat department is the most anonymous section of a grocery store. There's the least information available about where it came from. We know, because everything is local,\" said Todd Churchill, Conger Meat Market's president of food and agriculture. \"The meat is as close as you can get to being direct from the farms. We believe it's inevitably a better product, because there's fewer people between the farmer and the consumer.\"\n\nChurchill also said the beef and fruit bars win people over on the first bite. \"While making fruit and meat bars is not intuitive, people understand once we give them a sample. With literally the first bite, everybody's eyes light up. It is an unbelievable eating experience,\" he said. Conger Meat Market is led by Jeremy and Darcy Johnson as well as Troy and Amanda Kopischke, and was originally founded by Ray and Mabel Bohonek. Its tagline is \"Hands-on and stubbornly local since 1935.\"\n\n## What Comes After the Rochester Opening\n\nA limited soft opening may take place a day or two before October 21. A line of premium meat stick snacks will be introduced in January. Conger Meat Market's other locations are in Conger, Albert Lea and Forest City, Iowa.\n","publisher":{"name":"News for Agent","url":"https://newsforagent.com"}}