CainCo gives new life to a decades-old business in Clear Lake

Judith Munson

Contributor

February 2, 2026

CLEAR LAKE – Buying a company now known as CainCo last summer, father-and-son duo Tylor and Alex Cain said the purchase came at the right time.

Based in Clear Lake, a small village in northwest Wisconsin, CainCo manufactures and sells industrial meat slicers.

Tylor said the leap into business ownership with his son came at a turning point in his life, after his employer of 40 years, farm machinery manufacturer Oxbo International, closed its Clear Lake plant in early 2025 to consolidate operations in New York.

“I wasn’t ready to retire,” he said.

When Alex praised a new meat slicer he had bought from Dx Industrial Slicers in Normal, Illinois, for his business, Cain’s Processing – a meat processing and retail shop in nearby Amery, Tylor said an opportunity emerged.

“He absolutely loved it, and when the owner was up here delivering it, he mentioned to Alex that he was thinking about selling the business,” he said. “He was 72 and wanted to retire.”

Following numerous discussions, multiple visits to the Illinois facility, and industry research, Tylor said they chose to purchase the 66-year-old business and relocate it to Clear Lake.

“The owner was comfortable with where the company was regarding sales,” he said. “He wasn’t doing a lot of promotion, but we saw a lot of potential to grow the business.”

‘Meat’ to be

CainCo officially launched in July, but Tylor said the venture may never have come to be without Alex’s part-time job as a teen.

“He started working after school for this local butcher in Amery,” he said. “The owner was really impressed with his work ethic and wanted Alex to start working in the slaughtering side of the business. So, Alex got his license. He was 16.”

After graduating from high school, Tylor said Alex purchased the on-farm slaughtering business.

Over time, Tylor said Alex wanted to move into processing, “so he saved up enough to build his own facility.”

In addition to processing meat, he said Cain’s Processing also sells its own jerky, beef, pork, snack sticks, summer sausage, bacon, ring bologna and a wide variety of bratwurst flavors.

The launch of CainCo, Tylor said, came at a time when the local job market was ready for some good news.

“When Oxbo left, they left a pool of people that I could grab to come work for us, so that was a plus,” he said. “But, we also lost Dynatronix from Amery last year, so the community is still spinning a little from that.”

Whereas the previous owner “was a one-man show,” Tylor said they have since added three full-time and two part-time employees, growing the business by roughly 30% since the acquisition. 

CainCo, he said, sells three automated slicers – the C1000, C2000 and C3000 – that slice deli meats, natural meats, specialties, such as Philly steak, jerky and brisket, cheeses and bacon.

Tylor said its core market is smaller, independent shops.  

“Alex looked high and low for a slicer that only needs a standard, 110-volt wall outlet,” he said. “This is key. These other slicers, the vast majority of them, are 220-volt, so they are usually imported and really expensive. That’s the advantage we have.”

Tylor said CainCo’s smallest slicer, the C1000, is a tabletop model ideal for pepperonis, salamis, and summer sausages, and it is primarily sold to pizza chains, supermarkets and sandwich shops.

“Our most popular model, by far, is the bacon slicer – that’s the C2000 – it will zip through a whole pork belly in under 30 seconds,” he said. “This one is very popular with butcher shops.”

Tylor said the company ships its products nationwide, with recent orders going to Love’s Jerky Co. in Phoenix, a sandwich supplier in Texas and a high-volume bacon producer in Louisiana.

Business, he said, is thriving on both coasts and extends to Canada.

Tylor said CainCo is also developing a new partnership with Titan Slicing Systems in New Zealand.

He said they credit the roughly 30% growth in such a brief timeframe to their push into new markets and efforts to win new customers.

From digital advertising on Facebook and Google to traditional direct mailings, Tylor said the team is exploring different strategies to find “what works and what doesn’t.” 

“One of our customers was so happy with her new slicer, she posted about it on TikTok,” he said. “It was amazing how much interest that generated.”

All of CainCo’s slicers, Tylor said, are built at the Clear Lake facility, with metal components fabricated by Wisco Metal Solutions, another local business.

The company, he said, also works with a machinist in Clayton, a community about eight miles away.

“We’re trying to keep everything local,” he said. “The former owner would use Xometry to do a lot of this work and send stuff overseas, but we want to get it done locally. Not only is freight a factor, but it’s also just better to keep the business here in Wisconsin.”

More growth anticipated

Tylor said they see further growth potential for the company, as its slicers cater to an expanding niche market.

“There’s more demand for meats from small butcher shops that offer a unique product,” he said. “More people want that local connection of knowing where the animal comes from and whether they’re getting good, quality meat.” 

Future growth at CainCo, Tylor said, could also come from new products, such as a vacuum briner for bacon production.

The device, he said, cures pork belly with a brine or dry rub before smoking, reducing the curing process from several weeks to just a few hours. 

And though it’s been less than a year since they started the new venture, Tylor said the business is already getting noticed by larger labels as well, including a jerky subsidiary of Johnsonville and a subcontractor for Boar’s Head.

But for the foreseeable future, Tylor said CainCo will continue to focus on the smaller, independent butcher shops, delis and restaurants. 

“That’s our niche, and we’re gonna stay in our own lane for now,” he said.