Our Story

A Four Generations Strong, Family-Owned Business

For almost 60 years, four generations of the Hanni family have been dedicated to mastering the craft of smoking and seasoning. PS Seasoning & Spices was formed in 1992 as a natural progression from our industrial meat smoker company: Pro Smoker 'N Roaster formed in 1977. Our experience dates back well before our companies were born.

Harold Hanni founder of PS Seasoning & Spices and Pro Smoker 'N Roaster was born during the Great Depression in 1931. The Hanni family relied on old world cheese and sausage making skills to stretch resources during tough times. Harold’s father Gottfried Hanni taught him everything to know about making great cheese and smoked sausage. When Harold Hanni returned from serving his country during the Korean War he had an interest in the art of sausage making. As the Hanni family grew Harold shared his love for sausage making with his five sons. Harold’s passion for the craft inspired him to build a homemade smoker from an old chest freezer.

One Wisconsin winter day in 1976 Harold’s homemade chest freezer/smoker caught fire and nearly burnt the house down. This near disaster inspired Harold to design a safe way for the home sausage maker to smoke sausage. Harold’s pursuit of a safe smoker became reality with the Model 100. Harold and his sons began making smokers for grocery stores and specialty shops.

Ken Hanni (Harold’s son) and Ken’s wife Kate formalized the Hanni family’s love of sausage making by incorporating seasoning blends to meet market demands with Harold in 1984. Harold was the company’s trademarked mascot. The cartoon of Lil' Harry became synonymous with old world flavor and craftsmanship.

"It is true what they say－ If you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work. We at PS Seasoning & Spices are a very passionate 4th generation family owned and operated company that has learned a lot over the years. We’ve learned that when you listen to your customers and your employees, everyone wins. We’ve found that people appreciate honesty and integrity as much as they appreciate quality products and innovations. We are an enthusiastic bunch dedicated to delivering quality products and superior customer service to the food and beverage industry. We value every idea big and small. It’s how we make things happen. Our enthusiastic group is always looking for passionate people who want to love their job!"
- Joe Hanni President of PS Seasoning & Spices Inc.

PS Seasoning & Spices carries on old-world flavors and celebrates traditions of the past while creating new products and blends to meet modern day demands.

PS Seasoning and Pro Smoker 'N Roaster's campus is over 110,000 sq ft, consisting of two test kitchens, 1 culinary application kitchen and 1 sausage manufacturing kitchen.

We have a library of over 3,000 seasoning blends and spices. Available to wholesale and retail markets, our offerings are for Sausage Making, BBQ, Culinary and more.

PS Seasoning has won several state and national awards in BBQ and Meat competitions, such as Reserve Grand Champion "The Big Pig Gig" Wisconsin. PS Seasoning and its customers have taken home hundreds of state and national awards by Associations, including The American Meat Processors, Wisconsin Meat Processors, Minnesota Meat Processors, Nebraska Meat Processors and more. This is proof that award winning flavor profiles is not only our business, it's our passion.

We understand our Hanni family name is on every package that leaves our facility - we take that very seriously. Sixty years of success in the meat smoking industry is a direct result of our continued dedication to innovation, improving products and most importantly, from listening to our customers. The hallmark of PS Seasoning & Spices is the loyalty we give to our customers.

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Level 2 Certified!