In the neighborhood around 12th and Chicon streets in East Austin, change seems to be the only constant. We've been bringing you the voices of people in that neighborhood over the past few months as part of our On My Block project. Today, we hear from Gary Tharp, who owns the Texas Sausage Company on 12th Street.
Tharp's business has been in his family for the better part of 70 years.
He earned a business degree and was an investment broker for five years, but returned to his family business in the 1988. He says, as far as businesses go, it's recession-proof – it's a relatively cheap product to manufacture, the pricepoint is low and, because of Texans' love of barbecue, there's always a market for sausage.
Below you can see how Tharp and his crew of four employees make the sausage at Texas Sausage Company.