Founder of Uncle Charley’s Sausage
CHARLES STANLEY ARMITAGE Died Jan. 15, 2017
Charles Stanley Armitage founded Uncle Charley’s Sausage Company in 1988 with his wife, Fran. The little company in Vandergrift began small but eventually grew into a company with 40 employees and $12 million in annual sales.
But it took time and determination: “He took a couple of cracks at the sausage business before it all came together,” said G. David Armitage, “Uncle Charley’s” younger brother. “He wasn’t an instant success.”
Mr. Armitage, 83, died Sunday at the Longwood at Oakmont Retirement Community. His family said he had suffered a number of age-related health problems over the past year.
Uncle Charley’s meat products, in their bright yellow packaging, were a staple in Western Pennsylvania grocery stores, and beyond.
“We had a really great run,” said Pat Wood, president of Pittsburgh’s Wood Marketing and Communications and Mr. Armitage’s longtime friend. “He went from basically nothing to over 16 percent market share, including the nationals. Number 2 in the region.”
Mr. Wood’s “favorite client” would meet him for lunch frequently after the business was sold in 2014.
“He was fair, principled. So if a big chain would say ‘We need a better price,’ he’d say ‘Yeah, I’ll give you the same great price, what it is for everyone.’”
Born in New Kensington, Mr. Armitage was one of five brothers who worked in their father’s store. He graduated from Apollo High School in 1951, then spent the next phase of his life sampling. He was in the U.S. Army, he took classes for two years at Penn State University, was a heavy machinery operator, sold encyclopedias.
“At one point he was selling pots and pans and he would demonstrate cooking a cake on the stove,” said his daughter, Charla Rae Armitage. “He liked people and that made him a good salesman.”
One fateful job put him in contact with restaurants, where he sold spices to owners and chefs.
“Some of those companies were making sausages. So while he was going around, he was learning what not to do and what you might want to do,” his brother said.
He said there were a few mistakes, but his startup in Vandergrift finally caught on. Mr. Wood said he remembers the early days of manufacture.
“The way they had engineered the place to get product out the door every day, it was just incredible. It was almost like a Rube Goldberg machine.”
The company slogan “It Just Tastes Better” was simple and direct.
Eventually his son, Chas Armitage, Jr. took over the business. But when the younger Armitage died in a 2011 small plane crash in West Virginia, Charles Sr.’s heart was no longer in the company.
He sold it three years later to F.N.B. Capital partners in Marshall and a group of local investors. It continues to supply more than 600 retail stores.
Once the business was established, Charles Armitage began to pursue other interests, including sailing. G. David Armitage was living in Rochester, N.Y., when his brother arrived one weekend for a visit.
“I had a sailboat, and he managed to dump [capsize] it,” he said, laughing.
Undeterred, Charles bought a Flying Scot and joined a group of weekend regulars at Lake Arthur in Butler County.
The brothers also tinkered, one time making moonshine. On another occasion, Charles decided to build a tiny, one-seat gyrocopter.
“I don’t remember him flying, I think he came to his senses on that,” his brother said, adding “I wouldn’t call him ‘an engineer.’ He was just someone who liked to take adventures.”
Mr. Armitage is survived by daughters Charla Rae Armitage of West Jefferson, N.C., Juli Majernik of Hudson, Ohio, a son, Jon of Cranberry; a brother, G. David Armitage, of Port Ludlow, Wash.; and seven grandchildren.
Friends will be received today at 10 a.m. at the Curran-Shaffer Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc., 100 Owens Avenue, Apollo.
A Celebration of Life tribute service will follow at 11 a.m. Private interment will be at Riverview Cemetery, Apollo.
Maria Sciullo: msciullo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1478.