‘We have 20 family members working here’

Today their sole business is in Franklin. “We all grew up in the business,” said Pete Zink, Dale’s son. “It’s in our blood. It’s our life.

“We have close to 40 employees including family and nonfamily,” said Pete. “We have 20 family members working here. Not everyone is working every day, but we have grandkids that work one or two days a week. My dad’s brother, Zane, 87, and his sister, Evodine, 84, works in the deli.”

“My brother works five mornings a week and my sister works two or three mornings,” said Dale, who works 60-plus hours a week.

The youngest worker is sixth generation, Caleb, 15, who helps when he is out of school.

In 1961 fourth generation Dale, then 22, and his wife, Mary Rose Howard Zink, bought a storefront on 12 N. Main St., Miamisburg, from his father, Cyril. While in their 30s, they started expanding to a slaughterhouse, processing plant and multiple markets.

Prior locations of Zink Markets: Miamisburg (Multiple Stores and Processing Plant), West Carrollton, Dayton Arcade, Middletown, Eaton, Germantown (Slaughterhouse). In the 1970s and ’80s Dale owned a farm in Carlisle, where they raised cattle for the business.

In 1976, they moved to their one and only current location on Riley Boulevard and Ohio 73 in Franklin. Pete, said, “My mother grew up in Franklin and that is the reason why they opened a store there. Our family still lives in Miamisburg.

“We are the only Zink operated by the Zink family,” said Pete. “My uncle had opened up a store around 25 years ago and then he sold it roughly 15 years ago. Then it was sold again two or three years ago. It has nothing to do with the original Zink in Franklin.”

Dale and Mary’s partnership has been the driving force for the business’ success.

“My wife, and I, worked together,” said Dale. Mary decorated and originated many of the deli-salad recipes like the ham salad, etc.

Dale said the only things he would miss is the slaughtering and processing part. “We worked seven full days a week. We slaughtered, and then we had a plant in Miamisburg where we hauled it. All these things are really hard work.”

A year after they took over the Franklin store; they sold their store in Miamisburg,

At one time, Zink had the supermarket at Jackson Lane in Middletown. Besides Middletown, they had their processing store and slaughterhouse in Miamisburg and the Franklin store going at one time.

They were also in the restaurant business owning the Century Club in Miamisburg in the 1980s (now Bullwinkle’s); part owners of Kinney’s Restaurant in Franklin in 1990s; and former owners of the Florentine Restaurant in Germantown in the 2000s.

Dale grew up on the family farm in Miamisburg on Belvo Road. The old family slaughterhouse was at the intersection of Heincke and 725. Their other slaughterhouse was in Germantown that operated from the mid-’60’s to the ’90s.

Now they buy beef out of the Midwest from local suppliers with most being Iowa Premium Angus, their pork is from Indiana Packers, and their chicken is from northern Ohio’s Gerber Amish Chickens.

Homemade luncheon meats, deli salads and a seasoning line are made at the store. “We sell literally hundreds of seasonings and rubs every couple of weeks,” said Pete. “People love their prime ribs with the special seasoning.”

“There has always been an increase in the business,” said Dale. “As the years went by we just kept having more business.”