For almost 150 years, Groff's Meats has been serving the community from its home in Elizabethtown. What does it take for a business to last for a century and a half? Hard work, dedication and a love for the job, said Nancy Groff, who operates the business with her three siblings, Virginia, John and Frank.

"You have to have a work ethic. You have to be frugal with your money, and you have to like what you're doing," Nancy said. "If you don't like what you're doing, it's not going to be successful."

Nancy credits her parents with instilling a strong work ethic. Virginia recalled her earliest memory is sitting at a table, helping to dish up ground beef when she was about 5 years old.

"Dad had little white aprons made for us, and we all wore those," Nancy said. "We still have them."

Groff's Meats began when brothers Joseph and John Groff set up a butcher shop on Market Street in Elizabethtown in 1875. They drove their cattle through town to the shop and relied on blocks of ice from a nearby pond to keep the beef cold.

The next generation of Groffs, Joseph's sons Frank and Wilfred, helped the business modernize with machinery, including an electric saw and slicer. After World War II, two of Frank's children, Joseph and Helen, helped grow the business, moving the retail operations from a small store where it had been located for more than 100 years to a larger building constructed at 33 N. Market St., where the shop operates today. New recipes were developed for bacon, ham, bologna, pudding, scrapple and more.

As the fourth generation of owners, Nancy and her siblings continue to serve both retail and wholesale customers, providing products throughout central Pennsylvania.

Asked what her favorite part of the job is, Nancy doesn't hesitate to answer. "I love the customers," she said. "The people of Elizabethtown have been very good to us."

Although Nancy initially worked as a teacher, she came back to the family business to help out when her father got sick in the early 1990s. She's never regretted it, she said.

"There are always things to do," she stated simply, noting that she's motivated by a desire to help her sister in the store. Her brothers work in the plant, located down the street.

Over the years, Groff's has developed a reputation for quality products, good customer service and a variety of items sold in the store, Nancy said.

At 74, Nancy isn't slowing down any time soon and neither are her siblings. They're always looking to the future and ways to keep the business thriving.

They regularly employ high school students in the store, and Nancy noted that their employees deserve credit for the business' success as well. The Groffs also appreciate the support Elizabethtown has for agricultural businesses like theirs.

Although the job is hard work, the business means everything to the siblings, Nancy said, and they all believe their father would be proud of them.

"My dad would be thrilled," Nancy said. "He just wanted this business to continue. He knew we needed all of us to work together to do that. I said to my sister at Christmas, when we were really busy in here, I said, 'Dad would be so happy right now. I'm tired, but he would be so happy.'"