MEAT by Pat LaFrieda

Author:Pat LaFrieda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

POULTRY BUYING MY COUSIN MARK

My dad had a longstanding policy of not soliciting sales and not having salespeople. When I first came to work with him and suggested hiring a salesman, he said, “The problem with salesmen is that at the end of the week, you have to pay them.” When I did need to go out and get new business, I put on a suit and tie and went around to restaurants to meet with chefs. Then I’d come back to the shop and cut the meat for their orders and pack it up, and in the morning, I’d hop in the van to make deliveries, pulling my hat down over my eyes, hoping nobody would recognize me as the guy who’d been there in a suit the day before. But as we began to get busier, I couldn’t be everywhere at once. I needed help. I knew I wanted someone who would be not just an employee, but more like a partner. I wanted my cousin Mark.

Mark isn’t my cousin by blood. The story with Mark is that his father worked in the meat industry until his untimely death, when Mark was fourteen years old. Mark was this young kid, hanging around the 14th Street Meat Market, who everyone tried to help. My family kind of adopted him, and my siblings and I all think of Mark as our cousin. To me, he’s even closer than that—he is my brother. Mark and his mother, Helga, share all our holiday dinners. They’re family. It’s that simple.

Left to right: Pat Jr., Pat Sr., and Mark Pastore at Wyebrook Farms.

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