We often hear stories about how businesses were adversely affected by COVID, but there is one local business that was born out of a need that arose during the pandemic.
When restaurants were mandated to close in 2020 it left many people without their routine ways of dining and feeding their family. All businesses shut down except those that were deemed essential, which left a just few big box grocery stores. In the wake of these closures, sweeping job loss and loss of income impacted the local service industry. The Buck Burgers & Brew owner Ken Kozminski started brainstorming a way to overcome this with his restaurant management. Out of those conversations, a new business called State Street Meats was opened in January of 2021.
“The Buck was mandated to be closed due to the pandemic, but we had employees who needed work,” says Ken. “At that time, we didn‘t have any grocery stores or places downtown for people to pick up a full-service meal they could cook at home. We realized we could fill an empty niche within the downtown marketplace by opening a high-quality meat market/butcher shop and small grocery store, while also getting our team working again.”
By the time he and his crew got State Street Meats open, full-service dining was still closed to the public, but being a grocery store, his business was deemed essential. When the store opened, just two doors down from The Buck, it was widely received. Ken and his team designed the experience to be a one stop shop for people to pick up all items they needed for full meal preparation at home including high end meats, fresh seafood, produce, deserts and beer and wine.
“During the pandemic, we provided an additional option to our customers. That focus has evolved now to a wider selection of specialty meats and fresh seafood that cannot be found at other places, such as Faroe Island Salmon and Copper River Salmon, which is the most sought-after salmon in the world. Our meat case has whiskey chops, pork belly chops, bacon wrapped sirloin, wagyu meats cut to order, pre-marinated airline chicken breast, and other items you don’t normally find at big box grocery stores.”
Now that the pandemic has slowed and restaurants and businesses have reopened, Ken is working to reestablish State Street Meats and hopes the community will make shopping there a part of its routine.
They have also recently taken steps in making their business more accessible to locals who normally feel coming downtown is a challenge in the summer.
“We rely on local support to maintain our business. One of the biggest challenges we are overcoming is short term parking in downtown and we have worked with the city recently to add a few short-term spaces so locals can make a quick stop to shop with us, and support locally owned businesses downtown in the summer months,” says Ken. “In addition, we have added an option to call us and place your phone order, then easily pick it up curbside. We will also be implementing an online ordering system and starting delivery services that our customers will be able to access in the very near future.”
Many businesses are coming off of the pandemic and right into soaring costs and hard to find product. State Street Meats is rising to the challenge by making sure they continually evolve and look for opportunities to serve their customers in new and unique ways.
“We want to be able to keep operating and serving our local customers and businesses. With all the inflation it has been a bit of a struggle for businesses and consumers, but if we support each other we can get through this and move into a successful 2023,” adds Ken. “We are working on options for working families such as meal bundles, and gift boxes for local companies to order. We are offering our Buck burger tri-blend (chuck, brisket and short rib) at State Street Meats and are already working on taking pre-orders for our fresh Hoka turkeys for Thanksgiving. Our customers love them, and they are just another example of the uniqueness of products that we offer.”
State Street Meats is open Thursday through Sunday and can order any specialty cuts, even if it’s not something normally not stocked in their meat case, by calling them at (269) 408-8610. Visit their website for recipes and information or pop in for a visit at 416 State St, St. Joseph, MI 49085. Specials are posted on their Facebook page each week. Be sure to look for the new short term parking spaces downtown and remember to shop local.
By Julee Laurent
MOTM Contributor
