From a Row House to New Facility
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/assets/images/partnering-locally/local-markets/LM_008_878x494.jpg|Fells Point|From a Row House to New Facility
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Transcript – A lifelong dream helped Fells Point Wholesale Meats grow from a row house to new facility
Erik Oosterwijk, President, Fells Point Wholesale Meats: I grew up in a butcher shop with my dad. At 12 years old I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to be a butcher – that’s the only thing I wanted to do. And the passion for it has never gone away.
Leo Pruissen, Vice President, Fells Point Wholesale Meats: In 1993 from a little place in little Italy – and we eventually became a major player in the meat market in the Baltimore area.
Erik Oosterwijk, President, Fells Point Wholesale Meats: Our processing crew starts at 3am in the morning. The filet man, for instance, gets all the tickets for the filet mignons and starts trimming whatever they need for that day. Then it goes to the packing department. It gets packed any which way a customer would want it. From there it makes it out to the loading dock, it goes on the truck and gets delivered.
Alan Morstein, Owner, Regi’s American Bistro: We get deliveries from Fells Point meats sometimes twice a day. We get product that’s been butchered that morning and presented to the plate that evening – that’s fresh.
Leo Pruissen, Vice President, Fells Point Wholesale Meats: Last year we moved into this 40,000 square foot brand new facility. We probably are the largest meat processor in the Baltimore region and it keeps on growing. Robert is our local banker of Bank of America – he knows our companies in and out. What we do, what our needs are, when we bought this new property…I called up Robert and said we bought a building and now we need a loan. I think that was backwards. But I tell you what, Robert was excited for us. He said we will do anything we possibly can to make it happen.
Robert Brando, Vice President & Client Manager, Bank of America, Baltimore: Fells Point had a vision – they doubled. They were able to handle it because they understood what they needed, they got it ready, and they went to work.
Alan Morstein, Owner, Regi’s American Bistro: In dealing with Fells Point meats, we have grown dramatically in the 10 years since we’ve been here. We started off with burgers and chicken breast sandwiches, and now we’re hand cut steaks and prime rib. I see from their processing plant and their butchering procedures that Fells Point meats has grown also. You know, we feed off each other.
Erik Oosterwijk, President, Fells Point Wholesale Meats: We’re looking to grow quit a bit over the next five years. We have a lot of ideas. In order to get to that growth we’re going to need that relationship with Bank of America to make and keep us successful.
From a Row House to New Facility
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Founded nearly 20 years ago by two immigrants in a row house, Fells Point Wholesale Meats has become a leading meat processor in the Baltimore-Washington region, serving high-end restaurants, hotels, clubs and other institutions.
Erik Oosterwijk, president, and Leo Prussien, vice president, have done their best to keep up with the demand for their business, which has doubled in less than two years in spite of a lackluster economy. The company added 10 new employees in 2010 and purchased a 40,000-square-foot warehouse even before discussing the transaction with their Bank of America client manager, Robert Brando.
“I said ‘Robert, we bought a building and now we need a loan,’” said Pruissen, recalling the conversation. “I think that was backwards.”
Brando, who knows Fells Point Wholesale Meats intimately since the company became a client 18 years ago, took the request in stride and arranged to finance the $2 million warehouse.
Now, the company is poised for even more growth, said Oosterwijk, who, at 12 years old, worked in his father’s butcher shop in the Netherlands and later immigrated to Baltimore.
“We’re looking to grow quite a bit over the next five years,” Oosterwijk said. “We have a lot of ideas. In order to get that growth we are going to need that relationship with Bank of America to make and keep us successful.”
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