The Empire Beef Company Legacy

The Beginning
In 1937, Harry Levine purchased an auto parts facility on nine acres of land in Rochester, NY, converted the building into a slaughtering plant and started distributing meat to local stores.

The Story Continues

In 1956, his son Sidney remodeled the plant, applied for federal inspection, and significantly increased the plant's capacity. Years later, as the meat industry continued to evolve Sidney made a bold move and ceased slaughter operations while his father Harry was on vacation. He began bringing in carcass beef, breaking it and selling the primal cuts in Western New York. By the mid 1970's with the advent of boxed beef Sidney and his son Steven were able to discontinue carcass beef altogether in favor of boxed beef which was more economical. By Sidney's retirement in 1989, Empire Beef Company was shipping more than 700,000 pounds of meat per week.

Present Day

By 1991 the company was shipping over two million pounds per week to eight different states. The company currently ships over six and a half million pounds a week to all states east of the Mississippi. Empire Beef has evolved into a full line fresh and frozen distributor, as well as a manufacturer specializing in center of the plate items. Empire Beef prides itself in being the only distributor in the Northeast that can offer fresh portion meats, frozen portion meats, marinated and flavor enhanced portion meats, a small box repack program, and quantities of all major center of the plate proteins with overnight service to every major city in our Marketing area. Empire Beef has also incorporated a redistribution division that expands it's current product line beyond center of the plate into dry, refrigerated, and frozen food items.

My Employment with Empire Beef Co.

Between the years 1988 to 1992,  I was a proud member of the Empire Beef family.  I was fortunate to be able to work and learn the suppliers perspective of the Food Service business, especially the East Coasts, number one wholesale supplier of fresh Beef, Pork, Poultry, and Fish.  I originally hired out as a temporary loader, and work my way up into the management ranks.  When I left Empire Beef, I was a Warehouse Supervisor with the following responsibilities:

* Directed activities of warehouse personnel to ensure timely and cost-effective shipping and receiving, transporting, loading, and checking of material and products.
* Ensured safe work practices of up to 30 employees of warehouse and loading docks.
* Preformed employee evaluations, and responsible for new hire training programs and procedures.
* Worked closely with all company warehouse personnel to ensure the safe efficient loading of trucks. 
* Ensured proper warehousing practices such as rotation and breakage control through the supervision of check-in and check-out procedures. 
* Supervised and maintain stock rotation and separation. 
* Coordinated shipments from pre-determined destinations via company owned transport. 
* Responsible for accurate inventory control counts. 
* Coordinated invoices and load tickets. 
* Ensured and responsible for facility coolants of 80,000 square foot meat storage warehouse.
* Ensured compliance with OSHA, State and Local Health Department, and other regulatory 
agencies of the food and drug administration laws.