Griller’s Pride: Atlanta’s Kosher Butcher
TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT YOU COOK!
Now in its 10th year, Jewish-owned-and-operated Atlanta-based kosher butchery Griller’s Pride is hard at work preparing its Glatt Kosher meat and poultry for Labor Day, Rosh HaShanah and beyond.
Founder Peter Swerdlow started off producing and selling the now well-known authentic South African grilling sausages purely for his family’s enjoyment.
“My wife had been hankering and nagging me for these authentic South African sausages called ‘boeries,’” he said. “I’d been making some [but at the time] with no intention of making a business out of it.”
For the first 18 months, Griller’s Pride did not have premises, but rented time at various kosher caterers kitchens to produce its sausages under kosher supervision.
“We would produce these sausages one day per week on a Sunday using kosher caterers’ kitchens,” Swerdlow explained. “I would load up the van with our equipment and supplies after Shabbat and on Sunday pick up the mashgiach [kosher inspector] at about 5:30 a.m., set up the equipment and be in production by 8 a.m., finishing late that night. I would then deliver these to customers during the week.”
The company has come a long way since then and is now a full-line Glatt Kosher butchery. Their product range of beef, bison, veal, lamb, chicken and turkey is certainly the most extensive in Atlanta.
Griller’s Pride does not have a walk-in store but operates a kosher meat and poultry processing plant in Doraville and delivers directly to its Atlanta customers’ homes in the late afternoon.
“We have no shortage of competitors out there but I remain committed to our competitive differentiators: quality and customer service,” Swerdlow said. “We cannot always beat prices at the supermarkets and club stores, but we can guarantee our customers that they will receive superb quality and unbeatable customer service.”
Swerdlow is very appreciative of his loyal patrons and stresses the need for the Jewish community to direct a portion of their business to local private businesses whose products or services are specifically intended for the Jewish community, be that kosher butcheries, kosher restaurants, Judaica stores, or otherwise.
Without adequate support, companies like these will simply close down for lack of viability, and with them, a part of what makes up the fabric of a Jewish community will disappear. But Swerdlow remains optimistic.
“We have so many fantastic experiences with customers – and that’s not just as customers, but as human beings,” he said, then laughed. “Genuinely, 98 percent of the people I deal with are an absolute pleasure.”
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