Now we can focus on walking in with a consistent sample and saying, Give our steak a try.'. Whittingham Meats is not currently accepting reservations on Tock. With the big boom in the farm-to-table we just kind of jumped on board with that, Rick Whittingham says. Ive asked him how he can tell the difference between the naturally-raised beef that hes marketing under the brand Chicago 250, and the commodity market beef he also sells that has been subjected to all the industrial magic that modern agriculture has. Teddy's Fruit & Meat Market 5 Meat Shops Fruits & Veggies Grocery $ "Proceeded to the produce, then the meat counter. Richard Whittingham Sr., and his first truck, c. 1947, WHITTINGHAM MEATS, IN THE SUBURB OF ALSIP, straight south on Pulaski at 127th Street, claims 70 years in the meat business, but it actually goes back even further than that. For ours its maybe a 20 minute ride, so theyre not stressed., From the diners viewpoint, he says its an excellent steak: You can really tell the difference, when theyre not rushed through the aging process. Is Whittingham Meat currently offering delivery or takeout? So, given a world in which houses with big feedlots raising pharmaceutically-maximized beef rule the marketplace, Whittingham has found his niche, and makes it work for his customersand himself. Whittingham Meats distributes wholesale beef, pork, poultry, lamb and veal to restaurants, hotels, country clubs and casinos not just in Chicago, but all over the US while also maintaining a. In his new role with the company, Bob is developing some new marketing ideas to promote the company. Download it now, Curious about our reservation and table management system? *** ORDERS PLACED BEEF 3:00PM WE BE DELIVERED THE NEXT DAY. After working on the business throughout his life, Rick sees viability and growth for the future, especially with the addition of his son Bob as the marketing director of the company. download come work with us Check out our open positions and join our talented team. Country club members dine at downtown restaurants and see whats happening there; country clubs hire chefs who come out of a world where being able to say farm to table on a menu is a sign of quality. We want to keep people home. Asked about the delivery zone, Whittingham said that basically all of Chicagoland is available. I came in every day for the first month, because I was trying to get the assembly line down for the boxes. But Whittingham says its all worth it because hes able to keep all his employees. ***we are offering free local home delivery on all orders over $75.00. Its his son Bob, who just rejoined the family business in the last couple of weeks (and promptly contacted Fooditor, figuring that they had the kind of business that would be interesting to me). 15 OR 20 YEARS AGO, BUYING MEAT LOCALLY at your farmers market or directly from a farmer was a niche of a niche. If it doesnt have that bug, we just tell them to leave it on the truck. In 1972, Whittingham Meats took the business to a new level by opening its doors to the public and offering the same quality meats and at wholesale prices. "CELEBRATING 75 YEARS" OUR RETAIL STORE IS OPEN -- Monday-Friday 10 AM to 3 PM and Saturday 9 AM to 2 PM, R. Whittingham & Sons Meat Co. / Powered by Shopify, Creekstone Farms Premium Black Angus Beef. GrowingMarch 1, 20189:45 am Whittingham Meats is not currently accepting reservations on Tock. The mentality needs to be that we have to approach this like its going to last forever.. This tiny butcher shop sticks out near Halsted and Armitage in Lincoln Park. Ask the Yelp community! When they sold the company [to Chefs Warehouse], we hired a lot of their people and thats how we learned to buy meat the right way, the Allen Brothers way., Portioned short ribs for a country club event, If youre a country club chef, you see the same diners week after week. Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: Sign up for our free newsletters to stay informed on each days news and trends, Podcast: Brianna Buseman propels the next generation of meat scientists, Temple Grandin: Opening eyes for the next generation. And it comes from farmers as well. Now, they have noticed a move to chicken for these same occasions. The grandfather, Richard Whittingham Sr., had a wholesale business located at 72nd and RacineEnglewoodbut as south side businesses tended to do in the racial unrest of the era,it relocated to the south suburbs in the early 1970s. I use to send meats from that company located in Nebraska to friends and relatives at Christmas. in 3 reviews, I buy my filets, burgers, and hot dogs from Whittinghams. in 2 reviews. Read the restaurant's FAQs for more details. So when you buy prime, youre getting the same steak every time., Whittingham followed the model, and thats when we really got into the clubs and we built relationships with the managers and the chefs. But then came the era of boxed beef, when the big meatpacking conglomerates began slaughtering out on the prairie, in Kansas or Nebraska or Texas, and sending boxes of primals (sections of a steer to be broken down further into individual cuts) or simply boxes of a single cutfour dozen steaks from different animals in a box. Under his father, it was about 50-50 between wholesale and the butcher shop; today, although the butcher shop is busy with calls about corned beef for St. Patricks Day when I visit, its about 80-20 wholesale to retail. DID YOU KNOW? Its like a meat subscription, where you can get locally sourced fresh meat thats never frozen, says Whittingham. Richard Whittingham, CEO and president of Whittingham Meats, selects a box of meat for a customer. Learn more. So that got us into these places for tastings, and when they see that were $5 a pound less But listen, Im never going to knock Allen Brothers. But when the market crashedthats what helped me get into the country clubs, they all started having to watch their food costs. He would later be confined to another private hospital as well as a state institution. Family businesses are kind of a thing of the past. Winningham's Meats. | Website Design by Kenton Web Design, THE FOODITOR GUIDE TO THE BEST EATING BLOCK IN CHICAGO, 2018, THE FOODITOR GUIDE TO CHINATOWNS RICHLAND FOOD COURT (2016 EDITION), THE MOST AUTHENTIC SECRET MEXICAN STREET FOOD MARKET IN CHICAGOLAND, THE FARMER, THE AIRPORT SANDWICH, AND THE FUTURE OF FOOD. 11/01/2022 Here at The Union Bar & Grill we proudly serve Whittingham Meats! Copyright 20042023 Yelp Inc. Yelp, , and related marks are registered trademarks of Yelp. So. *** ORDERS PLACED BEEF 3:00PM WE BE DELIVERED THE NEXT DAY. A $9.95 SHIPPING FEE WILL BE ADDED TO ORDERS NOT MEETING THAT REQUIREMENT. He and his son Bobby refocused the company from mostly wholesale to mostly retail, offering free home delivery. We were kind of a small player at the time, and Allen Brothers was the crme de la crme of Chicago wholesalers, serving high-end restaurants all over the country, he explains. In Whittinghams mind, the late Allen Brothers CEO Bobby Hatoff created the model for achieving consistency: Mr. //