Today we’d like to introduce you to Aziza S. Madati.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Houston, as large and economically prosperous a city it is, has pockets of extremely poor neighborhoods. It is easier to find a bottle of vodka in neighborhoods such as Sunnyside then it is to find a fresh green bell pepper.
I have lived in Houston for many years and thought how could this be? Why is it that so many neighborhoods in this great city are just neglected by major grocers, restaurants, and the like? I took it upon myself to start Farmer’s Fresh Meat with the goal of providing for the under-served communities. I wanted to bring them top notch quality with unparalleled service. But more than anything, I wanted to bring a truly fresh experience. The word fresh gets thrown around a lot to the point where it’s meaning has been devalued. I am originally from Tanzania and fresh to me is not the same fresh as I would see in your typical grocery store or supermarket in Houston. Fresh meat to me came from an animal that was slaughtered just yesterday. A fresh tomato to me was a tomato that was picked just that day.
I partnered with Nate (his nick name for Nader) specifically because of his background in fresh meat markets and butcher shops. Nate was originally from New Orleans, where his dad operated a very well-known meat market and grocery store for over a quarter century – Lasalle Supermarket. Nate grew up in the business and learned how to do everything from butchering whole carcasses of meat to balancing the monthly budget. In 2004, at 18, he was an All-American football player and was one of the highest recruited defensive lineman in the country. He left his beloved hometown to play football for Jim Tressel and the Ohio State Buckeyes. After playing in 2 national championships, being Ohio State’s Defensive Lineman of the Year in 2009, and a brief NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens, Nate relocated to Texas. He noticed almost immediately and unbelievably that there were no real old school butcher shops in Houston. It was astounding to him as I recall because in New Orleans, people didn’t shop for meat at grocery stores, they went to their local butcher. All the great po-boys, sandwiches, and meaty delights were also served at these very same meat markets. Nate really emphasized the hot food concept that I initially didn’t visualize. “From the butcher to the cook, it doesn’t get fresher than that” he would say. And that is how Farmer’s Fresh Kitchen (which is inside Farmer’s Fresh Meat) came to be.
Farmer’s Fresh Meat is a full-service butcher shop and meat market. I emphasize Full Service because we do all the work for you. You walk in, take a number, when called, a butcher will get all of your meat for you, cut it just the way you want, bag it, tag it, and bring it to the counter for you. You don’t get your hands dirty and it is truly a VIP shopping experience (think of the old full-service gas stations back in the day, just here we’re serving meat). If you have a lot of bags, we even walk it to the car for you! All of our Red Meat is grass and grain fed Texas Farm Raised Steer. Sunday Night Slaughters arrive on Wednesdays and Wednesday night slaughters arrive on Fridays. We get the whole carcass and butcher it on site to fill our beautiful red meat display. We also carry in stock every day USDA “Prime” at prices typically seen for just Select and Choice cuts.
We never inject any fluids, colorings, or preservatives into any of our meat. We do everything in house. We grind our own ground beef, chuck, ground turkey, chicken, pork. We have an amazing selection of homemade breakfast pan sausage (beef, chicken, pork, and turkey), seasoned just right. We make our own fresh boudin in house every day – pork hot and mild, beef, chicken, and crawfish. We used fresh, high quality ingredients in our boudin. For example, while many vendors use pork liver in their boudin, we do not and opt only for fresh boneless pork butt. Farmer’s introduced the Chicken Boudin to the Houston market and use only boneless chicken breast and thigh meat! We also make our own fresh sausages – Deer, turkey, chicken, Cajun beef, creole beef, and our most popular – Green Onion Sausage! We also have our own brand of very popular Smoked Sausages – Beef, Pork n Beef, Deer, and Jalapeno N Cheese Smoked Sausage. Lastly, we have a great selection of stuffed products like Stuffed Pork Chops, Stuffed Chicken Breast, Stuffed Cornish Hens, and Stuffed Pork Roast. We also like to have fun and produce our own signature creations like the “Sir Briskalot.”
The Sir Briskalot is a hamburger patty we make that is half Ground Sirloin (“Sir”) and Half Ground Brisket (“Brisk”). It’s a big hit with tailgaters and pit masters.
Farmer’s Fresh Meat has gained quite some traction with its weekly sale specials posted on Facebook. Every Monday morning, Farmer’s negotiates steep discounts with its vendors based upon bulk ordering and posts these specials on Facebook. It is why we coined the catchy phrase “Save Money every week at Farmer’s Fresh Meat.” We select one Chicken, one Turkey, one Pork, one Beef, one Sausage or Boudin item, and one “Lagniappe” item and put them at cost price every Monday to Saturday. We encourage our loyal customer base to like us on Facebook so they will be automatically notified of the sale when it is posted on Monday morning. This really helps families on a budget.
Imagine getting a 40lb Case of Chicken Leg Quarters for just $14.99 (.37/lb.!) and splitting it amongst your family or buying a 30lb case of Fresh Turkey Necks for just $17.99! These are some of the incredible deals we extend to our customers every week!
And there are no gimmicks like minimum purchases or purchase limits. You can get 1 pound or a 1000 pounds. We are able to do offer such low-price points because our business model is similar to a wholesale one, meaning we accumulate our profits through high volume. We look at business through the lens of a marathon, and not a sprint.
Farmer’s Fresh Kitchen has really been a big hit within the Sunnyside Community and throughout the city (we have a loyal following that make the journey to us each week).
We offer traditional comfort food delights like Smothered Pork Chops, Beef Tips, Turkey Wings, Turkey Necks, Ribs, Baked Chicken, Fried Chicken, and last but not least OXTAILS! All of our plates come with white rice, gravy, 2 sides, a 20oz fountain drink or water, and a piece of our signature homemade cornbread. We have become famed for our Oxtails, Candied Yams and Greens plate. It’s literally to die for! We offer generous portions at price points well below market. We can do this because we are a full-fledged meat market. Our buying power coupled with a labor force armed with knives and band saws can produce any amount of meat our commercial kitchen needs at any time of day – AND FRESH! There’s no need for a deep freezer in this restaurant and you won’t find one at Farmer’s Fresh Kitchen!
Due to the popularity of our Meat Department and Kitchen, Farmer’s is nearing its capacity at the current 8630 Cullen Blvd. Location. The long lines have been our only drawback. While we boast about having the most employees per retail square foot in the entire city (we have 42 employees in our 3,300 sq. ft. store and only 1,200 retail square feet), the spacing and demand has forced us to purchase a larger tract of land a few blocks down on Cullen Blvd. We hope to build a much larger establishment there with a sit down feature for the restaurant area (Our hot food plates are To-Go only currently) and expand our 60 foot fresh meat display to an even larger one.
Lastly, we operate on a “Business with a conscience” philosophy. We do not sell any alcohol, tobacco, or lotto products at our establishment. We have made the conscious decision not to profit from or contribute to the particular vices that too often plague our inner city communities. On a personal level, it disgusts me when I see a pharmacy selling medicine to help cure a health condition whatever it may be, and at the same time, selling cancer sticks (cigarettes) at the front register. If you’re going to present yourself to the public as being something good, be genuine about it, don’t contradict yourself and sell yourself out just to make an extra buck. Ok, my personal venting session is over, lol.
Well that’s our business as best as I can describe it – Truly Fresh Meat, Savory Food, Friendly Service.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The toughest part was the beginning. To build a brand and a name from scratch is not an easy task. You can create the best product in the world, but if no one knows about it, you won’t be able to sell it. Our method of advertising was not to reach out and create a buzz, but to let our customer base do the talking for us. Word of mouth is dominant form of advertising. But the problem with it is that it takes a looooooong time for the word to spread. So we really had to develop a lot of patience in the beginning, which I wasn’t really prepared for. Thankfully, after about a year, word got around to enough people about what we were doing and things took off.
The other difficult part about our business is that due to it being labor intensive, it really takes time to find a capable work force that will put your vision into fruition. We have been blessed to have done so within a fairly short amount of time.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We really measure our success directly with customer satisfaction. If our customers are leaving with a smile on their face, it is more likely they will return. The hallmark of a successful business is repeat customers. We sincerely take pride in the fact that we have more reviews on google and Facebook than any other competitor and we have the highest rating on both sites. It tells us our customers truly love what we’re doing and want to share it with their friends and family.
Contact Info:
- Address: South Side – 8630 Cullen Blvd., Houston, TX 77051
North East Side – 9541 Mesa Drive, Houston, TX 77078 - Website: www.farmersfreshmeat.com
- Phone: 713-734-6328
- Email: contact@farmersfreshmeat.com
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