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apcowboy


Founder of The Meat Cutter's Club

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Meet The Fifth-Generation Sirloin Sisters
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Meet The Fifth-Generation Sirloin Sisters of  photo SMlogo1_zps45f948a1.png
photo sirloin-sisters-dry-aged-steaks_zpsade437c8.jpg
In a business dominated by men, fifth-generation purveyors Suzanne and Andrea Strassburger take no bull while delivering prime beef with panache.
 
photo meat2_zps4a6f6d4d.jpg
                 Circa 1900: The Strassburger sisters' great-grandfather Harry Strassburger, fifth from the left, joined employees outside the original Bronx facility.
Photo courtesy of Suzanne Strassburger
 
 
 
 
This story began in 1865 with a great steak sandwich and a dedicated daughter. The Strassburgers great-great grandmother spent every afternoon bringing her father a homemade sandwich to their family's beef plant in the Bronx. There, she met her husband who worked as her father's right-hand man. Now a 150 years later their family still prides itself on these traditions - dedicated daughters and great steak. The the Sirloin Sisters work alongside their father who has passed down his work ethic, and passion for perfecting prime steak. Today, they work to keep the tradition alive by celebrating family, memorable stories, and unforgettable steak.
 
When she was a girl, Suzanne Strassburger sold Girl Scout cookies, but she wasn’t happy about it. “I didn’t want to sell cookies,” she says. “I wanted to sell steaks.”
 
For show-and-tell, she’d bring cuts of meat to school, sometimes cow brains and eyeballs. “Some kids were shocked, some were very intrigued,” she says evenly. “The teachers loved it. It was so different from what anyone else brought.” After school, she liked to invite her friends over for snacks. “Most kids would give their friends frozen pizza or a bagel with cream cheese,” she says. “I’d cook them steaks.” 
 
And so it went. In college, she brought coolers of beef to tailgate parties. Not ground beef. USDA Prime, dry-aged, New York strip steaks. People thought she was rich. They didn’t know her family has been in the meat business since 1865 and that prime, dry-aged beef is its specialty. photo meat20f-3-web_zpscbcbe107.jpg
 
 

When Suzanne Strassburger gets to her office at Strassburger Meats in Carlstadt, she still feels lucky, even though it is 4:30 am.She used to get in earlier. But at 46, as president and sole owner of the company, she has certain privileges. Also on hand will be her younger sister, Andrea, 40, whose title, chief culinary executive, doesn’t really describe her job. A deft cook and butcher, Andrea (pronounced on-DRAY-a) speaks softly, smiles warmly and carries a big cleaver. photo hqdefault_zps1ccda269.jpg

 
“Andrea has the most important job in the company—she’s the money collector,” says Suzanne. The three of us are having lunch at their favorite Carlstadt restaurant, the palatial Il Villaggio on Route 17, which serves Strassburger beef. 
 
“Andrea is very tough,” Suzanne continues. “But all the chefs and butchers have a crush on her. Sometimes they’ll text her a heart with an ‘I miss you.’” the Strassburgers are purveyors, not ranchers or packers. Wholesale meat prices vary daily, depending on weather, time of year, cost of feed, foreign demand and other factors. Purchasing is done mostly over the phone, often with the same person year after year. Personal relationships are key.
“I’m trying to save a nickel,” Suzanne says. “If you’re buying a load of meat, 40,000 pounds, a nickel a pound saves a couple thousand dollars.”
 
Suzanne and Andrea are the fifth generation of their family in the meat business. In the late 1800s, their great-grandfather Harry Strassburger, the son of an Alsatian immigrant, set up Strassburger Meats in the Bronx with his wife’s father, a long-time manager for Armour and Company. Strassburger Meats later moved to the 125th Street Meat Market in Harlem. Suzanne apprenticed there in her teens. After college, she worked various jobs in catering and the meat business before settling in at the family firm, which by then had moved to West 14th Street in Manhattan. In 2002, Suzanne succeeded her father, Peter, as president. In 2006,
 
Suzanne herself never stops. In 2010, she earned her Masters of Beef Advocacy certificate from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). She created and regularly updates thesirloinreport.com to share information about beef and all aspects of the business. In March, she was heading to Denver for more NCBA training in beef production, animal care, food safety and environmental stewardship. 
 
Both daughters say they never felt their father wished he had a son to pass the business onto. Still, Suzanne admits, “I never really had a woman role model until I was in my 40s.” That’s when she met and became friends with Rosemary Mucklow and Temple Grandin, the only females in the Meat Industry Hall of Fame. Its 58 members include Ray Kroc, Frank Perdue and Colonel Harland Sanders. Mucklow, who led the National Meat Association, and Grandin, whose autism helped her pioneer humane methods of slaughter that are now the industry standard, were inducted in the inaugural class of 2009.
“I absolutely encourage women to get into the business,” Suzanne says. 
 
 
She has not put the nickname Suzy Sirloin out to pasture. Instead, she gave it to the line of organic ground beef and natural beef, lamb, veal and pork she created in 2011 to sell in boutique markets. It’s also available on Amazon. “I wanted to make the meat department less intimidating to women,” she says. “It seems to be working. We’ve doubled the business every year.” In 2012, Williams-Sonoma began selling Strassburger’s prime dry-aged steaks online. Four 20-ounce porterhouses are $249.95, plus shipping.
Building their business on prime beef—  photo suzy-sirloin-inc_zps32f06ebd.png
 
 None of the three Strassberger daughters are married. Would Suzanne and Andrea someday like to pass the mantle to a next generation?
“I’ve always wanted it,” Suzanne admitted. “But I’ve had so many goals in the business. That’s been my focus. We ask everyone, ‘What is wrong with us?’”
What have you come up with? 
“We just haven’t met our matches,” she said with a shrug. 
How do guys react when you tell them what you do for a living?
“No matter who it is, people are fascinated by the meat biz. You get asked extra questions, for sure.” 
Are guys intimidated by a woman running a macho business like meat? 
She laughed. “I try not to date any vegetarians,” she said. “I judge them by how they order their meat. If it’s a well-done hamburger, forget it. It’s never going to work.”
 
                                                                                        Meet T-Bone photo peter-strassburger-founder-strassburger-steaks_zpsfa8f96b8.jpg
Peter Strassburger, the father of the “Sirloin Sisters,” has been an icon in the New York Metro area ever since he became the fourth generation in his family’s business. From the moment he entered the meat industry his influence began to grow; Peter found his place as an innovator and leader.
 
check out their   photo the-sirloin-report_zps1b25da8c.png
 
 

 

 

 



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Leon Wildberger

Executive Director 
Burgermeister


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RE: Meet The Fifth-Generation Sirloin Sisters
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 Beef doesn't get any better than that. Cool pictures! Neat story!

 

Without looking it up, does anyone here even know what "panache" means? I didn't. Leon?



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apcowboy


Founder of The Meat Cutter's Club

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RE: Meet The Fifth-Generation Sirloin Sisters
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No I didn't burgermeister, but after looking that up,  that would have applied to me in the my hay day of my cutting career lol



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Leon Wildberger

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Gregdabutcher


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Beef at it's best.

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Gregory R. Wilson
ChefLazar5


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RE: Meet The Fifth-Generation Sirloin Sisters
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Hello,

Nothing wrong with women in the meat industry. In culinary schools either. Women out number men in the class and many are more serious and want to learn the meat industry. I have a few students who asked me to find internships in the meat industry and half are women.

 



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Alan Lazar
Bunzl Processor Division


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RE: Meet The Fifth-Generation Sirloin Sisters
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We love stories with a lot of history, and five generations is impressive! Great photos and looks like those gals are representing the meat cutting business very well!


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Bunzl Processor Division/Koch Supplies
Over 130 Years of the Right People, Right Products and Right Prices.
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ChefLazar5


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Hi Great story looks like a great meat company. I have a student. Young woman who is interested in a sales position in a meat company I'll tell her about this company Chef lazar

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Alan Lazar
Andrew


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yes sir there is a lot of history there, wish they had some pictures of the past generations and of the market



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Lady T-Bone


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Great story, I seen those ladies on fox news once, they seem very sweet



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masonjones5711


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