OUR STORY
At Blue Ribbon Meats & Seafood, we create relationships with our customers and work hard to exceed their expectations. Each order is cut and boxed to your specifications. Our goal is to maintain the customer service and convenience of working with a small, local, butcher shop while providing quality products sourced from our backyards and around the world.
We Are Blue Ribbon: A Video History
Our Family Story
Our founder, Albert P. Radis, grew up in Cleveland with food service in his genes. He was the son of Louigi Paolo and Jemma Toss Radice, who immigrated to America from Northern Italy in 1904. His father, called Louis in America, was a renowned chef at the University Club for 30 years and had the first television cooking show in the country (on Channel 5 in Cleveland) during the 1950's. Albert spent much of his youth learning the art of food preparation and cooking.
He got his start in the meat business in 1936, working for various meat companies as a cutter. In 1945, after returning from four years of decorated service overseas in World War II, he took a job with Meyers Meats in Cleveland and began his journey in the Cleveland food service scene.
Albert married Betty Radis in 1947 and raised twelve children in Orange Village. Placing family first was a priority throughout Albert and Betty’s life. All the Radis children thrived with their parents remarkable examples of a strong work ethic, family values, and an appreciation of a good cut of beef!
In 1948, Albert and three partners went out on their own and purchased a small company, Red Ribbon Meats, located in the Northern Ohio Food Terminal. Albert ran the meat cutting operations, while the other partners ran the sausage kitchen, the office and outside sales. They first named the company “Master Meats”. Years later it became “Blue Ribbon Meats.” And then, in the 2000’s, “Blue Ribbon Meats & Seafood.”
In the 1960’s food processing experienced major innovations in the industry. The development of vacuum packaging enabled large national companies to centralize their operation and ship “boxed beef” throughout the country. Seemingly overnight, local butcher shops were an endangered business.
In 1975, Albert’s son Michael joined his father at Blue Ribbon. The business was struggling to meet modern day opportunities and ultimately was sold to other investors. But Michael had a vision and convinced his father to take a risk. In 1978 they bought the business back! Michael brought his brother, Al onboard and together, Mike and Al began growing Blue Ribbon. Mike and Al ran sales and operations while Albert continued to oversee all meat cutting directly from his own butcher block. His ideas where "the old way", and he encouraged his sons to develop a "new way" to solidify the future of the company. His instinct prevailed! Blue Ribbon, under the guise of both Albert and his sons was able develop a forward thinking company with modern packaging and conveniences while preserving the old traditions and service present only in family-run, small businesses.
As years passed, three more sons joined Albert in the business. Paul came on board as a sales manager. Jim joined and ran the sausage kitchen. He developed recipes for many of the signature sausages we all still enjoy today. Years later David joined the team to oversee the company finances. Blue Ribbon continued to thrive making an impression in Cleveland as one of the premier food service distributors in the area. Eventually, Blue Ribbon moved from the Northern Food Terminal to its current location. Albert passed in 2003 but his legacy lives on.
Enjoying our seventh decade of business, Blue Ribbon Meats & Seafood continues to bring our customers quality, professionally-cut product and exceptional customer service . Our robust product list now includes our fresh seafood house, premium beef labels, wild game, and pasta provisions. We are committed to growing our sustainability and local food-sourcing programs. We are honored to work so many incredible food service establishments. We consider all our customers to be part of our every-growing food family.
