Made in the back, sold in the front
Old Brooklyn’s The Sausage Shoppe has been a meat scene staple since 1938
Cleveland’s The Sausage Shoppe boasts all-natural meat products prepared the same way since 1938. Photo by KEVIN MCMANUS
CLEVELAND – It doesn’t get much more “Cleveland” than The Sausage Shoppe on Memphis Avenue.
It could be having the city’s only remaining smokehouse of its kind, one that is constructed into the building’s foundation and fueled by charring wood chips. Or maybe it’s turning around fresh pork from local farms Monday to your plate Friday. Either way, The Sausage Shoppe’s handmade, old-world style is something often copied by other meat shops, but it’s impossible to replicate.
“There are other meat shops and sausage makers, but they don’t have their own smokehouses. I don’t know if you can build them anymore,” Marketing Manager Renee (Heinle) Close said, referring to city’s building code. “We’re grandfathered in.”
Greater Cleveland is a region rich with a long and noble meat tradition brought over by European immigrants, and The Sausage Shoppe – founded by German immigrants – has been at the forefront of that culture since the mid-1900s, especially the smoked sect.
Weekly, the staff of eight is slinging 600 pounds of spiced and seasoned meats, including brats, wieners, kielbasas, Italian sausages, smokies, hams and more – like their award-winning delicacy liver pate. That 600 is a figure easily doubled or tripled on a holiday.
The little storefront is certainly no secret. Its legendary status has drawn local and national media attention for decades, with features in Gourmet Magazine and visits from celebrity chefs Michael Symon and Anthony Bourdain. The latter raved about The Sausage Shoppe on his uber-popular Travel Channel program “No Reservations,” which highlights relatively unknown, nichey food spots worldwide.
However, well into its fourth generation of regular customers – longtime Cleveland sports reporter Dan Coughlin is a staff favorite – The Sausage Shoppe is far from an unknown, both locally and nationwide.
“You name a state, I could tell you the last time someone from there was in here,” said store manager Al Heinle.
Heinle has a simple explanation for that, really.
“All natural product, same tradition, same recipe since 1938,” Heinle said. “Most of our customer base we’re on a first name basis with. It’s friendly, easygoing. They all come in because they like the quality.”
There is some deviation, though. Proprietor Norm Heinle, now in his 70s, is well known for experimenting with different bratwurst combinations and following up with customers for their feedback. The same goes for the store’s award-winning smokies.
Norm keeps all of his experimentations, well over 100 of them, scribed in a sacred binder affectionately known by his family as “The Bible of Recipes.”
Al and Renee are two of Norm’s four kids. Norm began working at the shop when he was 13 and eventually took over the business from Bavarian natives Hans Kirchberger and Theo Johanni in the 1970s. Norm is still very much involved in day-to-day operations, quick to greet customers while serving up orders at the counter.
“Dad is good at that. He remembers everyone’s name, their kids, their kids’ ages,” Close said. “Everywhere else, you stand in a checkout line, you pay and you leave. Here, you stay and have a conversation.”
Though apart from the shop’s legacy and genuine charm, Al and Renee continually fall back on a recurring theme when it comes to their way of doing business – “no funny stuff.”
“Especially with all the allergens now ... there’s no additives, no preservatives, no food coloring, no MSG in our products,” Close said. “A lot of those big plants, they make that prepackaged stuff so far ahead and put so much crap in it, the fillers, the colors, a lot of Red 40 and stuff. They add it to make it look redder because it sits on the shelf for so long.”
“It’s all made in the back and sold in the front,” Heinle said. “You can’t turn it around much quicker than that.”
The Sausage Shoppe is located at 4501 Memphis Avenue, Cleveland. They can be reached at 216-351-5213 and more information can be found at www.sausageshoppe.com.
It could be having the city’s only remaining smokehouse of its kind, one that is constructed into the building’s foundation and fueled by charring wood chips. Or maybe it’s turning around fresh pork from local farms Monday to your plate Friday. Either way, The Sausage Shoppe’s handmade, old-world style is something often copied by other meat shops, but it’s impossible to replicate.
“There are other meat shops and sausage makers, but they don’t have their own smokehouses. I don’t know if you can build them anymore,” Marketing Manager Renee (Heinle) Close said, referring to city’s building code. “We’re grandfathered in.”
Greater Cleveland is a region rich with a long and noble meat tradition brought over by European immigrants, and The Sausage Shoppe – founded by German immigrants – has been at the forefront of that culture since the mid-1900s, especially the smoked sect.
Weekly, the staff of eight is slinging 600 pounds of spiced and seasoned meats, including brats, wieners, kielbasas, Italian sausages, smokies, hams and more – like their award-winning delicacy liver pate. That 600 is a figure easily doubled or tripled on a holiday.
The little storefront is certainly no secret. Its legendary status has drawn local and national media attention for decades, with features in Gourmet Magazine and visits from celebrity chefs Michael Symon and Anthony Bourdain. The latter raved about The Sausage Shoppe on his uber-popular Travel Channel program “No Reservations,” which highlights relatively unknown, nichey food spots worldwide.
However, well into its fourth generation of regular customers – longtime Cleveland sports reporter Dan Coughlin is a staff favorite – The Sausage Shoppe is far from an unknown, both locally and nationwide.
“You name a state, I could tell you the last time someone from there was in here,” said store manager Al Heinle.
Heinle has a simple explanation for that, really.
“All natural product, same tradition, same recipe since 1938,” Heinle said. “Most of our customer base we’re on a first name basis with. It’s friendly, easygoing. They all come in because they like the quality.”
There is some deviation, though. Proprietor Norm Heinle, now in his 70s, is well known for experimenting with different bratwurst combinations and following up with customers for their feedback. The same goes for the store’s award-winning smokies.
Norm keeps all of his experimentations, well over 100 of them, scribed in a sacred binder affectionately known by his family as “The Bible of Recipes.”
Al and Renee are two of Norm’s four kids. Norm began working at the shop when he was 13 and eventually took over the business from Bavarian natives Hans Kirchberger and Theo Johanni in the 1970s. Norm is still very much involved in day-to-day operations, quick to greet customers while serving up orders at the counter.
“Dad is good at that. He remembers everyone’s name, their kids, their kids’ ages,” Close said. “Everywhere else, you stand in a checkout line, you pay and you leave. Here, you stay and have a conversation.”
Though apart from the shop’s legacy and genuine charm, Al and Renee continually fall back on a recurring theme when it comes to their way of doing business – “no funny stuff.”
“Especially with all the allergens now ... there’s no additives, no preservatives, no food coloring, no MSG in our products,” Close said. “A lot of those big plants, they make that prepackaged stuff so far ahead and put so much crap in it, the fillers, the colors, a lot of Red 40 and stuff. They add it to make it look redder because it sits on the shelf for so long.”
“It’s all made in the back and sold in the front,” Heinle said. “You can’t turn it around much quicker than that.”
The Sausage Shoppe is located at 4501 Memphis Avenue, Cleveland. They can be reached at 216-351-5213 and more information can be found at www.sausageshoppe.com.