LI Kosher Meat Business Tames Inflation with Made in USA Products

By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso

GREAT NECK, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — Food prices, including meat, have skyrocketed in recent months due to global supply chain disruptions and increased labor costs. A Great Neck-based kosher meat company has been able to keep food prices at bay with a unique direct-to-consumer business that sources its prime cuts in the United States.

“In our clientele, the main thing they care about is having the supply at that consistent level,” said Elliot Moscowitz of Prairie Street Prime, which caters to the luxury kosher meat market.

“We have a USDA Prime program, which is graded. We have lamb, we have veal, we have dry age and fish,” said Moscowitz on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.

When inflation started to spike earlier this year, Prairie Street Prime began to flash freeze their meats at 20 degrees below zero to ramp up supply. That decision in anticipation of rising food prices paid dividends for the Long Island company.

“A kosher market is a very small market compared to the non-kosher and we’re working in only the highest-end of those kosher markets. So, one of the ways to accomplish that is to make sure that you have adequate inventory in all the product groups,” Moscowitz said.

Prairie Street Prime has warehouses throughout the United States that enables them to offer next-day delivery.

Moscowitz wasn’t always in the kosher meat business. He had a long and successful career on Wall Street as a commodities and foreign exchange trader.

He started Prairie Street Prime first as a club in Brussels where he lived for a time while his wife was on assignment for the United Nations assisting with the Syrian refugee crisis. He imported kosher meats monthly from France and quickly realized there were few direct-to-consumer options for the top 5 percent of the market.

“I didn’t want to be one of those people that spent their whole time thinking about something and never doing it and regretting it later,” said Moscowitz. “So, I’ve spent three years devoting my life to understanding this and building this platform.”

Prairie Street Prime has invested heavily in video production. Their digital library of cooking videos introduces new customers to the brand.

“We’re not only disrupting the kosher e-commerce platform space, but we’re also disrupting the kosher education space. And, I didn’t believe it would be a direct correlation to necessarily providing videos to sales, but we’re building a community, a global community.”

The company uploads new educational videos on kosher lifestyle every Sunday. It is also exploring a B2B model by collaborating with private chefs to showcase their talents on video.

Watch the Small Business Spotlight video above for more on this story.