16 FEBRUARY 8, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
BUSINESS
Ridgewood pork store adapts with changing demographics
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEOWODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
When Herbie Morscher’s
daughter and the Archbishop
Molloy High School
soft ball team were invited to compete
in a tournament in Italy, Morscher
traveled to Europe with her — but
couldn’t leave Ridgewood without one
of his pork store’s signature products.
The steak burgers, a favorite at
Morscher’s Pork Store on Catalpa
Avenue, were a special request from
his daughter. She begged him to bring
burgers to cook at the tournament, so
Morscher boarded the fl ight to Italy
with a cooler bag as his carry-on, fi lled
with 80 frozen patties.
The Morschers’ Italian hosts held
a party at the tournament with a ton
of incredible food, but as soon as
Morscher got his hands on a spatula
and a grill, the scent of his burgers
rose into the air, and Italians fl ocked
toward it, he said.
“Those burgers went like that!”
Morscher said with a snap of his fi nger
and a laugh.
With such enthusiasm for his products
and the ability to appeal to a variety
of demographics, it’s no surprise
that Morscher’s Pork Store has been
at the same location in the neighborhood
since 1955. The Morscher family
came to the United States from Europe
aft er World War II with “nothing in
their pockets, just the will to work,”
Morscher said.
His father’s cousin, Joseph Morscher,
fi rst opened the business on Onderdonk
and Greene Avenues before eventually
buying Arnot’s Pork store and renaming
it at the Catalpa Avenue location.
Morscher’s father Herbert helped his
cousin over the years and became an
offi cial partner in the business in 1981.
By 1983 they brought in a third partner,
Siegfried Strahl, who is the owner of the
building and still a partner to this day.
In the meantime, Herbie Morscher
was earning his degree in business
management at St. Francis College.
Aft er graduating, he took a job at John
F. Kennedy International Airport by
day, but his father always made him
come help out in the pork store when
he got home. When Joseph Morscher
was ready to retire in 1988, Herbie was
next in line to become a partner in the
family business.
“A lot of people told me not to go into
it,” Morscher said. “It was teetering, we
didn’t know which way the neighborhood
was going, there was a lot of bad
things happening around here, just
seeing drugs and the usual how a neighborhood
changes. But people have to eat,
they’re always going to be hungry.”
Morscher said it takes passion to be
successful when running a small business
like his, but fear was also a factor.
He would have nightmares of taking
over the business and then failing aft er
his family put in so much of their time,
he said. But every morning it drove him
to come into the shop and work harder.
Today, Morscher is the managing
partner along with Strahl and 17-year
employee Peter Kotarowski. On a block
that used to have as many as fi ve other
butchers years ago, Morscher’s Pork
Store is the last one standing.
The presence of Kotarowski, who was
made a partner fi ve years ago, signifi es
the greatest source of the pork store’s
longevity. The Polish native came to
Ridgewood as the neighborhood’s
population shift ed from being heavily
German to now Polish, Romanian, Yugoslavian,
Serbian, Croatian and more.
“Little by little, we make big success
because we try to make everybody happy,
with diff erent customers and diff erent
nationalities,” Kotarowski said.
Morscher’s has made slight changes
to its recipes to match the changing
tastes in the area, but their authenticity
appeals to everyone. Their meats
are smoked using a state-of-the-art
smoker that burns real cherry and
apple wood, and its digital interface
is so easy to program that they don’t
need a large staff in the back of the
house. In fact, Morscher’s only has
two employees other than the three
part-owners.
This allows them to spend a little extra
money on using all-natural casings
for their meats rather than collagen
casings. They also spend more to buy
prime choice cuts of meat, and nothing
less. Having a holistic approach also
allows the pork store to appeal to all
generations, and Morscher said he
respects the new-found appreciation
that younger generations have for
natural foods.
As with any small business,
Morscher’s has to battle with the
typical New York City struggles such
as rising utility bill costs and a lack of
parking. Since the business is so well
established, Morscher said that people
come from Connecticut, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and all parts of the city to
visit his store because they used to live
in Ridgewood.
“It kills me when a customer comes
from Long Island or Staten Island or
Brooklyn and they park here and then
they get a $150 ticket on top of my bill,”
Morscher said. “That hurts, that’s a
struggle.”
Yet, having the landlord as part-owner
of the business has been another
key to success. It not only allows them
to save money on rent, but it’s a huge
reason why Morscher’s Pork Store
has remained in its founding location.
Morscher said business is as good as
it’s ever been and it improves each and
every year.
To the man whose family started it
all, even aft er incorporating the tastes
of the world and taking his fl avors
across the world, Morscher said the
business is right where it belongs.
“People know you when you’re
walking around, it’s a good thing,
and Ridgewood was always known
for that,” Morscher said. “This is
the best neighborhood, believe
me, the best people are from this
neighborhood.”
Photos by Ryan Kelley/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
