CBS 2 Morning Insider Lauren Victory takes you inside the plant that’s working for Chicago by grilling up a solution.
Sales were sizzling, dare we say caliente, at Purely Meat Company, a proudly minority-owned and female-run by Maribel Moreno-Musillami. Her business carved a name for itself as a wholesaler of top-quality protein.
“We were distributing to a lot of restaurants here in Chicago, and other restaurants throughout the whole United States,” she said.
But then all that hacking came to a halt.
“After everything that happened with COVID … basically our business went down 75 percent,” she said.
They weighed their options, thinking about the family roots of Maribel’s husband inside a butcher shop in Little Italy.
“After we got done cleaning, my dad would be like, ‘Oh, by the way, Friday night, go make a delivery at someone’s home,’” Joe Musillami said.
Steakhouse meat direct to doorsteps; the idea only had to marinate for 48 hours.
“Kids may want hot dogs, burgers. Do we do sliders for the kids? What do we do? So, just, the brain doesn’t stop,” Maribel said.
Now it’s people at home producing saliva-inducing videos of Purely Meat, providing enough business to stay afloat.
“A lot of the people that we did furlough, we have now brought back,” Maribel said.
It’s a success that needs to be carefully protected from the virus; from shoe sanitation to a fever check for employees.
“Being a USDA facility, a lot of these procedures have been in place; meaning the way you clean with the right chemicals,” Joe said.
Now anyone entering the building needs to wear a multi-part uniform, even if it’s just for a peek inside the plant. Employees work one per station instead of three, and rotate their breaks to maintain social distancing.
“Everybody has to adjust, but happy to have a job,” Maribel said.
“I think he’d be really proud of Maribel,” Joe said, channeling his late father. “I think he’d be proud of all the people who work at Purely, because that was what he was about.”
Pivoting operations to stay a cut above the rest, Purely Meat’s precautions seem to be working.
Management said they’re not aware of any COVID cases in the plant.
Meantime, their restaurant supply business is slowly picking back up as other states re-open. They are likely to continue home delivery after life gets back to normal.
