Ben Meat Market — Chinese Barbeque for all Generations
Alice and George manning the shop at night (PC: Fuxuan Xin)
From the name of this post, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing about a meat market on this blog. Well, I’m here to tell you that Ben Meat Market is so much more than just a market. In fact, it’s one of the oldest Chinese barbeque shops in town! Think Wah Fung No. 1 Fast Food, except older and very much under the radar. Ben Meat Market may not be a formal restaurant, but it’s a great place to grab a delicious, hearty bite for when you’re on the go. As you may know, I don’t eat meat very often, but hearing Alice, the store manager, talk about their customer-favorite roast duck made me drool.
I interviewed Alice last week for Welcome to Chinatown’s Business Spotlight series, and I’m super excited to share her story with all of you!
Alice opened the store with her husband, George, in 1995. For the past 25 years, Ben Meat Market has been serving juicy roast meat and supplying pantry staples to the Chinatown community from its storefront at 288 Grand Street. Read on to learn more about how the business has been faring during COVID and why Alice decided to apply to the Longevity Fund.
Tell us about your business and who you are! How long have you been open? What do you sell at your store?
Hi! My name is Alice, and I am the manager of Ben Meat Market. I started the business in 1995 with my husband, George. When we first opened, we named our store AA Meat Market. Around 2005, we renamed the store to George Meat Market after my husband’s name. Our eldest son, Benson, is the current owner, and we renamed the store once again to Ben Meat Market when he took over the business in 2018, after my husband decided to retire.
Ben Meat Market is a combination of a mini grocery store and a Chinese deli. We sell all sorts of things: from 25lb bags of rice to noodles, fruit, soda, flour, and everything in between. However, we are the most well-known for our meats, hence our name. We sell both raw and cooked meat, but most of our customers come for our barbequed meats that we roast ourselves in the basement of our store. Our best-seller is our Chinese roast duck. We also sell lunch sets consisting of barbequed meat and rice for around $5, which is $1 - $2 cheaper than most places around Chinatown.
George holding a juicy roast duck in 2003
A throwback of Alice standing in front of freshly baked buns
Could you tell us a little bit about your family and what inspired you to start your business?
My husband is from China, and I am from Hong Kong. My husband had been living in America for seven years before a mutual friend introduced us to each other. After that, my husband came to Hong Kong to meet me, and we were married there. After we married, we came to New York together and worked in the restaurant industry for about ten years. Over the years, we gained many new skills and ultimately decided to start our own business. We wanted to stay in the food industry because eating is essential and fundamental. It’s not like opening a clothing store where your customers’ spending is purely discretional. Everyone has to eat!
We decided to specialize in roast meats for two reasons: one, because there weren’t many places to buy good, authentic Chinese barbeque in Chinatown at the time and two, because the Chinese village that my father is from, Xinhui, is famous for its roast meat. In particular, Xinhui is famous for roast goose (if you don’t believe me, you can look up videos of Xinhui roast goose on YouTube!). However, since we’re not allowed to roast geese in the states, we decided to roast duck instead. Traditionally, you would roast the duck / goose over a fire using wood from lychee trees but, since that’s not allowed in the states, we had to adapt and learn how to roast meat using a gas fire.
The store bustling in 1998
Two of George and Alice’s children in the store
Who are your customers / what demographic do you cater to? Do most of your customers live in Chinatown, or do they come from other parts of the city?
The majority of our customers are Chinatown locals, though there are some people who come all the way from Brooklyn and Queens to get our roast meat. We also get a small number of restaurants that come to us for roast meat, since it’s not worth it for smaller restaurants to roast meat in-house.
We have customers who have been coming to us for a long time. I even recognize the children of some of the customers who used to come. Let me tell you a funny story: In 1995, there was a school nearby, and sometimes the teachers would bring all the kids to our meat market for lunch, since our lunch sets were only $1 - $2 at the time. As with all schools, there were some nice students and some naughty students. In particular, there was one student who was so naughty that I never forgot about him. Many years later, he came back to our store with his wife and a stroller and asked, “Do you remember me?” I laughed and said, “Of course, you were the naughty one!”
When COVID first hit NYC, what kinds of thoughts were running through your head?
I was very scared. I was scared because our business is our livelihood. I was also scared of getting the virus myself and putting my family in danger. I didn’t know how to protect my family because there were initially confusing messages about the masks, and the masks were very expensive. You had to walk very far to even find a box of masks.
Also, when the pandemic first hit, all 1,000 bags of rice that we had in stock were sold out. There were all kinds of supply chain issues, and we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to get enough inventory to satisfy our customers.
Alice hanging roast duck in the window display (PC: Fuxuan Xin)
How have you been faring with the impact of COVID? What are some things that you have been doing to stay open?
Before the pandemic, we were open seven days a week from 8:30am to 8:30pm. We never really took breaks because our inventory is perishable, and there is a certain window of time during which you need to roast meat before it goes bad. Now, we are operating with reduced hours and are only open from 9:30am to 6:30pm. This new pandemic schedule has been an adjustment for us, as we were so used to working all the time.
Luckily, we were able to continue operating throughout the pandemic because we are classified as a supermarket. However, we had to let go of all our workers, as we couldn’t afford to pay them anymore.
In terms of operations, not much else has changed. The main difference is that all our groceries are now sold at a lower price to ensure that our community can still enjoy delicious food despite the pandemic. As an ancient Chinese motto goes, “Many a little makes a mickle, like water dripping into a river.” We’d rather work more to make our customers happier. What we earn is not important; our customers’ happiness is the most important.
Due to the pandemic, the economy has become weaker than ever, and we were hit as well. Customers now prefer to shop online rather than visit stores in person. Like many other small businesses, our market struggled to stay open, and we had to reduce the variety of our offerings in order to stay alive. We also began selling ginseng products to try and attract more customers.
Ultimately, our meat market is very dependent on demand. The small restaurants that used to buy from us don’t come as often anymore, and there are fewer people who are willing to buy our meal sets and eat outside. We’re just trying to stay afloat and get all the business we can get.
How has Welcome to Chinatown helped your business? How are you planning on using the Longevity Fund grant?
The reason why we applied for the grant is because we didn’t want the store to close during my son’s generation. The store is our livelihood and our legacy.
We are planning on using the grant to help with our utility bills. Our biggest expense each month is electricity, which can be between $2,000 - $3,000 a month. Our gas bill is also very high. Our utility bills are so high because we’re a meat market, so we need to keep the electricity and gas running at all times in order to roast our meats. We are very grateful that this grant can help us with some of these expenses.
Current price list as of January 2021 (PC: Fuxuan Xin)
George smiling next to bags of rice (PC: Fuxuan Xin)
Any advice you would like to give to other small business owners trying to survive during COVID?
I have two pieces of advice: One, be patient. Two, persevere and don’t give up. It’s so easy to give up right now, since it seems like COVID is not going to end anytime soon. 2021 will probably be a difficult year as well. During these times, it’s more important than ever to show your customers that you’re there for them and that you can provide for them. That way, once this is all over, your customers will keep coming back. You need to build trust with your customers. As long as you are not starving to death, everything will be okay. Be optimistic that this too shall pass.
What has been your greatest accomplishment or proudest moment as a business owner? What has been your biggest challenge?
I’m proud that we are open every day and that we happily service our customers. In Chinese culture, it’s difficult to talk about what you’re the most proud of, but I can confidently say that we have good relationships with our customers. We’ve never been accused of cheating our customers. Our goal is always to do good, honest business.
Our biggest challenge is probably happening right now, during COVID. We’re struggling to stay afloat with reduced hours and fewer customers.
Alice and George bagging orders for customers (PC: Fuxuan Xin)
Any plans for the future? Both amidst and beyond the pandemic?
We would like to open a second store someday. We would probably do something similar because we would want to leverage our reputation and customer relationships.
My hope is that Ben Meat Market will still be around years from now to offer Chinese barbequed meat to future generations. Unfortunately, the demand for roast meat is starting to wane. In Chinese culture, the older generation would typically order a whole roast pig or some other animal (like duck or chicken) to celebrate holidays and special events. But that sort of culture and thinking is disappearing with the younger generation.
How can people support your business?
Come stop by if you can! We understand that people’s disposable incomes have gone down significantly due to the pandemic. Some customers used to come in and buy a whole pound of roast pork, but now they are only buying half a pound. However, if you are around the neighborhood and want to try some yummy roast meat, please stop by for a visit!
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Note: This interview was conducted in Cantonese with the help of a translator. Photos c/o Ben Meat Market and Fuxuan Xin.
Chinatown establishments like Ben Meat Market are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support — now more than ever before — to keep that spirit alive. Please consider making a donation to our small business relief fund, The Longevity Fund, or help us spread the word of what’s at stake. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and help say “Chinatown will always be open for business.”
The storefront during daytime