1471 W Commerce CT Tucson, Arizona, 85746-6016 United States
Company Details
About Merit Foods of Arizona
For 3 generations, our family owned + operated business has greatly evolved in its history to become the Merit Foods that you know and love today.
The Sadowsky family has been providing food to the community since the 1960Â’s, when Irving Sadowsky began raising chicken and eggs to sell off Miracle Mile. Irving named his business Ace Poultry, named for the man who loaned him the money to get the business started. Soon, Irving was doing so well that he enlisted the help of his son, Mort, who was selling typewriters from the Empire State Building at the time.
After Irving passed, Mort sold Ace Poultry and tried his hand at other professions, including selling beauty supplies—a business in which his baldness was a bit of a liability, Mort likes to joke. In the end, he decided to return to his roots and team up with Merit Marketing, a company that specialized in smoked salmon. Only two weeks after Mort signed a partnership contract, Merit Marketing’s owner passed away. Thus Mort was thrown back in the food business—and in full charge!
Slowly diversifying from chicken, eggs, and ?sh, Mort grew Merit until it now stocks some 5,000 items. His youngest son, Matt Sadowsky, bought the business in 1998 and is now President, with his older brother Mike holding up the sales end. Mort still comes in every weekday, however, to buy eggs and chickens—which remain steroid and antibiotic free–for the company.
Of the diverse provisions for which Merit Foods is now known, perhaps our meat stands out the most. Restaurants can order custom cuts of beef, pork and chicken up to midnight of the day before theyÂ’re needed and get delivery the next day! Our butchers come in at 2am and work through the morning, creating everything from ground beef with a speci?ed fat content to an 1855 Black Angus rib eye. Merit is the only supplier in Arizona for 1855 beef, named for the year that the Swift company, its producer, was founded.
Since the days when it was Ace Poultry, Merit has been tailoring the “wishbone cut”— small, easy-to-bread pieces–for Lucky Wishbone, Tucson’s ?rst fast food restaurant. Merit also special orders exotic fare for Jonathan’s Cork, known for serving the likes of ostrich, alligator, and bison. Establishments ranging from BK Carne Asada, Luke’s Italian Beef, Brush?re BBQ to McMahon’s Prime Steakhouse and PY Steakhouse at Casino del Sol feature Merit’s meat on their menus.
And those are just a few carnivore-centric spots. ItÂ’s no surprise that a place with a history of smoked salmon should also cater to seafood-oriented restaurants such as Mariscos Chihuahua and King?sher. Indeed, the list of places to which Merit provides its wide range of products crosses all culinary, cultural, budgetary, and stylistic boundaries: Sandwich shops like Eegees and Bison Witches; Italian dining rooms including Tavolino and Vivace; ethnic restaurants like Don PedroÂ’s Peruvian, Shish Kabob House, and FronimoÂ’s Greek Cafe; chic bistros such as Feast and Downtown Kitchen + CocktailsÂ… the list goes on and on. But donÂ’t let our famous meat supply fool you, we offer plenty of great produce and groceries as well!
As a member of both the Tucson Originals and Local First Arizona, headquartered in Phoenix, the Sadowsky family understands that keeping the money within the state bene?ts everyone. We not only sell at reasonable prices to Arizona businesses, but also buy and distribute local products as often as possible. And if a products is not selling well? We donate it to the Tucson Food Bank. The bottom line is that the bottom line isnÂ’t everything: we need to make a pro?t, but we donÂ’t gouge anyone. In the end, weÂ’re just a local business supporting local businesses.
Our Merit Family Mission.
Merit Foods aims to be the best local independent broad-line Food Distribution Company serving Arizona. As an alternative to the large national broad-line distributors, we aim to go the extra mile for our customers and enhance your business through strong partnerships, personal sales to customer relations, complimentary marketing and consulting services, and competitive pricing resulting in mutual growth.
