Mantua – Stepping inside the K & K Meat Shoppe, you’re engulfed in the aroma of smoked sausages and if you’re lucky, the succulent scent of wonder-roast rotisserie chicken. This family owned and operated shop on Main Street in Mantua provides quality meats, a full service deli, and an assortment of sandwiches and soups.
“Our shop has a wood-burning smokehouse where we make our own smoked sausage,” Denny ‘Pops’ Kolar shared. They use family recipes that have been handed down through generations to make items such as Hurka, a Hungarian rice-ring sausage, smoked Polish kielbasa, Hungarian kolbaz, and Slovenian sausage; they also make a variety of fresh Polish, Hungarian, Italian and breakfast sausages.
“Our shop has a wood-burning smokehouse where we make our own smoked sausage”
Pops Kolar
With its roots spanning back to the 1950’s, K & K began when Yaro Kolar and his sons Jerry and Dennis started a business supplying fine meats and sausage products in Cleveland. Later, Dennis branched out to establish the K&K Meat Shoppe in Maple Heights. In 2001, due to customer requests and the availability of an appropriate storefront, Dennis Senior and his son Dennis Junior opened the location in Mantua.
“People enjoy the friendly service they experience at our old-time, family store,” explained Kolar. “They know they’ll be asked ‘How’s your day going’ and ‘How’s your family’ because we know them.” “Also, the meat is better,” added Gina Hoyack. “And we’re fortunate that people keep coming back,” she shared. The shop closed briefly in 2013, but re-opened less than 9 months later. They continue to provide the quality foods and service they’ve been know for, and business has been booming ever since. The only main change in recent times is their ability to take pre-orders and online payments through their website or on their app.
[..] this unassuming little hometown shop has been in the top 10 Best Butcher Shops for the last few years on the Fox8 Cleveland Hot List.
“We’ve been a fixture in this neighborhood for a long time,” Kolar shared. In fact, this unassuming little hometown shop has been in the top 10 Best Butcher Shops for the last few years on the Fox8 Cleveland Hot List. “This shows our following,” Kolar explained. “People went out of their way to offer reviews and feedback on our services.
Although they embrace technology to make the experience more convenient for customers, K & K is still a traditional butcher shop, offering poultry and a wide variety of cuts of pork and beef, all cut in-house. In addition, they have a full service deli stocked with deli meats, cheeses, and salads. K & K also offers catering. They use the freshest ingredients to craft made-to-order sandwiches throughout the day. In addition they offer a variety of hot lunch specials that change daily and weekly dinner specials, which are served on Thursdays. To see the latest offerings, visit their Facebook page or give them a call for the daily special. They also stock a selection of produce, frozen foods, breads, and other grocery items and offer homemade pepperoni bread, cookies, pies and kolachki pastries, and homemade Italian bread, as well, helping residents shop locally. “We’ve always had grocery items, but offer a larger selection of local produce in the summer months,”Hoyack explained.
During the weekdays, laborers come in in for lunch from local businesses; busy families come in later to pick up quick dinner options. On Thursdays, senior citizens and everyone who enjoys a home-cooked meal come in to pick up the weekly special of prepared food like roasted chicken with stuffing or pot roast with celery and carrots. For now, prepared dinners are only served from 3-6 pm (or until sold out) on Thursdays. “We hope to offer prepared foods more frequently during the week in the New Year,” Kolar shared. During the weekends the shop is filled with local shoppers, home grillers and smoker aficionados who visit the shop for advice on which cuts will be best for their budgets, recipes, and culinary expressions. “Stop in and see us,” Kolar urged. “You won’t be disappointed!”
Visit kkmeatshoppe.com or on Facebook at K&K Meat Shoppe to place your online order; you can also download their app on Android or iPhone, or simply call (330) 274-5322.
