Casanova Meats plans $21M expansion in Hauppauge

Five generations of Joel Brodman’s family have sold meat — to consumers initially and then to restaurants and grocery stores — and he recently embarked on an expansion project that would increase his workforce by more than 25%.

Brodman joined the family business, now called Casanova Meats Inc., in the 1980s, eventually taking over from his father. Casanova's two retail stores were replaced by a wholesale distribution operation that supplies delis, small markets and more than 700 restaurants in the metropolitan area.

The company currently operates out of two buildings, totaling 27,000 square feet, at 422 Great East Neck Rd. in West Babylon.

Brodman, CEO and president, said demand for Casanova’s selection of beef, poultry, lamb, fish and pork — particularly by restaurants — has necessitated the $21 million plan to purchase and move to a 50,000-square-foot building at 430 Wireless Blvd. in Hauppauge.

“We’ve continued to grow, and we need more space,” he said, adding that the Hauppauge building has nine loading docks for delivery trucks, compared with 1½ in West Babylon.

Casanova Meats' Hauppauge expansion won the unanimous support of the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency’s board of directors in September. They awarded tax breaks totaling $563,000, including $395,400 off property taxes over 10 years, or a 27.5% savings.

Without the IDA's assistance, Brodman said, Casanova would have moved out of state, likely to central New Jersey, where taxes and wage rates are lower.

“The incentives help tremendously because there’s a big payout to buy the building,” he said last week, referring to the $19 million purchase price.

Brodman also said the larger building in Hauppauge will accommodate more than increased orders, which are projected to be about $20 million annually.

He expects to add 22 people to Casanova’s workforce of 82 by the end of 2026. The new jobs would pay between $47,500 and $64,750 per year, on average, according to the application for tax breaks.

Five generations in meat business

Casanova takes its name from the Brooklyn street where Brodman’s grandfather first opened a store in 1945. His great-grandfather had operated a slaughterhouse in Germany before the family was forced to flee the Nazis and the Holocaust.

Brodman’s sons, Hunter and Skyler, work at the company. 

“They aren’t looking for a handout; they saw the way that I worked, and they work hard,” said Joel Brodman, 62, about his sons. “It’s exciting. They are helping to bring us to another level as a business."

One of Brodman’s sons told the IDA board that moving to the Hauppauge building would provide more space for refrigeration and for meat cutting. “Nobody believes we do the business that we do out of the space we are in right now,” Hunter Brodman said in August.

He and his father said demand for oxtail is what led Casanova to drop its retail stores in favor of wholesale distribution.

“A guy came in and asked for oxtail and a kind of kidney fat that he used to make Jamaican patties for his restaurant,” Joel Brodman recalled. “We ended up supplying oxtail to a number of restaurants and supplying chicken and veal cutlets, sausage and chopped meat to others.”

He added, “With a larger building, we plan to have a larger cutting room so we can supply more customers.”

Kelly Murphy, the IDA’s CEO and executive director, said in an interview that Casanova is “turning down [orders] because they don’t have the space. This is the type of business that we want to help to grow in Suffolk County.”

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.