“Everything we do here is for my family,” says Omer Greenberg, Premier Meat Company Chief Executive Officer. “When I come to work every day, and I start early in the morning, my work doesn’t end. We’re open 24 hours a day, six days a week.” Premier Meats, located in Vernon, CA has been in business for 30 years. Omer explains the business was started by his father and handed down to Greenberg about four years ago.
“It started as a very small company, there were about six to eight people working here,” comments Harry Greenberg, Premier Meat Company Founder. Harry further explains that he grew the business and eventually passed the business on to his son. “He’s intelligent and bright, and a hardworking person like I am.”
Omer explains Premier Meats is a further processor. “We buy whole loins from the manufacturers, and we process them down to the individual steaks.” He continues with, “Whether it be chicken, fish, lamb, veal, or any other proteins, we break it down specifically to the chef’s request and requirements, and that’s how we sell it.”
“Coming into a family business was a little different,” says LeeAnn Candelaria, Premier Meats Controller. She continues with, “I liked it, it was comforting.”
Harry explains, “We’re always confident that the family is always there for each other.” He continues with, “If we have any issues, we are going to come together.” He describes an example of when the pandemic hit, they lost over 90% of business in one night and began having issues with their bank at the time. “We decided as a family to contribute money from our savings to inject into the business.”
“From what I’ve heard, there were a lot of sleepless nights,” says James Nath, Senior Vice President and Relationship Manager at First Bank. He continues to explain they had a lot of inventory on hand that they couldn’t ship out or deliver because all of the restaurants closed overnight.
“That first part of 2020 was very challenging for us with our banking relationship at that time,” describes Candelaria. Omer says, “The bank that we were working with, we didn’t see eye to eye, and they weren’t able to provide what we needed for the future to continue growing the company.” “Because we’ve been through two bank changes, we were looking for that long-term relationship,” says Candelaria.
“First Bank, the first time that I had a meeting with them, after sitting a week with all different banks which was not easy, they came in with no proposal in their hand, no suits or ties, and they were just themselves,” says Omer.
Omer continues, “There’s different loans that I’m able to take from the bank to continue growing my operations with new machinery, financing, paying off government loans that we had to use during COVID, and financing our buildings in a way that makes more sense.”
“For them, I think really finding a bank that understood the differences of what could possibly happen during a pandemic and the hiccups of a relationship dealing with banks was important,” says Nath.
“Now, I can relax and enjoy my life,” says Harry. “I did it by myself, and now they’re doing it and I can’t be more than happy.”