Cleveland Heights butcher gets holiday sales boost. Have consumers turned a corner?

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (WOIO) - Brisket, tenderloin, and especially prepared foods are flying out the door this holiday season at Mister Brisket in Cleveland Heights.

“Crazy,” said owner Hank Kornblut. “Whatever’s going on, people still have money and they still want to spend money.”

Mister Brisket has come a long way in two years, since the holidays of 2020 when COVID called for smaller gatherings and bigger uncertainty.

“People were saying I need a tenderloin instead of buying three,” he remembered.

Hanukkah and Christmas overlapping also has his business cooking.

“The combination of the two has created for a sort of a perfect storm of brisket cooking, slicing, panning,” Kornblut said with his mind on another perfect storm.

“The other variable that’s impacting my business and many others right now is the fear of this storm hitting this Friday. We’re going to try to get our delivers out sooner this year as a result,” he said.

It’s still a blizzard of sales with light on the horizon for 2023.

“I think people are comfortable spending money,” said Korblut. “Whatever’s going on, people are comfortable spending money.”

Kornblut has worked at Mister Brisket since 1985 after his stepfather, Sanford Herskovitz, opened the doors on South Taylor and Cedar in 1976.

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