Lifelong Connecticut resident Paul Lattarulo has worked full time at his family-owned and operated Newington Meat Center since he was 15 years old and after this year, he said he plans to close up shop.
Lattarulo, 61, has been looking to sell the business, located at 847 Main St., through a real estate agent. He said the hope is for someone to take over the meat center that has been in his family for 61 years and noted that there are multiple parties interested in the property.
“It’s kind of up in the air and I wish someone would take it,” Lattarulo said. “I’ve worked here 45 years, 70 hours a week. That’s enough.”
Lattarulo’s father Vito and partner William Calvo opened the meat center in 1964, and Vito Lattarulo became the sole owner in 1975 until he died in 2011, a week before he turned 70.
Paul Lattarulo, who grew up in Newington and now lives in South Windsor, said he and his dad had a working relationship during work hours, but as soon as the workday ended, they were father/son again. After working a full day together, they would still spend time together hunting or fishing.
Paul Lattarulo fully took over the business in 2008.
“I was practically born here,” Lattarulo said with a laugh. “I tell the customers I was born on the back counter. … It’s really hard to let this place go.”
Paul Lattarulo is a 1983 Newington High School grad and was an offensive lineman on the football team and said he was a part of two state championship teams in 1979 and 1980. Lattarulo said he had offers to play college football but opted to continue to work in the family business.
Lattarulo noted that his father was involved in the Newington High football team booster club and would sponsor a breakfasts or dinners for the team and that giving tradition continued throughout the years with Newington youth sports.
His mother Yolanda, known as Lola at the store, also worked at the meat center. Paul Lattarulo has two children, Nicholas and Nicole, who works at the store.
“This was my father’s whole life. Newington Meat was his everything. He was here until the day he died,” Paul Lattarulo said. “This was his life. I love this place, but this was a place for me to make a life. This was his life and his deal. I told him my life is in a race car, and this is my work.”
On the weekends in the summer, Paul Lattarulo is involved in competitive drag racing.
Paul Lattarulo said the heyday for the meat center was in the 1960’s.
“We were the only show in town,” Lattarulo said. “We would have people come not only from Newington, but from Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, Cromwell, East Hartford and New Britain. We were it back in the day.
“There were more meat eaters back then. People don’t eat meat like that anymore, but we diversified, offering catering and wholesale,” Lattarulo said. The Newington Meat Center also provided sausages and ground beef for Domino’s Pizza shops in Connecticut for many years.
This is the third location the business has occupied, and the meat center has been at the current spot for about 30 years.
Paul Lattarulo’s brother Greg owns The Butchery in East Windsor, and he is also planning on retiring at the end of the year. The two discussed the idea of combining together.
“We have ideas, and we might merge together and kick back and work together like an all-star team,” Paul Lattarulo said. “It’s too much for one of us. It gets up to 100 hours during the holidays, and I literally sleep at the shop. I told my wife, ‘I’m not doing it again next year.’”
Paul Lattarulo said he only employs a few people and many of his old-time employees have passed away.
In addition to offering steaks, pork chops, kabobs, bacon, beef jerky and kielbasas, the shop makes products like lasagnas, meatloaf, stuffed bell peppers, stuffed cherry peppers from scratch. Deli sandwiches are also available.
“People don’t want to cook anymore. People want stuff prepared and don’t want to make an extra stop. They come here for different occasions for that original flavor,” Paul Lattarulo said.
In the early days of the shop, the meat center really catered to the European populations, especially Polish and German nationalities. Paul Lattarulo said now the requests are all over the map.
Paul Lattarulo said the business never recovered from COVID because of the initial restrictions and eventually forcing prices to go up. He also mentioned that the rise in minimum wage has hurt his business.
“I can’t hire anyone now,” Paul Lattarulo said. “I used to hire high school kids to take out the garbage or hang signs and I used to be able to pay them $8 an hour. Now I have to pay them almost $20 an hour. That’s a game-changer right there. I don’t hire these kids anymore. As a business owner, I’m taking on these extra tasks and I’m tired and I’m beat up. All of that has changed for the small businessman. Working at jobs like this are part time, they are not prevailing jobs. This is not the wage you live on.
“They think we are rich, but the only reason I am making a decent wage is because I’m working 70 hours,” he added. “I’m going to be closing here by the end of the year, and I hope someone takes it on and people are looking at it. The real estate agent is speaking with a few other businesses that are interested.”
Thomas Bishop, 71, of Middletown, met Vito and Paul Lattarulo for 40 years and became “fast friends.” Bishop has been a customer at the store for decades and has worked at the shop on and off over the years.
“It’s a unique store and I like to think of it as my own at times because I promote it that way,” Bishop said. “But if there is something you are looking for or something to make involving meat, Paul can find what you are looking for.”
Bishop recently put in a shift at the market and helped a customer get five pounds of pork belly for her to make chili.
“You are not going to get that at a grocery store,” Bishop said. “You aren’t going to get freshly ground beef, and it’s something Paul does every day. He works his butt off. Everything is fresh. That is the key. It’s a nice little niche. It’s a shame more people don’t go in there.”
Bishop said chicken salad, coleslaw, potato salad and everything is made fresh.
“People are going to miss it, especially around the holidays,” Bishop said. “We make a lot of specialty sausages like corv, a Swedish sausage, and Lithuanian sausage. Paul has his own smokehouse to make his own kielbasas and Italian sausage.”
“It was a great place to work and it’s going to be missed in Newington. Now I don’t have a preferred place to buy my meat products the way things are made there, the freshness and quality. It costs a little more, but you get what you pay for. If you want a great steak, come see us and we will get you a great steak,” Bishop said.