REENA ROSE SIBAYAN JOURNAL PHOTOMARK SARRAZIN, right, president of De Bragga & Spitler Inc., and co-owner George Faison, at the company's plant in Jersey City.Jersey City became home last week to what was formerly the largest meat purveyor in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, when DeBragga & Spitler opened a $2.5 million, 25,000-square-foot facility on Amity Street.
DeBragga, which has supplied meat and poultry to the restaurant and hospitality industries for nearly a century, in addition to operating an online retail presence, made the transition across the Hudson River quite smoothly, said co-owner George Faison.
“We were able to avoid quite a few pitfalls,” Faison told The Jersey Journal.
The brand-new plant opened for business on Oct. 2 at 10 p.m. in an industrial neighborhood a few blocks west of the Jersey City Medical Center. While it is the same size as DeBragga’s former home, it is laid out in a more efficient manner, said Faison, 55.
Faison spoke to The Jersey Journal by phone as he drove home at 1:30 p.m. after working an overnight shift at the plant, which employs about 50 people. He said when he realized he would have to move from Manhattan, where his plant had operated since the 1940s, he immediately knew where he wanted to relocate.
“I had my eye on Jersey City from day one,” he said, noting that he had previously operated a meatpacking plant on Tonnelle Avenue in the 1980s.
The company will receive a $500,000 loan through the city Economic Development Corporation’s Small Business Loan Program, a five-year loan at 5 percent interest, according to city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.
