When Paul Redlinski opened his meat business inside the Broadway Market in 1947, he could hardly realize that he had established what would turn out to be one of the culinary icons of the Buffalo area for over 75 years. While the flagship store would remain a fixture at the Broadway Market for decades, over the years, additional locations in Cheektowaga and Elma would expand the business into the suburbs and outlying areas, while a relationship with the Wegmans supermarket chain further enhanced regional presence. At the peak of their business, Paul Redlinski and Sons boasted three different locations in the Buffalo area, along with their separate production plant. Plus, in the 21st century, an online identity would also allow the company to ship their meats, along with other Western New York food staples, across the country.

Like so many immigrant stories around Western New York and the rest of the country, the Redlinski story stems from very humble beginnings. The year was 1907 when a 44-year-old Pole named Adam Redlinski left his native land to emigrate to the United States, hoping—like so many others—to make a better life. Behind in Poland, he left Aniela, his wife of 24 years, along with the couple’s six children: Peter, Alexander, Leopolda, Stanley, Paul and Anna.

Arriving in Buffalo, Adam was able to find work at Jacob Dold’s packing plant, which occupied the block at the southwest corner of William Street and Fillmore Avenue. Dold had gone into the butchering business in 1860 with a small packing plant on Abbott Road. He soon opened an operation at the Elk Street Market and, after only a dozen years, had established his operation on William. Once employed in his adopted country, Adam Redlinski was able to save some money and, by 1913, was ready for his family to join him.

Paul Redlinski Sr., Adam and Amiela’s youngest son, was 13 years old when the family arrived in Buffalo and settled into a house on Miller Avenue. Three years later, he landed a job as an electrician. In 1921, Paul married Martha Nowak, to whom he had first been attracted while riding the streetcar to and from work. Martha’s father had founded Nowak Meats inside the Broadway Market. Despite having only a partial grade school education, Paul went into the electrical business for himself shortly thereafter. He opened Strand Electric at 1796 Clinton Street in Buffalo’s Kaisertown neighborhood and the couple started a family.

For the next 11 years, Strand Electric did well. Paul sold small appliances out of the first-floor shop, as well as repairing them, while the family—which, by 1929, included four sons: Emil, Daniel, Leonard and Paul Jr.—lived upstairs. He also did electrical wiring for new and existing homes. Then came the Great Depression and, like

Fortunately, Paul Sr. was able to find employment under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of several economic relief programs of President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal.” Earning $16.00 a week, by 1933, he was able to save enough to purchase a farm in Elma. The farm was located on Bowen Road, near the intersection with Jamison Road, and apparently needed a lot of work. Having worked as an electrician, Paul had no farming experience whatsoever, but he and his family went to work. The family raised turkeys and named the new establishment the Highland Turkey Ranch. Tilling the farmland with a horse-operated plow, they soon added dairy cows to the ranch, which had to be milked twice a day.

In order to make ends meet, Paul Sr. continued his WPA employment, taking other odd jobs as well, which left much of the farm work to the boys. Despite attending School #6 just up the road, maintaining a farm was a seven-day-a-week job. Son Leonard would later recall this period as “the worst 13 years of my life.” A foreshadowing of things to come occurred in the early 1940s, however, when Leonard went to work in the meat business with his uncle Andy Pietrasek. He would eventually work for the Nowak and Stachowiak meat stands in the Broadway Market as well. The meat market training would serve Leonard well during his two-year enlistment in the Navy (1945-47), and he was able to serve as a meat cutter aboard his ship.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, there were other difficulties. In 1946, Daniel—Paul and Martha’s second son—was drafted into the Army, creating a family labor shortage. Then the well ran dry, which was thought to be the result of dynamite blasting for the railroad viaduct being constructed just over half a mile east down Jamison Road. Without a well, in order to water the cattle and care for themselves, the family was forced to transport milk cans nearly two miles up Bowen Road, twice a day, to be filled at an artesian well. Such a routine was just too much, and so Paul Sr. made the difficult decision to sell the farm, moving the family to a home he purchased at 23 Roanoke Parkway in South Buffalo.

By 1947, sons Daniel and Leonard returned from the military, with Leonard returning to the meat business in the Broadway Market. At that time, there were over 30 butchers located in the market and it was clear to Leonard that, compared to the meager life on the farm, business was good for the market’s butchers. Perhaps he could convince his father to start his own business—for a third time.

It wasn’t long before an opportunity came to find out. A stand went up for sale at the market—but the purchase price was a hefty (in 1947 dollars) $23,000! That amount didn’t include the ongoing monthly rent payments that would be required to keep the space. Where were Paul and Martha going to come up with that kind of money? There was only one answer—their new house. To raise the purchase price for the stand, the couple sold their house, then entered into an agreement to rent it back from the buyer.

Thus, on December 4, 1947, the Broadway Market’s stand number 23 re-opened under new management and “Paul Redlinski & Sons, Choice Meats” was born. But aside from Leonard’s butchering experience, none of the family had the faintest idea of how to run a meat business. “When he first came behind the counter he didn’t even know the difference between a pork chop and a veal chop, Leonard Redlinski recalled of his father. “None of us were smart about the meat business, but we kept learning as we went along.”

While subject-specific knowledge may have been lacking, a solid work ethic was not. Compared to the back-breaking toil of life on the farm, the meat business was a breeze to Leonard’s brother Daniel. But it wasn’t just about “the boys.” One of the keys to the family’s early success was Martha’s family recipe for the now-famous Redlinski kielbasa. It is said that, at first, Martha even came down to the market to teach the guys how the sausage was made.

Thanks to the family’s hard work and Martha’s kielbasa recipe, the business proved a success, and soon they purchased stand 28 at the market. The new stand was across the aisle from number 23 in what was then the “old” market. Then, in 1956, when the new market opened following renovations, the family added a third stand, now occupying numbers 36-38-40 in the new arrangement.

The esteem in which Paul Redlinski & Sons was being held in Buffalo—and Paul Sr., specifically—was evidenced by his being invited to join other dignitaries on the reviewing stand for the city’s 1962 Pulaski Day parade. The parade was held on October 14, with the large reviewing stand located in front of Buffalo City Hall. What was more, the guest speaker for the occasion was none other than President John F. Kennedy. Sitting only feet away as the president made his remarks, Paul Sr. was later able to shake hands with the chief executive. Some years later, in 1977, Paul Sr. received another Pulaski Day honor—that of serving as the parade’s grand marshal, along with Lieutenant Governor Mary Anne Krupsak, who served as honorary grand marshal.

In the mid-1960s, business was good. In addition to Martha’s kielbasa recipe, Redlinski’s also offered cuts of beef, pork, veal and chicken. But if the business was to continue to grow, expansion was necessary. In 1965, Paul Sr. purchased a former chicken slaughtering structure at 19 Sienkiewicz Street, directly across from the market, that had been known as Chicken Town Farms. This building would be converted to a production facility.

By April 1966, the “Sausage Kitchen,” as it was called, was open and ready to meet the demands of Redlinski & Sons’ growing customer base. Now freed from the confines of the small room at the market, the business was able to produce its own variety of sausages and meats. In addition to their kielbasa, in both fresh and smoked varieties, the Sausage Kitchen would now turn out varieties of bologna (ring and link), along with hot dogs, ham and pork sausage, Italian sausage, kiszka, kabanosa, head cheese (both sweet and sour) and krakowska, among other offerings.

Yet as the family business grew, its home—the Broadway Market—was experiencing difficulties, including pressure from outside buyers to sell the market. In 1962 and 1969, Paul Sr. led the opposition to an outside sale, helping to organize the Broadway Market Merchants Association. The BMMA was organized as a corporation with the stall holders acting as stockholders. These efforts resulted in the 1969 signing of a five-year renewable lease with the city, with the cooperation of Mayor Frank Sedita. In 1976, son Leonard became vice president of the association and Daniel served on the board. Positive relations with the mayor’s office continued during the mid-1970s. Paul Sr. and Mayor Stan Makowski became close friends and it was not unusual to see the mayor making stops at the market on a regular basis to say “hello.”

The company’s next round of expansion would take it beyond a small section of Buffalo’s East Side. In 1982, the family opened their second location on Walden Ave, with a third retail location appearing early the following decade in Elma. Fittingly, this location, which opened in 1994, was located in the Elma Plaza on Bowen Road, just about two miles north of the former Highland Turkey Ranch. A 21st century expansion would take the business far beyond the borders of Western New York. BuffaloFoods.com, an online incarnation of the company, offered not only Redlinski kielbasa, but other Western New York favorites like Bison chip dip, Weber's mustard and sponge candy to customers around the world. In addition, beyond stores and websites directly under the Redlinski banner, hungry customers could also pick up their kielbasa at regional Wegman’s supermarkets.

As with any family business, as time rolls on and the original owner of the business ages, other family members step up to take on leadership roles. The Redlinskis have been able to keep the business within the family, but many changes have occurred over the years to enable that to happen.

The first leadership change occurred in the late 1970s, when Paul Sr. made the decision to retire. In his place, son Daniel became the company president and oversaw the Sausage Kitchen operations. Leonard became the vice president and focused on fresh meats, while a third brother, Paul Jr., would act as secretary/treasurer while overseeing the cold cuts division. About a decade later, in 1989, the three “boys” all retired, leaving the family business to Leonard’s two sons, Mike and Ron, along with their cousin, and Paul Jr.’s son, Mark. Twenty five years later, Mike and Ron retired, selling their shares of the business to Mark in early 2014. Later that year, Mark partnered with Mike’s son Joe, shortly before retiring himself, leaving Joe as the fourth generation and current proprietor of Redlinski Meats.

Just after the turn of the century, the family decided that it was no longer feasible to run their flagship stand inside the Broadway Market and so, after 55 years at the market, the location closed in 2002. Not long after that, the store in Elma closed as well, which left the 1585 Walden Avenue location as the only physical store open to the public, though BuffaloFoods.com still provided online service.

In March 2020, the restrictions and lock-downs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic spelled the end of BuffaloFoods.com, since shipping out of state was then banned. Along with demise of their online operation, Redlinski Meats could no longer sell to Wegmans due to federal guidelines. Yet just as during the Great Depression, the family found a way to survive, as Joe offered phone-in orders with curbside pickup—a service that is still in operation today.

Today, Redlinski Meats is alive and well—still serving their famous kielbasa from their Walden Avenue store, as well as many, many other items. In fact, Joe has just introduced a new “Firecracker” Polish sausage, made with jalapeno peppers. The store has also developed their own take on the Bills Mafia phenomenon, having created special tees and sweatshirts featuring the Redlinski family coat of arms. So, the next time you are in the mood for kielbasa or other meats, consider stopping by the Walden store for some great taste, plus a rich history from a family that has overcome a century of obstacles to survive and thrive.

Gary Cobb has lived in Western New York all his life and has worked in the meat business for almost 40 years.  He runs the Buffalo Destroyers Museum and has written over a dozen short stories for several magazines.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Redlinski family for enabling us to tell their story.