Dr. Meats Retiring After 16 Years at Holiday Market

Frank Saverino, aka Dr. Meats, is retiring after 16 years as the meat and seafood director at Holiday Market. His last day is Saturday, March 8, one day before he celebrates his 66th birthday.

Saverino, a resident of Royal Oak for 34 years, has made a name for himself as the "Baron of the Barbeque" in Metro Detroit. 

There are two things you can count in any kind of weather, including a polar vortex, he said. The first is your letter carrier will deliver your mail and the second is there will be smoke coming out of Saverino’s backyard.

“If it's grill-worthy, it be on the barbecue," said Saverino. "Even in a hurricane."

He’s been in the meat business his entire life.  He started working for his father at Phil’s Qualtiy Meats in Detroit, which opened in 1940. In 1983, Saverino moved the business to Warren and later sold it when the time and price was right, he said.

“When Tom Violante, Sr. heard I was selling the business, he asked me, ‘What are you going to do?’ I told him I was too young to retire and he said, ‘you’re hired,” Saverino said. 

Saverino had three legitimate offers for employment and he chose Holiday Market.

“I started on Nov. 1 and went through my first major holiday season,” he said. “If you can survive a holiday season at Holiday Market, you can work anywhere.”

After that first Thanksgiving, Saverino pulled from his organizational skills to put together a business plan for his department, which he described as very complex. The philosophy is simple – quality, variety and service – but the way you get there can be quite complicated. For example, there are 18 sub-departments – everything from sausage to meat spices – and more than 113 different recipes in his repertoire.

“My philosophy is to give our customers reason to pass by two or three other major markets to come to us,” he said.

Over the years, while Saverino worked on having a good business plan, he was working on having a good retirement plan, too. Longevity is in his DNA. His father, Phil, is 98, and his mother, Aline, is 95, and are both are still living at home. 

“At 66, I see myself as having at least 20 more good years to rock and roll,” Saverino said. “And I will be rocking and rolling!” 

Saverino plans to spend retirement traveling with wife Donna, who works in the bakery department at Holiday Market. The Saverinos, who met in 1978 at a scuba diving class, are members of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association. 

“We plan to make two major trips per year,” he said. “We’re old people on motorcycles.”

Saverino is also looking forward to devoting more time to welding. He creates garden art and bottle trees. He also enjoys photography and, of course, cooking.  He has his own private label of custom spice blends. 

“I am not slowing down,” Saverino said. “You can quote me on that.”

Say 'goodbye' and 'hello'

You can stop by and say goodbye to Saverino on Saturday, his last day of work at Holiday Market. 

There will be plenty of opportunities around town to say “hello,” too.  You are sure to see him at the Royal Oak Farmers Market, he said, and he’ll be back at Holiday Market on special occasions to do demonstrations.