A Brief History & Conversation with Owner Ronnie Bedway of Ronnie’s Meats
When folks think of Detroit’s historic Eastern Market, they often picture the market sheds bustling with customers searching for fresh produce, specialty food items, and artisan goods. Yet, the district extends beyond the sheds to many small businesses, restaurants, several produce wholesalers, and a meat market that has been serving Detroiters for nearly a century: Gratiot Central Meat Market.
Built in 1915, the historical food landmark lies just across the I-75 bridge, south of the Eastern Market sheds. Despite electrical fires in the late 1960s and 1990s, the market has been rebuilt and continued to operate, evolving with the needs of Detroiters. Today, you can find Gratiot Central full of meat retailers selling beef, pork, poultry, and lamb. Beyond meat, the market hosts a cheesemonger, prepared foods, seafood vendors, and a basic grocery mart with condiments, spices, and essentials.
Gratiot Central Meat Market is owned and operated by Tom and Ronnie Bedway, a father and son duo who also own Ronnie’s Meats and sublet the remaining vendor stalls to other food entrepreneurs. Ronnie’s grandfather, also named Ronnie, started the business in 1967 with his wife Rosemary. Ronnie shares that his grandfather had a “history of hustling” in a variety of jobs following his father’s death at the age of 12 years old to help provide for his mother and brother. He leveraged his experience as a meat cutter and knack for sales to fill a vacancy following the 1966 fire at Gratiot Central. Today, three generations of the Bedway family serve Detroiters. Tom assumed ownership in 1998 following the 1995 electrical fire. “It’s cliché,” says Ronnie, “but it’s the American dream.”
In 2013, Ronnie and Tom received a call from real estate colleagues who shared that Gratiot Central Market was for sale. It had been a long-time dream to acquire the building, and this time the deal was right. The Bedways purchased Gratiot Central Market.
Around this time, Ronnie was working in finance, first in Detroit and then in Chicago. “It was important to my parents for my siblings and I to receive an education and make a decision about what we wanted to do in life,” he says. He first considered changing career paths when Tom became sick and quarantined during the early stages of the pandemic. Ronnie returned home to help manage Ronnie’s Meats and the Gratiot Central Market for a few weeks during Tom’s recovery while maintaining his financial consulting job. From a young age, he “learned how hard his parents worked by working side by side them,” and that sacrifice stuck with him. The decision to return to the family business felt consistent with his upbringing and allowed the opportunity to continue his grandparent’s legacy and contribute to Detroit’s continued growth.
Ronnie shares that “the biggest thing you learn when you have a business is you can’t change everything you want to change at once. I’m never going to be satisfied. Things are always going to evolve.” As Ronnie and other businesses move into the next few years, they are navigating macro economic challenges that face our whole food system as well as staff shortages. As consumers, doing our best to support local businesses as they navigate these challenges is of utmost importance. So the next time you’re in the Eastern Market district, make sure to check out Gratiot Central Market and swing by Ronnie’s Meats, where you can find three generations of family committed to “quality, affordability, service, and community.”
Grace Gamble is the Operations Manager for Taste the Local Difference.