About Us

It started in 1960, when the teenaged Sy started working at Lou’s Delicatessen in Detroit. By 1968, he had opened his own Detroit eatery, Mister Deli. That success pushed him to follow the populace to the suburbs, where he started another iconic restaurant - Pickle Barrel Deli.

But Sy was restless and discouraged that no commercial meat brands available at the time offered the authentic flavors and quality he remembered from his youth. He also thought the old-world deli traditions - including sandwiches piled high with corned beef, pastrami, brisket, and turkey - were dying.

So, in 1981, Sy decided to follow the old saying “if you want something done right, do it yourself”. Leaving the restaurant business behind, he began curing meat in the back room of a butcher shop in Pontiac, Michigan. The Sy Ginsberg’s brand of deli meats was born.