Starting in 1978, Frank Saverino began blending spices at his business, Phil's Quality Meats, one of Metro Detroit's most beloved neighborhood meat markets known for fresh meats, deli, catering and handmade specialties including sausage, corned beef, kabobs, even strawberry pies. 

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As with the other handmade specialties, Frank blended spices for himself and his customers to enhance the variety of meats and dishes sold from his butcher block and catering kitchen. As he puts it: "I always loved the flavor of good quality pepper in my food. The problem was that the more I added the hotter the dish became. So I sought out some dried bell peppers and milled them myself down to the smallest size possible and blended them with the black pepper. It was flavorful and seemed to give me the desired effect. From there, I created my own rendition of seasoned salt and my first steak seasoning."

 

As bottled spices began flying off the meat counter, Frank knew he had something special. Always a creative cook, Frank would scour cooking magazines for, in his words, "a good recipe written by some sleep-deprived chef" for insights into how renowned chefs were using spices in different ways. After enough recipe-chasing, Frank began to think "no way am I going to buy all those individual spices for this dish. I need to create a blend and make it my own."

 

When given the opportunity to direct the renowned meat and seafood departments of Metro Detroit's specialty grocer "Holiday Market" in 1998, Frank sold Phil's Market and created the Old World Spice co. For 20 years, Frank continued to create custom blends for specialty shoppers and professional chefs including rubs, marinades, seasonings, and brines.

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Even while half-retired.

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Frank's son, Jared, also enjoyed a career in specialty foods, butchery and cooking. After a decade of professional cooking and food management, Jared purchased the company to expand it into the firm that it is today. 

 

Qualia Specialty Provisions was born.

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Today, Qualia Provisions supplies spices, seasonings, cocoa and tea to customers nationwide while continuing the tradition of serving local grocers, butchers, caterers and their devoted customers for ages to come. Because some things never change. Community is forged whenever people come together to share stories and experience taste together. That is qualia.