Cosmi's Meat Market was established in 1932 by Cosimo Quattron. cosmi, (as he was called in the states) was a native of Reggae Calabria, Italy. He came to New York via Ellis Island in 1928. He was a stone mason by trade, who took on many jobs including concrete wrk, mason, and construction in New York City before settling in South Philadelphia in 1932. This is where he opened his dream. Cosmi's Supermarket & Gracery store at 1501 S. 8th Street. Cosmi's ncluded 4 large aisles of groceries, a full service deli, and a full service butcher department. Thsi was very unique to the common "Mom & Pop Store" in Philly. It was basically a "Mom & Pop Supermarket" before there were any large chain supermarkets. It didn't take long for Cosmi and his wife pauline to gain popularity in the neighborhood. They were famous for their homemade sausage and homemade "Virginia Baked Ham" People would stop in from all over the area to purchase them. Often Pauline would be cooling sausage and along with her famous fried meatballs while at work and handing them off to their loyal customers as well as her employees, Cosmi's always maintained a stong South Philadelphia following probably due to being a family-oriented business. the staff included all family members which includes Cosmi, wife Pauline, Demetrio (Brother to Cosmi), Katherine & Mary (sisters to Pauline), Danny (brother to pauline), etc....

The staffalso reached different generations, Joseph (son to katherine) and Leon (son to Mary). Leon was not an ordinary child. He started working at the ripe old old of 5 years old. He would often come with his mother Mary after school to do more and More for a young boy of his years. He would sweep, mop, unload boxes, stock shelves, cut meats and he woul even clean the fat buckets which included all the trimmings from the meats and poultry. Even as he grew older and got into sports whre he excelled, he still found time to work full time around his sports and school while other kids watched TV and played with friends. Cosmi and Pauline considered Leon a son. So much so that in 1976 they passed down the legacy of Cosmi's successfully. He married Trish and started a family of his own, 3 boys, Michael & twins Nicholas & Charles.

As times were changing rapidly in the 70's and 80's with women working more often, Cosmi's was changing with the times as well. Poeple now did more one stop shopping at the now emerging chain stores. We were now selling less rolls, lunchmeat & produce in the deli. Workers were now coming in on their Lunch breaks and asking us to slice meats, cheese and cut their rolls for them. Then they would ask us to slice"this tomato" and put it on the roll. The short of it was now Cosmi's was making hoagies, we would make about 20 to 25 per day and we thought that was a lot. Each year the Hoagie business would increase constantly when the news spread of how good our sandwiches were. Everyone, for years knew how good our lunchmeat was, now they were nuts about our hoagies.

In 1999 Cosmi won our most prestigious (at the time) award of being named "The Best Hoagie of Philly". The article put Cosmi's on the map. Cosmi's was no longer a "hidden treasure'. We were now gaining known recognition. Cosmi's got so busy that we had to hire 4 addtional people to take the lunch crowds.

Unfortunatly in 2000 Cosmi's had a fire. A fire that closed us down for 9 months. Instead of building in the same format, Lean decided to put in a full stainless steel kitchen with deep fryers, grills, chargrills, steam tables, hood, etc..... Cosmi's farmed out the groceries which had been a dying business anyway, and chose to expand on it's sanwiches, deli, and preparred foods. Cosmi's is also a full caterer today. In 2004 Cosmi's topped the charts by winning "Best Cheesesteak of Philly Magazine". With Cheesesteaks being a "staple" in Philadelphia culture. This may be the single most coveted award that Philly has to offer. Since then Cosmi's has been featured in Zagat, Cuisine Magazine, and most recently, Maxim Magazine (Jan 08)

Our formula for success is simple. Be friendly, use the freshest ingredients and the best quality products, that are available and cook everything fresh (made to order). We like to say we offer quantity and quality along with a large selctionof different options, healthy and not so healthy. the mainthing is that Cosmi's truly cares for it's customers. We go the extra yard at all times. As long as we are business thesesimple principles will alwas be applied and passed on to future generations. Our goal is simple; "Give the Best Possible Food for the Most Reasonable price and have some fun while doing it"!