Our History
1920 to 2024
One Hundred Years of Quality
Teodozya “Fannie” Sech , Anna Irene Sech, Jenny Jurasinski (sister of Teodozya) in front of the first store.
Louis Konopelski proudly displaying the days production.
The Konopelski Meats story began four generation ago in 1903. Louis Konopelski, a poor Polish immigrant who worked for a butcher in Poland, arrived in America with nothing but the clothes on his back and a recipe for Polish Kielbasa in his pocket. He met his future wife Teodozya “Fannie” (Shelak) Sech on the boat coming to America, but they didn’t marry. Louis married Anastasia Fir and had seven children. Teodozya married Thomas Sech and had one daughter. Teodozya and Thomas ran a small grocery store located on 7th and Canal streets in Reading, Pennsylvania. As fate would have it, each of their spouses died, and in 1920 they married and had three children. Rose, Joseph, and Francis. Louis began making and selling Polish meats in the corner store. It did not take long for the reputation of Konopelski’s Polish Kielbasa to grow in the town. Son’s Joseph and Francis (Fidge) worked with their father. The business grew and expanded to include a grocery store on Willow Street and one on Cotton Street both in Reading, Pennsylvania. Today the business is run by Francis’s son Patrick and his son Ryan who use the same recipe that Louis brought to America over a hundred years ago.
Francis Konopelski making Kielbasa.
Francis Konopelski (Middle) inside Konopelski’s Willow Street Store.
Joseph Konopelski making Polish Kielbasa.
Louis, Joseph and Francis Konopelski in the Willow Street Store.
In 1947, the two youngest children Joseph and Francis, decided to carry on the tradition that Louis began at the beginning of the century, here at the Cotton Street Store.(Now closed.)
Today Francis’s son Patrick and his son Ryan are not only running the company, but taking it to the next level by branching out selling their products to super markets and restaurants as well as online.
