“Boos has been in my kitchen for as long as I can remember. As any chef will tell you, the details are what really matter, and Boos really pays attention to the details. If [you’re] searching for the highest quality knife, why not care deeply about the surface you give it?” –Kelly English, chef-owner, Restaurant Iris and The Second Line, Memphis, Tenn.
After lumber leaves the kilns it enters the production line, where it’s cleaned and molded. Workers then mark defects on each board by hand using fluorescent markers and crayons. These marks are later read by the computer program that operates the machine that cuts lumber into some of the cutting boards, kitchen countertops, work tables, dining tabletops and more. Nearby,
cutting surfaces are sanded on both sides to make them dually functional, while non-cutting surfaces like countertops and work surfaces are only sanded on one side. Once products are sanded, they’re shaved, branded with the Boos logo, oiled and packaged for sale before being shipped to retailers in St. Louis like Bertarelli Cutlery, Session Fixture Co. and Ford Hotel Supply Co. Thicker butcher blocks (specifically, 10- to 16inch thick blocks) are made using the company’s oldest piece of continuously operating machinery, the screw press. It’s an intimidating, hulking machine that looks sort of like a humansized vise, used to slowly apply pressure to extra-large butcher blocks (think 400 or 500 pounders), squeezing together wood and glue in permanent place. These days the screw press only runs about once a week for eight hours, but Boos used to make every block it produced using the machine. It can only turn out about 100 blocks a month, compared to the thousands made each month in the facility today. The first time you use a Boos Block, you begin to understand what sets it apart from other cutting boards. Emmerich says that the wood Boos uses
– particularly hard rock maple – treats knives gently, keeping them sharper longer. Over time that not only benefits knives, but leads to higher-quality output in general. When you set a heavy kitchen knife down on the surface of a Boos Block, it lands with a significant thud. Like a well-made knife, Boos Blocks have a way of enduring for generations.
“Boos is special, plain and simple. There are other cutting board makers out there and people who will special make some, but none have the look and craftsmanship of a Boos Block. We use them in the kitchen for prep, but we also use smaller boards for serving; some of the bigger boards we use for getting a good look to our buffets and the food we serve on them. My first and only choice in wood boards in Boos.” –Josh Galliano, chef-owner, The Libertine, St. Louis
In early 2013, leading up to the company’s 125th anniversary celebration, a woman visited the Boos Butcher Block Showroom & Outlet, the company’s retail store in Effingham, and struck up a conversation with manager – and Boos celebrity – Norbert Bruce. She told Bruce about the Boos Block in her kitchen; about how it had been in her family as long as anyone could remember. Bruce’s curiosity was piqued. He asked the woman to send him a photo of the block and promised to help her identify its age – something he regularly helps people across the country do with Boos products. When Bruce saw the photo, he immediately knew it was a rare find. “I instantly recognized it was one of our very first solid sycamore blocks, three-legged sycamore stump block, manufactured, we figure, around 1899 to 1905,” Bruce says. “I talked to her for months about bringing it to the showroom for the 125th anniversary. One leg
is always shorter than the other two, and there’s a reason for that: It tilts just enough so the blood runs off into the sawdust. And it still had some of the original red paint on it. That block was 42-by16-inches and in 1905 sold for $14.19. And Boos was still making money on that, at $14 and change. Beautiful block, heavy, too. Still heavy as can be.” Bruce says stories like this aren’t uncommon, though usually less buried in time. “I don’t want to use the word packrat, but I don’t throw anything away that I think a customer might use to restore a block,” Bruce says. “It’s an honor to restore a 70-year-old block for someone.” Other Boos employees describe Bruce as the company’s “go-to man” for chefs and industry insiders across the country. “[Chefs] turn into a bunch of little kids in a candy store as soon as they walk in the door,” Bruce says. “I find out what they’re looking for and find a link between them and me and the Boos butcher blocks – and it’s always there, if you look deep enough.” Between its stainless-steel and wood factories and corporate offices, Boos’ operations consume about 187,000-square-feet of land in Effingham, with 180 employees spread out across several buildings. The company is currently in the process of expanding its steel plant by 40,000-square-feet, with plans to add another 40,000-square-feet next year. With eyes toward the future and expansion already in motion, maybe it doesn’t really matter if John Boos & Co. is a household name. The company has managed to build an extraordinary empire simply by hiding in plain sight.
“A great wood cutting board is very important in any kitchen. It needs to be durable and meticulously constructed so it can take abuse from constant and extensive knife use — and it needs to be sturdy, yet elegant. It’s for these reasons that I’ve always liked Boos Blocks in the kitchen.” –Daniel Humm, chef-owner, Eleven Madison Park, New York City
Get inside the John Boos & Co. factories in Effingham, Ill., and see how Boos Blocks are made with our behindthe-scenes tour in the April episode of Feast TV.
Inspired Food Culture
APRIL 2014
47