Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on June 30, 2010 under Marketing, Out of the Box | 
Harriett, the accounts payable executive at a medium-size appliance store, did what she normally does to bills that come in for co-op advertising. She made a copy of the bill and forwarded it to one of the manufacturers that they carry to reimburse her for 40% of the bill. Within a week, she received a shocking response: “In reviewing the advertisement, we were not satisfied with the size and resolution of our logo. Please review the terms of our co-op advertising agreement for the specific requirements of our participation.” The bottom line was that the manufacturer refused to pay their share of the bill…
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on June 28, 2010 under Sixth Sense |
He was portrayed as a vicious person, one who employs minors and thinks nothing of children handling knives. Even in his federal conviction for bank fraud, he was portrayed as a monster; one that prosecutors argued deserves life imprisonment, a disproportionate sentence for the crimes that he was accused of. After all, who could forget the unprecedented government raid of hundreds of armed law enforcement officials that led to the eventual bankruptcy of Agriprocessor. Shalom Rubashkin was according to a coalition of unions, liberal rabbis, extremist animal rights advocates, and even Church officials nothing short of a villain who perpetrated vicious crimes. Crimes? Not one of the charges made against Mr. Rubashkin in the raid stuck and a jury last week acquitted him of the remaining 68 charges of child labor. The raid, it turns out, was an unbelievable blemish on overzealous law enforcement.
As I look back on this case (and yes I did represent Shalom Rubashkin for a period of time, as it turns out for a just cause), the saddest part of this tragedy is that so many people denied Shalom Rubashkin of a fundamental right: a day in court. He was prejudged, convicted and even hung before evidence was ever presented in court. It behooves me that people who spoke in the name of justice saw nothing wrong with destroying a man, a family, and a business. They were so sure of their cause that they cast aspersions on the ability of government and kashrus organizations to care for animals and laborers. They indeed got their pound of flesh but in the end of the day there should be no question about their destroyed credibility. My hope is that we learned a valuable lesson of never rushing to judgment before a man or woman has had their day in court.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under Kosher |
Boca Raton, FL…by Tova Ross…Kosher food industry officials have long debated the benefit of coupons in the lucrative kosher market. There is strong evidence that as a result of the recession, there is more coupons clipping in the kosher market than ever. Elizabeth Wolf, an Orthodox Jew from Boca Raton, Florida, noticed that coupons for specifically kosher items – whether from a secular brand like Heinz or Kellogg’s or from completely kosher brands like Kedem and Manischewitz – were less common than coupons for more mainstream items. Wolf, a supermarket cashier, noted remarks from customers – who were buying kosher for religious and other reasons – who said they’d like to see more exclusively kosher coupons. After her day job, Wolf began working on her idea for a kosher coupon website by hiring a web designer and by contacting food manufacturers for her new venture. CouponKosher.com, a website with a tentative launch date of July 4th, will allow the kosher consumer to easily access a virtual destination with a variety of coupons for kosher items.
“There’s a lot of mainstream coupon savings sites like www.coupons.com or www.coolsavings.com, but there’s none that have exclusively kosher coupons,” explained Wolf. “My website won’t only offer solely kosher coupons, but it will be more user-friendly than a lot of the more mainstream savings sites, which often require users to log-in and download a printer-system for their websites.” CouponKosher.com will simply allows it visitors to click on the kosher coupons of their choice, print on their home printer, and take to the store to redeem for their purchases. The site will be a pay-per-click operation; Wolf also anticipates revenue from advertising once the idea catches on and garners more users. While it is too early to gauge consumer response, her Boca Raton Synagogue rabbi already gave the website his seal of approval.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on June 27, 2010 under Kosher Wine |
Zichron Yaakov…What does a winery do with an abundance of grapes? It already is Israel’s 5th largest winery and exports over 1 million bottles. If you are Oshra Tishbi, you expand into gourmet jams, honeys and even sauces. The Merlot wine jams, a favorite with the many tourists who visit the Visitors Center, is as good as well, good wine. The Tishbi Winery is no ordinary winery. It is a piece of history, says Oshra, referring to the founding of the vineyards in 1882 by the Chamiletski family who fled persecution in Russia to their new home in Palestine. It was the famed Jewish poet Nachman Bialik who renamed the family Tishbi and it was Baron Edmond de Rothschild who commissioned the family to develop the vineyards.
More than 100 years later Jonathan Tishbi used the family’s considerable expertise in growing grapes to take the family in the direction of winemaking. The family’s vineyards in various parts of the country produce a variety of grapes that were to become the basis for Tishbi’s award winning wines. Israel’s diverse climates from the Golan Heights to the Judean Hills offered the family the opportunity to compete with some of the best grape growing regions in the world. Its Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon became instant hits not only with the local market but in markets overseas. The wines are imported to the US by Admiral Wines.
To say that Oshra enjoys what she does as the export manager and really the foreign minister of the winery is an understatement. The effervescent Oshra tells tourists “let’s have fun” as she serves a variety of great wines with some great food, all the while stressing the natural, wellness and health. With her infectious smile, she positions a number of wines for tasting: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Cabernet and, of course, Merlot, all kosher certified and mevushal. She also surprises with her 2009 Gewurztraminer and the taste is superb. It is in the restaurant in the Visitor Center that the Tishbis stress the great marriage of good food and wine, a combination that the Tishbis hope will continue to bring them great success. L’Chaim!
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on June 25, 2010 under Kosher Restaurants |
New York…by Tova Ross, Features Editor…For kosher travelers crisscrossing the globe, the number and variety of kosher offerings continues to expand. While in years past, these new launches were in well-known Jewish centers, today it is in places that are not necessarily on the radar of kosher travelers. In Leeds UK, the new Gelman’s Bakery will begin baking a line of kosher bread and cakes, certified by the Leeds’ Beth Din. Co-owner Moira Gelman plans to add dairy baked goods, such as cheesecakes, later this year. The bakery will supply other kosher outlets with their products as well. The Gelman family has a long history in food production and catering, and the Leeds Jewish Representative Council is hopeful that the community will support the new kosher venture. Incidentally, tennis fans who are kosher who will be at Wimbledon will not be denied as the Chabad of South London Campuses, is planning to repeat a kosher café it ran last year.
Ivano-Frankovsk, a southwestern city in the Ukraine, a new kosher hotel has opened. Called Under the Temple, and located next to the city’s primary shul, the hotel also houses a museum displaying exhibits on the area’s rich Jewish history (the city was home to several Chasidic rebbes before World War II). Tzimmes Lounge, a kosher catering facility, is also on-site, and is certified by Rabbi Moshe Leib Kolesnik, the city’s chief rabbi and Chabad representative in the region.
Back home, there were many new interesting additions. Shalom Pita, a pizza and falafel store opened on the Jersey Shore, in Ventnor. Both cholov yisroel and pas yisroel, Shalom Pita serves pizza, falafel, knishes, and more, and offers summer travelers to the beaches of New Jersey – which has limited kosher menu options – a slice of the pie. In North Carolina, home to Duke University but not home to many kosher establishments, Polka Dot Bake Shop, located in Charlotte, has received kosher certification from the Star-K for its most famous product: the sweet potato cracker, baked with real sweet potatoes. The crackers are available in original; rosemary and olive oil; cracked black pepper; and chipotle with smoked paprika flavors, and are pareve and egg and nut-free.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under New Product Showcase |
New Product Showcase…by Eda Kram
Walkers Shortbread will add a new higher fiber offering to its range of delicious and healthful oatcakes and unveil fresh new packaging at the Summer Fancy Food Show: Thick & Crunchy Oatcakes with Bran. Using a wholegrain bran oatcake recipe with no added sugar and containing only naturally occurring sugars, the new offering includes olive oil in its blend, contains no trans fat and is low in saturated fat. The improved product has no added sugar and uses only naturally occurring sugars. Its new oil blend reduces saturated fat by 40% and the wholegrain oats have 21% more fiber. Oatcakes have been a traditional Scottish staple for centuries. The popular Walkers Oatcakes, baked in the village of Aberlour in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, are made from naturally wholesome wholegrain oats high in cholesterol fighting fiber. They all contain only naturally occurring sugars, are suitable for vegetarians, and are certified kosher OUD. Walkers was founded in 1898 and is the leading brand of food exported from Scotland. The family continues to operate its original retail shop in Aberlour in the Highlands to stay in touch with its roots. For more information and to purchase visit Walkers Shortbread
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under Kosher Companies |
Galilee…by Menachem Lubinsky…Avi Zithershpieler is by no means a physician, but yet thousands of Israelis have come to rely on his unusual collection of herbs and spices to stay healthy. It has been a half century that Avi founded “The Spice Farm” in what is known Bethlehem of the Galilee. As you approach the large atrium like store just in front of the farm, the aroma of some of the most unusual blends of spices from Israel and obverses will instantly identify your location. If it does not, driving up “Spicy Way” will. Of the 600 products, there are many grown in farms throughout Israel but other products are imported from places like Thailand and Turkey. So popular has the farm become that it now has 10 small outlets throughout Israel and of late an outpost in London. There were blends of herbs and spices to treat almost every medical condition but even more importantly for many Israelis was the benefit of adding the products to their ordinary diets as a means of wellbeing. Gourmet chefs and housewives come to the farm to buy just the right spice, herb, grain, or dried fruit that will enhance a salad, soup, meat and poultry and, of course, desserts. While one of the Farm’s main objectives is to satisfy the Israeli palate, the Middle Eastern touch is very much in evidence in such products as Syrian or Yemenite Za’atar. There are also a variety of granola flavors that almost every visitor seems to want to taste. On most days, Avi offers lectures about the farm and the health and wellness benefits of his products. It has become a leading tourist destination for Israelis and even for the many Christian tourists who frequent the area. While one of the staff people stresses that so much of what is displayed is natural, she also points out that the entire Visitor Center is certified kosher by the Rabbanut of Emek Yizrael.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on June 24, 2010 under Kosher |
New York…Hummus has gone mainstream, to the tune of $325 million, according to data provided by Symphony IRI Group. In 1995, hummus was a $5 million business led by a smattering of companies. It was recently featured in the Dining Section of the New York Times. But according to some kashrus officials, it poses the same challenges as another mainstream food: bagels. One rabbi said that he has on occasion warned his congregants to make sure that the bagels they eat are kosher certified. “It’s not just flour and water,” he said he told them. “You have to know what else goes into the mix and you certainly have to be wary about equipment and utensils used.” Now he says, he will be reminding his congregants to be equally as vigilant with hummus. The Times, in fact, featured both Holy Land and Sabra, but only the latter has kosher certification. One kashrus official said that he was aware of people who otherwise observe kashrus of consuming hummus in a non-kosher restaurant. Sabra, which is owned by PepsiCo, is taking full advantage of the growing acceptance of hummus. It is advertising nationally and its products are now routinely available in many public places like airports.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on June 23, 2010 under Kosher Stores |
New York…The dramatic expansion of kosher into Club Stores continues to be a big story in the kosher food industry. But of late, a leading kosher distributor told Kosher Today, “there has been a great deal of activity in drugstore chains.” In what appears to be a growing trend, drugstore chains are expanding their food sections, and in areas that cater to kosher consumers, they are including Chalav Yisrael milk, cheeses, snacks and candies, in addition to the normal compliment of foods like cereals and beverage. CVS is the latest drugstore chain to try to stake a claim for a bigger piece of the nation’s trillion-dollar food budget. The Woonsocket, R.I.-based company will double the size of food sections in 3,000 of its 7,000 stores by year’s end. The distributor says that kosher food is already available at many Wal-Greens stores in such cities as New York and Miami. He plans to add a salesman “to cover the drugstore world.” The drugstores offer consumers the option of quick shopping and convenient store hours, which is why the distributor believes that drugstores will become a major source for kosher foods in the next five years.
Posted by Menachem Lubinsky on under Kosher Stores |
Rishon Letzion…It is a supermarket. It is a Club Store. No, it’s like a Whole Foods Store or perhaps a gourmet specialty store. The Chatzi Chinam (“Half Free”) supermarket is like no other in Israel and certainly without parallel in the US. Any kosher consumer would think of Chatzi Chinam as a Disneyland of foods. The aisles are neatly laid out to project an abundance of branded, imported and specialty items. Customers expecting to find produce at the entrance will be disappointed as the first aisle is full of housewares, kitchen utensils and detergents. There are aisles upon aisles of branded products, namely by Israel’s giants Osem and Strauss-Elite, specialty items like gourmet and organic items from around the world, fresh beef and poultry that is not packaged, its freshness obvious through a large showcase. There are prepared meals and an incredible array of cheeses and wines in what seems like an endless display of great looking foods. There are plenty of tasting opportunities as part of a general emphasis on customer service. In a relatively short period of time, Chatzi Chinam has become the model of the new-age supermarket, and everything is kosher.
Amazingly the chain is the third largest sales without having the number of stores of its key competitors. Cousins Zaaki Shalom and Mordechai are not stopping there. They continue to open more stores but are also in an acquisition mode, including the well-known Binyamina Winery which they acquired in 2008 for $13.5 million.
