Kosherfest, a 33-year-old annual event which highlighted the growing power of the kosher food market, will no longer take place, but others shows/festivals celebrating the world of kosher look to fill the void.
Menachem Lubinsky, who founded Kosherfest, and is president and CEO of Lubicom Marketing Consulting and editor of Kosher Today, told Zev Brenner on his radio program that he’d sold the event to Diversified Marketing which now decided to no longer have the event this fall. He also said that Kosherfest was a business that “closed down because it was successful,” meaning Kosherfest was so successful that it spawned enermous growth in the kosher food market and their event, which always focused on the trade side, not the consumer side, was no longer the only game in town.
“In my wildest dream I could not have imagined that we would reach a level of sophistication, professionalism and skill that the kosher food industry has reached today,” Lubinsky told Brenner.
The event had been scheduled to take place in The Meadowlands in November.
Lubinsky said among the great accomplishments is that in the last three decades saw the opening of some “58 kosher independent supermarkets of 10,000 square feet or more” and the publication of “60 or 70 kosher cookbooks, the explosion of kosher food on social media, and thousands of products that have been certified as kosher, kosher catering in the White House and kosher food in Dubai.”
A number of prominent kosher food personalities spoke with The Jewish Press about the significance of the event as well as events happening this month.
“We must give a lot of credit to Kosherfest,” said Shlomo Klein, CEO of Fleishigs Magazine. “It put kosher food on the map and we have come such a long way since then. It’s sad but we also can take pride in how the kosher food market has evolved. People want to be a part of kosher food-related entertainment.”
Klein is a producer of Kosherpalooza, what he bills as a kosher food festival, which will take place on June 28 at The Meadowlands, that is being promoted as a “disruptive kosher consumer event” that will have everything from “brands your grandmother grew up on” to “artisanal brands you haven’t heard of yet.”
Klein said the event will be like nothing that has been seen before.
“We will have hot sauce contests, classes, panels, demonstrations, fish demonstrations, blind taste tests, a bartending competition, and there will really be so many things that consumer will enjoy,” Klein said. “It’s going to be a lot of food and a lot of fun.”
Elan Kornblum, president of Great Kosher Restaurants Media, whose Facebook foodie group boasts nearly 83,000 members, will also be on hand.
“I give credit to Kosherfest because more than a decade ago I networked and made connections there and of course would go every year,” Kornblum said. “We’ve seen an unbelievable rise in popularity of kosher food and kosher foodies in the last number of years. Things are always changing and of course now we see the power of kosher foodies on social media. People love to be entertained and find out about kosher products and restaurants they didn’t know about. Kosherfest should not be viewed as a failure, but rather as an event that had a great run. There’s nothing like meeting someone face to face and shaking their hand.”
The event will include radio host Nachum Segal and Dani Klein, who runs Yeahthatskosher.com.
“I think this is an event that will really be exciting for the consumer,” Kornblum said.
Another event that will cater to Jewish foodies is JFood, which will take place June 13 and 14, at the NJ Expo Center, in Edison, N.J. The first day is for buyers, such as restaurants, supermarkets, caterers, schools and camps, while the second day is for consumers.
Gabriel Boxer, known as the Kosher Guru, who runs the Facebook group Kosher Guru Nation which boasts nearly 20,000 members and recently returned from speaking engagements in Los Angeles, said JFood will include Stop & Shop as well as Costco and ShopRite, and others that are looking to add kosher products to its stores. Boxer said that by having two days, people will be able to get what they’re looking for. In the past, he said, he had advocated for Kosherfest to be geared more for consumers and do more on the social media end.
“People are vocal and it’s not a secret what people care about,” Boxer said.
Ari White, owner of The Wandering Que, is responsible for award-winning brisket that has drawn unprecedented crowds wherever his food is sold at street fairs and events. He said his team recently sold an untold large amount of brisket at the Celebrate Israel Parade on Sunday.
“I remember I once competed in a Chopped-style cooking contest at Kosherfest,” White said, referring to the show on The Food Network in which chefs are given the same ingredients, a window of tie and their dishes are judged.
White is producing “Kiddushfest: Worlds of Whisky, Brew and Que” on June 19 at 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar in Manhattan, which will have more than 400 different kosher whiskey selections offered.
“You see that there are Israeli brands that are making their mark,” White said.
In April, the Israeli whiskey company Milk & Honey won “World’s Best Single Malt” as part of The World Drinks Awards. Run by Gal Kalkshtein, the brand has won numerous other awards.
“For Milk & Honey to achieve what they have is such a short time is amazing,” White said.
White describes Kiddushfest as “the best kiddush in the world when you don’t have to listen to a rabbi’s sermon,” though he is in no way taking anything away from the beauty of any drashas. He also urged people to drink responsibly.
“We saw from last year it was an event that really resonated with people and we didn’t have any accidents,” White said.
White gave credit to his staff and his wife, who does not eat meat, and said the rooftop venue is beautiful. He also said impressive charcuterie will be offered. White has often been asked to start a restaurant featuring his much sought-after brisket, but he maintains that is not a business model he want to engage in right now.
On his show, Brenner noted that he went to the first ever Kosherfest at the Jacob Javits Center. The event was free, he said, and people were aggressively going after food.
While many will miss Kosherfest as an event that helped catipult the kosher food world into the future, these three events will offer kosher consumers a lot to like.
