Who knew that Oscar Abeles & Leopold Heymann, an uncle and nephew who opened a butcher store in Washington Heights, NY in 1954, would go on to produce one of the best-tasting kosher hot dogs, still beating out the competition more than a half century later? Known as Abeles & Heymann (A & H), the company is producing the same premium-quality hot dogs, deli meats and sausages as it did the day it opened.
“Our recipes are still a closely guarded secret,” says Seth Leavitt, 44, CEO of Abeles & Heymann, headquartered in Northern New Jersey. Nineteen years ago Leavitt and his cousin David Flamholz (an attorney by training) bought out Mr. Heymann and his wife, Sophie. Heymann, the only surviving partner, stayed on for over a year to teach the two young guys how to make a hot dog among other things, in the Bronx facility.
Since then the family-run company has seen an over 10-fold increase in sales, moved to a state-of-the art facility in New Jersey and partnered with the manufacturing arm of an Israeli kibbutz (Maadany Yehiam, makers of the Hod Golan line of turkey products). It produces over 1,000 tons of quality glatt kosher deli a year, including hot dogs, beef fry, kishka, cervelat, no-nitrate-added reduced fat and sodium hot dogs, knockwurst and cocktail franks, as well as salami, chipotle franks, corned beef and pastrami, too.
In 2005 and then again in 2013, Abeles & Heymann kosher franks were voted top hot dog, each time beating out large conglomerate producers Ballpark, Applegate Farms and Hebrew National, among others. In 2005 the St. Louis Post Dispatch wrote: “3 stars—medium red color, nicely chewy, well balanced flavor, not a lot of saltiness; nudged out Ballpark for top spot with bit better overall flavor.”
According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, in the United States alone we chomp into more than 20 billion hot dogs a year, some 818 every second from Memorial Day to Labor Day. A big bite of the industry caters to the kosher hot dog consumer (only a quarter of whom are Jewish), and that number is growing at twice the rate of all other kosher foods.
“Tis the season, so we invite you, the public, to take the Abeles & Heymann hot dog challenge. If you think we beat out the rest, follow us on Instagram and answer our weekly trivia questions for a chance to win an assortment of our award-winning hot dogs,” says Leavitt. “We’ll also be posting recipe ideas, photos, contests, our new packaging and more,” he adds.
All Abeles & Heymann products are certified glatt kosher by the Orthodox Union (OU). For additional information about Abeles & Heymann, or to find their store locator, go to www.abeles-heymann.com. Like them on FB at https://www.facebook.com/abeles.heymann/. Follow them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/abelesheymann/ for a weekly chance to win Abeles & Heymann hot dogs.
