New York—The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts (CKCA), in partnership with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, is launching 2014’s “Brooklyn Eats” seminar series with a panel discussion entitled “Kosher Made Easy” geared for food and beverage manufacturers. The seminar—the first of its kind in Brooklyn—will take attendees through a basic primer on what kosher means and explore the business opportunities that attaining kosher certification can lead to. Specific topics to be covered include: the benefits of getting kosher supervision; details of the certification process; the costs involved in acquiring kosher supervision, and how to market a kosher supervised product to distributors, retailers, and customers.
CKCA’s Brooklyn-based kosher culinary school, the only one of its kind in the United States, is committed to training and educating future kosher chefs and food manufacturers in order to support the ongoing growth and development of the kosher food market world-wide. The Director of CKCA, Jesse Blonder, a lifelong Brooklyn resident, will be moderating the panel.
The distinguished panel will include rabbinical supervisors from the Orthodox Union’s (OU) Kosher Division, kosher marketing guru and president of Lubicom Marketing, Menachem Lubinsky, and Jacob Rusanov, Category Director of kosher foods for KeHE Distributors. The OU is widely considered to be the world’s most recognized and trusted kosher certification with the iconic OU symbol appearing on 60% of America’s kosher certified foods. Menachem Lubinsky founded the kosher industry’s leading tradeshow, “Kosherfest,” 25 years ago, and Jacob Rusanov has spent over 20 years in a career dedicated to all segments of kosher food including retail, manufacturing, sales, brokerage, and distribution.
The kosher food industry is no longer just a niche market serving Jewish people who keep kosher. Kosher food is now consumed nationwide by people from various backgrounds, many of whom perceive it as being of a better quality and higher integrity due to kosher certification. This growing demand is reflected by the current volume of products supervised by the OU—a whopping 500,000 products manufactured in 83 countries. According to Lubicom Marketing, the dollar value of kosher ingredients sold in the United States is now valued at $370 million, with an average annual growth rate of 10-15% (from 2005 to 2010).
The Brooklyn Chamber, whose mission is to serve and support Brooklyn-based industry, is offering this seminar in recognition of the kosher food industry’s undeniable growth. Brooklyn is now home to a growing number of small to mid-sized food and beverage manufacturers, many of whose products may be eligible for kosher certification.
Food manufacturers large and small are highly encouraged to attend this seminar in order to explore the business opportunities that are inherent with being certified kosher. The event will take place on January 22, 2014 from 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. at Industry City, 237 37th Street in Sunset Park. Space is limited and pre-registration is required.
