that the Council circulated the
letter, saying the signature of
Rabbi Berel Brody was fake. He
was not sure where the letter
originated.
Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg of
Bais Chabad of West Bloomfield
also said the Vaad had done
everything possible to keep the
eatery open.
"We bent over backward to
keep a full-service restaurant,"
Rabbi Silberberg said, adding
that the Vaad didn't charge Mr.
Goodman for supervision services
and circulated its own letter stat-
ing the place was in fact kosher.
The late Al Rosenberg of
Rosenberg Catering at Adat
Shalom Synagogue blamed the
Vaad for the closing of his restau-
rant in the 1960s. While the
restaurant had the Vaad's ap-
proval, none of the members
would patronize it or recommend
it to their congregants.
fc1 begged the rabbis to come in,
to just sit at a table, and they said
no," Mr. Rosenberg told a re-
porter the year before he died.
`They said that first the common
man would have to come and
then the ba'al teshuvah (newly
religious Jews) and then [they
would] come."
The Vaad never made it, he
said. The restaurant closed with-
in a month.
Outside the arguable issue
of support, owners say they
would have to attract a larger
clientele such as gentiles and the
nonkosher Jewish population to
break even.
Ken Hechtman, owner of Ken's
Diner and Bugsy's Place in Skok-
ie, Ill., said operating a kosher
restaurant in the Detroit area is
a difficult proposition.
"To have a successful kosher
restaurant, you have to look for
more than just a Jewish popu-
lation," said Mr. Hechtman,
adding that 40 percent of his
business is out-of-towners. "The
transient business in Detroit is
not like anywhere else. People
don't come to Detroit on vaca-
tion."
After losing more than
$250,000 on the recently closed
Classic Coney Island, Steve Ra-
binowitz couldn't agree more. Al- tion to $1,200 a year for supervi-
though he was able to attract a sion from the MKC, she also had
great deal of Jews from the area to pay the mashgiach $7 an hour
as well as a lesser number of gen- for each hour she was operating.
tiles, he depended on the out-of- That increased operating costs
town traffic.
by almost $20,000 a year.
"A lot of my patronage was
from people coming through
the city on business," he said.
"And there weren't a lot of
them."
One burden for kosher
restaurants and other food-
service industries is the larg-
er cost of operating a kosher
business. Food prices can be
twice to three times the
equivalent of a nonkosher
brand; treife meat is signifi-
cantly cheaper than the same
cuts of kosher meat.
Add to this the cost of su-
pervision charged by the Vaad Morris Goodman said the lack of Vaad support
or the Metropolitan Kashruth crushed his business.
Council headed by Rabbi Jack
"If you add up the days you are
Goldman, as well as the salaries closed, [the total is] more than
for the mashgiach, an on-the-spot two months of the year. On top of
that, you have to pay higher food
kashrut supervisor.
For Shirlee Bloom, owner of prices, you have to pay for a
Bloom's Catering, supervision mashgiach, you have to pay for
was a high price to pay. In addi- supervision. Who wants to do
-
'97 SEBRING CO VERTIBLE JX
PHOTO BY G LENN TR IEST
THE PAST page 19
that?" said Ms. Bloom, who now
operates an uncertified kosher
catering business.
Because of those additional
costs, owners find themselves
grumbling about having to
charge the customers more,
thereby reducing their chances
of attracting nonkosher clientele.
But the kosher-keeping con-
sumers were not happy with the
service they received, either.
Owners of some local kosher es-
tablishments reported hearing
complaints about menu items
with high-fat content, small por-
tions, high prices, dirty places of
business and poor selections.
Owners also said young people
and observant families with
many children may have prob-
lems eating out where food is
costly.
"Young people today who are
trying to be kosher have to move
away from it sometimes, " Ms.
Bloom said. "If it has that stamp
of approval, it costs twice or three
times more. Naturally we have
to charge more, and people don't
want to pay." ❑
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