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between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
j
nels potential clients to certain ob-
servant butchers.
"Personally, when people call
me and say, 'Where should I buy?
I will always point them to some
place where the proprietor is per-
sonally observant, like Superior
or Farmer Jack," he said.
Mr. Feldman and others find
this practice unfair.
Aside from the rule, the decline
in meat consumption by Ameri-
cans in recent years may have
contributed to the industry's
demise, the butchers say. In 1970,
the average American ate 131.7
pounds of red meat a year; that
figure sank to 114.7 pounds in
1995.
However, overall consumption
of red meat has risen — due in
large part to the increase in the
United States' population from
205 million in 1970 to 263 million
in 1995. Overall consumption rose
from 27 billion pounds in 1970 to
30 billion in 1995, according to the
latest figures from the U. S. De-
partment of Agriculture. Total
consumption of poultry went from
6.9 billion pounds in 1970 to 16.7
billion pounds in 1995.
Still, some of the butchers have
not been blessed with greater traf-
fic as a result of the increase.
This week I could have opened
a bowling alley in here," said Sol
Weisfeld, owner of Strictly Kosher
Meats in Oak Park "People aren't
eating meat anymore."
Although overall consumption
rose, the number of people who
keep kosher homes may have
been reduced by the assimilation
of Jews into American culture,
butchers say.
And, while an immigrant fam-
ily may have kept kosher and
identified themselves as being Or-
thodox in practice, more and more
of their children and grandchil-
dren say they are Conservative or
Reform in affiliation.
The strict process by which the
meat is kashered causes the price
to rise, driving away some poten-
tial kosher consumers who can-
not afford it. The required salting,
soaking and supervising of meat
can cause the price per piece to
rise as much as three times the
amount of similar treife cuts.
"You can't change what was
given over," said Max Luss, own-
er of Superior Kosher Meats who
plans to hand his business down
to his son. "If you want to eat
kosher, there can be no deviation,
and that is it."
Local independent kosher
butchers also must compete with
the Farmer Jack grocery chain,
which has its own kosher meat
section at three of its stores.
John Katz, owner of Harvard
Row Kosher Meat and Poultry in
West Bloomfield, who plans to
pass his business down to his
daughter Susan, said being locat-
ed near a Farmer Jack does not
diminish his-business, but he said
the market changed when super-
markets began to carry kosher
meat and poultry.
"People found it easier to do all
of their shopping at once," hu said.
Although competition comes
from the large grocery chain and
other independents, there is no
such thing at the supplier level.
Cornbelt Lamb, Beef and Veal is
the only kosher slaughterhouse
this side of Sandusky; it is the sup-
plier for the independent butch-
ers. Morris Kosher Poultry is the
supplier for poultry goods.
"They have no competition. We
have only one place to buy the
meat. We have only one place to
buy the chicken," said Sol Weis-
feld. 'The rabbis won't let us buy
from anywhere else."
Les Kleiman of Morris Kosher
Poultry said the decline in butch-
ers is unfortunate but that his
pricing is not responsible.
'We offer competitive pricing.
It is based on what Empire
(Kosher Poultry) charges us," he
said.
To make up for the shortfall in
customer base, some local butch-
ers rely greatly on their gentile
clients. Muslims, adhering to Is-
lamic dietary laws known as ha-
lal, join Seventh Day Adventists
and others in making up any-
where from 5 to 30 percent of the
clients who frequent the inde-
pendent kosher butcher shops.
Mr. Weisfeld said fully one-
quarter of his customers come
from outside the observant Jew-
ish community. "[The meat] is
cleaner; it is healthier."
The butchers also look to cut
costs. For example, when the sale
of meat soars at holiday times,
Farmer Jack offers specials on
kosher meat at or below cost as
a loss leader to bring in Jewish
customers. During these times, a