Community Coalition (www.
gwbcoalition.org). She previ-
ously worked in banking. 
Berkey’s organization is 
involved with efforts to keep 
West Bloomfield, and par-
ticularly youth under age 18, 
“healthy, safe and free from 
substance use.
” Toward that 
end, Berkey and her colleagues 
work with local organizations, 
agencies, concerned citizens, 
policy makers, educators, stu-
dents and parents to provide 
“leadership, education, resourc-
es and programming for our 
young people and those who 
support them.
”
GWB contributed to the 
addiction awareness program-
ming, supported in part by the 
Jewish Addiction Resource 
Alliance, during a March 
“Serenity Shabbat” at Temple 
Israel in West Bloomfield.
With her company, Berkey 
participated last May in a fund-
raiser for the Sky Foundation 
of Bloomfield Hills (www.
skyfoundationinc.org). Berkey 
baked Goldie’s Mandel Bread at 
Star Bakery in Oak Park, with 
the cookies also available for 
purchase at Diamond Bakery in 
West Bloomfield. Dan Buckfire, 
a partner in the bakeries with 
David Schechter and president/
managing partner Stacy Fox, 
donated ingredients and half 
of the sale proceeds to Sky. The 
nonprofit’s mission is “raising 
awareness and funding inno-
vative research for the early 
detection and treatment of pan-
creatic cancer.
” 
Berkey feels an attachment 
to the organization because 
pancreatic cancer took the 
life of her older sister, Sharon 
Horowitz, 64, in May 2016. 
Another fundraiser is being 
held at Star and Diamond bak-
eries between the dates of May 
16-21. Half of sales will go to 
the Sky Foundation. 
Berkey’s customers have 
included Orchard Mall, which 
purchased trays of Goldie’s 

Mandel Bread to gift tenants 
during the December holidays. 
Her mandel bread shows up at 
weddings, shivahs, bar and bat 
mitzvahs and other occasions, 
large and small. 
The company website notes 
that a tray with approximate-
ly 40 pieces of mandel bread 
is priced at $35, and $60 for 
approximately 80 pieces. Boxes 
of mandel bread, original recipe 
and gluten-free, have different 
parameters. Depending on the 
order size, Goldie’s Mandel 
Bread may be placed in white 
labeled boxes or on round trays 
sporting different bows.
Mandel bread may be 
ordered through Goldie’s social 
media or by phone. For no 
additional charge, trays can 
be delivered within 10 miles 
of West Bloomfield. Other 
times, Berkey arranges with 
customers to pick up their 
boxed orders, either at her 
home or “we might meet 
half-way, if someone lives 
farther.
”
The mandel bread I was 
anticipating was fully baked. 
Once cool enough to eat, the 
still-warm cookies contained 
a moist richness I’
d never 
experienced before. They 
smelled wonderful in my car 
all the way home. Even after 
the pieces cooled off, they 
remained delightfully deli-
cious and not too dry.
I dropped off two samples 
of Goldie’s Mandel Bread for 
my sister, Janice Young, in 
Farmington Hills. The follow-
ing day, she texted me that 
she’
d driven to Berkey’s house 
to pick up a small box to share 
with her older daughter’s family. 
Of course, she later had to get 
another box to share with her 
younger daughter’s family. I 
bought a box to give a different 
sister for her birthday.
And all we want to say now 
to Ron Elkus is this: “We’re lov-
ing them. Get your own mandel 
bread!” 

GOLDIE’S MANDEL BREAD

Phone for placing orders: (248) 321-8642 
Social media: Goldiesmandelbread.com, Facebook and 
Instagram

LISA BERKEY 

Title: Owner, Goldie’s Mandel Bread 
Residence: West Bloomfield
Family: Husband, Paul Berkey, a sales director; daughter Sarah 
Lencer, a social worker at University of Michigan Hospital in 
Ann Arbor, and son Jack Berkey, pursuing a doctorate in physi-
cal therapy at University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio
Education: Graduate, Southfield High School; two years at 
Michigan State University in East Lansing, and bachelor’s 
degree in marketing at Wayne State University in Detroit 
Jewish connections: Membership at Adat Shalom Synagogue 
in Farmington Hills, including its sisterhood. Lisa grew up 
attending the former Congregation B’nai David in Southfield. 

What is mandel 
bread, aka 
mandelbrot?

Mandelbrot dates back to the 
early 19th century. Jews living 
in Piedmont, Italy, brought 
them back to Eastern Europe 
after tasting biscotti, a similar 
cookie of Italian origin. The 
name Mandelbrot is mandel 
for almond and brot for bread, 
in Yiddish and German. In the 
United States, the translation 
is mandel bread. Having most 
of the moisture baked out of 
them, these crispy and crunchy 
cookies have a fairly long 
shelf life. Mandel bread can be 
eaten on its own or dipped into hot tea or coffee. 
Source material: toriavey.com

Is It OK to Sell Food Made at Home?

Yes. West Bloomfield Township follows Michigan’s Cottage 
Food Law, PA 113 of 2010, which exempts a “cottage food 
operation” from the licensing and inspection provisions of the 
Michigan Food Law. Under the Cottage Food Law, non-poten-
tially hazardous foods that do not require time and/or tempera-
ture control for safety can be produced in a home kitchen (the 
kitchen of the person’s primary domestic residence) for direct 
sale to customers at farmers’ markets, farm markets, roadside 
stands or other direct markets. The food products are not sold 
to retailers. The Cottage Food Law can provide an opportunity 
for those thinking about starting a food business but reluctant 
to spend the money needed to establish or rent commercial 
kitchen space. Source material: www.michigan.gov/mdard

MAY 11 • 2023 | 47

