Iconic Jewish foods are getting a glow-up from brands that want to move beloved staples like matzo and matzo ball soup from the Kosher aisle where a limited population currently looks for them to endcaps or beside their mainstream counterparts – at eye level – on store shelves to expand their appeal to new consumer groups and usage occasions.
“If you walk the Kosher aisle, it tends to be very tired, a forgotten about part of the store, which is very unfortunate, because there are some beautiful foods that are in the Kosher aisle – like matzo and matzo ball soup,” said Crystal Bennett, a spokeswoman for The Matzo Project.
“It was time for somebody to launch something that was modern, that was maybe tongue-in-cheek, that was doing things differently, and really talk to consumers in a way that wasn’t ancient, wasn’t rabbinical, but really how we all talk to each other – so much more real,” she added.
The Matzo Project, a relative newcomer, and Kayco, an established Kosher food company that houses the 130+ year old Manischewitz brand, are doing just that – with new products and new looks on display at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City earlier this summer.
Both brands are on a mission to offer comforting and classic Jewish cuisine but with a twist that would appeal to younger and non-Jewish shoppers.
The Matzo Project shines a light on the diversity and versatility of classic Jewish food
The Matzo Project is expanding the appeal of traditional Jewish foods by showcasing the diversity of staples, like matzo, in new applications, including four new gluten-free and Kosher for Passover SKUs that debuted at the Summer Fancy Food Show.
“There is absolutely a love-hate relationship with matzo. Because it is something that, if you are Jewish, you were forced to eat over Passover growing up, but which frankly, just never really tasted that good, flavor-wise, texture-wise. It was very much like cardboard,” but it also is nostalgic and “has a lot of good feelings around it,” Bennett said.
Which is why, she added, “it was time for somebody to launch something that tasted better, had better nutritional background, a better texture and image, frankly.”
The brand’s three new baking mixes – a brownie mix, pancake mix and golden cake mix – that debuted at the Fancy Food Show are all gluten-free and Kosher for Passover, but “delicious all year around,” Bennett said.
At the expo, the company also launched a gluten-free matzo ball soup kit, which Bennett said is a “total game-changer” because it – and the baking mixes – have “no weird aftertaste, no sandy textures” and allow gluten-free consumers who previously were excluded to join the celebration.
The young brand also is capturing consumers’ attention with eye-catching packaging and a fresh take on the old archetype of a Jewish grandmother.
“She is meant to represent all grandmas of every type of background. So, we have a lot of fun with the Jewish grandma personality, but there is something in lots of our grandmas that we see in her. You know, she guilt trips you, she gives you a hard time, she wants to make sure you are eating, you are wearing a sweater, you have a nice boyfriend – all of that,” Bennett said.
She added the one-two punch of new products and new look are helping the brand find space in new store sets.
“We fit in so many different places in the retail space. We fit in the Kosher aisle perfectly, and I think a lot of buyers like us because we add some energy and a new image and better nutritional label” to that space, but the brand’s matzo chips, baking mixes and soups “also fit in a number of other places,” Bennett explained.
Manischewitz new brand and products pay ‘homage to tradition but also look to the future’
Kayco also is helping iconic Jewish cuisine break free of the Kosher aisle and reach new consumers by rebranding and expanding the offerings under the more than 130-year-old Manischewitz brand.
“The point of the rebrand was not to just put a new color palette on the brand. It is to revive the love of the cuisine and the love of Jewish food,” said Shani Seidman, chief marketing officer at Kayco.
She explained the new look, which debuted about a year ago, draws on decades of designs to blend the old and the new. It includes illustrations and Yiddish phrases that resonate with the brand’s long-time core consumer but which also welcome new shoppers.
“We really did what we set out to do, which was, again, respect the tradition, but make it modern and bold for the new generation, attract young consumers, attract crossover, not just Jewish consumers. And that is the feedback we are getting” from retailers and which is visible in the strong sales of the new products, she said.
At the Fancy Food Show, the brand sampled its new Manischewitz soup line, which will hit store shelves this fall. It is shelf stable in 24-ounce glass jars and includes Clear Chicken Broth, Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken Matzo Ball Soup, Tomato and Rice Soup, Split Pea Soup, Bubby’s Vegetable Soup and Mushroom Barley Soup.
It also sampled its Manischewitz New York Style All-Beef Kosher hot dogs, which are available in regular, low-fat and a Kosher for Passover version.
“We want to revive this brand in a way that pays homage to tradition but also looks to the future and gets new younger consumers. And I really believe that these products are doing that,” said Seidman.
