Kosher for Passover Food Industry on the Rise

Mollie Fish (center), a sixty year resident of Teaneck, is joined by Rabbi Chaim Poupko (right), the President of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, and Joe Gondek (left), Teaneck Stop & Shop Store Manager, as she does her Passover shopping. She says she is amazed by the thousands of Passover items found in Stop & Shop's Passover aisle.

Rabbi Chaim Poupko, the President of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, members of the Teaneck Jewish community, and representatives of the Kosher food industry gathered at the Teaneck Stop & Shop to discuss the growth of Kosher for Passover products available to shoppers.

Teaneck Stop & Shop Store Manager Joe Gondek says, "Spending for the eight days of Passover accounts for $1.3 billion of the $12-billion kosher foods market. In 2012, there were 23,000 Passover food items. This year, that list has grown to more than 53,000."

Mollie Fisch, who has lived in Teaneck since 1958, says, "It is amazing to find the thousands of Kosher for Passover items in Stop & Shop's Passover aisle. When I moved to Teaneck sixty years ago, there was no Passover selection to be found. My family and I had to travel to the Lower East Side of Manhattan to do our Passover shopping."

Martin Siegel, Vice President of Supermarket sales for Kayco, the largest Kosher food distributor in the nation, says, "The Kosher food industry is melding tradition with modern tastes sensing a change in the market.” The industry, he says, is rolling out eclectic offerings and transforming Passover.

Among the most unique products that Passover shoppers will find this year: seaweed snack, frozen riced cauliflower, coconut chews, jarred asparagus, gluten-free cinnamon matzah and lasagna noodles.

“The bottom line,” says Rabbi Poupko, "is that the 2018 Passover aisle is not your Grandmother’s Passover aisle. The expansion of the products offered underscores the growth of the Jewish community, and its continued economic impact on the merchants who we patronize and their recognition of the impact that the Jewish community has on their business."

"A generation ago shoppers were satisfied to find matzah and Gefilte fish, but today’s shopper is looking for everything from Kosher for Passover bagels to s’mores and gnocchi, " says Gondek. "Some manufacturers are even marketing kosher for Passover pizza, croutons and gluten-free fuselli."