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Adam Wills writes: Trader Joe’s and some Costco stores did not carry matzah this year, and representatives from Gelson’s and Whole Foods say their supplies are dwindling.
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Construction issues and problems with a new state-of-the-art oven at Manischewitz’s only plant in Newark led the company to announce it wouldn’t produce Tam Tams and other kosher-for-Passover products this year, including its flavored matzah lines. Instead, the company focused on unsalted, whole wheat and egg matzah. While rising food prices and mounting global food shortages are not to blame for the shortage this year, David Rossi, Manischewitz’s vice president of marketing, told the New Jersey Jewish News that the company does expect prices to rise in 2009 once its wheat contracts are renegotiated after Passover.
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Streit’s West Coast distributor and other matzah manufacturers could not be reached for comment about the shortage.
Manischewitz spokeswoman Amy Stern said that production of kosher-for-Passover matzah ended in late March, and that retailers had up until the week before Passover to place their orders.
Los Angeles kosher markets contacted said matzah boxes still line their shelves.
“It’s purely a chain store problem,” he said. “We’ve got matzah!”
Haaretz reports: The U.S. is facing a nation-wide shortage of Matza this Passover, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The reasons for the shortage are not clear, but the possibilities range from manufacturing problems, individual stores’ decision not to carry matza and rumors of a possible labor dispute among matza plant workers, according to the report.
“It seemed like the whole region had a problem getting it in,” the New York Times quoted Miami Whole Foods supermarket supervisor Jason Hodges as saying.
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ShopRite in Philadelphia was sold out, as was the Food Emporium in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., in Westchester County.
“We heard there was a strike or something,” said the Food Emporium manager, Frantz Baptiste. “The first shipment we had was a month ago, and we never got another one.”
According to the report, officials with the popular matza manufacturer Manischewitz have said that problems with a new state-of-the-art oven in its only New Jersey plant caused it to scrap this Passover?s supply some less popular matza varieties, as well as a popular Passover cracker.
Supermarket chain Trader Joe’s chose not to offer matza at their stores nationwide, as did some Costco stores, saying the product was not a big seller.
NYT says:
“Being out of matzo is like being out of milk,” Ms. Mnookin said. So it was on to Safeway. Nothing. Fearing that the box of stale matzo remaining in her pantry from last year would not cut it, she drove nearly 15 miles to Menlo Park.
Hypothesis: If the shortage had been on gefilte fish, complaints would have been far fewer.
The reasons behind the matzo shortage range from manufacturing problems, decisions by some stores not to carry the product this Passover and vague talk of a possible work stoppage.
“It seemed like the whole region had a problem getting it in,” said Jason Hodges, a supervisor in the grocery department at a Whole Foods in Miami. A person who answered the phone at a ShopRite in Philadelphia said stores there were sold out, as was the Food Emporium in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., in Westchester County.
“We heard there was a strike or something,” said the Food Emporium manager, Frantz Baptiste. “The first shipment we had was a month ago, and we never got another one.”
Phone calls and e-mail messages to the largest suppliers of unleavened bread products, Streit’s, Manischewitz and Yehuda, brought no response on Monday, possibly because executives were off for Passover, which began Saturday night.
But Manischewitz officials have said that problems with a new state-of-the-art oven in its only New Jersey plant caused it to scrap this Passover’s supply of Tam Tam crackers, its little six-sided matzo morsels, as well as some less popular matzo varieties.
Trader Joe’s stores opted not to sell Passover matzo this year, as did some Costco stores. “It’s not a huge item for us,” said a Costco spokesman, Bob Nelson.
The problem seemed especially acute in the San Francisco Bay Area. In Palo Alto, Amy Kawadler said she had been told there was no matzo at the Mollie Stone’s Market, which carries a wide selection of kosher food, but she noticed a lone box making its way down a checkout conveyor.
When she inquired about it, the customer “grabbed it and pressed it against his chest and said, ‘This is my matzo,’ ” Ms. Kawadler said. He directed her to the section where one last box, of onion poppy matzo, remained, resting on the back of a bottom shelf. “I ran with my hands in the air, pumping the box in my hand saying, ‘I got the last box of matzo!’ ” Ms. Kawadler said. “It was the talk of our seder.”
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