Take-Out Popular During Summer

KosherToday.com

At a time when home kosher cooking is at an all-time high, the popularity of take-out foods continues to soar, particularly over the summer months.

In more than two handful of interviews, Kosher Today has learned that take-out has become so popular that it has turned into a multi-million dollar industry and a major profit center for many supermarkets.

This development is extremely interesting at a time when there are a record number of kosher cookbooks on the market and almost every major Jewish publication has extensive coverage of gourmet home cooking.

“As much as they like the home cooking for special occasions when they like to show-off, they dislike home cooking on an ordinary day,” one kosher food maven said.

In other words, take-out foods is preferred by a large segment of the kosher public and retailers have truly stepped up their game. The retailers say that unlike other sections of the store where margins are smaller and controlled, the take-out department can well compensate for the smaller margins.

The kosher market is beginning to closely mimic the general market with a growing business in takeout including the popular Asian foods, particularly Sushi.

Takeout is particularly popular during the summer months when housewives look to take a vacation from the home cooking. One husband and father of three delivers several boxes of Shabbos food from Brooklyn’s Pomegranate.

Many of the independents like Evergreen, Season’s and Gourmet Glatt cater to the Catskill crowds as do the grocers in the Catskills, some of which have upgraded their stores.