By Leyna Krow, Assistant Editor, JTNews
Until just a few weeks ago, local consumers had two choices of where to regularly purchase kosher meat products: The Albertson’s on Mercer Island and the University Village QFC in Seattle’s Northend. Now, however, a third option has sprung up. In June, kosher caterer Nosh Away announced the launch of its kosher grocery delivery service, Affordable Kosher.
Nosh Away has been catering private and community Jewish events in the Seattle area since 1998. Owner Phillip Klitzner said Affordable Kosher came about as an extension of Nosh Away’s own ongoing need for kosher foods.
“Nosh Away has always struggled to find quality kosher products in Seattle at reasonable prices,” Klitzner said. “So we started working with distributors back east who have been great and have been pushing us to distribute their products on the West Coast.”
And that’s exactly what they’re doing. Klitzner, who also owns Island Crust Pizza on Mercer Island, explained that trucks laden with kosher meats, poultry, dairy items and other grocery goods leave New York every Friday, arriving in Seattle on Monday. These products are then delivered directly to the homes of Affordable Kosher customers as ordered throughout the week.
According to Klitzner, buying kosher products in bulk and delivering them to customers rather than selling them out of a storefront helps keep costs down, meaning products are almost always less expensive than they would be if purchased at a grocery store.
“By offering home delivery, we’re actually able to lower our operating costs, as funny as it seems,” he said.
He offered, as an example, a bottle of Kedem grape juice, currently selling for $9.99 at Albertson’s, but $5.69 through Affordable Kosher.
“There’s not that savings on every item,” he cautioned, “but on the whole, we’re definitely offering lower prices.”
As of the end of June, Affordable Kosher claimed around 150 customers, most of whom live in the Seward Park neighborhood.
“We live there, so people know us and they know Nosh Away,” Klitzner said. “It’s mostly been word of mouth. We haven’t done a lot of marketing so far.”
In addition to Seward Park, Affordable Kosher also delivers to Mercer Island and Bellevue, and to the Capitol Hill, University District, and Wedgwood neighborhoods in Seattle. Klitzner noted he’d be open to delivering to additional ZIP codes if there’s a sufficient demand.
A wider variety of products will also become available to order through Affordable Kosher as the customer base expands. For right now, though, Klitzner is starting with the staples and waiting to see what other items people request as time goes on.
He said the biggest challenge so far has been anticipating how much of each product to order from his East Coast distributor.
“We want to have enough product on hand, but we also don’t want to…have stuff going bad,” he said. “In these first few weeks we have been having some extra product.”
Affordable Kosher requests customers purchase a minimum of $50 worth of merchandise per order. Delivery is free for orders over $100; otherwise there is an additional charge of $10.
Other similar ventures have met with varying degrees of success. A kosher storefront near the Seward Park neighborhood was unable to sustain its business and closed in 2003. Another cooperative venture based in Portland, Northwest Kosher, makes periodic deliveries to Seattle with kosher goods, including meats, but to a single pick-up location.
Klitzner said he has already received a lot of positive feedback about Affordable Kosher, and he’s optimistic about the future of the fledgling venture. As the city’s only grocery provider dedicated solely to kosher products, he believes Affordable Kosher has a lot of opportunity for growth.
“While Albertson’s and QFC have done a great job providing kosher products, it is just one section of their store,” Klitzner said. “We hope we can meet those demands a little better because we’re completely devoted to kosher consumers.”
For more information, visit www.affordablekosher.com.