Decatur’s Matzolah to Keep Crunching With Streit’s

By Fran Memberg | fmemberg@atljewishtimes.com

The sale of the Streit’s matzo factory on New York’s Lower East Side is not expected to stop Foodman, a Decatur-based specialty kosher food manufacturer founded in 2012.

Foodman’s signature product, Matzolah, a matzo–based granola, made its debut at the 2012 Kosherfest trade show.

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Matzolah was named Kosherfest’s best new Passover product that year, and Streit’s agreed to manufacture the product using its matzo and distribute it for Passover 2013, using the company’s macaroon canister design. Streit’s has manufactured, distributed and warehoused Matzolah ever since and expanded its role with Foodman (www.foodmannosh.com) as a partner.

“I don’t think much will change for Foodman because of this,” Foodman President Wayne Silverman said.

While Streit’s matzo has been baked at the Rivington Street factory since a decade after Aron Streit opened shop nearby in 1915, the family-run company has a second factory in Moonachie, New Jersey, that produces other Passover products, including Matzolah.

Silverman said Aaron Gross, a great-great-grandson of Streit’s founder, assured him that the companies’ relationship will not change.

All Matzolah products are made at the New Jersey factory and are listed in the Streit’s national catalog for large grocery chains. Streit’s delivers Matzolah orders to those stores, including Kroger and Whole Foods. Matzolah orders for small specialty stores and nonprofit organizations are shipped to Foodman’s Connecticut warehouse and distributed by Foodman.

Silverman said his conversation with Gross left no doubt that Streit’s views Matzolah as the type of contemporary kosher product it wants to keep bringing to the marketplace.