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Kew Gardens Hills, NY - Even in Recession Times Max & Mina's Ice Cream are Up 40% |
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Bruce Becker at Max & Mina’s, the ice cream shop he and his brother own.
Like many of his neighbors, he sells a kosher product and draws in regular crowds after Sabbath. But while many fellow shopkeepers are feeling the pain of slower sales in the recession, Mr. Becker's business, Max & Mina's Ice Cream, recently added eight workers, and he is working the longest hours he has in 12 years.
Mr. Becker, who owns the shop with his brother, Mark, is struggling to keep pace with a growing appetite for ice cream.
Since last August - a month when New Yorkers typically feel sated from a summer of scoops - customers have continued to pour in for comforting flavors like cinnamon babka and strawberry shortcake: Sales are up by 40 percent. Demand jumped by 70 percent for the Beckers' wholesale business, which supplies Manhattan shops and restaurants that sell ice cream as a main dessert or in the supportive, Ã la mode role.
"There's no question people are eating more," Mr. Becker said as he darted around his shop in a blue pinstripe suit, a navy baseball cap and flip-flops. "This is an affordable comfort food. What kind of a life is it if you're not eating something good?"
It is a sentiment shared by Melissa Lowinger, 20, a senior at Yeshiva University who visits the shop weekly with her grandparents and her younger brothers. While her family tries to be more cost-conscious during the recession, she has chosen not to sacrifice the mint Oreos that she likes mixed in with her ice cream.
"It's been a tradition," she said. "We try to be careful as we can. But ice cream is important, too."
Max & Mina's success, however, has not necessarily helped draw shoppers to neighboring businesses. While Kew Gardens Hills may not have been hurt as much as other neighborhoods by the recession, a sandwich shop and two clothing stores have disappeared from Main Street, said Patricia Dolan, president of the Kew Gardens Hills Civic Association.
She could not recall seeing empty storefronts in the neighborhood for "many years," she said.
Mr. Becker, who has watched businesses - including a Thai restaurant and a bakery - close in the past year, said he had tried to help his neighbors. He suggested that the owners of one store, Ramat Gan Fruits and Vegetables and Israeli Imports, a market that has served the neighborhood since 1975, draw more customers by playing classical music and offering free samples.
Menashe Israeli, one of the owners, said that while business might have dropped about 20 percent, he did not need Mr. Becker's advice.
"We help them," he said, referring to the ice cream shop.
Meanwhile, Mr. Becker said he was receiving more orders from midpriced Manhattan restaurants. Mara Levi, who runs Mara's Homemade in the East Village with her husband, David, stopped by the shop on a recent Monday morning to pick up two tubs of French vanilla to serve with her homemade peach cobbler and chocolate pecan cake. Ms. Levi said that while customers typically order fewer desserts in the warmer months, she had seen no slowdown this year.
"That's a lot of à la mode," she said incredulously, as she added up how much ice cream customers have been eating.
Compared with a year ago, she said, "we're selling probably double the ice cream."
Mr. Becker, a consummate food entrepreneur who chats about the investment capital backing cupcake shops and the financial limitations of gelato, has spent the past decade serving locals and promoting his flavors to the rarefied food elite of Manhattan. He found fame and a spot in People magazine's most eligible bachelor issue along the way.
The shop walls are lined with photographs of celebrity ice cream fans, like the professional wrestler Mick Foley, who enjoyed cupcake ice cream at an event with so much "gusto," Mr. Becker said, that he was cut off.
Dylan Lauren, who sells the Becker brothers' ice cream at her Dylan's Candy Bar shops in Midtown and at Roosevelt Field in Garden City, describes it as a "hippie, Orthodox, New York version of Ben & Jerry."
These customer relationships, built in better times, seem not to be suffering in the downturn. Unemployed bankers in suits are still taking two buses and a subway for cones. And when the Barbie doll celebrated its 50th anniversary this spring, Ms. Lauren worked with Mr. Becker to blend pink ice cream with black and white cookies, in honor of the doll's signature swimsuit.
Next door to Max & Mina's, Suren Kay, manager of the Mr. Computer Doctor shop, said his business had fallen by 30 percent in recent months as more customers enlisted relatives and computer "geeks" to fix their computers. He recently closed a second shop, in Kew Gardens. And, an unrelated Web site that he runs, TorahAnytime.com, has suffered from declining donations, he said.
Still, he said, he would not trade his financial pressures to run an ice cream shop, even as he sees the line spilling from his neighbor's store on Sundays.
"Everyone has their thing that they do in this world," Mr. Kay said. "Ice cream is ice cream."
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Read Comments (26) — Post Yours »
1
Jun 06, 2009 at 11:08 PM Anonymous Says:
This shows that a well managed business, with reasonable hasghaca (not worrying about "chalav yisroel and other nareshkeit that drive some stores out of business)can prosper even in the current economy. There is a middle ground for yiddeshe business that combines kashruth observance and practical decisions that rev becker seems to have found. Much hatzlacha.
3
Jun 07, 2009 at 12:12 AM 68 lee Says:
“ This shows that a well managed business, with reasonable hasghaca (not worrying about "chalav yisroel and other nareshkeit that drive some stores out of business)can prosper even in the current economy. There is a middle ground for yiddeshe business that combines kashruth observance and practical decisions that rev becker seems to have found. Much hatzlacha. ”
No its not because the way he runs it.
Its because hkb"h made him successful so." Burich hosham" and cholev yisruel is not a norishkit
4
Jun 07, 2009 at 12:07 AM Anonymous Says:
“ This shows that a well managed business, with reasonable hasghaca (not worrying about "chalav yisroel and other nareshkeit that drive some stores out of business)can prosper even in the current economy. There is a middle ground for yiddeshe business that combines kashruth observance and practical decisions that rev becker seems to have found. Much hatzlacha. ”
"not worring about cholov
yisroel and other nareshkiet"???You must not be a G-d fearing Jew. Dont mock people who try to better themselves and dont forget where all our money comes from in the first place. It has nothing to do with "a well managed business" and everything to do with the creator!!!
5
Jun 07, 2009 at 12:06 AM Anonymous Says:
Do they have unusual flavors? Not that many ice cream shops have garlic, wasabi, or curry ice cream. Do they have any sugar free ice creams with stevia?
6
Jun 07, 2009 at 12:04 AM Anonymous Says:
The store is under the local vaad (Vaad HaRabonim of Queens), which is the ONLY hashgacha in the neighborhood. Also, some of their flavors are Cholov Yisroel.
7
Jun 07, 2009 at 12:47 AM esther Says:
some people knock down other people's chumras,maybe even referring to them as narishkait,in order to build themselves up in their own mind.
8
Jun 07, 2009 at 07:10 AM Anonymous Says:
“ This shows that a well managed business, with reasonable hasghaca (not worrying about "chalav yisroel and other nareshkeit that drive some stores out of business)can prosper even in the current economy. There is a middle ground for yiddeshe business that combines kashruth observance and practical decisions that rev becker seems to have found. Much hatzlacha. ”
You make no sense. They have in their store a cholov yisroel section, and a non cholov yisroel sewction. They are successful becuase they have a good, unique product, good customer service, and good PR.
9
Jun 07, 2009 at 07:03 AM Anonymous Says:
“ some people knock down other people's chumras,maybe even referring to them as narishkait,in order to build themselves up in their own mind. ”
Unbelievable really how Topsy turvy the world has become! Cholov Yisroel is not a chumra rather a Halacha. Not eating Cholov Yisroel is nothing more then a HETER!
10
Jun 07, 2009 at 06:55 AM Devorah Bahn Says:
Bruce & Mark, you guys are awesome! We wish you much Hatzhacha always.(p.s. cookie mess is still my favorite).
11
Jun 07, 2009 at 08:20 AM Milhouse Says:
“ This shows that a well managed business, with reasonable hasghaca (not worrying about "chalav yisroel and other nareshkeit that drive some stores out of business)can prosper even in the current economy. There is a middle ground for yiddeshe business that combines kashruth observance and practical decisions that rev becker seems to have found. Much hatzlacha. ”
What kind of apikores are you, to call cholov yisroel a "nareshkeit"?! And who is this "rev becker" you mention? Some kind of galach?
12
Jun 07, 2009 at 09:09 AM Anonymous Says:
"Unbelievable really how Topsy turvy the world has become! Cholov Yisroel is not a chumra rather a Halacha. Not eating Cholov Yisroel is nothing more then a HETER!"
Cholov stam from a major dairy has been ruled to be equivalent to cholov yisrael in the US by many rabbis, so cholov yisrael is a chumra. There is no real justification for using cholov yisrael in the US. In recent times has there ever been a case where milk from a major dairy has been found to be contaminated with milk from a species that is not kosher? Can you provide proof that it ever happened? Is pig milk or milk from another non kosher species even commercially available in the US even if one does try to find it?
13
Jun 07, 2009 at 09:05 AM Yidel Says:
It's a recession..
That's why they are doing so good,the same like all the discount stores are doing so good.. People don't have the money to spend on the expensive steak houses so they go out to the ice cream stores..
14
Jun 07, 2009 at 09:39 AM Milhouse Says:
“ "Unbelievable really how Topsy turvy the world has become! Cholov Yisroel is not a chumra rather a Halacha. Not eating Cholov Yisroel is nothing more then a HETER!"
Cholov stam from a major dairy has been ruled to be equivalent to cholov yisrael in the US by many rabbis, so cholov yisrael is a chumra. There is no real justification for using cholov yisrael in the US. In recent times has there ever been a case where milk from a major dairy has been found to be contaminated with milk from a species that is not kosher? Can you provide proof that it ever happened? Is pig milk or milk from another non kosher species even commercially available in the US even if one does try to find it? ”
Cholov yisroel is a halachic requirement. It makes no difference whether there is any real concern about milk from treife species; in fact that is precisely when the chachomim imposed their gezera. If there were a real chance that more than 1/60 of the milk supply were from horses, there would be no need for a gezera, because it would be sofek de'oraisa and therefore automatically lechumra. It's precisely when there is NO such concern that the chachomim decreed that the milking must be supervised by a Jew. And that is still the halacha; if you visit a farm and buy milk from the farmer, that milk is NOT KOSHER, even if there is not a single treife animal on the farm.
Reb Moshe ruled that our commercial milk that we buy in the supermarket has a din of cholov yisroel. OK. Kedai hu Reb Moshe lismoch olov. Those who rely on him are within their rights, and ein limchos beyodon. But first of all, his psak is a great chidush, and not everyone agrees to it. And even for those who do agree with it, it's still not right to rely on such a chidush, and a daas yochid, when "classic" cholov yisroel is available; a yid is supposed to be mehader bemitzvos, and not look for every conceivable heter that can possibly be found. That's why the same Reb Moshe said that schools may not take advantage of the heter, because they're supposed to educate children to be mehader bemitzvos. And that's why the same Reb Moshe said anybody who is a baal nefesh should not take advantage of the heter, unless the additional cost of "classic" cholov yisroel is more than $100.
That is a far cry from saying "there is no real justification for using cholov yisrael in the US"!
And there is no such thing as "cholov stam". That is a made-up term that means nothing.
15
Jun 07, 2009 at 10:32 AM Anonymous Says:
“ "Unbelievable really how Topsy turvy the world has become! Cholov Yisroel is not a chumra rather a Halacha. Not eating Cholov Yisroel is nothing more then a HETER!"
Cholov stam from a major dairy has been ruled to be equivalent to cholov yisrael in the US by many rabbis, so cholov yisrael is a chumra. There is no real justification for using cholov yisrael in the US. In recent times has there ever been a case where milk from a major dairy has been found to be contaminated with milk from a species that is not kosher? Can you provide proof that it ever happened? Is pig milk or milk from another non kosher species even commercially available in the US even if one does try to find it? ”
You are making things up. "Lo Mareh Umnaso" is the basis for the theory that a large company wouldnt risk their reputation by contaminating milk and that is the heter for chalav stam! Most rabanim that are matir chalav stam wouldnt agree that it applies in a situation where chalav yisrael is available for a similar price, certainly not for a luxury like ice cream.
Your whole attitude reeks from a disdain for people that try to be closer to hashem and by extension it says that you are disdainful of hashem, his torah and mitzvos.
16
Jun 07, 2009 at 10:26 AM Anonymous Says:
“ Cholov yisroel is a halachic requirement. It makes no difference whether there is any real concern about milk from treife species; in fact that is precisely when the chachomim imposed their gezera. If there were a real chance that more than 1/60 of the milk supply were from horses, there would be no need for a gezera, because it would be sofek de'oraisa and therefore automatically lechumra. It's precisely when there is NO such concern that the chachomim decreed that the milking must be supervised by a Jew. And that is still the halacha; if you visit a farm and buy milk from the farmer, that milk is NOT KOSHER, even if there is not a single treife animal on the farm.
Reb Moshe ruled that our commercial milk that we buy in the supermarket has a din of cholov yisroel. OK. Kedai hu Reb Moshe lismoch olov. Those who rely on him are within their rights, and ein limchos beyodon. But first of all, his psak is a great chidush, and not everyone agrees to it. And even for those who do agree with it, it's still not right to rely on such a chidush, and a daas yochid, when "classic" cholov yisroel is available; a yid is supposed to be mehader bemitzvos, and not look for every conceivable heter that can possibly be found. That's why the same Reb Moshe said that schools may not take advantage of the heter, because they're supposed to educate children to be mehader bemitzvos. And that's why the same Reb Moshe said anybody who is a baal nefesh should not take advantage of the heter, unless the additional cost of "classic" cholov yisroel is more than $100.
That is a far cry from saying "there is no real justification for using cholov yisrael in the US"!
And there is no such thing as "cholov stam". That is a made-up term that means nothing. ”
It appears that you are practicing 'frankenstein' Judiasm. One side of your mouth suuts what passes for divrei Torah, while the otherside is motze shem rah, calling other Jews apicorsim and galachim.
Make up your mind. Don't pretend that your values are greater that the rest of klal Yisroel while degrading everyone else. We do not know what you do for a living that you are so pious.
17
Jun 07, 2009 at 11:30 AM Milhouse Says:
“ It appears that you are practicing 'frankenstein' Judiasm. One side of your mouth suuts what passes for divrei Torah, while the otherside is motze shem rah, calling other Jews apicorsim and galachim.
Make up your mind. Don't pretend that your values are greater that the rest of klal Yisroel while degrading everyone else. We do not know what you do for a living that you are so pious. ”
No, I only called YOU an apikores, because you are one. I don't know whom I called a galach, but if the zucchetto fits....
18
Jun 07, 2009 at 11:29 AM Milhouse Says:
“ You are making things up. "Lo Mareh Umnaso" is the basis for the theory that a large company wouldnt risk their reputation by contaminating milk and that is the heter for chalav stam! Most rabanim that are matir chalav stam wouldnt agree that it applies in a situation where chalav yisrael is available for a similar price, certainly not for a luxury like ice cream.
Your whole attitude reeks from a disdain for people that try to be closer to hashem and by extension it says that you are disdainful of hashem, his torah and mitzvos. ”
Sorry, the heter does NOT rely on "uman lo mera umnuso". That might be enough if we were merely dealing with a sofek that there might be milk from a treife species. But the issue here is the rabbinic decree against milk that a goy milked without a Jew watching; "uman lo mera umnuso" doesn't help with that.
19
Jun 07, 2009 at 12:25 PM kal Says:
first off,i'm happy for the owners-kein yirbu,bezH"Y.
That said,it's more than a little scary that this the second article on V.I.N. that deals with "prosperity"in the Frum community,(the first being an article from craine's dealing with the high # of banks in BP.
Lastly,i just had to say that reading the comments was a reminder of how special Klal Yisroel is:different opinions,but each with regard to Halacha.R' Levi Yitzchok m'Berditchev,the great defender of Klal Yisroel would be proud.i know i am!
20
Jun 07, 2009 at 12:32 PM Anonymous Says:
“ No, I only called YOU an apikores, because you are one. I don't know whom I called a galach, but if the zucchetto fits.... ”
Ignore the name calling by Millhouse. While he occsasionaly makes a cogent point, he is generally way off on halachic issues. In this case, he is totally unaware, that Rav Moshe's son-in-law, the even greater Rav, Moshe Tendler, also issued a posek that in the U.S. today there is no issue with chalav yisroel. So, if such great rabbonim say its Ok, I'll just ignore Rav Milhouse's nareshkeit.
21
Jun 07, 2009 at 12:38 PM kal Says:
first off,i'm happy for the owners-kein yirbu,bezH"Y.
That said,it's more than a little scary that this the second article on V.I.N. that deals with "prosperity"in the Frum community,(the first being an article from craine's dealing with the high # of banks in BP.
Lastly,i just had to say that reading the comments was a reminder of how special Klal Yisroel is:different opinions,but each with regard to Halacha.R' Levi Yitzchok m'Berditchev,the great defender of Klal Yisroel would be proud.i know i am!
22
Jun 07, 2009 at 01:47 PM Milhouse Says:
“ Ignore the name calling by Millhouse. While he occsasionaly makes a cogent point, he is generally way off on halachic issues. In this case, he is totally unaware, that Rav Moshe's son-in-law, the even greater Rav, Moshe Tendler, also issued a posek that in the U.S. today there is no issue with chalav yisroel. So, if such great rabbonim say its Ok, I'll just ignore Rav Milhouse's nareshkeit. ”
Ah, it's our old friend Mr "gadolim". I told you "gadolim" wasn't your only tell; you have others, which I am not about to list.
Be aware that this commenter (#20) is not an orthodox Jew, and is quite possibly not even Jewish at all.
23
Jun 07, 2009 at 04:22 PM esther Says:
“ "Unbelievable really how Topsy turvy the world has become! Cholov Yisroel is not a chumra rather a Halacha. Not eating Cholov Yisroel is nothing more then a HETER!"
Cholov stam from a major dairy has been ruled to be equivalent to cholov yisrael in the US by many rabbis, so cholov yisrael is a chumra. There is no real justification for using cholov yisrael in the US. In recent times has there ever been a case where milk from a major dairy has been found to be contaminated with milk from a species that is not kosher? Can you provide proof that it ever happened? Is pig milk or milk from another non kosher species even commercially available in the US even if one does try to find it? ”
just to add to the discussion,chasidim look at cholov yisroel and being very machmir in kashrus in general as having a tremendously positive spiritual effect on the consumer.chalav stam is looked at as cvs having the opposite effect.this is not meant as an insult to anyone.
24
Jun 07, 2009 at 05:03 PM kal Says:
“ Ignore the name calling by Millhouse. While he occsasionaly makes a cogent point, he is generally way off on halachic issues. In this case, he is totally unaware, that Rav Moshe's son-in-law, the even greater Rav, Moshe Tendler, also issued a posek that in the U.S. today there is no issue with chalav yisroel. So, if such great rabbonim say its Ok, I'll just ignore Rav Milhouse's nareshkeit. ”
how DARE you poke fun at a Gadol hador?!
i'll leave it at that.
25
Jun 07, 2009 at 10:42 PM Anonymous Says:
“ You are making things up. "Lo Mareh Umnaso" is the basis for the theory that a large company wouldnt risk their reputation by contaminating milk and that is the heter for chalav stam! Most rabanim that are matir chalav stam wouldnt agree that it applies in a situation where chalav yisrael is available for a similar price, certainly not for a luxury like ice cream.
Your whole attitude reeks from a disdain for people that try to be closer to hashem and by extension it says that you are disdainful of hashem, his torah and mitzvos. ”
"You are making things up. "Lo Mareh Umnaso" is the basis for the theory that a large company wouldnt risk their reputation by contaminating milk and that is the heter for chalav stam!"
Traif milk is not even available commercially in the US. No large company bottles it.
There is no demand for it, and it is impractical to collect and process.
This is not a matter of disdain, but a matter of practicality. Most people here do not live in Boro Park, and don't have a nearby store that sells cholov yisrael. Even if there is a store a few miles from here that has cholov yisrael, I would not make a special trip out of my way just to buy milk. Is cholov yisrael yogurt even available? I have not seen it. As for meat, I don't eat it, so I can shop in a regular supermarket.
26
Jun 08, 2009 at 09:41 AM Anonymous Says:
“ "Unbelievable really how Topsy turvy the world has become! Cholov Yisroel is not a chumra rather a Halacha. Not eating Cholov Yisroel is nothing more then a HETER!"
Cholov stam from a major dairy has been ruled to be equivalent to cholov yisrael in the US by many rabbis, so cholov yisrael is a chumra. There is no real justification for using cholov yisrael in the US. In recent times has there ever been a case where milk from a major dairy has been found to be contaminated with milk from a species that is not kosher? Can you provide proof that it ever happened? Is pig milk or milk from another non kosher species even commercially available in the US even if one does try to find it? ”
Which Rabbis said that Cholov Stam in the USA is equivalent to Cholov Yisroel? Rav Moshe Feinstein O"bm, the originator of the Heter of Cholov Stam being permitted only when there is governmental inspection, specified that Cholov Stam is only permitted Bdieved (ex post facto) when Cholov Yisroel is unavailable. Not if it is more expensive. Furthermore, which other countries have governmental inspection of the milk - from the point of milking until the bottling?
27
Jun 08, 2009 at 05:03 PM Milhouse Says:
“ Which Rabbis said that Cholov Stam in the USA is equivalent to Cholov Yisroel? Rav Moshe Feinstein O"bm, the originator of the Heter of Cholov Stam being permitted only when there is governmental inspection, specified that Cholov Stam is only permitted Bdieved (ex post facto) when Cholov Yisroel is unavailable. Not if it is more expensive. Furthermore, which other countries have governmental inspection of the milk - from the point of milking until the bottling? ”
Sorry, you are stating utter falsehoods. Reb Moshe is the one who said that commercial milk is cholov yisroel. And no, it was NOT bedieved. Whoever told you that lied to you, and you should go back and challenge him. The heter is lechatchilah, and applies even in the heart of Boro Park.
Now whether one should rely on the heter is another question; but please don't lie and misrepresent what the heter is.