New York City – Kosher Village had changed its name for the second time in three months (Chickpea to Kosher Village to Tahini).
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Turns out, owner Nissim Oron didn’t realize that there weren’t enough Orthodox Jewish people in the East Village to sustain a glatt kosher restaurant, a designation that requires closing on shabbat and for holidays, an expensive proposition.
“After three months I realized that this neighborhood is not the one for glatt kosher,” Oron said. “Only about 10 percent of our customers were coming in because it was glatt kosher. So I thought I’d go back to being just kosher, not glatt kosher, and so not to confuse anyone, we took ‘kosher’ out of the name.”
Yes, changing the name again should completely eliminate any confusion.
And as you might remember, the restaurant formerly known as Chickpea ran a contest to find the new name. 10,000 names were submitted, Kosher Village and Tahini among them. Oron awarded $30,000 in prize money to the genius who came up with Kosher Village—a rate that would turn out to be $10,000 for each month the name was in effect.
So would Oron be giving anything to the Tahini submitter? “I want to give him something,” Oron said. “But I haven’t decided what yet.”
so is this place kosher and under what hasgacha and will they be open on shabbos?????? or just be kosher style
DOES HE REALLY THINK THAT HE HAD LESS BUSINESS BECAUSE IT WAS GLATT KOSHER ? IF THIS PERSON CHANGED IT TO KOSHER INSTEAD OF GLATT DUE TO NOT ENOUGH BUSINESS, I WONDER IF IT WAS REALLY GLATT KOSHER. ANYONE WHO HAS A GLATT KOSHER PLACE REALLY NEEDS TO BELIEVE THAT IT IS THE WAY TO GO. IF HE REALLY DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE GLATT KOSHER WORLD HE HAS NO BUSINESS HAVING A GLATT KOSHER EATERY. I HOPE THE PEOPLE WHO ATE AT THIS PLACE WILL FIND SOMEPLACE ELSE TO EAT REALLY QUICKLY. I. WOULD HATE FOR ANYONE TO GO HUNGRY
Check his yichus ’cause he aint too smart if he thought a kosher restaurant would survive there!
The consumerist ran a story on this guy, the winner never got the money, it was a scam.
Oron,! GIVE HIM (OR HER) TAHINI!!!
I’m the one who submitted that name. If anybody knows what the law is regarding this matter please post. Also “ChaimRubin”, I searched the consumerist & didn’t find anything. Please help.
Thanks
hire a lawyer, it will give you better results than reading laws of an anonymous forum.
This article is wrong. The guy had two contests. When he first opened the restaurant, it didn’t have a name. He made a contest for $2500, and came up with the name Chickpea. Later he had another contest for $3000 and came up with the name Kosher Village and Tahini. It was 3000 NOT 30 000. I got this information from the New York Magazine for anybody who wants to look it up.
I looked it up further. It turns out that @0 people came up with the name Kosher Village and only the first person got the 3000 dollars. They also emailed everyone about the contest with the emails of all the people who entered the contest. Whoops! Bangitout is the source.
so, is it kosher? what’s the address? dd would like knowing there’s a kosher restaurant !
When it was called Kosher Village- it was under the OU with a mashgiach timidi.
The amount was $3,000.
I spoke with the owner and he cited the cost of the mashgiach as a reason dropping the hashgacha. Owner says its kosher but without supervision.
Note- there is a glatt kosher shomer shabbos falafel/shwarma place on E. 12th St right west of University Pl. called University Pita, supervised by Star-K.