THIS AROMA HAS A STINK

This just in from Kosher Today………..

AROMA’S NEW YORK LAUNCH NOT KOSHER, SOURCES SAY………..

New York…The opening of Aroma Espresso Bar in the East Village of Manhattan this week should have been a cause for celebration by New York’s Jewish community. Instead, the Israeli-based coffee chain with 72 stores in Israel is the subject of intense criticism for launching its American effort with a non-kosher store. Sources in Israel told Kosher Today that the store was using both meat and dairy in its pilot store, including non-kosher turkey in its sandwiches.

The sources said that the store had originally planned to sell ham but nixed the idea at the last minute for fear of disenfranchising its Israeli and American Jewish customers. In fact, Aroma officials told Yediot Achronot that the menu has been reformulated to suit American tastes. “And while both meat and dairy items appear on the menu, the chain decided they would not use any pork or seafood because they believe their Israeli patrons both in Israel and abroad would strongly object.” A company executive told Kosher Today’s Israeli Bureau Chief Idele Ross that the New York store would be “kosher style.” (editor’s note: ie, treif)

Kosher sources told Kosher Today that Aroma was “trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes, making it appear that they were sensitive to their kosher concerns while serving treif (non-kosher).” One Lower East Side rabbi called the Aroma management “arrogant and frankly commercially na�ve,” suggesting that the store would loose business by being non-kosher. Israeli sources say that Aroma has both kosher and non-kosher (open on Shabbat) stores in Israel and apparently has similar plans for its program to open many stores in North America. “If we open a Brooklyn branch, it will be kosher,” said Noam Berman, Aroma’s Vice President of Marketing in a statement to the New York Jewish Week. But kashrus officials say that the mixed bag will lead to confusion and frankly cause for many rabbis to warn kosher customers to stay away from Aroma altogether. An informed source said that the Aroma action was part of a larger problem of some segments in Israel who continue to be insensitive to kosher even in the face of strong evidence of the strength of kosher. “Some Israelis are trying to export non-kosher foods to the American market,” the source charged.

The irony of the Aroma story is that many kosher consumers are loyal to Starbucks, whose products are certified kosher. The attempt by Starbucks to open a franchise in Israel had failed, largely due to the drastically different taste palates of Israelis. Said the Israeli source: “The irony of ironies was that Starbucks wanted to give Israelis their kosher coffee and other products while the Israeli-Aroma chain is exporting non-kosher to the largest kosher market in the world.”

It’s a strange world after all, it’s a strange world after all, it’s a strange world after all, it’s a strange strange world…………..