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Friday July 19, 2002

Some Albertson bakeries go kosher though not yet in the Bay Area

ALEZA GOLDSMITH
Bulletin Staff

The bakeries of at least 12 Albertson's grocery stores nationwide have gone kosher, but none yet in the Bay Area.

Selected Albertson's bakeries in states including Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona, New Jersey and Texas are now under the supervision of the Orthodox Union, said Walt Rubel, a spokesperson for Albertson's in Pennsylvania.

The bakeries offer "the same basic products as regular Albertson's bakeries," like bread, cookies and cakes, except that the entirety of the selections meet kosher specifications, he said.

There are no immediate plans to convert any Albertson's stores in the Bay Area. But an evaluation is under way "to see if it would be a component that would fit into the stores here," said Stacia Levinfeld, a spokesperson for Albertson's in Northern California.

"We pride ourselves on being a neighborhood market. We're looking neighborhood by neighborhood, store by store," she said, citing demographics (such as a high Jewish population) and the existing competition (such as other kosher bakeries) as some factors to be considered.

"I can't say anything definitive, like it will happen in this store or that store," she said. "But we are looking at the possibility of rolling it out into stores where it fits."

Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum, executive director of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California, said he believes the Bay Area is the perfect market for such an endeavor by Albertson's. He also believes that it is a move that would generate much support.

"In the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly on the Peninsula, we are desperately in need of kosher bakeries," he said. "If Albertson's would establish a kosher bakery or two in the area it would be very helpful."

Going kosher, said Rubel, has been fairly simple. "It mostly boils down to a question of ingredients. The bakeries are fairly easy to operate."

However, he said the kosher inspection and supervision fee -- as well as the high demand for many of Albertson's non-kosher bakery items, like buttercream frosting -- do not make it economical to transform all of Albertson's bakeries.

"We typically place a kosher bakery where there is a specific demand -- where it's going to generate significant sales," he explained.

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