Manischewitz (; he, מנישביץ) is a brand of

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

products based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, best known for its

matzo Matzah or matzo ( he, מַצָּה, translit=maṣṣā'','' pl. matzot or Ashk. matzos) is an unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which '' chametz'' (leaven and ...

and

kosher wine Kosher wine () is wine that is produced in accordance with ''halakha'', and more specifically '' kashrut'', such that Jews will be permitted to pronounce blessings over and drink it. This is an important issue, since wine is used in several Jew ...

. Founded in 1888, it became a public corporation in 1923 and remained under family control until January 1991, when it was bought out by a

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

. On April 7, 2014, Sankaty Advisors, an arm of the private equity firm

Bain Capital Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...

, bought the company from a group that included the investment firm Harbinger. It is the world's largest

Matzo Matzah or matzo ( he, מַצָּה, translit=maṣṣā'','' pl. matzot or Ashk. matzos) is an unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which '' chametz'' (leaven and ...

manufacturer, one of America's largest kosher brands, and the first American exporter of matzo.

History

Early B Manischewitz bakery, Cincinnati, Ohio (1926)

The B. Manischewitz Company, LLC was founded by Rabbi

Dov Behr Manischewitz Dov Behr Manischewitz (1856 or 1857 or 1858 in Salantai, Salant – March 8, 1914, in Cincinnati, Ohio), also known as Dov Ber, Dov Baer, Dov Bear, Dave Behr, and David Behr, and born Dov Behr Abramson, was a Lithuanian-American rabbi and busines ...

, in 1888 in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. The Company went public in 1923 and remained a public corporation until it was taken private in a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

led by

Kohlberg & Company Kohlberg & Company is an American private equity firm that focuses on leveraged buyout transactions. Founded by investor Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., the firm invests in a variety of transactions including leveraged carveout, take-private transactions, ...

in 1990 for $42.5 million. By 1926, the

Cuvier Press Club The Cuvier Press Club was a Cincinnati, Ohio social club created in 1911 when the members of the Cuvier Club merged with the members of the Pen and Pencil Club. From 1911 to 1938, the club was located on Opera Place. In 1938, the club moved to 22 G ...

described it as the largest firm of matzo bakers in the world, and the first American exporter of the flatbread. In the 1930s, in order to produce their products all year round, the company created Tam-Tam crackers, which are small hexagonal matzos, according to a recent book ''Manischewitz: The Matzo Family'', written by the founder's great-granddaughter, Laura Manischewitz Alpern (though the modern Tam Tam is quite different from matzo). Their original product, the square matzo, revolutionized matzo-making, which until the family's production process, used to consist of rolling the matzo and trimming the edges by hand. It was also considered quite revolutionary to make matzos by machine. The company built a second production site on Bay Street in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, in 1932, to better serve the large Jewish community of the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

, and the Cincinnati facility was eventually closed in 1958. In 1990, a $1 million fine was levied against the company for

price fixing Price fixing is an anticompetitive agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given ...

with its two main competitors at the time, Streit's and Horowitz-Margareten. In 1998, Richard A. Bernstein purchased the company from KKR. In 2004 its name was changed to the R.A.B. Food Group, LLC and today it is known as The Manischewitz Company. From 2007 to 2014, Manischewitz was owned by the hedge fund

Harbinger Capital Harbinger Capital Partners is a private hedge fund based in New York City, New York, founded by Philip Falcone. Harbinger is a highly diversified multi-strategy hedge fund. Notable investments have included sub-prime mortgages in the United St ...

. Manischewitz remains the world's top matzo manufacturer and one of America's top kosher brands. On June 14, 2011, a new facility opened at 80 Avenue K in the East Ward of

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Manischewitz has revolutionized the way in which matzo is produced. By mass-producing matzos they turned the output of matzo-making from a strictly local product into a national, and eventually international product. Manischewitz matzos were also the first to feature uniform texture, taste, and feel. When the company first began shipping matzos they also decided to make them square, whereas before matzos had been consistently round. Manischewitz's main innovation - making matzos with machines instead of by hand - aroused some initial controversy. Some rabbis of the era claimed that in order to be acceptable for religious use, the matzo had to have been made by a man and not a machine. Manischewitz was ultimately able to overcome these concerns, in part by demonstrating meticulous adherence to the

halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

(religious rules). Manischewitz acquired Horowitz-Margareten Matzo and manufactures Goodman matzo and

macaroon A macaroon ( ) is a small cake or biscuit, typically made from ground almonds (the original main ingredient), coconut or other nuts (or even potato), with sugar and sometimes flavourings (e.g. honey, vanilla, spices), food colouring, glacé che ...

s. In addition to matzo, Manischewitz-labeled foods include cookies, macaroons, pasta, and soups. Other well-known kosher brands associated with R.A.B. include Carmel, Elite, Mother's, Rokeach, Mrs. Adler's, and Tradition; many of these were acquired by R.A.B. after successful runs as independent kosher labels. R.A.B. is not involved with Manischewitz wine, however, except in name. Beginning in 1986, it licensed the Manischewitz brand name to the Manischewitz Wine Company, a subsidiary of Canandaigua Wine Company (now

Constellation Brands Constellation Brands, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, is an American producer and marketer of beer, wine, and spirits. Constellation is the largest beer import company in the US, measured by sales, and has the third-largest market share (7.4 percen ...

). In 2021, the brand was acquired by

E & J Gallo Winery E & J Gallo Winery is a winery and distributor headquartered in Modesto, California. It was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo, and is the largest exporter of California wines. E & J Gallo Winery is the largest family-owned wine ...

Wine

Bouteille de Manischewitz, cépage Concord

The Manischewitz

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

is located in

Canandaigua, New York Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora language, Tuscarora) is a City (New York), city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrat ...

. It is the property of E & J Gallo, which continues to license the Manischewitz name from R.A.B. Foods. The winery was founded by Leo Star and run by the Star family since 1927. The Manischewitz winery is best known for its budget

concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

wine, which is widely available in much of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Made from

labrusca ''Vitis labrusca'', the fox grape, is a species of grapevines belonging to the ''Vitis'' genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The vines are native to eastern North America and are the source of many grape cultivars, including Catawba, C ...

grapes, it is combined with a large amount of

residual sugar The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, whil ...

. Because concord was popularized by the U.S. media over the years as being ''the'' kosher wine, it is often the wine that is used to celebrate

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...

. However, Manischewitz's sweet Concord contains corn syrup, a sweetener derived from corn, which is forbidden during Passover among

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

. Manischewitz produces special Kosher for Passover bottling of its wines, which are sweetened with cane sugar as opposed to the corn syrup that is used throughout the year. The sweetness of Manischewitz wine and other kosher wines is often the fodder of jokes. However, Kosher wine does not have to be sweet. One of the reasons for the prevalence of sweet kosher wine in the U.S., and in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

generally, dates back to the early days of Jews in America, when they needed to locally produce kosher wine for the

Kiddush Kiddush (; he, קידוש ), literally, "sanctification", is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Additionally, the word refers to a small repast held on Shabbat or festival mornings after t ...

ritual that is performed on the

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

and holidays. The combination of a limited choice of grape varieties that could grow in the areas where Jews had settled, along with the limited amount of time that was available to produce the wine and a market that was dominated by hard cider, yielded a bitter wine that had to be sweetened in order to make it palatable. Because the sweet Manischewitz variety of wine is so well known in the U.S., the existence of a thriving

industry that is anchored by vineyards in France and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, along with a growing U.S. industry, is often a surprise to Americans who are unaccustomed to taking kosher wine seriously.

Advertising

The company has used the slogan "Man-O-Manischewitz What a Wine!" for advertising. The company and this advertising campaign are fictionally represented in season five of ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...

'' as a new account.

Controversies

* They were fined for alleged

. * Sabbath Observers have a long-standing practice to not use Manischewitz-brand products on religious occasions. Some of this has been traced to their Saturday morning sponsorship of radio ads with their "Manischewitz Matzos for Pesach" jingle heard by Observant worshippers when walking home from synagogue at a time of year when open windows made it clear that these people were not of interest to the company; they in turn would not allow the company's products into their homes. Emphasis on Sabbath observance is the key issue.

References

External links