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July 17, 2009
Solly's Kosher product line
Vancouver bagelry begins baking bread with B.C. Kosher.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
This week, Solly's Bagelry Ltd. began producing several kosher baked goods under the supervision of B.C. Kosher.
Solly's opened in 1994. There are now three Vancouver bakery/delis – 189 East 28th Ave., 2873 West Broadway and 368 West 7th Ave. – but it is the bakery at the 7th Avenue location that has allowed Solly's president and owner Leah Markovitch to carry out an idea she had back in 2002.
"I had a vision in my mind that we would create a Solly's Kosher selection and that was as soon as we opened a production facility," she told the Independent in a phone interview. "Things change a little bit, things don't happen on time quite the same way, but it's been in my mind for a long time. I knew the production facility could do it."
She added, "The majority of our baked goods are kosher by ingredient and it's not surprising that we take this on. I mean, the flour's kosher by ingredient, the oil is kosher by ingredient. There were just very, very minor adjustments we had to make to get to this point, and it was more in the pans and the pots and that sort of thing. The recipes have been kosher by ingredient for a long time."
The Solly's Kosher label – not to be confused with the Solly's Bagelry label, which is not kosher – is starting with a few products. The plan is to have challah, bagels, rugelah, blueberry cake, babka, cinnamon buns and rye bread under the Solly's Kosher label. "Solly's Kosher is the BCK-approved line," said Markovitch. All of these products will be clearly marked in sealed containers with the BCK symbol prominently displayed on the Solly's Kosher label. There will be a period of transition, where the stores have both the kosher and non-kosher product lines available, but, eventually, all the rugelah, for example, will be kosher, said Markovitch, pointing out that the challah is an exception – challah will be kosher completely from the start.
"We're following all of BCK's rules and, in order for it to be kosher, there needs to be a mashgiach, which is a delegated learned person in the rules of kashrut, here all the time while we're cooking or preparing or packaging, so he doesn't leave until the last package gets sealed every night," she explained.
Rabbi Eli Lando, business and operation manager of BCK, told the Independent that, in the case of Solly's, "We have a line of kosher products, so we require, although it's not required in all bakeries, but in a bakery where we have kosher and non-kosher, we have a full-time mashgiach and he will be working there as long as they're doing kosher."
While there are no plans at the moment for the retail stores to become kosher, Markovitch said, "We have plans for the future to open up a facility that would just handle all our kosher products and offer lunch fare as well."
She explained, "We're hoping to go from the baking into more cooking in the production facility. Slowly, slowly, we'll just get our feet wet. Then, slowly, slowly, also, we do have a lovely Solly's Bagelry platter menu and, as we forge ahead, then we can include our kosher products in there; meaning that if there's a pastry platter, we'll have made the kosher products, so now they can go on our pastry platter, or if there's a fruit platter, it'll be made under the supervision of a mashgiach."
Markovitch stressed: "There's going to be a learning curve for us ... BCK is going to have to teach us."
Lando said that Markovitch approached BCK about this project about four months ago. He said there have been many hours of meetings about the plans with Markovitch and Julian Lewin, Solly's executive manager. "Two months ago, we got into the practical scale of getting into this, meaning inspecting the facility with our rabbinical consult, looking at ... what we're going to do, and then we had to draw up the contract and, actually, this [past] Sunday was the first day that we came in, after the contract was signed, and we started the koshering process. We're very proud to say that, since then, we are working fully kosher."
About Monday, July 13, the first day the mashgiach was on the premises supervising operations, Markovitch said, "It was a really good day."
She continued, "There's really good energy from my staff and there were no mistakes made, but everyone's worrying and they're asking lots of questions. And tomorrow and the next day, there will be new products. Today, we only were making a few products – it's a production facility, so we make massive batches – and then, in a few days, there will be something new and it'll present its problems, its little questions. As we go through our whole line of baked products, we'll realize what can happen easily and what can't happen."
"The beginning is always the hardest," said Lando, "just to make sure that the kosher doesn't interfere with the business, and we find solutions for all the issues that we're facing. Obviously, when you start something new, there's always challenges that you have to overcome."
"I am so excited," said Markovitch about the new kosher product line. "I've lived here for half my life and I'm very much a part of the Jewish community ... and the Jewish community has been very supportive of me during many times in my life and I feel very at one with them and, for me, to exclude a certain part of the Jewish community is not right."
As Solly's tries to become more inclusive, Markovitch asked the community to place orders, at least in the beginning, since she is unsure of what the demand for the kosher products will be. "If they could just place orders," she said, "that would really help us because I'm concerned that a lot of people will get interested and that we'll disappoint them and, all of sudden, we'll have made half [of what we need]. If people call in for orders and are clear that they want a kosher product, we will make for them."
"I feel that this is a great opportunity for the community," said Lando. "It's great progress for the community, that we're having such an up-scale kosher bakery. Hopefully, this, in the long run, will be a successful move and, hopefully, we'll get the support of the community to buy from Solly's and all of our other kosher establishments."
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