Sabra is dead. Long live Daneli’s.

I preferred Sabra before they switched from their previous kosher authority to their most recent one – their chips were just delicious. My friend who works in the kosher industry told me they were fried in oil that contained tallow, which is animal fat, and therefore not kosher. As a kosher consumer, I place a degree of trust in the supervising authority, so that if the food consumed turns out not to be kosher, it is on their heads, not mine. That said, some authorities are more trustworthy than others. Let’s leave that issue for another article …

Alas, Sabra has recently closed its doors, and the owner has moved (back) to Israel. But even as one star fades, another is born. Dan and Eli Grosberg have opened Daneli’s to rave reviews. Sam Lipski ought to try their pastrami on rye, which is a truly authentic kosher antipodean interpretation of the deli classic.
We all complain about the kosher eating options here in Melbourne. Restaurants come and go like the wind; there aren’t enough of them; they are too expensive; they aren’t kept clean. Why is this? And more importantly, what can be done about it?

On the other side of the counter, many restaurateurs are serial complainers too! Kosher meat is so expensive; I have to bear the cost of a supervisor; my hours are restricted by Shabbat; the Kosher authority won’t let me do this or that. Some even have the audacity to keep telling you how good their restaurant is!
The meat issue is certainly a valid one: kosher meat is three to four times more expensive than non-kosher. There are also lots of other ingredients that may have a slightly higher cost.

Restaurants typically run gross margins of 70-80%. This means that, for example, the ingredients in a $10 meal actually cost the restaurant just $2-3. The major operating cost is staff: the people in the kitchen who prepare and cook the food, and the waiting staff who directly look after the patrons.

For a kosher meat restaurant, if your ingredient costs (taking an average across all the ingredients – not just the meat) are double or triple, this makes a huge dent in margins. Either you put up your prices, or struggle to make a profit.

Kosher restaurants can’t open on Shabbat, so take at least another 15% off revenues, but rent still has to be paid. This is allegedly the reason the proposed Glicks at Chadstone was knocked back.

But on the other hand …

How much price elasticity of demand really is there in the kosher food market? To what extent will people simply consider alternatives because of the cost of kosher restaurants? I don’t know. Perhaps they should have included some questions about this in the recent community survey?

I recall that the prices at Park Grill were quite high, yet their serving sizes were very generous, and they were packed night after night. My Flame is also on the expensive side, and the place is rocking every time I go there. A Daneli’s burger will set you back $12.95 but close your eyes and you could be at Pico Kosher Deli or at the New York icon where fast food is good food.

Non-Jewish friends and associates are always surprised to hear of the paucity of kosher eating options in Melbourne and Sydney. There are over 2 million Jews in New York – if 10% of them only eat kosher, that translates to a market size of at least 200,000. The Shamash kosher restaurant database found over 600 restaurants in the state. In Melbourne there are about 50,000 Jews, and maybe 5,000 who keep kosher. On a pro-rata basis, we are probably doing quite well for kosher restaurants.

To me, the real problem is that the people who choose to open a restaurant here do it with little or no expertise or experience. How many of them have had some formal training at a school like William Angliss? Or done an apprenticeship at a good restaurant in Israel, New York, Los Angeles, or Paris? There seems to be an attitude of “if you build it, he will come” amongst some proprietors. Customers should never be taken for granted, and should not feel obliged to “support” a commercial venture.

It comes down to a very simple principle: The definition of a good kosher restaurant is a good restaurant … that just happens to be kosher.

This article is also posted on the Galus Australis online magazine.

AFL and the Law of Relative Misery

For those of you who have never heard of it (and for those who have) the "Law of Relative Misery" is best illustrated with the following story:

One day at work, you are called in by your boss, who tells you that you are doing a fantastic job, and have just been granted a raise, and will now be earning $200k per annum. You return back to your desk, and tell your friend next to you of your good news. You are on top of the world. A few minutes later, she is called into the boss, and comes back a short time later with the good news that she too has been granted a raise, and will now be earning $250k per annum. And now, you are miserable.

Last night, after the Blues gave up a huge lead in the final quarter and were overrun by a surging Brisbane, the trash talk on Facebook between Carlton and Collingwood was running hot, as the Pies' supporters (and everyone else) gloated over Carlton's loss.

But less than twenty four hours later, Collingwood too had succumbed, and it was the turn of the previously miserable Carlton supporters to forget their loss very quickly, and to dish it out to the losers. In the wake of the results, the debate now intensified between the two groups of supporters as to which team is better (or worse), and which is closer to a premiership.

The record will show that this weekend, Carlton and Collingwood didn't play each other. They both played and lost. For a Richmond supporter who knows very well where his team stands, it was mildly gratifying to see two arch rivals both get beaten. But from the post-match chatter between the Carlton and Collingwood supporters, you'd think they played a blinder, and you'd be hard pressed to know who won. At least not in the battle between the two in the war of Relative Misery.

Ashen-faced Aussies

Surprise, surprise. We lost the Ashes again. And within hours, the blame game begins. Was it the terrible umpiring? Poor selection? (perhaps some poor shot selection on the part of our batsmen) Should Ponting fall on his sword? (no, we're not English)

It's strange how we point to events toward the end of a test match as the key turning points. Like the run outs of Ponting and Clarke. Or the awful shot of Haddin who thought he was seeing watermelons instead of cricket balls like his partner Hussey (who batted superbly, and finally returned to his best - watch out for him during the one-day series). The turning point of the fifth test was on the second day when we were bowled out for 160; the rest was just a natural consequence. And even then, the talk wasn't that we had batted poorly, but that it was all in the pitch. All this talk is both a lack of and misplaced accountability.

Without a doubt, we underperformed. You can't win tests when you collapse and score way too little in the first innings, and have to play catch up for the rest of the match. We did on three occassions. You also can't win tests with an attack that is raw (how many , unbalanced, not in form, and not experienced in the conditions. At no point in the series did enough of our bowlers fire.

It should be pointed out that the the last four Ashes series have all gone to the home team. This is a fascinating statistic. It highlights that during this period, all that has separated Australia and England have been the local conditions. For we Aussies, it's a sobering thought.

We've only now been relegated to fourth in the test rankings, but this was only a matter of time after previous series losses, which in turn were a flow-on from the end of the 'golden years' of Warne, McGrath, and Gilchrist. The most important lesson from this Ashes performance is for the selectors. Blaming them to the touring squad or the lack of spinner in the final test is just as short-sighted as the aforementioned blame-game. While the players themselves need a narrow focus on the next ball or over or session of play, selectors need to take a very long-term view on team composition and preparation for major tours. I hope they look back at the last few years and learn a few things.