I observed it out of the nook of my eye: One thing was completely different within the kosher meals part of my native Kroger. The acquainted containers of Manischewitz matzo (and matzo ball soup combine and macaroons) had a brand new look, and what a glance! Gone was the sleepy beige and blue of the earlier packaging; as an alternative was an arresting rusty orange, sprinkled with the harvest golds and sepia tones of a Seventies kitchen. The impact was concurrently nostalgic and novel. It was just like the design-world equal of matzo ball soup: comforting, heat, inviting.
The definitive identify in matzo, Manischewitz was based in 1888 by Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz, an immigrant fleeing the pogroms of Prussia. Manischewitz’s huge innovation was to make matzos on an meeting line, bringing them into Jewish houses throughout the nation. Though the model has modified its look quite a few occasions over the previous 136 years, every replace was constructed upon the look that got here earlier than it. And whereas its newest look incorporates some earlier parts — a pop of orange has lengthy graced Manischewitz containers — this rebrand feels extra like a rebirth.
In sure circles, Manischewitz’s transformation has hit with the pressure of a She’s All That-style makeover. “OMG THEY YASSIFIED MANISCHEWITZ,” screamed a submit on X (previously often known as Twitter), which the Jewish meals website the Nosher shared on Instagram. The sentiment completely captured the rebrand’s vibe. The illustrated figures on the packaging are cute and charming — they might be my mates! On the again of the matzo field, three well dressed generations collect round a seder desk, smiling and clinking wine glasses — they might be my household! The kitschy Yiddishisms sprinkled throughout the packaging — “made for noshing,” “there’s bupkis prefer it” — drive residence the schtick. If the older iterations of Manischewitz’s merchandise (the rebrand touched all the things however the wine, which is owned by Gallo) appeared like they might be reliably discovered within the dusty recesses of bubbe’s pantry, these new ones wouldn’t be misplaced in any TikTok-approved kitchen, proper subsequent to the Graza olive oil and Omsom noodles.
“The rebrand and new voice aimed to seize the essence of character, household, [and] love of meals, blended with witty observations and the head-of-the-table-type confidence Bubby would carry,” Joe Schott says by way of electronic mail. As senior copy editor at Jones Knowles Ritchie, the inventive company answerable for Manischewitz’s new design, Schott was answerable for creating the model’s verbal identification. “As soon as we began vocalizing that and discovering the method for a way Mani’z [that’s Manischewitz’s new nickname] would sound, it felt heat, inclusive, and vigorous,” Schott explains. “Like a cocktail party stuffed with spirited dialog that you just wished to be part of.”
Just a few days after I observed Manischewitz’s new packaging I obtained a press launch about it. The language utilized by the model’s PR staff struck me as notably telling. Fairly than the everyday rebrand music and dance, this felt extra loaded, like Manischewitz was making an attempt to reintroduce not simply their very own look however kosher meals as a complete class: “Manischewitz is ready to make the kosher aisle a vacation spot for everybody, no matter their background or dietary practices,” the discharge learn. “Manischewitz merchandise are extra than simply meals objects; they’re invites to expertise and take part in Jewish tradition.”
The announcement ended with a quote from Shani Seidman, the chief advertising officer of Kayco, Manischewitz’s mum or dad firm: “Impressed by the inclusivity seen in manufacturers with different cuisines, Manischewitz seeks to develop into the emblematic gateway to Jewish tradition,” it learn partly. In different phrases: It’s Jewish meals for all.
However can a rebrand really reimagine Jewish meals (or not less than a really particular sort of Jewish meals, particularly Jap European Ashkenazi meals) in a manner that makes it interesting “for all”? Or is Jewish meals so steeped in its personal tradition and spiritual customs that it may possibly’t hope to maneuver past an viewers with their very own cultural ties to it? And who’re these non-Jews on the market shopping for matzo, anyway? Whereas different cuisines have discovered methods to maneuver out of the so-called ethnic aisle and into the so-called mainstream — see, for instance, the current proliferation of Southeast Asian client packaged items (CPG) on grocery retailer cabinets — I ponder if we are able to count on the identical for Jewish meals.
Sure, Jewish deli tradition has loved one thing of a next-generation resurgence. However there’s a large hole in client enchantment between a pastrami sandwich and gefilte fish, and the artisanal rebranding of conventional Jewish meals like gefilte fish felt aimed primarily at coastal and/or city audiences already well-versed within the delicacies. Manischewitz, against this, goes for folk throughout the nation, and most of its merchandise are additionally tied particularly to Passover; outdoors of the vacation’s context, matzo is only a unhappy cracker.
Seidman says Manischewitz’s core client is an older Jewish one that grew up with the model at residence, however their new shoppers — the rebrand’s goal demographic — are the grandchildren of the unique viewers and, notably, their (not essentially Jewish) mates.
To enchantment to those new shoppers, “we went on a soul looking out journey,” Seidman says. “After we took the plunge of doing this, we went into the model identification and tried to determine what the model meant to the tradition.” The staff approached it from the angle of “this model is a gateway to Jewish tradition via meals,” she provides, echoing the press launch.
Different legacy Jewish meals manufacturers are hoping to discover a related gateway to, if nothing else, larger grocery retailer actual property. Final yr, Joyva, the 117-year-old tahini and confection maker, launched a spruced up new look that additionally combines the retro and fashionable in an effort to straddle two completely different demographics.
“The brand new model identification is supposed to enchantment to each our legacy shoppers — the generational Joyva followers who affiliate us with household and custom — and model new shoppers,” Joyva co-president Richard Radutzky says by way of electronic mail. These new shoppers didn’t essentially develop up with Joyva, he provides, however are enticed by the “new, colourful, and welcoming packaging” to attempt the model’s new merchandise.
The underlying hope, one might say, is that the rising tide will raise all ships. “As retail manufacturers like Joyva and Manischewitz evolve to achieve new audiences, it’s doable we’ll see an enlargement and progress for Jewish CPG manufacturers simply as we’ve seen over current years within the restaurant and meals service area, with locations like Russ & Daughters, Zabar’s, and Katz’s,” says Farrah Bezner, Joyva’s chief advertising officer.
Although Manischewitz’s rebranding course of started two years in the past, the timing of this launch feels essential. It’s a fraught time for a lot of American Jews, with antisemitism steadily rising for the reason that 2016 presidential election and skyrocketing following the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel and the Israeli Protection Forces’s ensuing cruel struggle on Gaza, which has killed 34,000 folks and counting, an estimated two-thirds of whom had been civilians. The Manischewitz staff knew Passover can be the best alternative for his or her launch, as a result of that is each prime matzo time and a second when Jewish tradition is being talked about extra broadly outdoors of Jewish circles. However, Seidman says, the rebrand can be occurring at a time, “when Jewishness may be very charged” — which, she provides, solely helps as an instance the necessity for the model’s message of Jewish meals for all.
“We really noticed a resurgence of Jewish satisfaction this yr particularly, and we really feel like that resurgence is inspiring folks to make a matzo ball soup now for Shabbat, and so they’re gonna invite their mates who might not be Jewish to Shabbat dinner,” Seidman says. It’s one thing many Jews have accomplished for years, however the concept of opening Shabbat tables to non-Jews has develop into particularly prevalent throughout the context of the pandemic, thanks partly to super-visible content material creators like Jake Cohen and Eitan Bernath.
Seidman hopes these non-Jewish mates will imply extra enterprise for Manischewitz, in fact, but in addition that they may encourage extra acceptance of and empathy for Jews. “I feel that quite a lot of good can come out of sitting down and breaking bread with folks and sharing one thing that’s very human,” Seidman says. “All of us eat. Everyone knows that meals connects us. It’s a giant unifier.” The concept that meals is a unifier has its sticky factors: It will probably, in any case, simply as usually be a supply of disagreement.
But when Manischewitz is hoping that Jewish meals will be shared by everybody, it additionally hasn’t overlooked its core Jewish viewers. Not too long ago, the model started offering care packages to Jewish college students on school campuses, the place antisemitism is of specific concern. The outreach was the results of a longstanding partnership with Jewish campus organizations and a collaboration with JScreen, an Emory College-based genetic testing program.
“Once I heard what was occurring on school campuses, I felt for these college students,” Seidman says. “Think about if you happen to’re at an establishment the place out of the blue you don’t really feel the assist you want. What we wish to do is carry consolation, ship them care packages — the consolation of residence — and say, this model is supporting you.”
Seidman doesn’t understand how far a rebrand can go within the battle towards antisemitism, however says that inclusion is a step in the precise route. “The Jewish folks have been making an attempt to flee antisemitism for hundreds of years. And I feel what we’ve discovered is, even once we assume that we have now figured it out, it rears its ugly head,” she says. “What I’m hoping this model does greater than something is to reignite the satisfaction in our heritage and Jewish tradition in a really inclusive manner.”
Stephanie Ganz is a author and recipe developer whose work has appeared in BUST, Bon Appétit, The Kitchn, and Epicurious. She’s the creator of the Substack e-newsletter However Wait, There’s Extra.
Carolyn Figel is an illustrator and animator. She at present lives in LA together with her canine, Fred.
