JEWEL-OSCO UNIT OFFERS PREPARED SEDER MEALS

ROSEANNE HARPER

MELROSE PARK, Ill. -- Jewel-Osco is offering complete, fully prepared Passover Seder meals at its Highland Park store.

The dinners in two varieties -- beef brisket and rotisserie chicken -- include all the traditional trimmings and are intended to serve 12 people. The brisket dinner, with a retail of $227.88 or $18.99 a person, is centered around 3 pounds of beef brisket with gravy. The chicken dinner, priced at $155.88 or $12.99 a person, features three whole rotisserie chickens.

Both Seder meals include 128 ounces of matzo ball soup, approximately 3 pounds of cooked gefilte fish, 6 pounds of stuffed cabbage rolls, 4 pounds of carrot tzimmes and 4 pounds of potato pudding.

"Focusing on our customer's needs is important to us. We are excited to offer additional one-stop shopping options to our kosher customers and to serve their families during Passover," said Jewel-Osco President Pete Van Helden.

A colorful ad that occupies nearly a half page in the store's weekly circular heralds the Seder meals, and also features kosher rotisserie chickens at $6.99 each.

Jewel-Osco, A division of Albertson's, opened its "Kosher Experience" deli at the Highland Park location last August to serve the customer who shops kosher on a daily basis, and to meet the needs of its non-kosher customers as well, officials said.