NOT PASSED OVER

BARBARA MURRAY / Additional reporting: MARYELLEN LO BOSCO

This year's Passover holiday saw record sales of kosher food, retailers and industry insiders say, due to greater variety of items and more prominent merchandising.

"It's not only Passover food; it's kosher food in general," said Jerry Dorf, president of the Kosher Food Distributors of America, Milwaukee, which represents food distributors that call on supermarkets. "We are seeing an increase in kosher food year-round, and that is helping to expand the Passover sales."

Dorf said he has traveled throughout the Midwest, where he has seen supermarkets bringing in greater variety and giving kosher food more prominent placement. Some of the new products include an extra-moist chocolate cake, chocolate-almond macaroons and two mashed-potato mixes -- roasted garlic and sweet potato dry mix -- which can be used both for Passover and all year-round.

Stores from New York to California and in between stepped up their offerings.

"We expanded the sets, both in the number of products and our in-store displays," said Alan Tempest, spokesman for Genuardi's Family Markets, Norristown, Pa.

Larry Brown, grocery and frozens buyer for Balls Food Stores, Kansas City, Kan., said three stores dramatically increased their Passover offerings based on strong sales last year and on what he called "increased activity by the vendor, more deals and increased expertise."

The supplier, Shawnee Biscuit, said those three stores are Balls' upscale Hen House units. One store had an 80-foot gondola, up from about 60 last year, and another went from about 35 feet to 50 feet this year, according to Ralph Danza, owner of Kansas City-based Shawnee Biscuit.

"We take care of the whole kosher category. They use us not only as a supplier, but also as an adviser, even on things like produce that we don't sell," Danza said. His company sells to more than 400 accounts, he said, supplying Dillons stores; Hy-Vee in Des Moines, where 18 stores had Passover sections; and Constantino's, Kansas City, Mo., where half the 12 stores did. He said in the three years the company has worked with kosher products, sales of those products have tripled.

A Winn-Dixie Marketplace unit that SN visited in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had a large Passover display, in addition to its regular kosher set, which included grocery, frozen and refrigerated items. The kosher-foods section is at the front of the store, in a corner in front of the registers and to the right of customers as they enter the store. Passover items were on floor stacks and tables set up near the year-round display.

Manischewitz matzohs were $2.55 for a 10-ounce box; the 5-pound packs were $11.68. King David brand was $5.88 for 5 pounds, and Streits was $11.68.

Matzoh, the basic Passover food, was selling for a wide variety of prices, as it did last year. Some retailers were giving it away, as a Long Island ShopRite and Ralphs Grocery Co., Compton, Calif., did. Others offered coupons for free matzoh with a certain dollar amount of other groceries purchased, as the Pathmark chain did in Bergen County, N.J. Waldbaum's, for one, posted signs saying it would honor competitors' coupons.

Menachem Lubinsky, president of Integrated Marketing Communications, New York, agreed that the price of matzoh varies widely.

"Giving it away for free is not uncommon, or else many stores will charge well below their cost. Last year in Florida, the price gouging I heard about was $21 for 5 pounds of matzoh. They do that in some markets," he said. In fact, a Whole Foods unit that SN visited in West Los Angeles had a small display of Manischewitz matzoh near the checkout stands in mid-March, with a price tag of $23.29 for a 5-pound box.

This year, Publix in the Fort Lauderdale area advertised Rishon Seder matzoh at $5.95 for a 5-pound package, "while supplies last." Those prices applied to all Publix stores in the Miami division. The circular for the last week before Passover began, March 25 through 31, also had an attractive gatefold for the holiday, listing assorted varieties of Manischewitz macaroons in a 10- to 12-ounce can for $3.65.

When SN visited Greenfield's ShopRite in Plainview, N.Y., in early March, signs on the entrance doors announced a community Passover food drive. Inside, past the 15 checkstands and behind the frozens department, were two aisles signed "Passover Needs." The section was decorated in blue and white crepe paper, with a giant Star of David over the center. The aisles were about 24 feet long. Each was packed with nonperishables, and there were substantial endcaps and shippers as well. Along the tops of the shelves, white paper doilies were fastened to blue paper lining, making the shelves look clean and festive.

A large endcap was devoted to Manischewitz specialty matzoh crackers, $2.99 for an 8-ounce box, compared with the 5-pound boxes of regular matzoh for $1.99 displayed elsewhere in the store.

Horowitz Margareten Egg matzoh was on Price Plus discount [the frequent-shopper program], at $1.99 for 12 ounces, while Goodman's egg matzoh, Manischewitz egg matzoh and Streit's egg matzoh were $1.99 for a 12-ounce box. Some special matzoh was also displayed, such as organic matzoh from Aviv, a product of Israel; and Haddar Shmura matzoh, baked in Jerusalem; each was $7.99 for 400 grams.

In and around Kansas City, Passover sections had seder signs and displays of Haggadahs (paperback prayer books) provided by the Maxwell House coffee company. Shelves were covered in white paper with white doilies on the edge.

In Los Angeles, the Ralphs unit that leads the chain in sales of Passover food, according to the store manager, is the one at 9616 W. Pico Blvd. Aisle 8 is signed Kosher Foods and contains seven shelves in 31 feet. In addition to the regular kosher aisle, Ralphs had a 100-foot Passover section, near the greeting cards located at the front of the store, along with four large endcap displays.

On the endcaps, matzoh was selling March 13 at $17.99 for a 5-pound box, but store manager Jeff Hall told SN that the next day it would be advertised in newspapers as free for a week, with no minimum purchase; macaroons were to be 79 cents. Manischewitz Passover matzohs carried coupons inside worth up to $21.79, according to the package, for additional products made by Manischewitz and other manufacturers.

On an easel in the midst of the Passover section was an announcement of 10 workshops and tours of Ralphs units, several of them by rabbis, focusing on the needs of the Ashkenazic, Persian and Sephardic communities. The events were held March 8-18.

The kosher tours were new last year and expanded this year, according to Hall. Lists were given out of what foods outside the kosher section are still acceptable to eat during the holiday, and what other items, such as pet foods, shampoo and medicine, can be used.

"This year we're having a gangbuster year," he said when he spoke with SN in March. A big push by Gefen was helping he said, as were new products such as Rokeach blueberry-muffin mix and tuna, and Manischewitz baking chocolate, pizza-crust mix and mashed sweet potato mix.

Hall said the discounted macaroons and free matzoh were "just to let people know we have all they need for the holiday."

Retailers around the country have good reason to cater to the kosher customer. According to Bob Solot, senior vice president of B. Manischewitz Co., Jersey City, N.J., a market-basket study done in the early 1990s showed the average Jewish consumer was spending $146 a week, compared with $114 spent by the average non-Jewish consumer. Unsold Passover foods after the holiday ends "are a big problem," according to Dorf, of the Kosher Food Distributors of America. He said, "you never know how much you're going to get stuck with, and it doesn't help the profitability. Some manufacturers give some credit.

"You hope you pick up only 6% to 8%. I see an excellent year this year; I see good cleanup all over," Dorf said before the holiday. He said Passover food can be eaten after the holiday, and that his organization can often find outlets for unsold goods.

Distributors often find outlets such as thrift stores, Dorf said, or kosher stores that will pay 30 cents on the dollar for unsold kosher Passover goods and then sell them for 40 to 50 cents on the dollar.

Danza said his company donates unsold food to the homeless or to Russian Jewish refugees in the Kansas City area, where the Jewish population is relatively small -- 30,000 to 35,000. Last year, Shawnee donated 10 pallets, he said.