PHOENIX ALBERTSON'S GETTING KOSHER ISBS

ROBERT VOSBURGH

PHOENIX -- Albertson's has opened a pair of kosher in-store bakeries, which are now supplying area residents with a full menu of items, according to officials.

The ISBs are located in stores on E. Camelback Road and on North Tatum Boulevard. Each store converted its traditional bakery in early May, and is now selling kosher, pareve bread, cookies, cakes, pies, doughnuts, rolls and bagels. Pareve items arrive parbaked from certified suppliers and are finished in-store, according to sources.

Albertson's officials did not return phone calls from SN, but local published reports state the Tatum store will also offer kosher wedding cakes and party trays. The two stores are the first kosher ISBs in Arizona for the giant retailer, which operates 12 other Albertson's stores with kosher bakeries around the country.

In preparing for the conversion, traditional ISB employees were required to attend a daylong reorientation explaining new operational procedures. The session was conducted by a rabbi from the Orthodox Union. The facilities themselves were cleared by a kosher certification agency.

In one interesting development, the stores signed an exclusive agreement to sell kosher Krispy Kreme doughnuts, which are shipped daily from Krispy Kreme's facility in Tempe, Ariz. But because they contain dairy ingredients, they are not pareve, and will be segregated from pareve items, said Rabbi Chaim Silver, who is supervising both Albertson's bakeries through at least three store visits a week.

"Albertson's has shown it can provide services their customers need," he told SN.

Silver has control of the ovens, which allows the bakeries to gain additional accreditation as "pas yis-roel," signifying that a Jew was part of the baking process. The oven requires a code to be turned on -- and only Silver has the numbers, he said.

There were several challenges bringing the bakeries on-line, he added. For example, the cake mixes used in the old, traditional ISB contained dairy, and therefore could not be marked pareve. Albertson's had to source non-dairy mixes from suppliers.

"But it wasn't too much of a problem, since Albertson's has other kosher bakeries and knows how to get those mixes," said Silver.

Both ISBs are open seven days a week, but that is not a conflict with Jewish law, which mandates that Jewish-owned businesses close for Shabbat. According to Silver, stores operated by non-Jews, such as Albertson's bakeries, are exempt.

Besides adding the kosher bakeries, the stores have also increased their fresh-meat selection, including poultry, meat and prepackaged deli meats, store officials are reported as saying.