Do cheaper cheese and flour mean cheaper pizza and bagels? Not always.

Posted

By Daniella Adler

Issue of Nov. 28, 2008 / 1 Kislev 5769

Despite the reduced price of raw ingredients from their highs more than a month ago, not all bagel and pizza stores have lowered their prices accordingly.

Responses to the plummeting price of commodities like cheese and flour differ greatly. When asked, some stores flatly refuse to lower their prices, claiming other expenses that justify the increase, while some did lower prices. There is even disagreement over whether and to what extent the prices of raw ingredients affect the kosher market.

Bagel Island in Lawrence didn’t drop its prices, a spokesman said, because suppliers such as Ahava cream cheese and Dependent flour haven’t lowered their prices along with the rest of the market.

“It’s a sick market,” said the Bagel Island representative, who insisted on anonymity. “They’ve monopolized it.”

“I raised my price by a small amount,” said David Weiss of Great Neck’s Bagel Mentch. “Some bagel stores raised their prices to $1 or $1.05, but our bagels are only 85 cents.”

He also pointed out that although the price of flour dropped dramatically, it did not come down to the price it was. Therefore, he reasoned, maintaining the slight price increase is justified.

Nathan Konig of EJ’s Too in West Hempstead believes stores that haven’t lowered their prices are “outrageous.” The price of a pie at EJ’s Too was $14.99, and was raised to $16 with the rise in flour prices, but the original price has since been restored. This was fairest to the customers, Konig felt, who should not be forced to pay high prices if it can be helped.

“I didn’t raise my prices in direct accordance with the rising flour prices,” explained Jay Geller, owner of Bagel Boss in Merrick. “I thought that was obnoxious. I raised the price by only five cents. I make special deals on bagels every so often as well.”

Perel Lubel, West Hempstead resident, agreed.

“It’s obnoxious. It’s a cruel game they’re playing with us,” she said. “We can’t do anything about it.”

“Being a kosher establishment costs a lot of money to operate,” Geller added. He also noted the high prices of other products such as cream cheese and tomatoes that have been hit by the downward market and inflation. For this reason a rise in bagel price is necessary.

Nicole of Bagel Delight in Cedarhurst maintains that the fluctuation in the price of flour did not affect the kosher market at all.

“We use different flour,” she said. “It’s 90 cents a bagel and $10.80 for a dozen, just as it always was.”

The owner of David’s Famous Pizza in Cedarhurst disagreed.

“We only use kemach yashan,” he explained. “Even though the price of flour went down, because we can only use flour from this year, we are paying higher prices. We cannot lower prices until Pesach.”

Other reasons to maintain the higher prices, he suggested, include raising the wages of workers, keeping up with the rent, or offsetting the rising prices of tomatoes and tomato paste that haven’t dropped as flour has.