Kosher meat supplies under threat in Cardiff because of drop in orders

CARDIFF UNITED Synagogue’s chair has warned members that the community may lose its kosher meat deliveries from Kosher Deli unless there is a rise in orders.

Addressing the shul’s annual meeting on Sunday, Lisa Gerson highlighted difficulties the congregation was facing, also including falling membership.

As for kosher meat supplies, she cautioned that “if members chose not support this service, it puts into question the viability of kosher delivery continuing”.

Ms Gerson told the JC afterwards that “regrettably we have lost the delivery facility for [non-meat] groceries that Kosher Deli was kindly supporting”.

The shul was looking to find an alternative solution “which [Kosher Deli] is helping us resolve”.

At Kosher Deli, managing director Jana Klein reported that since the outset of the pandemic, “orders from individual customers went down.” Although there had been an increase in grocery orders in the run-up to Pesach, they were too costly to fulfil on their own, given the declining demand for meat. This week is the first that it is not delivering groceries to Cardiff.

“Before the end of last year, our order line manager spoke to CUS and explained that we would have to decrease the frequency of deliveries to every three weeks and if we still don’t get enough orders, then we will go down to once per month as we do with a number of other outlying communities,” Ms Klein added.

Kosher Deli would continue to supply the Cardiff community “as long as it remains financially viable”.

Ms Gerson said the community was “most grateful” for the deli’s efforts.

“The provision of kosher meat and bakery is key to all Jewish communities.”

Cardiff’s kosher delivery issues may not be indicative of a wider problem, suggested Ed Horwich, director of the Jewish Small Communities Network.

“It’s very much a patchwork,” he said. “It’s getting better in certain places and in other places it’s getting worse.

“It does tend to go up and down just according to the local arrangements which people have developed over a number of years” — and also the trading positions of “suppliers who are prepared to deliver at a distance”.

If members don’t support this service, its viability will be in question’