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LANGHORNE, Pa. -- McCaffrey's Markets has opened a kosher kitchen that's giving it another advantage in a very competitive market area, officials said.
The three-unit independent, already revered in the region for its prepared foods turned out from a central kitchen, saw a need for fresh, prepared kosher meals and meal components. And the residual benefits are already worth the effort, even before the kitchen itself has begun to turn a profit, said Mark Eckhouse, vice president of the company.
"It gives us another point of difference. It shows we're responding to the community and our customers appreciate it. We expect it to bring new customers into the stores, too. There is a significant Jewish population in our areas, and there aren't many kosher caterers or kosher restaurants around. In fact, I think the nearest would be in Philadelphia," Eckhouse said.
Other supermarkets have well-staked-out territory in this corridor that lies between Princeton, N.J., and Philadelphia, but there's little competition from them when it comes to fresh kosher foods. While a ShopRite unit in East Windsor, fairly nearby, has a kosher deli under the supervision of a rabbi, it does not offer the variety of prepared foods McCaffrey's menu features. And it lies a good half hour away from McCaffrey's 38,000-square-foot store in Yardley, Pa., where the Jewish population is particularly large.
"We can't keep those kosher items in the store in Yardley; they're doing so well there. We're devoting 3 to 4 feet in the service case and a quarter of one of our to-go cases there to the products," Eckhouse said.
The items -- entrees like hand-carved turkey breast...