Kosher Hot Dog Vendor Takes Bite Out of Sports Food Market

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jeffrey Striks has taken a bite of a new niche in the American kosher food market: sports stadiums.

He got his start seven years ago, offering kosher food at concession stands at Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium in New York. Business is so good that he's expanded his company, Strikly Kosher, and now operates kosher stands at Giants Stadium and Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey, Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, and the Yankees' minor league ballpark in Staten Island.

His core market is the most observant Jews who follow the laws of kashrut, which restricts what food can be eaten and how it is prepared.

But he's also attracting customers who aren't Jewish and perceive that kosher food is healthier. They are buying his knishes, chicken nuggets, and "knockwurst" — a chicken product designed to look like a hot dog.

"Everyone associates kosher with cleanliness," Mr. Striks, 49, a native of the New York borough of Queens, said.

The market looking for a perceived healthier option is a growing segment in the kosher market, said Paul Crnkovich, whose company, Cannondale Associates, released a study this month about the kosher consumer.

"Kosher is perceived in a similar way as being better for you and being healthier," he said.

Since typical stadium fare is hot dogs, selling kosher food at sports venues is a logical market, said Marcia Mogelonsky, a senior research analyst at Mintel, a market research firm in Chicago that estimates the American kosher food market to be $40 billion.

Others are capitalizing on the growing kosher market in stadiums. Mr. Striks plans to move outside the New York area, and a competitor, Kosher Sports Inc., has already moved into stadiums in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Both companies have menus that are glatt kosher, a stricter designation that usually applies to meat. The most observant Jews will eat only glatt kosher foods.

Aramark, the company that manages food services and contracts for vendors at many of the nation's stadiums, is offering more kosher choices at stadiums in other markets by contracting with more companies, including Kosher Sports Inc. of Englewood, N.J.

As of the 2006 season, Kosher Sports operated as the sole glatt kosher vendor at Shea, and it has battled Strikly Kosher in Jewish court over those rights.