That’s so not kosher.
A kosher-food company is suing the Mets, claiming that it has lost a half-million dollars in profits because the team has forbidden its stands to sell snacks at Citi Field on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons.
Kosher Grill does brisk business peddling hot dogs, sausages, knishes, hamburgers, beer and other food from three portable stands around the stadium.
The owner, Kosher Sports Inc., got approval from kosher-certifying authorities to sling wieners on the Sabbath and even customized its stands so it could sell its pastrami hot dogs and other wares on Friday nights and Saturdays, the vendor said.
But the Mets superseded the rabbis and caused a frankfurter fracas, never allowing the vendor to go ahead with the move, Kosher Sports claims in a lawsuit it filed last week against the team in Brooklyn federal court.
The Englewood, NJ-based company signed a 10-year deal with the team when Citi Field opened last year.
It allowed the company to sell food on Friday nights and Saturdays, when many Jews don’t work and observe a day of prayer, the suit claims.
The Mets’ decision cost the vendor more than $500,000 in lost profits last year, Kosher Sports — which is seeking $1 million in damages — claims in its lawsuit.
But the rabbi who monitors Kosher Sports’ compliance with Jewish dietary laws denies giving the company the OK to operate on the Sabbath.
“There’s no way they can be kosher if they operate on Friday nights and Saturdays,” said Rabbi Shmuel Heinemann.
The Mets, owned by the Wilpon family, which is Jewish, said Kosher Sports’ claims are “without merit.”
Kosher Sports owner Jonathan Katz declined to comment.
(Source: NY Post / YWN-88)
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10 Responses
According to the Kosher Sports website, the hecksher is from Star-K of Baltimore, which would never allow a restaurant to open on Shabbos. This suggests that perhaps Kosher Sports has had a change in hecksher (affecting all their locations), or that the store at the Mets stadium was contracted out to someone other than the firm that runs the stores at other stadiums.
so the muts WANT them to be shomer shabbos but the stand’s owner doesn’t want to be?
as a jewish yankee fan, even I would heap brochos on the Muts for this!
I agree with you mark levin, but as a Mets fan I wasn’t aware that Fred Wilpon was Jewish. If he is I guess he’s somewhat of a hypocrite cuz they do reap the benefits from Shabbos games. (Assuming that he doesn’t have a shtar:))
Something doesn’t smell right. I think we need some clarification from Star K and Kosher Sports.
I can’t understand how they lost so much money for not selling Kosher food on Shobbos! Are their really that many people at the game that want Kosher food over non kosher food?!?
You can’t lose what you don’t have.
Mr Wheelchair – the kosher market is so large in America and so many products have hechsherim not because so many people want exclusively kosher but because there is a feeling that kosher is healthier. That is an aura all the major certifying authorities are very keen to polish for commercial reasons. Hot dogs, sausages, knishes, hamburgers and beer are all items which probably sell very well at games. Are these stands really under hashgocha from Star K or anyone else or is it just that they exclusively see products with a hechsher, which may be just fine for lots of lost yidden, rachmanam litzlan, and others.
And now these morons will lose even more money since any frum person with a brain will not buy from this kiosk since they open on shabbos. What does this Mr. katz think of us frum people? I am sure no frum person will buy from this guy now and he will stand to lose in court and be stuck with a 10 year contract. What a chilul hahshem to treat the Wilpon family like this.
Do you people really think the Mets care about Shabbos? I go to Citi Field and buy food at that kosher stand. That stand can be moved. Obviously the Mets use the space with a different stand on Shabbos and do not want to share profits with the Kosher Sports owner and he probably found a non-Jew to sublet the space to sell food with other equipment/grills and believes his contract allows him to do so. I’ve seen their grills and they are not built into the stadium, they are portable. I’m sure this is an argument about money and who has a right to use the space when it is not being used to sell kosher food.
3, no one claimed Fred Wilpon was one of us. all I was saying that it seems ironic that seemingly, the muts are more makpid on sh’miras shabbos than the jew.