(01/09/2004)

A Schmear And A Discount

Rivka Bukowsky

No lobster or shrimp. No foie gras or chicken cordon bleu. Even a Big Mac is denied to the observant Jew. Keeping kosher may not always seem like an advantage. But Michael Frankel hopes to make kosher dining into a more appealing option with his Kosher Advantage savings card.

Most recent college graduates frantically apply to graduate schools, look for entry-level jobs or move back to their parents’ homes. Frankel, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May, decided to start his own business. “It was always something I wanted to do,” he says.

As an intern for the Staten Island Yankees, Frankel witnessed the success of Jewish Heritage Night, when baseball fans sing “Hava Nagila” and Jewish businesses get an opportunity to advertise. Clearly, kosher restaurants could use some publicity. Wouldn’t it be worth it for these restaurants to offer discounted prices in exchange for being a part of a program that would give them the publicity they sought?

“I thought this was a more efficient way of advertising,” Frankel says.

And so Kosher Advantage was born, and about 50 kosher restaurants have responded. Participants include popular Manhattan spots like Circa-NY, Dougie’s and Mr. Broadway; several restaurants in Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and New Jersey; and a few spots in Philadelphia. One eatery in Los Angeles has also joined up.

The program is simple: for a $24.95 annual membership fee, participants get a discount — usually around 10 percent — at participating kosher restaurants.

As a businessman, Frankel is hoping for financial success, but he also hopes that his program will make keeping kosher cool again. “The kosher industry as a whole is growing,” he says. Kosher Advantage is “an incentive for people to go to a kosher place when they otherwise would not.”

Now that his idea has come to fruition, Frankel is looking toward the future. He is considering adding some staffers to what is now a one-man operation, and hopes to add restaurants in Florida and the West Coast to the Kosher Advantage roster.

Mainly, Frankel is counting on Jews to keep doing what they’re doing: eating out, often. “It’s all about the frequency,” he says.

For information, visit www.kosheradvantage.com.