company type privately held company industry kosher foods founded cincinnati ohio 1888 1888 founder dov behr manischewitz headquarters newark new jersey u.s. 1 area served nationwide products matzo kosher wine owner sankaty advisors website manischewitz.com rabfoodgroup.com manischewitz m n v ts is a leading brand of kosher products based in the united states best known for their matzo and kosher wine . founded in 1888 it became a public corporation in 1923 and remained under family control until 1990 when it was bought out by a private equity firm . on april 7 2014 sankaty advisors an arm of private equity firm bain capital bought the company from a group including investment firm harbinger . 2 it is the world s largest matzo manufacturer and one of america s largest kosher brands . contents 1 history 2 foods 2.1 list of foods 3 wine 3.1 advertising 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit logo for manischewitz wine the b. manischewitz company llc was founded by rabbi dov behr manischewitz in 1888 in cincinnati ohio . the company built a second production site in jersey city new jersey in 1932 to better serve the large jewish community of the new york metropolitan area 3 and the cincinnati facility was eventually closed in 1958 . in 1990 a 1 million fine was levied against the company for price fixing with its two main competitors at the time streit s and horowitz . 4 the company went public in 1923 and remained a public corporation until it was taken private in a management buyout led by kohlberg & company in 1990 for 42.5 million . 5 6 7 in 1998 richard a. bernstein purchased the company from kohlberg . 8 in 2004 its name was changed to r.a.b. food group llc and today is known as the manischewitz company . 3 from 2007 to 2014 manischewitz was owned by the hedge fund harbinger capital . 9 manischewitz remains the world s top matzo manufacturer and one of america s top kosher brands . 5 in the 1930s in order to produce their products all year round the company created tam tam crackers which are little hexagonal matzos according to a recent book manischewitz the matzo family written by the founder s great granddaughter laura manischewitz alpern though the modern tam tam is quite different from matzo . their original product the square matzo revolutionized matzo making which until the family s production process used to consist of rolling the matzo and trimming the edges by hand . it was also considered quite revolutionary to make matzos by machine . 10 on june 14 2011 a new 200 000 square foot 19 000 m2 facility was announced . located on 80 avenue k in the east ward of newark new jersey it would act as both plant and corporate headquarters for the manischewitz company . 11 foods edit potato latke made from manischewitz brand mix frying in hot olive oil . manischewitz has revolutionized the way in which matzo is produced . by mass producing matzos they turned the output of matzo making from a strictly local product into a national and eventually international product . manischewitz matzos were also the first to feature uniform texture taste and feel . when the company first began shipping matzos they also decided to make them square whereas before matzos had been consistently round . 7 12 manischewitz s main innovation making matzos with machines instead of by hand aroused some initial controversy . some rabbis of the era claimed that in order to be acceptable for religious use the matzo had to have been made by a man and not a machine . 5 13 manischewitz was ultimately able to overcome these concerns in part by demonstrating the meticulous adherence to the halakha religious rules . 13 manischewitz acquired horowitz margareten matzo and manufactures goodman matzo . in addition to matzo manischewitz labeled foods include cookies pasta and soups . other well known kosher brands associated with r.a.b. include carmel elite mother s rokeach mrs. adler s and tradition ; many of these were acquired by r.a.b. after successful runs as independent kosher labels . 14 kosher foods such as these are staples of many supermarkets in the united states . r.a.b. is not involved with manischewitz wine however except in name . it has since 1986 licensed the manischewitz brand name to the manischewitz wine company a subsidiary of canandaigua wine company now constellation brands . 15 list of foods edit matzos concord grape matzo egg matzo egg & onion matzo everything matzo saltine matzo savory garlic matzo spelt matzo kosher for passover thin salted matzo thin tea matzo thin unsalted matzo unsalted matzo white grape matzo whole wheat matzo yolk free egg matzo matzo crackers egg matzo crackers everything matzo crackers regular matzo crackers whole grain garden herb tam tam crackers kosher for passover made of egg matzo different recipe from regular tam tam whole grain lighted salted tam tam crackers kosher for passover made of egg matzo different recipe from regular tam tam non matzo crackers everything tam tam crackers garlic tam tam crackers no salt tam tam crackers original tam tam crackers note the tam tam cracker started out as small flavored matzo but was developed into a unique recipe not made of matzo dough . the passover version is still an egg matzo cracker but year round tam tam production is not . matzo meal matzo farfel canister kosher for passover matzo meal canister kosher for passover potato starch canister kosher for passover noodles egg noodles whole grain noodles yolk free egg noodles wine edit bottle of manischewitz the manischewitz winery is located in canandaigua new york and has since 1987 been the property of constellation brands which continues to license the manischewitz name from r.a.b. foods . 16 the winery was founded by leo star and run by the star family since 1927 . the manischewitz winery is best known for its sweet concord wine which is widely available in much of north america . 17 made from labrusca grapes its aroma is unusual and is combined with a large amount of residual sugar . citation needed as concord was popularized over the years by u.s. media as being the kosher wine it is often the wine used by non orthodox jews in celebrating passover . however manischewitz s sweet concord contains corn syrup a sweetener derived from corn which is a food forbidden for passover among ashkenazi jews see kitniyot for details on why corn is forbidden . manischewitz produces special kosher for passover bottling of their wines which are sweetened with cane sugar as opposed to the corn syrup used throughout the year . 18 the sweetness of manischewitz wine and other kosher wines is often the fodder of jokes . however kosher wine does not have to be sweet . one of the reasons for the prevalence of sweet kosher wine in the u.s. and in the americas generally dates back to the early days of jews in america when there was the need to locally produce kosher wine for the kiddush ritual on the shabbat and holidays . the combination of a limited choice of grape varieties that could grow in the areas where jews had settled along with limited time available to produce the wine and a market dominated by hard cider yielded a bitter wine that had to be sweetened to make it palatable . 19 indeed so well known is the sweet manischewitz variety in the u.s. that the existence of a thriving kosher wine industry anchored by vineyards in france and israel along with a growing u.s. industry is often a surprise to americans unaccustomed to taking kosher wine seriously . 15 advertising edit the company has used the slogan man o manischewitz what a wine for advertising . the company and this advertising campaign are fictionally represented in season five of mad men as a new account . 20 see also edit streits yehuda matzos references edit verdon joan june 15 2011 . manischewitz calls newark a key ingredient in its growth plan . northjersey.com . retrieved july 17 2012 . sankaty advisors an arm of private equity firm bain capital bought the company from a group including investment firm harbinger . . nytimes.com . 2014 04 08 . retrieved 2014 04 08 . a b manishewitz history . retrieved july 17 2012 . tregarthen timothy 1999 . the matzo fix . worth publishers . isbn 978 1 57259 418 0 . a b c lukas paul 2004 04 01 . days of wine and matzos how a cincinnati family became the name in kosher foods . . cnn money . retrieved 2008 09 06 . martin douglas 2003 09 23 . bernard manischewitz last in family firm dies at 89 . the new york times . retrieved 2008 09 06 . a b alpern lara manishewitz 2008 . manischewitz the matzo family . ktav . isbn 978 1 60280 003 8 . the b. manischewitz company llc history for falcone no joy in the sale of manischewitz nytimes.com . retrieved 2015 01 07 . the matzo family history manischewitz company relocates headquarters to newark a set on flickr . flickr.com . retrieved 2011 12 25 . ginsburg johanna 2008 03 27 . a manischewitz writes family history of kosher food giant . new jersey jewish news . retrieved 2008 09 06 . a b kahn bruce . the americanization of matzah . retrieved july 17 2012 . r.a.b. food group llc . retrieved 2008 09 06 . a b howard g. goldberg march 23 1994 . manischewitz only sweet not anymore . new york times . retrieved 2007 11 13 . manischewitz wine heritage history . archived from the original on 2008 08 01 . retrieved 2008 09 06 . manaschewitz wine mahalo.com . retrieved 2008 09 07 . manischewitz wine faq . archived from the original on 2008 06 06 . retrieved 2008 09 07 . the 11th plague why people drink sweet wine on passover . retrieved 2011 11 04 . man o manischewitz . cardcow.com . retrieved 2011 12 25 . external links edit official website main site official website wine division r.a.b. food group llc 1960 manischewitz wine commercial starring sammy davis jr. v t e passover seder seder afikoman the exodus ha lachma anya ma nishtana outstretched arm ten plagues white house passover seder seder plate beitzah charoset karpas maror zeroa haggadah songs adir hu chad gadya dayenu echad mi yodea l shana haba ah illustrations maxwell house haggadah sarajevo haggadah szyk haggadah passover foods matzah products matzo matzah ball matzah brei matzo farfel granola matzah pizza matzah companies streit s manischewitz ren neymann yehuda matzos rakusen s religious observances bedikas chametz fast of the firstborn eve of passover on shabbat passover sacrifice chol hamoed mimouna isru chag pesach sheni seharane laws customs chametz challah from shmurah matzah kitniyot gebrochts prayers song of songs torah readings prayer for dew retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title manischewitz & oldid 743395050 categories ashkenazi jewish cuisinecompanies established in 1888american winejewish cuisinefood product brandswine brandsfood manufacturers of the united statescompanies based in newark new jerseyjews and judaism in cincinnatikosher foodmatzohidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from september 2008 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