Antisemitism Is Hurting Small Jewish Companies like The Matzo Project

The Matzo Project is a Brooklyn-based, Jewish-owned company offering Miami-Grandma-inspired matzo flats, chips, and matzo ball soup mixes. Since its retail launch in 2017, the company has been steadily growing, serving culinary adventurers from San Francisco to South Korea. However, shortly after October 7th, sales began to soften. This unexpected shift has left the company reflecting on the support it has received from its diverse customer base and the importance of community solidarity.

Humble Beginnings

The Matzo Project began when Kevin Rodriguez and Ashley Albert, longtime friends from Jewish summer camp, had the bright idea to create year-round artisanal matzo. “In the end, it’s really just a good, neutral cracker!” said Ashley.

Having built several successful companies in her lifetime, Kevin initially approached Ashley for advice about opening a gelato company, but she quickly pointed out that “This is just not a problem that needs solving.”

To prove her point, they spent a cold February day visiting gelato stores all over New York City, without finding a single shop with a customer inside.

Dejected, Kevin began to think of other possibilities. It was at that moment that Ashley remembered a suggestion she had made 20 years earlier to a neighbor who was closing their pizza shop. She had encouraged them to pivot to matzo production. She couldn’t believe that 20 years later, no one else had thought to do it! Ashley emphatically encouraged Kevin to start making artisanal matzo. Inspired and determined, Kevin started experimenting with recipes, and with Ashley's guidance, along with lots of tasting, trial, and error, they perfected a crispy and flavorful matzo.

They started small, working in a tiny commissary kitchen with a pasta roller and an army of helpful friends. Kevin's wife crafted a homemade matzo cutter from several pizza wheels, allowing them to hand-cut the dough into squares. “It’s not like they sold pre-made matzo-molds at Macy’s” Ashley said.

In the early days an apartment was used for storage

They also had no choice but to hand-toast every single piece of matzo, by holding tongs over open flames to create the signature burnt bubbles. “We suckered every single friend into helping us, one way or another,” Ashley recalled. The group worked together in an assembly line fashion, hastily producing each batch. Ashley has only one video from these hectic times because, she said, “who had time to take pictures? We had our hands full!”

Gradual Success

The Matzo Project's journey was challenging and required a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication to convince the world that matzo could be a year-round snack. But with perseverance, they started growing. They eventually began cooking out of a bigger bakery in Coney Island. People were starting to understand that what they were making was more than just an alternative to traditional matzo, it was actually “surprisingly delicious”! This led to unique, high profile opportunities like providing matzo for a James Beard Foundation Dinner. “In addition to all of the flats we sent them, I took the little end strips from the matzo and threw them in a bag so they could use them for their appetizers.” Kevin explains, “The chef really loved them and they were a big hit with the crowd. That was the moment we invented the matzo chip!”

They hadn’t even launched yet and it was already clear that they needed to scale up for a third time that year. What started as a painstakingly handmade product that took hours craft soon became an operation that could manufacture over 100,000 bags in a single shift. The demand was out there and The Matzo Project was meeting it handily. These achievements signaled a new era of growth and visibility for the brand, solidifying its place in both Jewish and mainstream markets.

Trying to keep up with orders

They officially launched nationwide in 2017, expanded their line to include chips, matzo ball soup mix and matzo meal, and found their way onto the shelves all over the country in places like Whole Foods, The Four Seasons mini-bar, museum gift shops, high-end restaurants and even celebrity green rooms.

Their big break came when they partnered with JetBlue, where The Cutest Little Cinnamon Sugared Matzo Bites were included in the in-flight snack boxes for almost three years. “If there was ever proof that matzo could be widely embraced for the other 51 weeks of the year, that JetBlue snack pack made a strong case for it” Kevin said.

Facing Challenges

But after a period of steady success, the landscape began to shift. The recent Israeli-Hamas conflict and the subsequent rise in antisemitic sentiments have created a challenging environment for The Matzo Project. The conflict has heightened sensitivities and many businesses became cautious about appearing partisan. This led to some longtime clients halting orders, fearing backlash or controversy. Kevin and Ashley noted a significant drop in sales, attributing it to this climate.

Ashley described the situation: “Shortly after October 7th, we’d reach out to companies who had ordered from us over and over again to take their next order, and they’d say, ‘Oh, no thanks, I think we’re all set for now.’ These are people we have had as clients for years who all of a sudden just stopped ordering.”

Ashley continued, “We had been growing by leaps and bounds, and suddenly, business didn’t just slow down, it really slowed down. It’s hard not to notice that this dramatic drop began in the fall of this past year, shortly after October 7th, which should have been one of our busiest seasons.”

They invented their own tools to manufacture it—because they don’t sell matzo cutters at Bed, Bath and Beyond

Kevin added, “For some clients, I think it feels like a moral decision to purchase or carry our product in their stores now, as if having us on their shelves means they’re making a statement or picking a side. And while The Matzo Project is an undeniable celebration of Jewish culture and heritage, we are American-born Jews selling products made entirely in Brooklyn. Conflating us with the Middle Eastern conflict just doesn’t make any sense. “

There seems to be a renewed undercurrent of antisemitism that’s quietly hurting many small businesses like ours.

Fortunately, The Matzo Project has not experienced an overt boycott with Free Palestine stickers placed on their products in stores, but it is hard to deny that a silent shunning is taking place. The idea that a store would hesitate to offer an American-made, Jewish brand to its customers in order to play it safe would’ve seemed unimaginable a year ago, now The Matzo Project is slowly disappearing from shelves all over the country.

Kevin noted, “Unfortunately, we aren’t the only Jewish-owned brand experiencing this issue right now. There seems to be a renewed undercurrent of antisemitism that’s quietly hurting many small businesses like ours. The effect that this unspoken sentiment is having on so many of us feels devastating in more ways than one.”

Sadly, Ashley pointed out that The Matzo Project has “experienced low-key antisemitism since we started, but back then, it felt more shocking than it does now.” For instance, in January 2023, the company was a finalist for a very prestigious accelerator program; Ashley explained, “I knew from an insider that we were many of the main team’s top pick, but we were told that ultimately, several of the judges ‘just didn’t understand the mainstream appeal of a Jewish brand’ and we did not move forward.”

Despite these challenges, The Matzo Project’s commitment to introducing the humor, customs and cultural foods of the Jewish people to the world at large remains unwavering. Kevin says “We know how important it is to hold on, stay afloat and find our way back to the stores.” “And not just because the graze boards of the world need us!” Ashley adds.

Many Jewish-owned small-businesses are facing similar obstacles right now. By supporting these companies, we can use the collective strength of our community to ensure that our unique culture remains visible and vibrant. We have an obligation to make sure that businesses like The Matzo Project don’t crumble in the face of a backlash of hostility towards the Jewish people.

Ashley and Kevin have worked hard to create an inclusive, modern Jewish brand that feels relevant and welcoming to people all over the world and they need the support of our strong community now more than ever. Kevin emphasized, “I can’t think of another food brand that celebrates secular Jewish culture in a way that unites both Jews and non-Jews of all stripes. The message our product sends can’t be found anywhere else. That’s why it is feeling so desperately important that we don’t go under.”

Call to Action

By encouraging mainstream stores to stock Jewish-owned products like The Matzo Project, ordering directly from their websites, sharing their stories on social media, and raising awareness that they exist in the first place, we can ensure that businesses like these endure and thrive.

Kevin stressed, “As hard as it is to acknowledge what’s happening to our little business, it feels crucial for us to bring it to light and address the challenges we’re facing, as this silent undercurrent of disdain affects more Jewish-owned business than just ours.”

Every bite of matzo, macaroon, or mandelbread tells a story of our resilience and shared heritage. By continuing to support these products and their stories, we contribute to a richer, more inclusive cultural landscape. Together, we can help these businesses overcome challenges, make a difference in preserving our heritage and ensure the continued visibility of the Jewish people.