2005 washington dc area kosher community survey - final report

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kosher Communit Surve s LLC 2005 / KosherSurve @ mail.com

2005 Washington DC Area Kosher Community Survey Results

On September 3, 2005, the first ever Washington DC Area Kosher Community Survey was opened. The community response wasimpressive, especially for a first-time event.

In the end, over 375 participants took the time to share their thoughtsand opinions about kosher establishments in the Washington DCarea. Of that number, 60% of the participants were from Maryland,30% from Washington, DC and 6% from Virginia. One-third thesurvey takers were single and the remaining two-thirds were married;42% of participants had children in their household.

Below you can read the highlights of the survey. The summary isdivided into the following sections: Grocery Stores, Restaurants, NewRestaurant Types, and the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington.

Grocery Stores

Category Winner Runner-UpBest service quality Kosher By The Case

(93%)Shauls(62%)

Best cleanliness/layout Shauls(49%)

Kosher Mart(34%)

Kosher By The Case(35%)

Best merchandiseselection

Katz Kosher Mart(69%)

Shaloms(54%)

Best quality of fresh &

prepared foods

Katz Kosher Mart

(63%)

Kosher Mart

(58%)Shauls(58%)

Best prices Kosher By The Case(83%)

Shauls(27%)

Number in parenthesis indicates the percentage of respondents who rated theestablishment good or excellent.


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2005 Washington DC Area KosherCommunit Surve

For grocery stores, the communitys suggestions for improvementfocused on three main areas: the physical state of the stores, service,and food quality.

Overall, there were strong feelings that the physical plant of thestores had deficient elements in need of improvement. Respondents

suggested improving the flow and layout of the aisles; provide better signage to assist in locating products; and providing accurate signswith product prices. Patrons strongly suggested that more effort beput into keeping the stores clean.

Almost all of the establishments were encouraged to improve theattitude and training of employees, from cashiers to deli staff.Consumers suggested that store owners find a way to ensure moreefficient, customer-focused service by employees. Also, it was feltthat employees could use more education about the products andprices in the store.

Community members also urged that the stores be more consistent inthe freshness and quality of both fresh and prepared foods. Therewere many people who observed that they had found out-of-dateproducts or otherwise spoiled products in the store, especially withrespect to meat, dairy, and prepared foods.

Other areas of suggestions included: lowering prices, especially on

items sold at non-kosher stores; provide longer hours in the evenings;and make more efforts to keep relatively common items in stock.


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Restaurants

Category Winner Runner-UpBest food quality JCC Caf

(79%)Elis

(69%)Goldbergs

(69%)Pita Plus(69%)

Best service quality JCC Caf(76%)

Goldbergs(54%)

Siennas(55%)

Royal Dragon(53%)

Best cleanliness/appearance

Pita Plus(75%)

JCC Caf(69%)

Goldbergs(67%)

Best value JCC Caf(55%)Elis

(54%)

Siena(52%)

Goldbergs(51%)

% in parenthesis indicates the percentage of respondents who rated theestablishment good or excellent.

The communitys suggestions of improvement for restaurants focusedon three main areas: service, environment, and food quality. Evenmore strongly than those comments applied to grocery stores,community members voiced significant disappointment in the serviceprovided by restaurant employees. Owners are encouraged to bemore selective in whom they employ and to better train their employees. In addition, better oversight should be established toensure employees are interacting with customers in an courteous andefficient manner. There was concern about the use of teenagers whoare not overseen by a manager. Ability to communicate clearly withcustomers was seen as a basic requirement by customers;employees language skills did not allow this to occur in someestablishments. Patrons also suggested that there needs to be morestaff at certain hours where service has suffered due to understaffing.


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Customers suggested that management look into ways in which tospeed up order taking as well as the cooking of food, or at leastprovide more communication as to the status of orders.

Survey participants also suggested more regular attention tomaintaining cleanliness standards as well as putting more resources

into improving the dcor of the restaurants.

With respect to food quality, there were some clear in suggestions for improvement. There was a number of individuals who suggested thatthe restaurants address the blandness in many of the menu items.There was a greater concern over the quality and freshness of ingredients used. It was felt that menus should be more accurate inreflecting items not available on a consistent basis; and serversshould have full knowledge of items not available. Across differentcuisine types, patrons requested that restaurants attempt to providemore consistent dishes the taste of the food differing greatly fromvisit-to-visit.

New Restaurants

The results of the question about what types of new kosher restaurants the community would like to see resulted in the top threechoices as Italian (63%), Thai (51%) and Steak (55%). While thesurvey did not define Italian, presumably the community is

interested in a pasta-oriented restaurant rather than another pizzaestablishment.

Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington

The questions on the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington(RCGW) elicited very strong reactions from many of the surveyparticipants. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of the participants agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that the RCGW has a standard of

kashrut that can be relied upon.62% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that the RCGWwas good at explaining to the community its standards and itsoperations. And 56% disagreed or strongly disagreed with the


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proposition that the RCGW responds well to the kosher needs of thecommunity. On a related item, 20% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that the RCGW is active in promoting kashrut in theareas, 19% neutral, 39% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 22%did not know.

The communitys suggestions for the RCGWs improvementsspanned a wide range of subjects. One main theme that emergedwas a frustration of the RCGWs past operations. A major recommendation by the survey respondents involved the RCGWproviding information and communicating to the community about itsoperations, standards, and policies. While many people wanted tosee improvement in the RCGW, there was a significant number of individuals who support national kashrut organizations with reliablestandards (e.g., OU or Star-K) being allowed to operate within theWashington area. The RCGW is perceived as not being active, or even interested, in promoting new establishments. Communitymembers urged the RCGW to uphold reliable kashrut standards, and,at the same time, actively facilitate new establishments.

Survey Follow-Up & Next year

In addition to publicizing this summary to the community, moredetailed statistics and suggestions for improvement will beindividually prepared for each establishment rated in the survey as

well as the RCGW itself. This information should provide valuableinformation to establishment owners on how to better meet their customers needs.

Community members are urged to congratulate the winners of thissurvey and also let them know that you look forward to evaluatingthem in next years survey.

Survey Contact

To share your thoughts on how this survey could be improved nextyear or to ask any questions, please contact Neil Rosenbaum [email protected].

2005 washington dc area kosher community survey - final report

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