Hawking Kosher Food At the Ball Game

A small vendor of stadium treats is powered by memories of childhood disappointment

WHEN JONATHAN KATZ recalls going to Mets games with his family, he thinks about more than strikeouts and passed balls. He remembers not being able to eat the hot dogs. The only kosher food available was soda and ice cream.

"Don't get me wrong, the ice cream was good, but everybody around us had hot dogs and chicken and French fries," says Katz, an orthodox Jew who has always followed a strict kosher diet. "For a kid, having a hot dog at the ballpark is like your day in the sun. We didn't have that opportunity when I was growing up."

Fast forward two decades and Katz, 29, has taken matters into his own hands. He founded Kosher Sports, an Englewood-based company that runs Kosher-food concession stands at Baltimore Orioles baseball games, Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens football games and the U.S. Open Tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York . He also runs a stand at the PNC Bank Arts Center , the outdoor performance venue in Holmdel.

This means that hungry event-goers who keep kosher don't have to bring their own eats: Katz offers knishes, chicken tenders, French fries, chili, Italian sausages and-by far his biggest seller-all-beef hot dogs.

Katz is not the first kosher food concessionaire to hit the region's sporting events. The Baltimore Orioles have offered kosher fare since 1988, and some teams, including the Mets and Yankees, have followed.

But Katz, the only full-time employee of his 2-year-old company, is making a name for himself in this niche. He is busy pursuing locations in major league sports stadiums where there are large Jewish populations, like Los Angeles , Chicago , Boston and Florida . And though someone has beaten him to it, he's still gunning for the home of the New York Mets, the setting of his hot dog-deprived childhood baseball memories. "We'd like to be in Shea Stadium, but they have their own [kosher food] vendor right now," says Katz.

Katz wants folks who keep kosher to leave their bag lunches at home.

Meanwhile, Katz says the five locations he has signed up afford him a living and a great sense of satisfaction. "Customers are often so happy to see our menu," he says. "I get people who thank me."

Those patrons include Jews on strict kosher diets and others who may choose the food simply because the line is shorter than those at the mainstream vendors. And it doesn't hurt that some non-Jewish fans think "kosher" means the meat is better. "The food is considered to be better quality," Katz says. "I cannot tell you that 100% for sure, but if they think that, let them think that."

Katz, whose previous experience in the food industry was limited to a stint as a waiter for a catering company, got his big break in 2003 when a mutual acquaintance set him up in a meeting with New York Giants co-owner Wellington Mara. Mara helped Katz become a vendor at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford that same year, selling kosher franks and other treats to Giants and Jets fans.

While this helped Katz break into the industry, he says the administrative costs at the stadium were simply too high. As a result, 2003 was his first and last year there. "Giants stadium was my opening and I took it," he says. With Giants Stadium on his rsum, Katz was able to sign contracts at the other stadiums.

Katz makes a deal with each stadium's primary concessionaire. In Philadelphia , for example, that's Aramark. Katz supplies the workers and managers for his stand while the concessionaire supervises him. Sales from the stand are split among the concessionaire, the team and Katz. Katz says his share varies from stadium to stadium. Sales at his stands, meanwhile, range from $1,500 and $15,000 per event, depending on the number of people who show up at the facility. He pays his workers, generally high school and college students, $8 to $12 on an hourly basis. Managers make $15 to $20.

He hires a manager for the Baltimore food stands on a per-game basis. Katz travels to Baltimore Orioles games when they play the Yankees and Red Sox, which draw sell-out crowds. "We're very busy for those games," he says.

He does 81 home games for the Orioles; 10 home games each for the Ravens and Eagles, including exhibition games; and two weeks at the U.S. Open.

Though kosher food costs more, Katz does not charge more than the mainstream concessionaires, "there is no reason to take advantage," Katz says. "If you can't make money on a $4 hot dog, you shouldn't be in the business."

Katz seems to have what it takes to make it in this niche industry, says Kevin Daloia, manager of food concessions at the U.S. Open. "He's organized, he's clean and he has a good staff of people who work for him," says Deloia. "He's an energetic young guy who never gives anyone a hard time."

But it takes more than energy to launch a company. It took what Katz called an "entrepreneurial uncle" who lent him $25,000. "There were times at the very beginning when the bank account got very low, but I'm still here," Katz says, "I've been able to pay off my uncle and now we are profitable."

He credits his wife, Robyn, for encouraging him during challenging moments. "My wife is the complete backbone of this company," says Katz, who lives with her and their 16-month-old son, Joshua, in Englewood . "She supports me and she believes in me 100%."

Katz got his first inkling that there might be a future for him in stadium food in 1992, 11 years before he launched Kosher Sports. Katz attended a game at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles, and saw something he had never seen before: a kosher food vendor at a baseball game.

"It had hot dogs, chicken tenders, knishes and a whole kitchen," Katz recalls. "I was overwhelmed. It was so impressive."

Then he did something he had wanted to do since he was 10 years old. "I ordered a hot dog," Katz said. That was the first of many days in the sun for Jonathan Katz.