OU Kosher Dining at Albertson’s Supermarkets

By Rabbi Leonard Steinberg

If you visit Houston, make sure to go into Albertson’s Supermarket at the intersection of Braeswood and Fondren.  You can enjoy some Pas Yisroel cake freshly baked at the store’s in- house bakery together with a Cholov Yisroel coffee from the store’s coffee bar.  If you are in the mood for fleishigs, buy a fresh cut deli sandwich from the store’s kosher deli or you can have some barbecued chicken. You can eat your meal in the sit down eating area that is equipped with a Netilas Yadayim sink.

The Houston store is the first in the Albertson’s OU kosher program.  Albertson’s is one of the largest supermarket chains in the US with over 900 stores in 23 states.  The company decided to explore the Kosher market and opened a store with a Kosher deli, bakery, and fresh meat section in Dallas under the supervision of Dallas Kosher.  The store proved to be a huge success and Albertson’s decided to take their show on the road.  Just as the company seeks uniformity in their store designs and fixtures, so too in their supervision. Thus, the OU was approached to certify the subsequent stores that would participate in the Kosher program.

There will be three types of stores in the program:

Level I:  These supermarkets will be patterned after the Houston store featuring fresh meat, deli and bakery.  At Houston, a  mashgiach temidi is in attendance.  The bakery is all pareve thus avoiding any problems of mixture of ingredients or equipment.  Some Albertson’s private label baked goods that are dairy are also sold by the bakery section.  The meat is cut in a room that is totally separate from the non kosher fresh meat.  The mashgiach is always present when meat is being cut. At all other times, the room is under the lock and key of the mashgiach and is sold from an exclusively kosher display case.  The deli operates only when the mashgiach is present.  They sell cold cuts and meats and rottiserie chicken.  Sandwiches are also packaged and sealed by the mashgiach with a signed label and can be purchased even after the deli is closed from a refrigerated show case.  Chickens can also be purchased after hours.  They are sealed and held in a heated case.

Level II:  Stores such as the store in Jacksonville, FL will feature one or two kosher sections.  Jacksonville has a bakery - but no meat or deli. 

Level III:  These stores will have expanded kosher grocery sections to serve the local Jewish community, but no kosher sections processing food.

Albertson’s is working with the OU on a Level I store in Boca Raton, FL and level II (bakery and deli) in Memphis, TN.  Whether Level I, II or III, the OU at Albertson’s promises to bring easy access of Kosher to many of our fellow Jewish brethren in these United States.