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Hanukkah began at sundown yesterday. This year, the Hanukkah season falls against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Gaza and attacks on Jewish businesses in the U.S., and some businesses are reporting an uptick in buying gifts to recognize the Jewish holiday even more this holiday season.
"This is our 110th Hanukkah. Even as a shop kid with my parents running Russ & Daughters, I feel that every year Hanukkah continues to grow in its significance," says Niki Russ Federman, a fourth-generation co-owner of Russ & Daughters. On Wednesday, the New York-based restaurant made close to 6,000 latkes for customers all over the country--a record for the business. "That's a lot of potatoes. We make all of our latkes by hand in small batches. It's a 24-hour operation here."
Russ Federman believes institutions like hers have a role to play in difficult times. "People express their Jewishness in lots of different ways, but one of the common denominators oftentimes is food like ours," she says. "Many of our customers have not just a lifelong connection to Russ & Daughters, but a generational connection. We see ourselves as being a source of comfort for everyone during this time."
Neal Hoffman, founder and CEO of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Mensch on a Bench, admits it's "scary right now." He put up security cameras around the company's office and spoke to his wife about whether he was putting their family in danger by being a face of Judaism at this moment.
But, Hoffman, who is Jewish, says, "We're not going to shy away from it. This is who we are. We're not political. We are trying to bring joy and love to people's families. I think I have a responsibility to 5,000 years of Jews not to back down."
Russ Federman, Hoffman, and other business owners shared their strategies for a successful season, no matter what is happening in the world.
Dogwood Hill, a Birmingham, Alabama-based stationery company, sells custom, hand-designed cards, invitations, gift tags, and place cards for Hanukkah. And while their Hanukkah business is not particularly large, founder and CEO Jennifer Hunt says there is still a valuable-and often underserved-audience for these holiday products.
"The holiday Christmas volume is massively bigger than the Hanukkah business is, but I also think that that might be a function of the lack of good products available," says Hunt, whose business generates multiple millions in annual revenue. "It's important to make sure that we've got that available for people, especially because not a lot of companies provide that."
Hunt is in a unique position as an entrepreneur. Because most of Dogwood Hill's products are printed to order, the company can invest in items tailored for smaller holidays without the same risk as inventory-heavy businesses. Still, she advises other entrepreneurs to expand their holiday offering to include Hanukkah. "There's an audience for these items, and I think that the hard thing is that there aren't many options. So why not try it?" she says. "Just test it out and see."
Lauren Borowick Brand, who co-founded Fatty Sundays with her sister Ali Borowick Zmishlany, also sees advantages in offering items that "scream Hanukkah." "We've seen great response from our retailers looking for Hanukkah things, especially because our packaging is so specific," says Borowick Brand, whose New York-based company makes chocolate- and sprinkle-dipped pretzels, including a redesigned blue-and-white pretzel set with a menorah on the box.
"We are a proud woman-owned, Jewish-owned business," adds Borowick Zmishlany. "People who celebrate Hanukkah or just want to support Jewish-owned businesses have been really supportive and excited about our new offerings."
"Each season is unique," says Hoffman. The date of Hanukkah is based on the Hebrew calendar, so it moves around each year. An early Hanukkah can result in sales dipping by 40 percent, says Hoffman.
Consumers typically start shopping for Hanukkah around Black Friday, and most Hanukkah shopping is done by the first or second night, Hoffman says. Retailers often begin discounting products as soon as the holiday starts.
Celebrations of Hanukkah tend to be bigger when they are closer to Christmas. And retailers typically add Hanukkah products and holiday-centric displays after Halloween, so a Hanukkah closer to Christmas gives companies a longer sales window. Russ Federman said she'd noticed an uptick in last-minute orders because the holiday falls relatively early this year.
Fatty Sundays has long prided itself on offering fast shipping -- so last-minute shoppers can still buy items for the holiday. "To everyone's advantage, Hanukkah is eight whole nights, so that's eight full days of gifting," says Borowick Brand, whose company does over $1 million a year in sales. Often, kids will receive small gifts for each night of Hanukkah, so offering smaller items can boost sales. Fatty Sundays, for example, offers packages of pretzels starting at $3.99.
Hoffman, whose products are sold in Walmart and Target, has had to contend with big-box retailer disruption when it comes to Hanukkah. After Hoffman appeared on Shark Tank in 2014, Mensch on a Bench products first got onto shelves at Bed Bath & Beyond, which Hoffman says used to be one of the top three consumer destinations for Hanukkah -- until the retailer filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and relaunched as an online-only retailer. In the absence of physical Bed Bath & Beyond stores, there's a lot less shelf space for holiday products.
With so much uncertainty in chain stores, other entrepreneurs have found their Hanukkah footing through e-commerce. Kate McAleer, founder and CEO of Bixby Chocolates in Rockland, Maine, packages her kosher chocolates into gift sets for Hanukkah and says they do particularly well online. McAleer advises other business owners to make sure they have a Hanukkah-specific landing page on their website, so that their website shows up in search engine rankings when people search for gift ideas.
"Bundling things in gift sets is a really fun way to create a more gift-like approach to your everyday items," says McAleer, who does not have a large enough budget to produce Hanukkah-specific treats.
For founders who are not Jewish, but want to add Hanukkah to their holiday strategies, Hoffman says the Jewish community welcomes that. To participate in a meaningful and appropriate way, the entrepreneur suggests asking your Jewish employees, customers, and friends for help.
"Jewish people are very open and happy to explain what our traditions are to share them, to give ideas," he says. "We want more Hanukkah stuff. We've been sitting there for years and years feeling kind of left out during the December season."
But he cautions other founders to make sure their Hanukkah items really fit the holiday in an authentic way. "Label slabs are dangerous. You don't want to just slap 'Happy Hanukkah' on something and call it a day," he says. "But if you consult the right people, and you have thoughtful items, I think consumers will react accordingly."
That's exactly what Dogwood Hill did. The stationery company, which was launched in 2015, started offering Hanukkah paper goods about three years into business after feedback from their customers and employees. Hunt heard from a friend, who was struggling to find Hanukkah cards that she really liked, so Hunt, who is not Jewish herself, turned to one of her company's artists, who is Jewish, to create Hanukkah designs. "We have new art every year specific to Hanukkah from her," she says.
This year, many business owners say that world events make Hanukkah celebrations especially resonant. "Personally it makes me just want to do Hanukkah bigger than ever this year versus shying away from it," says Borowick Brand.
Her sister agrees: "We want to make everybody's Hanukkah that much sweeter -- especially this year."
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