Encino Kosher Market Owner Talks Challenges of Operating During the Pandemic

Moshe Dadon, the Israeli owner of the Encino-based market popularly known as Mr. Kosher and formally known as Ventura Kosher Meat & Poultry, has had— on more than one front—a rough time operating his business during the pandemic. 

“It has hurt us badly,” Dadon, who purchased the store in 2009, more than 40 years after its 1968 founding, said.

Starting at the beginning of the pandemic, people have been afraid to come into his store. The first week, there was a big panic. “They bought everything,” he said. “A week or two later, when their freezers and refrigerators were filled, they were terribly afraid to come to the store and buy more.”

This created a new challenge for Dadon’s small and already overwhelmed staff. 

With nationwide fears compounding, Mr. Kosher’s customers – influenced by large food retailers such as Ralphs — began telephoning in their orders in large numbers for the first time.

“This presented a new problem for us,” Dadon said. “Customers would have to come to the parking lot to pick up their food. We would have to take the food out to them.”

One obstacle was that people wanted to use their credit cards, causing workers to have to make multiple trips to each customer.

“It was a headache at the beginning, and it still is going on today.” — Moshe Dadon

“It was a headache at the beginning, and it is still going on today,” said the owner. “Some people just don’t like to leave their cars.”

 Before the pandemic, “our customers came inside to shop,” Dadon said. “They might be buying bread, but they would go from shelf to shelf and remember they are low on cheese and would buy some. That’s how it worked. Not now, though.” 

Anyone who has traveled Ventura Boulevard in the Valley, or any other retail neighborhood during the past 21 months, and glanced at the scores of stores posting “Help wanted” signs understands one of Dadon’s chief frustrations.

“The biggest obstacle in the last six months has been the lack of available workers,” he said. “There are no workers willing to work. Some may not be interested in working because they are getting money from the government. But otherwise I don’t know why. I am not sure what is happening. I don’t know who is qualified and who is not. But I do know it is hurting my business.”

Right now, Dadon is short two or three employees, which is a big deal.  

“In my small store, to be short two guys is a lot,” he said.

Reflecting on the good old pre-pandemic days, Dadon recalled, “when workers came here to work, they stayed.”

Before the coronavirus, nearly every week, jobseekers would inquire about vacancies. “I would have to say ‘Sorry’ because when workers came in those times, they stayed. Now, this is not the case.”

Dadon was one of many business owners who wasn’t shocked to hear about “The Great Resignation,” where millions of workers quit their jobs in record numbers this past fall. In September, it reached a high of 4.4 million. 

“We don’t have enough employees, I think, because they hear, somehow, from a friend or a cousin, about a family member receiving a check for free, and they want one too,” he said.

Additionally, the supply chain crisis at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and low inventory, traced to a shortage of delivery drivers, are also affecting Dadon’s store. 

“My business is very small,” he said. “The government must find a way to stimulate people to become interested in working again. If the government will stop the stimulus money, I believe the workforce will go back to the way it was before.”