From left: Brian Finkel shaking hands with Mohamed Saleem, the founder of Al Barakah. David Czinn is shaking hands with his son, Yousuf Saleem, who is the managing director of the factory. (credit: Mubarak Taj) For Los Angeles businessmen Brian Finkel and David Czinn, dates are not just delicious and nutritious fruit. They are a source of spiritual connection and forming international relationships.
It’s also why they went into the date syrup business in 2013. Now, their California-based company, D’vash Organics, produces a wide variety of vegan date syrups sold in more than 5,000 stores nationwide including Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart, Sprouts, Safeway, Amazon and Meijer, to name a few. They are also taking their business to the next level by partnering with the world’s largest date manufacturer, Al Barakah Dates Factory, located in Dubai. This UAE deal is historic for the entrepreneurs to produce the world’s first date-based super brand.
“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Al Barakah. This partnership will give us the necessary tools to create a wide range of products from syrups to snacks,” Finkel who is CEO said.
The new partnership will allow D’vash to grow their business via retail, wholesale and e-commerce, both throughout the U.S. and internationally. Their two-day meetings involved discussions on the similarities between Arabic and Hebrew, Jewish and Islamic theology, and Kosher and Halal dietary restrictions.
“The sense of genuine warmth, mutual respect, and trust was palpable throughout our negotiations,” Czinn, president of D’vash Organics, said. “Both sides [were] eager to emphasize our commonalities rather than our differences to bring the best quality date products to consumers worldwide.”
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Finkel and Czinn met in 2005 while studying abroad in Israel, where they developed the idea for D’vash Organics. Czinn, who lives in Pico Robertson, and Finkel said in a joint statement that Al Barakah is not only the largest manufacturer of date products in the world, they are also an end-to-end manufacturing solution.
Under the terms of the new deal, D’vash Organics can now make a wide range of products under the D’vash brand name at the Al Barakah facility. It will enable them to scale to new markets, massively expand the product line and offer the most competitive pricing in the world.
Since date sweetener can be used in a wide variety of recipes, has 25 percent less sugar than honey and is 100 percent vegan (compared to honey which is made from bees), their syrup is more inclusive for everyone in the kitchen or with a dietary restriction.
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“People today are becoming increasingly conscious about the food they consume,” they said in a joint statement. “The fact that our products are not only vegan but also paleo-friendly, non-GMO, kosher-certified and low-glycemic means that we are able to include a wide variety of consumers in our customer base.”
Czinn currently resides in Israel and said that the company’s Jewish and Israeli roots were no barrier to closing a deal with their new Muslim partners. Al Barakah didn’t know they were Jewish or their connection to Israel for the first two-and-a-half years they worked with them. The company reached out to the D’vash team about forming a partnership the week that the Abraham Accords were announced. The team said they met the managing director for dinner at a kosher restaurant in the Burj Khalifa, when the news broke of the company’s connection to Israel. When they went to the Al Barakah factory a few days later to negotiate a deal, Finkel and Czinn said they were warmly received.
“The recent peace agreement between Israel and the UAE, which enabled me to take a direct, three-hour flight from Tel Aviv to Dubai for these meetings, certainly played a role in making conversations like these possible,” Finkel said. “We hope that this deal will be our small contribution toward building a prosperous and peaceful future for the Middle East and the entire world.”
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