Israeli Businesses Ride Wave To U.S.

Journal Gazzette:

NEW YORK – Yariv Shefa, an Israeli, developed a taste for espresso drinks while working as a mover in New York in the early ’90s. When he returned to his native country 13 years ago, he ignored warnings that Israelis would never buy coffee to go, and opened a small cafe seating 20 in Jerusalem.

Now his company, Aroma, Israel’s largest coffee chain with 73 outlets, has brought the American-style espresso bar back to New York with a Hebrew twist. In July, the company opened a flagship cafe in SoHo, replete with Mediterranean interior design and food.

With the move, Aroma joined a wave of Israeli food, cosmetics and fashion companies that have set up U.S. beachheads in New York recently, taking advantage of the city’s large number of consumers with Israeli-influenced tastes.Buoyed by Israeli customers longing for home, the newest businesses have plunged ahead undeterred by violent turmoil at home, and even anti-Israel protesters in the U.S.

“Israel is a small market, roughly 6 million people, and a lot of companies are hitting their limits there. The U.S. is an obvious place to expand,� said Hanna Kamionski, head of consumer products at the Israeli Economic Mission to North America in New York.

“There was tremendous growth in Israel during the 1990s in the luxury products business and in high-end restaurants,� Kamionski said. “Now many of those successful companies are coming to New York. There seems to be a trend.�

Following on the heels of Aroma, another successful Israeli chain, Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man, opened near Union Square in downtown Manhattan.

This recent diaspora of Israeli chains began three years ago when Sabon, a boutique of handmade soaps and cosmetics, opened in New York’s Greenwich Village. Sabon now has six stores in New York and more in Boston and Chicago.

Sharon Hasson, 38, who runs Sabon’s U.S. franchise, says the expansion of Israeli companies to the U.S. reflects a generation of business leaders in Israel, more entrepreneurial and global in outlook.