Robert Kaufelt

Last updated

Robert Ian Kaufelt (October 7, 1947) is a "pioneer" in upscale supermarkets and specialty foods and the former owner of Murray's Cheese who is credited with turning Murray's into the "Apple Store of fromage." [1] [2] In 1991, he bought Murray's Cheese, the oldest cheese shop in New York City, founded by Murray Greenberg. [3] He turned the store into a nationally recognized "gourmet destination". [4] Kaufelt is an "important presence in the specialty food industry" as an innovative retailer, author of The Murray's Cheese Handbook, educator and "sought-after speaker". [5]

Contents

Early life

Kaufelt was born in Highland Park, NJ to a family of grocers. [4] His paternal grandfather, Irving, was a Polish immigrant who opened Kaufelt Brothers Fancy Groceries in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in 1920. [6] Kaufelt's father, Stanley P. Kaufelt, owned Mayfair Supermarkets Inc., which operated a chain of 28 groceries trading under the banner of Foodtown. In 1995, Stanley Kaufelt sold Mayfair Supermarkets to the Dutch supermarket company Ahold. [7]

Career

Early career

After graduating from Cornell University in 1969 with a BA in government, Kaufelt joined Mayfair Supermarket Inc. and eventually became president. [4] He left Mayfair in 1985 to open two specialty stores in Princeton and Summit, NJ, called Kaufelt's Fancy Groceries which was named after the original family grocery in Perth Amboy, NJ. [4] These stores "innovated supermarket quality and service." [8] When the Princeton shop failed in 1987, Kaufelt sold the Summit location and moved to Greenwich Village. [9]

Murray's Cheese

Upon arriving in New York, Kaufelt approached Louis Tudda, who had bought Murrays from Greenberg in the 1960s and was now losing the lease. He acquired the name and remaining stock. [4] Throughout the 90s, Kaufelt worked behind the counter and did "whatever it took to succeed". [5]

During his tenure as owner, Kaufelt built Murray's Cheese into a "national enterprise", "representing a large share of the specialty cheese market". [10] [11] Three times, Murray's Cheese was named "one of the best cheese shops in the world". [12] [13] In 2005, Kaufelt was on the cover of Cornell Alumni Magazine and was credited as "leading a cheese revolution". [14] Murray's is noted in the Oxford Companion to Cheese as "worldwide reputation for outstanding quality." [15]

In addition to the flagship location on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, Kaufelt opened a branch in Grand Central Terminal in 2002 [9] and a restaurant, Murray's Cheese Bar, in 2012. [16]

Innovations

After buying in 1991, he added temperature-controlled aging caves in the basement (with a sidewalk window for customers to watch cavemasters practice affinage, or cheese aging). [17] Kaufelt opened a classroom to instruct professionals and the public in cheese and cheese pairings, including a 3-day Cheese U Boot Camp. [18] Nationally, Kaufelt developed the Murray's Certified Cheese Professional (CCP) program, which brought cheese in line with other professional food credentials, such as pastry chefs and sommeliers. [9] Students must pass a rigorous test from the American Cheese Society, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1983 to support the North American artisanal and specialty cheese industry. More than 5,000 attendees have completed the training; hundreds of Murray's Cheese staff in New York and in Kroger supermarkets are certified cheese professionals. [19] According to Edible Manhattan, Murray's was “a launchpad for many of the most important businesses in the current good food movement.” [18]

Kroger partnership

In 2005, Kaufelt entered a partnership with Ohio-based Kroger Company. [20] By 2016, the partnership helped expand Murray's Cheese shops to 350 locations in Kroger's across the country. [21] There are currently over 800 Murray's cheese shops in Kroger chains including King Soopers, Ralph's, Fry's, Fred Meyer and others.

In 2017, Kroger purchased Murray's Cheese with Kaufelt, who stayed affiliated as a "strategic advisor." [22] At the time of sale, related businesses included classroom; caves, import company; early online website ('89); catalogue; restaurant; private label; mac and cheese concept.

Publications

Awards

Personal life

Kaufelt's previous two marriages [24] ended in divorce. A previous relationship, with the Anglo-Irish food writer Tamasin Day-Lewis, was chronicled in recipes & narrative by Day-Lewis in Where Shall We Go for Dinner? and goes into great detail about Kaufelt's travel around the world to find the finest cheeses. [25]

In 2010, Kaufelt married Nina Planck, [26] a Virginia-born food writer, farmers’ market entrepreneur, founder of London Farmers' Markets and author of The Real Food Cookbook." The couple lives in New York City and in Stockton, NJ, with their children: Julian, born October 24, 2006, [27] and twins Jacob and Rose, born August 4, 2009. In 2010, Kaufelt released an album dedicated to Planck called Sweet Virginia Girl.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supermarket</span> Large format of grocery store

A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. In everyday United States usage, however, "grocery store" is often used to mean "supermarket".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grocery store</span> Retail store that primarily sells food and other household supplies

A grocery store (AE), grocery shop (BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries. In the UK, shops that sell food are distinguished as grocers or grocery shops

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kroger</span> American retail company

The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.

Michael J. Cullen (1884–1936) was an American entrepreneur and salesman known as the founder of the King Kullen grocery store chain, widely considered to be the first supermarket founded in America. He is recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as the inventor of the modern supermarket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harris Teeter</span> American supermarket chain

Harris Teeter Supermarkets, LLC., also known as Harris Teeter Neighborhood Food & Pharmacy, is an American supermarket chain based in Matthews, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. As of June 2024, the chain operates 261 stores in seven South Atlantic states and Washington, D.C. Supermarket News ranked Harris Teeter No. 34 in the 2012 "Top 75 Retailers & Wholesalers" based on 2011 fiscal year sales of $4.3 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ShopRite</span> American supermarket chain

ShopRite is an American retailers' cooperative of supermarkets with stores in six states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith's Food and Drug</span> Supermarket chain and subsidiary of Kroger

Smith's Food and Drug, or simply Smith's, is an American regional supermarket chain that was founded by Lorenzo Smith in 1911 in Brigham City, Utah. Headquartered in Salt Lake City with stores in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, Smith's became a subsidiary of Kroger in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bashas'</span> Arizona based grocery store chain

Bashas' is a grocery store chain, primarily located in Arizona, with two locations outside the state in Crownpoint, New Mexico, and Shiprock, New Mexico. Its headquarters are in unincorporated Maricopa County, Arizona, near Chandler. As of December 15, 2021, Bashas' is owned by Raley's Supermarkets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn Traffic</span> Defunct retail chain

The Penn Traffic Company was a food service company founded in 1854 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Peapod Online Grocer (US), LLC is an American online grocery delivery service. By February 2022, it changed its name to Peapod Digital Labs.

Foodtown is a northeastern United States supermarket cooperative founded in 1955 by Twin County Grocers in New Jersey. Currently, there are 66 Foodtown stores in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Foodtown's corporate offices are located in Iselin, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marsh Supermarkets</span> Defunct grocery chain based in central Indiana

Marsh Supermarkets was an American retail food chain headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a peak number of 86 stores in 2013 located throughout central Indiana and parts of western Ohio. Its eventual parent company was Sun Capital Partners, headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.

Nina Planck is a food writer and farmers' market entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Soopers</span> Colorado supermarket chain

King Soopers is an American supermarket chain located in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. It started as its own brand, and is now a subsidiary of Kroger. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food 4 Less</span> American no-frills grocery store chain owned by Kroger

Food 4 Less is the name of several grocery store chains, the largest of which is currently owned by Kroger. It is a no-frills grocery store where the customers bag their own groceries at the checkout. Kroger operates Food 4 Less stores in the Chicago metropolitan area and in Southern California. Kroger operates their stores as Foods Co. in northern and central California, including Bakersfield and the Central Coast, because they do not have the rights to the Food 4 Less name in those areas. Other states, such as Nevada, formerly contained Kroger-owned Food 4 Less stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairway Market</span> American northeast grocery chain

Fairway Market is a small American grocery chain founded in 1933 by Nathan Glickberg. It is one of the brands owned by the Wakefern Food Corporation, whose flagship supermarket cooperative network is ShopRite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray's Cheese</span> Cheese shop in New York City

Murray's Cheese is an artisanal cheese and specialty foods retailer and wholesaler based in Greenwich Village in New York City. It was founded in Greenwich Village in 1962 as a spinoff of Glen Alden farms, an egg and dairy wholesaler. The company later expanded, and in 2012 opened a restaurant in Manhattan named Murray's Cheese Bar. In February 2017 the franchise was acquired by the Kroger Company. As of 2021, there are more than 800 locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max McCalman</span> American cheese expert

Max McCalman is an American cheese scholar and advocate for artisanal cheese production. He is an author, was the first Maître Fromager in a North American restaurant, spearheaded the creation of the Artisanal Bistro and Artisanal Premium Cheese Center, and is an advocate for raw-milk cheeses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D'Agostino Supermarkets</span> Family-founded supermarket chain in the United States

D'Agostino Supermarkets is a supermarket chain in New York City that was bought by Gristedes in 2018, selling a controlling interest to John Catsimatidis. The store was founded in 1932 by brothers Pasquale and Nicola D'Agostino. At D'Agostino's peak in the 1990s, the chain operated at 26 locations in New York City and adjacent Westchester County, with annual sales exceeding $200 million. Later, D'Agostino's consolidated to nine stores, in Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky's Market</span> Colorado supermarket

Lucky's Market is a brand of supermarkets that are being used by two independent and unrelated regional supermarket chains, LM Acquisition Co. LLC in Colorado and Lucky's Market Ohio in Ohio.

References

  1. ↑ Morgan, Richard (31 March 2016). "Local cheesemonger reinvents the wheel".
  2. ↑ Gordinier, Jeff (Oct 4, 2011). "Cheese and Affinage : A Coming-Of-Age Story". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ "Like a fine cheese, Murray's has aged with the city". 25 August 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Zarin, Cynthia (16 August 2004). "Big Cheese" – via www.newyorker.com.
  5. 1 2 Preuss, Joanna (April 3, 2017). "Murray's Cheese and Rob Kaufelt's Next Chapter". Cheese Connoisseur.
  6. ↑ Kaufelt, Robert (1 February 2004). "Fancy Groceries". Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies. 4 (1): 86–90. doi:10.1525/gfc.2004.4.1.86 – via gcfs.ucpress.edu.
  7. ↑ "DUTCH FOOD RETAILER TO BUY MAYFAIR SUPER MARKETS". Dow Jones. 22 June 1995 – via The New York Times.
  8. ↑ "THE MALLING OF MAIN STREET". The New York Times. 19 April 1987.
  9. 1 2 3 "Murray's Cheese and Rob Kaufelt's Next Chapter - Cheese Connoisseur". 3 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "Kroger Company buys Murray's Cheese flagship". 3 February 2017.
  11. ↑ "US Retail Cheese Sales Grow to $17B - News". Specialty Food Association.
  12. ↑ LLC, Andrew Harper. "Best Cheese Shops in the World - Andrew Harper".
  13. ↑ Living, LuxEco (15 May 2013). "The Best Cheese Stores in the World: Venissimo and Murray's in New York". HuffPost .
  14. ↑ Saulnier, Beth (March 2005). "Dairy King". Cornell Alumni Magazine. March–April 2005: 45–49.
  15. ↑ Donnelly, Catherine (2016). The Oxford Companion to Cheese. USA: Oxford University Press, USA. p. 505.
  16. ↑ "New York's Most Beloved Cheese Shop Is Opening A Wine And Cheese Bar". Business Insider .
  17. ↑ Gordinier, Jeff (30 September 2011). "What's Going On Below Murray's Cheese Shop".
  18. 1 2 "Murray's Cheese - Edible Manhattan". 6 March 2012.
  19. ↑ "Certification Exam - American Cheese Society". www.cheesesociety.org.
  20. ↑ Lee, Jennifer 8. (20 November 2008). "Mass Meets Class for Artisanal Cheeses".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ↑ "Murray's Cheese Opens Milestone 350th Store - News". Specialty Food Association.
  22. ↑ "Kroger acquires Murray's Cheese".
  23. ↑ "Paris, France Recognizes United States Cheese Professionals in New York City, NY – Guilde Internationale des Fromagers Confrerie de Saint-Uguzon" (PDF). 2017-06-25. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  24. ↑ Hamilton, William L. (2002-02-28). "HOUSE PROUD; Renovating With Industrial Strength Lace". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  25. ↑ Fitzgerald, Mary (30 November 2008). "Review: Where Shall We Go For Dinner? by Tamsin Day-Lewis" – via www.theguardian.com.
  26. ↑ "Nina Planck and Rob Kaufelt". The New York Times. 22 August 2010.
  27. ↑ "Julian Charles Planck". The New York Observer . 29 January 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.