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�I�ve thought about moving from Skokie,� says Rosenblum, who bought The Falafel King ten years ago from its original owner, an Israeli immigrant named Eva Rubinowitz. �But the rent is cheap here and I don�t want to have to uproot my kitchen. Plus, we�re still doing business, so I don�t want to mess with a system that is working.�
Situated on W. Oakton St. between a Korean market on the right and a Laundromat on the left, The Falafel King is representative of the Jews� place in Skokie today. It is no secret that the Jewish explosion that began in the 1940s has given way to the immigration of a much wider range of ethnicities to Skokie. While the 2000 Census does not have statistics about religion � it is not allowed to ask � one need only to look at the influx of Asian, Indian and West Indian immigrants over the last ten years to know that the Jews� prominence is thinning.
Rosenblum says that the Jewish community makes up about 90 percent of his clientele, and that he has noticed a drop in that population since he took over the restaurant. He says that he is seeing a lot more business from the Muslim Indian and Middle Eastern community, with whom the vegetarian options such as falafel and hommos are very popular. While he declined to give an exact figure, Rosenblum says that his revenues are in the black every year, while in just the last decade he�s seen almost 30 kosher restaurants come and go.
A few streets north, Dempster St. is sort of a Jewish restaurant row. New York Bagels & Bialys and The Kosher Kitchen are neighbors � and competitors � in a small shopping center on Dempster�s 3500 block, just a few doors down in either direction from a handful of other Semitic-sounding delis and eateries.
Mitchell Cohen, manager of New York Bagels & Bialys, says that such a high volume of Jewish food providers does not mean the industry is thriving.
�The Jewish restaurant community is like a pie,� Cohen said. �Just because there are more businesses does not mean there is a bigger pie. It�s a difficult area because the people are changing. In fact, the pie is getting smaller.�
One person who is unconcerned by the region�s shift in diversity is Ken Hechtman, owner of Ken�s Diner and Bugsy�s Charhouse. Hechtman, a Glitzian Jew, opened the all-kosher Ken�s Diner in 1976 with a clear goal and a solid business plan. He says that he is unconvinced that Skokie�s Jewish population is really shrinking, just changing. Hechtman says he has seen a shift in how the religion is practiced, from conservative reform Jews to stricter Orthodox Jews, and that his business has adjusted to keep up with the demand.
�The number one cause of death in the restaurant business is lack of training or lack of planning,� Hechtman said, a bustling dining room providing a proof-is-in-the-pudding backdrop.
�Careful planning gives you the opportunity to plan for misgivings. That way, if those misgivings arise, you can redirect your focus once you have dealt with them.�
Hechtman says this philosophy is what causes his restaurant to succeed no matter the clientele. He says that as long as you provide a quality product and let your customers know that you care about them, you will never find yourself without any business.
