• by Les Luchter , Yesterday

Manischewitz, the kosher food company whose rebranding over the past couple of years has included the addition of such products as hot dogs, knishes and egg rolls, has teamed with the nonprofit jscreen to encourage testing for some 200 genetic diseases, with a special focus on Tay-Sachs, a disorder that primarily affects people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.

Targeted toward young adults, the initiative involves a tour titled “Deli is in my DNA,” which will hit at least six locations this year, the organizers say. These include college campuses like Yeshiva College and Stern College in New York City, as well as the Hillel International Global Assembly in Boston and the Jewish Grad Organization conference in Washington, DC.

“We connected over our aligned goals,” Shani Seidman, CMO of Manischewitz parent company Kayco Kosher, tells Marketing Daily about jscreen. “For us, it’s comfort food. For them, getting people healthy and ready for families. It's all health, spiritual and physical. And the deli is definitely in Manischewitz’s DNA.”

The tour’s title, in fact, is a direct link to Manischewitz’s “Deli on Wheels” food truck, which launched this past spring and will travel to several of the tour stops distributing free comfort food items like hot dogs, matzo ball soup, knishes, rugelach and babka, along with co-branded t-shirts and sweatshirts.  When the Deli on Wheels can’t make a location, Manischewitz will supply care packages with swag along with macaroons and other foods.

It’s all to support jscreen, which will offer on-site screenings as well as at-home saliva kits. A prime objective is to identify the risk of having a child with a genetic disease. If an elevated risk is identified, jscreen has counselors who can provide consultations via phone or video.

While the Deli on Wheels, which has been selling goods around the New York metro area the past few months, began as mostly a marketing tool to support Manischewitz’s rebranding, “it’s become its own business because of the demand,” Seidman reveals.  “It’s really exciting to see because it's not very often marketers get to show that kind of ROI right away.”

Seidman says that the brand is now considering expanding the Deli on Wheels into other markets and venues.

The Deli on Wheels, incidentally, never sells Manischewitz wine, on or off campuses. That product is marketed, under license, by a separate company now owned by EJ Gallo.