BUSINESS
l TALK // WEEKLY INSIGHTS FROM BUSINESS LEADERS
B Y C. S. T E I T E LBAUM
Name: Chaim Zelig Shine
private customers
Company: Renbake Patisserie
Lives: Stamford Hill, London
Position: Managing partner
Age: 47
Industry: Bakery patisserie production for airlines, caterers, restaurants, hotels, shops and
Employees: 30 Founded: 1980s
Background: Chaim Zelig Shine is the managing partner of Renbake Patisserie, where he has spent the better part of his days for the last 22 years, starting off as an employee and working his way up to partner. Originally called Rensow (the company founder’s name written backwards), production covered both the kosher and non-kosher markets, selling the latter products in major UK supermarket chains under the brand name Gü (alluding to the rich “gooey” texture), but when the business outgrew its premises, as well as for practical reasons, the nonkosher production was relocated in 1998, leaving Mr. Shine to manage and develop Renbake, the renamed kosher division. Throughout the years, both as Rensow and Renbake, the company has been recognized for its professionalism, later demonstrated by the fact that when the non-kosher company Rensow was sold off, one of its select potential buyers was none other than Nestlé—the world’s largest food and beverage company.
LUNCH BREAK with Chaim Zelig Shine Has the patisserie industry changed over the years? Kosher patisserie styles are very much connected to the non-kosher market. Fashion and style is no less important than taste and quality. We have to be very on top of style changes and new ideas, which come up on a daily basis.
Who are your clients? Our main clients are the caterers who serve at weddings likely attended by guests who had their food at a simchah the night before. These individuals will certainly not appreciate being served the same dish, garnished and plated the same way, twice or three
times in a row. We have to refresh our styles, or at least shape them differently, and we certainly have to ditch a dessert that has been-there-done-that too many times.
Doesn’t a caterer make his own desserts? Usually not. When it comes to equipment and knowledge, a cook’s kitchen is very different from a baker’s kitchen. From their experience, caterers know that in this line they’re better off leaving it to the professionals. And of course, they have the option for us to customize their desserts according to the customer’s ideas.
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Could you point to Renbake's turning point? When we seperated our kosher and non-kosher departments fifteen years ago. It enabled us to concentrate solely on developing and expanding the kosher market.
What is your next venture? We are currently in the process of going online.
Do you believe a Jewish business, a kosher food one at that, needs the Web exposure? We have to go with the flow. This is what our clients are requesting, and it’s the way business is done today. Also,