This spring, fast-growing coffee chain Aroma will open its first kosher shop on Bathurst just north of Wilson.
“As you know, Aroma is very popular with the Jewish community, given its roots,” says Daniel Davidzon, marketing manager for the Canadian company with Israeli origins, “and we thought there was a segment of the population that wasn’t able to take advantage of our menu items.”
Both inside and out the kosher location will look the same as other locations, and since they’ve decided to go dairy there will only need to be one kitchen, though this means the menu will have to be changed to eliminate the meat.
“A whole host of sandwiches has dropped off the menu,” Davidzon says, “as well as some salads,” though he says the prices will mostly stay the same.
The address, at 3791-3793 Bathurst, is in a disused Shoppers Drug Mart, just a few blocks north of where Daiters, the 78-year-old Jewish deli, will be closing in April.
“We’d like to use it as a permanent experiment,” Davidzon says, saying the company is not sure whether it will roll out the concept more broadly. “So far, we’ve had a very positive reaction online.”
With other, non-kosher locations opening at Yonge and Sheppard, downtown Markham and in the RBC Waterpark building around the same time, there will be 30 Aromas in the GTA by summer.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Daniel Davidzon