H eadlines
Kosher Bakery Owner to Hang it Up After 24 Years
L OCA L
ANDY GOTLIEB | JE MANAGING EDITOR
THE LIMITED NUMBER
of kosher bakery options in
the Philadelphia area will
drop further once Homemade
Goodies by Roz closes its doors
in the coming weeks.

Owner Roz Bratt said the
Society Hill bakery at 510 S.

Fifth St. will close its retail
operation on May 28, with
the final day of commercial
accounts “no later than the end
of June.”
“I just can’t do this anymore,”
Bratt said, “I’m 72, will be in 73
in November. I can’t bake like I
used to.”
Bratt is selling the bakery —
which will no longer be kosher
— to a former apprentice.

The pandemic contributed
to Bratt’s decision to retire
because it has made finding help
difficult — a situation common
across the baking industry, she
said. She typically works with
two other employees.

“It’s hard to find good
workers who want to stay,” she
said, describing people who
would work for a few days, then
never show up again. When the
pandemic struck, she closed
for two weeks, then opened
wholesaling again and finally
the retail part of her business.

The story of Homemade
Goodies by Roz dates back to
the 1990s, when she worked
as a Mellon Bank teller at a
branch at Second and Chestnut
streets. Some of her coworkers
opened a luncheonette, and she
wanted to help.

“There was a sign saying
‘homemade,’ and they had
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Drake’s Cakes there,” she said.

“They asked me if I could bake
homemade.” Although Bratt had never
made one before — and didn’t
have formal baker training —
she baked her friends a Jewish
apple cake that was a hit.

Eventually, she set out on
her own, with her late brother
Bobby Rothstein, a plumber
by trade, putting the store
together. Other friends chipped
in, too. Singer Norman Burnett
of The Tymes, who had a No. 1
hit in 1963 with “So Much in
Love,” was a bank customer
who chipped in with the
painting. The store opened in 1997
and became popular quickly.

“(The late Temple University
basketball coach) John Chaney
would come in here and buy
goodies for his basketball
players,” she said.

Bratt obtained kosher certi-
fication in 2008 and retains
pareve, pas Yisroel, certi-
fication from Keystone-K,
the Community Kashrus of
Greater Philadelphia.

She estimates that 60% of
her customers come specifically
because of the kosher certi-
fication, with the remainder
being from the neighborhood
or from people just passing by.

“I love what I do, and I know
my stuff is good — and it’s not
me saying that,” Bratt said.

Rabbi Yonah Gross, who is
the kashrus administrator for
Keystone-K, said the kosher
landscape is always changing,
especially as smaller bakeries
face pressures.

There are larger institu-
tional bakeries that have filled
some of the gap,” he said.

The pandemic has definitely
changed things, too.

“There have been a bunch
of home-based businesses” that
have sprung up that, while not
certified, have spread because
of word of mouth, he said.

And some small bakeries
have taken advantage of
JEWISH EXPONENT
Roz Bratt
already-certified space.

For example, a bakery used
the commercial kitchen at
Congregation Beth Hamedrosh
in Wynnewood — where Gross
is rabbi — once a week.

In addition, with the
pandemic seemingly winding
down, Keystone-K has been
approached by both new and
existing businesses about certi-
fication, Gross said.

Bratt hasn’t decided what
the future holds, but she’s
walking away with a clear
conscience. “I don’t think I have any
regrets,” she said.

Bratt did offer a parting
gift to Exponent readers: the
recipe for her signature Jewish
apple cake from her cookbook,
“Homemade Goodies by Roz.”
Apple Cake
3 cups flour
1½ cups sugar
Courtesy of Roz Bratt
3 teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs
1 cup oil
2½ teaspoons vanilla
½ cup orange juice
Apple mixture:
5 apples (peeled, cored and
chopped) 2 teaspoons cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
Add all the dry ingredients
into a bowl.

Add all the wet ingredients
into the dry bowl. Mix until
there are no lumps in the batter.

Mix the apple mixture
together. Layer batter, apples, batter,
then more apples.

Bake at 350 degrees F for one
hour in a 10-inch tube pan or until
a toothpick comes out clean. l
agotlieb@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0797
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM