Murray Klein
Encyclopedia
Murray Klein was a Jewish American entrepreneur
who helped transform New York City
's famous Zabar's
speciality food emporium from a small Jewish delicatessen
based on Manhattan
's Upper West Side
into one of the city's premier culinary destinations. Klein was a part owner of Zabar's for more than 30 years before his retirement in 1994. Though not a member of the Zabar's family, Klein is credited with making many of the decisions concerning publicity
, product pricing
and speciality merchandise.
in southwest Ukraine
, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union
, near the border with Romania
. Klein was away at a trade school at the time of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. His parents and five siblings, were captured and killed in Nazi concentration camps
during World War II
.
Klein was later sent to a Soviet labour camp, or gulag
, by his own country for part of the war. He managed to escape the camp and joined the Irgun
, which was a Jewish guerrilla movement active in the Middle East
. He helped smuggle arms to the part of Palestine
which later became known as Israel during his time as a member of Irgun.
Klein was captured and held as a political prisoner
in Italy
. He was released following a hunger strike
and settled in a displaced persons camp
at the Cinecittà
film studios in Rome
in 1945. He set up a successful bread
business while living at the camp. Klein remained at the camp at Cinecittà for five years before emigrating to New York City
in 1950.
as a stock clerk and floor sweeper in 1953. The business had been founded by Louis Zabar, whose family was also Ukrainian Jewish
, during the 1930s.
Klein had an unpredictable relationship with the Zabar family during the 1950s. He quit Zabar's on several occasions during those early years at the store, which even led to litigation. However, Klein returned to Zabar's in 1960, this time in a full partnership
with the Zabar family. Zabar's, which had been a chain of stores, had been reduced to the single flagship store at West 80th Street and Broadway
on the Upper West Side
by this time.
Klein, who was in charge of pricing and speciality products, oversaw much of the recovery and expansion of Zabar's over the next couple of decades. He continued to sell Zabar's famous lines of Eastern European and Jewish specialities
, such as pastrami
, lox
, bagels and smoked fish
to appeal to Zabar's core and most loyal Jewish clientele. However, Klein also actively broadened Zabar's product offerings to appeal to Manhattanites who were increasingly looking for more sophisticated foods as part of the so-called "food revolution".
Klein often initially sold these new gourmet
foods, such as white truffles, at a loss in order to attract new customers. This was, perhaps, one of the first major instances that the concept of loss leader
was introduced into the gourmet food market.
Klein also began selling housewares, such as food processor
s, at Zabar's, which were often priced well below the average market rate In another instance, Klein began hanging kitchen utensils and other food instruments, from the store's ceiling
, all of which Zabar's offered for sale.
Perhaps most importantly, however, Zabar's, under Klein's guidance and introduction, became one of the first stores in the industry to begin selling high quality, luxury foods, such as coffee
, preserves and French cheese, under Zabar's own private store brand
labels. These products were priced much more cheaply under the Zabar's brand name than could be found at other competing stores. Klein would look to buy luxury products directly from the producer in large volumes, and thus was able to sell more cheaply at Zabar's. In doing so, luxury products that were previously financially inaccessible to most consumers were suddenly affordable. In turn, customers were more likely to engage in more impulse buying while visiting Zabar's. Klein's ideas for selling luxury products cheaply led the way for the rest of the industry. Today, stores such as Trader Joe's
, Wegmans and even Whole Foods Markets, employ Klein's same ideas to market and sell their own store brand
, luxury
products.
By the mid-1970s Zabar's had gained not only fame within New York City, but had also developed a national following, with much of the credit for Zabar's popularity and success going to Klein.
and pricing
, going so far as to posting caricatures of his main competitors in Zabar's store windows. Perhaps his most famous price
and public relations
dispute occurred in the months leading to Christmas
1983 between Klein and Macy's
Department Store concerning the price of several high end items sold by both stores. The dispute initially began over the price of Pommery
mustard
, and then extended to Lindt & Sprüngli
chocolate bars, before Klein and Macy's began battling each other over the cost of Beluga caviar
as the holiday season crept closer. The ensuing price battle was dubbed the "Beluga caviar war" by the New York City media. Macy's initially went after Zabar's by placing a 14 ounce box of Beluga caviar on sale for US$
149. Klein quickly, and happily, lowered Zabar's own price of the Beluga roe
in order to undercut Macy's sales, which forced Macy's to lower its own cost to US$129, which was considered a bargain in the caviar
market. Not to be outdone, Klein again lowered the Beluga price to just US$119 for a 14oz box and sold the product at a loss rather than lose to Macy's. He correctly anticipated that the ensuing positive publicity and public relations for Zabar's over the dispute would more than make up for the negative loss of selling the caviar for such a low price. Thus Klein was able to beat Macy's in terms of sales and public relations.
Klein clearly enjoyed the dispute with Macy's, especially its free publicity
for Zabar's. He told the New York Times at the time of 1983 price battle, "Blood will run in the streets."
. At the time of his retirement, Zabar's was making over $40 million in sales
per year. Still, there was a dispute between Klein and Saul and Stanley Zabar over the financial terms of Klein's retirement, which even led to one lawsuit
, before the conflict was ended. Klein and the Zabar brothers, Saul and Stanley, had worked closely at Zabar's for decades, though the relationship between the partners (Klein and the Zabars) could be complicated and confrontational at times.
of lung cancer
on December 6, 2007, at the age of 84. He was surivived by his wife, Edith and his son and daughter.
Despite their sometimes turbulent relationship, Stanley Zabar praised Klein saying, "What Murray brought was the conviction that the whole world must know about Zabar’s."
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
who helped transform New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's famous Zabar's
Zabar's
Zabar's is a specialty food store at 2245 Broadway and 80th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, founded by Louis Zabar. It is one of the best known commercial landmarks of the neighborhood, and is known for its selection of bagels, smoked fish, olives, and cheeses...
speciality food emporium from a small Jewish delicatessen
Delicatessen
Delicatessen is a term meaning "delicacies" or "fine foods". The word entered English via German,with the old German spelling , plural of Delikatesse "delicacy", ultimately from Latin delicatus....
based on Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
into one of the city's premier culinary destinations. Klein was a part owner of Zabar's for more than 30 years before his retirement in 1994. Though not a member of the Zabar's family, Klein is credited with making many of the decisions concerning publicity
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
, product pricing
Pricing
Pricing is the process of determining what a company will receive in exchange for its products. Pricing factors are manufacturing cost, market place, competition, market condition, and quality of product. Pricing is also a key variable in microeconomic price allocation theory. Pricing is a...
and speciality merchandise.
Early life
Klein, whose birthname was Mordecai Klein, was born in 1923 in a shtetlShtetl
A shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until The Holocaust. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania...
in southwest Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, near the border with Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. Klein was away at a trade school at the time of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. His parents and five siblings, were captured and killed in Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Klein was later sent to a Soviet labour camp, or gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
, by his own country for part of the war. He managed to escape the camp and joined the Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
, which was a Jewish guerrilla movement active in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. He helped smuggle arms to the part of Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
which later became known as Israel during his time as a member of Irgun.
Klein was captured and held as a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He was released following a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
and settled in a displaced persons camp
Displaced persons camp
A displaced persons camp or DP camp is a temporary facility for displaced persons coerced into forced migration. The term is mainly used for camps established after World War II in West Germany and in Austria, as well as in the United Kingdom, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the...
at the Cinecittà
Cinecittà
Cinecittà is a large film studio in Rome that is considered the hub of Italian cinema.-History:The studios were founded in 1937 by Benito Mussolini and his head of cinema Luigi Freddi for propaganda purposes, under the slogan "Il cinema è l'arma più forte"...
film studios in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1945. He set up a successful bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
business while living at the camp. Klein remained at the camp at Cinecittà for five years before emigrating to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1950.
Zabar's
Murray Klein was first hired by Zabar'sZabar's
Zabar's is a specialty food store at 2245 Broadway and 80th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, founded by Louis Zabar. It is one of the best known commercial landmarks of the neighborhood, and is known for its selection of bagels, smoked fish, olives, and cheeses...
as a stock clerk and floor sweeper in 1953. The business had been founded by Louis Zabar, whose family was also Ukrainian Jewish
History of the Jews in Ukraine
Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of Kievan Rus' and developed many of the most distinctive modern Jewish theological and cultural traditions. While at times they flourished, at other times they faced periods of persecution and antisemitic discriminatory...
, during the 1930s.
Klein had an unpredictable relationship with the Zabar family during the 1950s. He quit Zabar's on several occasions during those early years at the store, which even led to litigation. However, Klein returned to Zabar's in 1960, this time in a full partnership
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
with the Zabar family. Zabar's, which had been a chain of stores, had been reduced to the single flagship store at West 80th Street and Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
on the Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
by this time.
Klein, who was in charge of pricing and speciality products, oversaw much of the recovery and expansion of Zabar's over the next couple of decades. He continued to sell Zabar's famous lines of Eastern European and Jewish specialities
Jewish cuisine
Jewish Cuisine is a collection of the different cooking traditions of the Jewish people worldwide. It is a diverse cuisine that has evolved over many centuries, shaped by Jewish dietary laws and Jewish Festival and Sabbath traditions...
, such as pastrami
Pastrami
Pastrami , is a popular delicatessen meat usually made from beef and, traditionally in Romania, also from pork and mutton. In Israel, "Pastrama" is the term used for sliced chicken and turkey. Like corned beef, pastrami was originally created as a way to preserve meat before modern refrigeration...
, lox
Lox
Lox is salmon fillet that has been cured. In its most popular form, it is thinly sliced—less than in thickness—and, typically, served on a bagel, often with cream cheese, onion, tomato, cucumber and capers...
, bagels and smoked fish
Smoked fish
Smoked fish are fish that have been cured by smoking.Foods have been smoked by humans throughout history. Originally this was done as a preservative...
to appeal to Zabar's core and most loyal Jewish clientele. However, Klein also actively broadened Zabar's product offerings to appeal to Manhattanites who were increasingly looking for more sophisticated foods as part of the so-called "food revolution".
Klein often initially sold these new gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
foods, such as white truffles, at a loss in order to attract new customers. This was, perhaps, one of the first major instances that the concept of loss leader
Loss leader
A loss leader or leader is a product sold at a low price to stimulate other profitable sales. It is a kind of sales promotion, in other words marketing concentrating on a pricing strategy. A loss leader is often a popular article...
was introduced into the gourmet food market.
Klein also began selling housewares, such as food processor
Food processor
A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate various repetitive tasks in the process of preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food processors".Food processors are...
s, at Zabar's, which were often priced well below the average market rate In another instance, Klein began hanging kitchen utensils and other food instruments, from the store's ceiling
Ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limit of a room. It is generally not a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the floor or roof structure above....
, all of which Zabar's offered for sale.
Perhaps most importantly, however, Zabar's, under Klein's guidance and introduction, became one of the first stores in the industry to begin selling high quality, luxury foods, such as coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, preserves and French cheese, under Zabar's own private store brand
Store brand
Store brands are a line of products sold by a retailer under a single marketing identity. They bear a similarity to the concept of House brands, Private label brands in the United States, own brands in the UK, and home brands in Australia and generic brands...
labels. These products were priced much more cheaply under the Zabar's brand name than could be found at other competing stores. Klein would look to buy luxury products directly from the producer in large volumes, and thus was able to sell more cheaply at Zabar's. In doing so, luxury products that were previously financially inaccessible to most consumers were suddenly affordable. In turn, customers were more likely to engage in more impulse buying while visiting Zabar's. Klein's ideas for selling luxury products cheaply led the way for the rest of the industry. Today, stores such as Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is a privately held chain of specialty grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. , Trader Joe's had a total of 365 stores. Approximately half of its stores are in California, with the heaviest concentration in Southern California, but the company also has locations in 30...
, Wegmans and even Whole Foods Markets, employ Klein's same ideas to market and sell their own store brand
Store brand
Store brands are a line of products sold by a retailer under a single marketing identity. They bear a similarity to the concept of House brands, Private label brands in the United States, own brands in the UK, and home brands in Australia and generic brands...
, luxury
Luxury good
Luxury goods are products and services that are not considered essential and associated with affluence.The concept of luxury has been present in various forms since the beginning of civilization. Its role was just as important in ancient western and eastern empires as it is in modern societies...
products.
By the mid-1970s Zabar's had gained not only fame within New York City, but had also developed a national following, with much of the credit for Zabar's popularity and success going to Klein.
"Caviar Wars": Zabar's vs. Macy's
Klein was notoriously competitive when it came to selectionSelection
In the context of evolution, certain traits or alleles of genes segregating within a population may be subject to selection. Under selection, individuals with advantageous or "adaptive" traits tend to be more successful than their peers reproductively—meaning they contribute more offspring to the...
and pricing
Pricing
Pricing is the process of determining what a company will receive in exchange for its products. Pricing factors are manufacturing cost, market place, competition, market condition, and quality of product. Pricing is also a key variable in microeconomic price allocation theory. Pricing is a...
, going so far as to posting caricatures of his main competitors in Zabar's store windows. Perhaps his most famous price
Price
-Definition:In ordinary usage, price is the quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services.In modern economies, prices are generally expressed in units of some form of currency...
and public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
dispute occurred in the months leading to Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
1983 between Klein and Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
Department Store concerning the price of several high end items sold by both stores. The dispute initially began over the price of Pommery
Pommery
Champagne Pommery is a French Champagne house located in Reims. The house was founded as Pommery & Greno in 1858 by Alexandre Louis Pommery and Narcisse Greno with the primary business being wool trading. Under the guidance of Alexandre's widow, Louise Pommery, the firm was dedicated to Champagne...
mustard
Mustard (condiment)
Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant...
, and then extended to Lindt & Sprüngli
Lindt & Sprüngli
Lindt & Sprüngli AG, more commonly known as Lindt, is a luxury Swiss chocolate and confectionery company.- History :The origins of the company date back to 1845...
chocolate bars, before Klein and Macy's began battling each other over the cost of Beluga caviar
Beluga caviar
Beluga caviar is caviar consisting of the roe of the beluga sturgeon Huso huso. It is found primarily in the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest salt-water lake, which is bordered by Iran and the former Soviet socialist republics of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. It can also be...
as the holiday season crept closer. The ensuing price battle was dubbed the "Beluga caviar war" by the New York City media. Macy's initially went after Zabar's by placing a 14 ounce box of Beluga caviar on sale for US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
149. Klein quickly, and happily, lowered Zabar's own price of the Beluga roe
Roe
Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins...
in order to undercut Macy's sales, which forced Macy's to lower its own cost to US$129, which was considered a bargain in the caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
market. Not to be outdone, Klein again lowered the Beluga price to just US$119 for a 14oz box and sold the product at a loss rather than lose to Macy's. He correctly anticipated that the ensuing positive publicity and public relations for Zabar's over the dispute would more than make up for the negative loss of selling the caviar for such a low price. Thus Klein was able to beat Macy's in terms of sales and public relations.
Klein clearly enjoyed the dispute with Macy's, especially its free publicity
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
for Zabar's. He told the New York Times at the time of 1983 price battle, "Blood will run in the streets."
Retirement
Murray Klein officially retired from Zabar's in 1994, reportedly as a millionaireMillionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
. At the time of his retirement, Zabar's was making over $40 million in sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
per year. Still, there was a dispute between Klein and Saul and Stanley Zabar over the financial terms of Klein's retirement, which even led to one lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
, before the conflict was ended. Klein and the Zabar brothers, Saul and Stanley, had worked closely at Zabar's for decades, though the relationship between the partners (Klein and the Zabars) could be complicated and confrontational at times.
Death
Klein died in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
on December 6, 2007, at the age of 84. He was surivived by his wife, Edith and his son and daughter.
Despite their sometimes turbulent relationship, Stanley Zabar praised Klein saying, "What Murray brought was the conviction that the whole world must know about Zabar’s."
External links
- Zabar's
- Murray Klein, Who Helped Build Zabar’s Into Food Destination, Dies at 84 , obituary in the New York Times
- Murray Klein, Manhattan deli owner who gave Americans a taste for quality foods, obituary in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
(London)