They’re Nuts for Najla’s - A New Cookie Product Wins Raves for a Newly Certified Company

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No one should have been surprised when Gone Nuts!, the latest product from Najla’s Inc. of Louisville, KY, won Best in Show and Best Snack Item at the Kosherfest 2006 New Products competition. The honor was only the latest success in the remarkable tale of Najla, a cookie company known for its heavenly aromas, scrumptious taste — and now, for
its OU certification.

The story begins with Najla R. Awad, who after graduating from college at the age of 21 became one of the industry’s youngest innkeepers as proprietor of a small bed and breakfast in Binghamton, in upstate New York. Given Najla’s
skills in the kitchen, the “perfect place to do nothing at all” soon became the “perfect place to do nothing at all…but eat.”

Najla’s career took off throughout the Binghamton area as she provided catering for kosher, non- kosher and ethnic
cuisines. She gained a reputation for expertly prepared food from scratch that was beautifully presented and consummately delicious. Najla’s cuisine proved to be a perfect testing ground for the numerous product lines she would bring to market under the Najla’s brand – her grandmother’s namesake.

The bottomless cookie jar was a fixture at the inn. Najla’s debut in the specialty food world began in 2002 when she launched Gone Chunky™, a line of premium hand-shaped frozen bake-at-home cookie dough.

Billed as “the all-time comfort cookie,”Gone Chunky® cookies are made with certified organic flour and the finest premium ingredients.They’re packed six four-ounce cookies per box, on individual parchment baking rounds, so that the home cook never has to wash a bowl or grease a pan. Anyone can have a sinfully delicious cookie, fresh from freezer to toaster oven, in fifteen minutes or less. The five retail varieties include Classic Chocolate Chunk, Macadamia Chocolate Chunk, Oatmeal Cherry Chunk, Chocolate Walnut Espresso and Classic Gone Nuts!

“Aroma therapy” is what Food and Wine Magazine called these delicacies. House & Garden Magazine said, “Najla’s cookie doughs make you look like a pastry chef.” Good Housekeeping said, “The best brand for soft, cakelike cookies” was Najla’s.They have been identified as “Festive Finds” in Women’s Day Magazine, Westport Magazine, The Sun-Sentinel (of South Florida), The Reporter and countless other publications.

During her 2002 debut show, the cookies were picked by ABC’s Good Morning America as one of the highlights, receiving high praise from host Charlie Gibson.“Now that’s what I call a cookie” he reported to an audience of millions. Dede Wilson of The Today Show profiled them along with other cookies later that year.

In 2004, Najla launched a food service division encompassing over 20 outstanding varieties of cookies in one to four-ounce sizes. She sells them to upscale hotels, conference centers, specialty food bakery departments, gift basket companies, universities, and even sport stadiums.

In the spring of 2006, Najla’s, Inc relocated from New York to Louisville.The move proved to be a blessing for the entire family. Najla’s catering career was all-consuming and her cookie business was a side line.With three small children under the age of seven, Najla and her husband, Steven, felt it was time to concentrate on one area.With her husband settling in his new position at Humana, Najla went to work on building a new cookie facility, developing new products, and obtaining OU certification.

“OU certification was always in the expansion plans,” Najla says. She had been contacted by many certifying organizations throughout the years while exhibiting at the NASFT Fancy Food Shows.What led her to choose the Orthodox Union was simple. During her decades of kosher catering, the OU symbol was always accepted without question for its reputation and integrity. “I never had to worry about the rabbi’s approval of foods bearing the OU symbol during supervision – it was a given,” said Najla. “I knew then that when I began producing my own products, choosing the OU symbol would streamline the process for caterers and chefs as well.”

Another huge plus was that the Orthodox Union’s rabbinical field representative for Kentucky and Indiana, Rabbi Yosef
Levy, lived in Louisville. “This was an unexpected surprise,” Najla comments.“I have a deeper connection to the OU knowing that I have a field expert in my backyard. I’ve always maintained the highest integrity in my catering company. My mission is consistent with that of the OU. Rabbi Levy is a wonderful partner in that pursuit. He is very knowledgeable in all aspects of kashrut procedures.We have good chemistry which is essential for a productive working relationship. He is always encouraging and helpful in suggesting ways to increase our exposure in the kosher market.”

In the summer of 2006, Gone Nuts! was born to great acclaim, with the Kosherfest 2006 honors to follow. Gone nuts!
is a fantastic blend of macadamia nuts, pecans, almonds and walnuts in a sweet and spicy seasoning. It goes in sweet and builds in heat. It is made with no butter, oil or egg whites and is lactose and gluten free as well. Packaging is in eight-ounce or fourounce bags, bulk and custom packaged for private accounts.

Critics raved. Here is what Kosherfest judge Marty Stein, Account Manager at Tree of Life in Albany, NY had to say about the new sensation:

“The judges were very impressed by Najla’s Gone Nuts! in terms of its taste, quality and salability.We view it as a great new product.” He noted that winners were selected based on criteria that included newness, quality, uniqueness, taste, salability, merchandisability, best in category and retail price point.

Najla herself explained,“These nuts were used as an upscale bar nut and a main focus in so many recipes during my catering years, especially in our signature salad with caramelized pears, our gorgonzola torta and in streusel coffee cakes. We always knew how delicious and versatile they were and are thilled to be in the company of other prestigious food products.”

Rabbi Levy added, “I’ve never tasted such a good spiced nut product in my life. I cannot wait to have more of the pareve products scheduled for debut in Spring 2007. Najla,” he declared, “lives up to the highest OU standards of product manufacturing.”

January 2007 will see the completion of Najla’s retail store in Louisville, a new website and the launch of two new product lines, including her gourmet pareve line of cookie dough.

“Working with the Orthodox Union has been a pleasure. The certification process was well organized, efficient and thorough,”said Najla. Rabbi Eliyahu Safran (Senior Rabbinic Coordinator and Vice President, Communications and Marketing) was always helpful and quick to respond to any question or issue that arose. To be honest, I thought the certification process would be very complicated but the Orthodox Union is excellent at guiding food manufacturers through the process. It certainly helped that we made this leap when we built our facility. Everything was new and I believe that contributed to the efficiency,” says Najla.

“When we exhibited at Kosherfest last month, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had always been on the other side of the booth as a chef scouting out new products for my catering company. OU certification proved to be the right choice for us. In particular, we had been working with a major supermarket chain since our introduction in the marketplace in 2002. It wasn’t until our products became OU kosher certified that finally, after four years,we were able to secure a place on their shelves!!”

“It was an honor to display the OU symbol and more importantly to see the trust in the eyes and nods of approval that
our products were of the highest integrity on the inside and bore the OU seal on the outside,” Najla exclaimed.

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