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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Educate Yourself Before Setting Up Religious Food Displays

Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah are some of the biggest holidays in December and are associated with special foods. If you want to set up a display in your store dedicated to a religious holiday, be sure to educate yourself on what foods to include and not to include.

By not doing some research before setting up a religious food display, you may offend followers of that religion like Whole Foods and CVS did this year. In the article "Whole Foods, CVS Confuse Jewish Holidays With Incorrect Displays", author Rachel Tepper describes how these 2 stores messed up:
*Whole Foods displayed matzoh- an unleavened bread traditionally eaten during the week of Passover, not Hanukkah.
*CVS made a display showing an image of shofar and pomegranates- items associated with Rosh Hashanah, not Hanukkah.

As an food or farm business owner, have you ever set up a religious holiday-based food display? What were customer reactions? Do you have any tips for other ag entrepreneurs?