'Carrefour also conquers the Haredi market: "We brought something to the sector that it wasn't used to"'

March 24, 2025   

1.

I came to the Carrefour offices in Rishon LeZion with a desire to solve the riddle I had been searching for an answer to for several months.

Another Haredi branch and another Haredi branch of a global chain, with the 'Carrefour' brand, which carries Mehadrin kosher - what actually makes an international retail chain, headquartered in France, decide to take up the gauntlet and appeal to an Israeli and even Haredi target audience?

""Rabbi David Yosef came and honored us with his presence on the very day he was crowned," Carrefour Israel CEO Michael Luboszitz tells me with undisguised pride. He is not Haredi, he doesn't even wear a kippah, but he knows how to respect the Haredi public. He comes to all opening events wearing a kippah, he makes sure to invite the rabbis and great figures of Israel to Carrefour events, including the rabbis of cities in whose territories another branch is being established, alongside senior politicians and mayors.

Carrefour has already established 8 branches for the Haredi sector, and it still has its hand outstretched. "This is Rabbi Lau... This is the Rebbe of Sert-Vizhnitz... This is Rabbi Micha Halevi..."... He goes through dozens of pictures with me and knows the name of every rabbi or rebbe.

""This is the first Carrefour training chain in the world," he tells me. And yes, he is proud of it. In fact, the Carrefour chain could have established branches in Israel that are open on Shabbat. What does it have to do with religion, but it chose to establish branches in Israel intended for the Haredi public.

2.

Carrefour is a French international company that operates the largest supermarket chain in Europe and the second largest in the world in terms of revenue. It is a public company traded on the stock exchange. In short, a completely serious chain.

Internationally, it operates mainly in Europe, Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, but also operates stores in North Africa and other parts of Asia.

I assume they conducted in-depth testing before attacking the Haredi market, and I'm trying to understand.

Are the prices at the branches cheaper, or are only Carrefour brand products cheap?

""The chain itself is cheap," Michael replies to me. But it's not just the price, it's also the shopping experience. And here I stop him and try to understand.

What is an ultra-Orthodox person actually looking for – cheap, or quality, or both?

""We saw that the Haredi public wants to be treated like any other consumer, and wants to have a shopping experience.".

And from your research, what is more important to the ultra-Orthodox consumer?

""Both, unequivocally, it should be cheap, but also have a shopping experience," Michael replies. "He wants a cheap price, because he doesn't have the financial option like the general sector, but he also wants a quality and experiential purchase. And in fact, we brought the Haredi sector something it wasn't used to.".

I recall questionable shopping experiences in grocery stores that I have had the opportunity to enter as part of my regular shopping for my home. There is a specific grocery store that I find difficult to enter because of the very unpleasant smell that accompanies shopping and I am not clear about its origin. With spoiled products, lack of ventilation, and maybe both. And when you enter a shiny and shiny grocery store, the cost is accordingly, which not every Haredi can afford. I will not go into the names of chains, but every Haredi who has encountered these unpleasant sights knows what I am talking about.

'Carrefour has changed that - and is offering 'both and both.' This will be a purchase at a relatively cheap price and a purchase that is a different international experience. The more the consumer chooses to purchase the specific Carrefour products, the more the price will go down.

By the way, the interesting thing about Carrefour products, and I got to try several of them, is that their taste is not like the private brands I'm used to (and I admit, I usually don't choose them except for the more well-known brand), but rather a taste equal to the super brands and international brands.

Michael, by the way, disagrees with the idea that the Haredi sector doesn't look for brands. "It's clear that brands are important to them." So maybe those who really can't afford it will compromise on the low quality of brand substitutes, "but if you can purchase a Carrefour product at a price that's tens of percent lower and with the high quality of a chain that sells in fifty countries around the world, it's clear that they'll prefer that.".

3.

When he talks about sales to "fifty countries around the world," he's talking about branches and chains that don't have kosher products; not everywhere there are Jews. "So we basically converted the products," Michael explains.

We are in close contact with the French, they also support the branches here in Israel, but we at Carrefour know the market in Israel and know where it is worth opening, in what exact location.

The data indicates success. In places where Mehadrin Market branches were converted to Carrefour, they doubled sales - and this is a proven figure. More people chose to come to Carrefour than to the chain branch they were accustomed to until now.

Which leads the global Carrefour chain to be completely satisfied with the 'converted' chain.

4.

It's not just the regular food products, the ones on the shelves.

These are the vegetables, which are first-class, "premium", "the highest quality" and at an excellent price. "There is no way that the 'Carrefour' chain will allow its branches anywhere in the world to drop in level and lower the good name it has acquired through years of hard work, and the kashrut of Rabbi Efrati or the Badatz of the Haredi Orthodox Church.".

It's also a French bakery with pastries baked on site, in the branches themselves, and with fancy kosher certification.

They also have a large variety of cleaning products in a wide variety of areas.

But the new news, which will be very significant for the upcoming Passover holiday, is the news about the meats: the 'La Marche' brand, fresh, high-quality 100% meat, kosher according to Rabbi Mahfoud, fresh meats and at prices that compete with butcher shops. Poultry is also sold in the branches, of course.

On the one hand, Carrefour standards, including in meat products, on the other hand, maintaining the price. In some branches (not those in the Haredi sector), the meat will be sold under kosher conditions, in some branches of Or HaChaim under the supervision of Rabbi Elbaz, in the Mahaderin branches, meat produced in factories in Poland and under the kosher conditions of Rabbi Mahfoud will be sold.

400 professional and skilled butchers will provide service to customers, even in choosing cuts of meat. Fresh, 100% fresh, not frozen, thawed or any other tricks, and at a very high level. "With the butcher's clothing and personal service, the butcher cuts in front of your eyes.".

5.

The drama is that an international chain, which has no connection to the State of Israel, "understood the need of the Haredi sector in Israel, took products and converted them and trained them. Think about the fact that an international chain with a Haredi community.".

And what's also important to them at Carrefour is that the branch will only have kosher products. "Because we're sending the children and we don't want to disappoint anyone.".

He speaks to me in Haredi language, very interesting.

It warms the heart to hear that there are people, at least in the business sector, who speak respectfully to the sector, which deserves both a good price and a respectable purchase under appropriate conditions.

What's more, it's not every day, and certainly not against the backdrop of the rise in anti-Semitism in the world, that a global chain takes up the gauntlet and agrees to convert its products, while respecting the Jewish Sabbath.