Makabi & Sons Adds New Flavors To Sandwich Cookies, Infused Honeys

By Greg Gonzales

Makabi & Sons is a brand of globally-inspired sandwich cookies and infused honeys that made its debut at the 2019 Winter Fancy Food Show’s New Brands section. The small company is getting new attention, setting its sights on fresh packaging and branding for the Summer Fancy Food Show.

Makabi & Sons was born in Los Angeles, California, the result of Founder Eiman Behmanesh and his friends eating out around the city. “When I created this, I essentially created it for my friends,” said Behmanesh. “We love checking out restaurants around the city, ethnic food in particular. We love ethnic desserts and ethnic drinks. This is how it came to be ― it’s for people who really enjoy going out and trying new flavors, exploring new tastes.”

Behmanesh, born in Iran, said he grew up watching the Food Network after moving to the U.S., which inspired his desire to work in the food industry. “I explored different opportunities and thought there isn’t really anything out there that taps into our desire to learn about new flavors, understand different cultures and different parts of the world through food,” he said. “That’s something my friends and I were exposed to living in the city, but coming from a packaged food perspective there wasn’t anything out there that appealed to our tastes.”

Each cookie flavor is inspired from a different region. The Bombay, for example, is inspired from Indian flavors, with masala chai shortbread and vanilla cream. The Habana is Cuban-inspired, with lime zest shortbread and mojito mint cream. There’s also the Oaxaca for a spicy chocolate, Oxford with Earl Grey and bergamot, and the Uji with matcha and toasted black sesame.
All the cookies are made by a team of bakers, along with Behmanesh himself, in an L.A. pastry dough facility. “They’re a copacker, but it’s a hybrid of sorts,” he said. “I’m in there baking with them, mixing with them, so it’s not completely hands off.”

The cookies are then packaged in a plastic tray, with individual pockets to keep them from breaking, in a white box with designs representing the flavor’s region. These are new designs for Makabi & Sons. As for what’s next, he said to watch for more florals, a design element the company used to emphasize, though it’ll probably focus the florals on a variety pack. The suggested retail price for the cookies is $9 per package, and they come in cases of nine for retail, with a tabletop display coming this summer.
Behmanesh said to watch for more flavors this year, including the comeback of Bahia, a cardamom and pistachio flavor. “We’re going to bring that back,” said Behmanesh. “We’re actually trying to coordinate it with the time the Aladdin movie comes out, since it’s an Arabian-influenced cookie.”

That would make six flavors in total, though there’s potential for seven, as Behmanesh is in talks with another company for a cookie with island flavors like pina colada.

Makabi & Sons also makes infused craft honeys, available in three flavors: rose water, saffron and cardamom, and star anise. “We work with a beekeper who makes these beautiful, infused honeys,” said Behmanesh, adding two new flavors might come out this year. One is golden milk, with cinnamon, ginger and turmeric, and then there’s a lavender flavor. The honeys come in labeled 12-ounce jars inside a box, with floral designs and a bee in the middle of a floral crown, for $15 each. However, Behmanesh said he wants to bring down the cost closer to $10, so the jars are likely to be downsized to 9 ounces.

He added that the price point is important because Makabi & Sons is a brand for premium gifting. “Everything we produce is made for gifting. Some people are saying that, given the packaging, this is a pretty low price point, but I don’t feel good about charging so much for a cookie,” he said. “I like to keep the prices attainable, at something that makes sense. The process of making them right now is so labor-intensive [that] the cost of labor is pretty high.”

Despite a name that suggests there’s a whole family behind the labor and operations, Behmanesh is the only one really running Makabi & Sons. The name is his mother’s maiden name. “I had just moved back from New York, I would go to these oldschool Jewish delis like Russ & Daughters, Dean & Deluca, so it was somewhat influenced by that. It was basically named after my mom,” he said.”

He said that the website and social media accounts are currently getting a makeover, so for more information, call 818.383.8082.