A Brooklyn factory is up for sale — lox, stock and barrel.
Service Smoked Fish, founded in 1934, is on the market, according to The Brooklyn Paper. Jay Wiener, the factory’s owner, is offering the Throop Avenue building for $9.75 million after reportedly turning down several offers in recent years.
Wiener’s father, Nathan Wiener, moved the factory to its current location in 1955.
The lox factory’s closing follows on the heels of the kosher black-and-white cookie factory’s sale last month. Beigel’s, the century-old kosher goods company, sold its Brooklyn based baking facility to a real estate developer, causing fears that the historic company would be shut down.
The sales mark yet another shuttering of industrial buildings to make way for housing as demand continues to rise in Brooklyn — especially in Community District 2, which extends from Brooklyn Heights through Clinton Hill.
“There’s a great deal of gentrification in Community District 2 and developers are looking at any available site for additional residential units,” said Robert Perris, Community District 2’s manager.
“You’re always going to get a higher return from residential development than you’re going to get from industry,” Perris added, “Any site that’s underdeveloped is going to be subject to sales pressure.”
However, Sam Beigel, a member of the family that owns the company, told The Jewish Week that the baking facility is moving to Canarsie and he expects production to continue without pause.
The Israel Beigel Baking Company has been keeping members of the tribe in rugelach and honey cake since the 19th century. The exact date of the company’s birth is unclear, but Joan Nathan reported in The New York Times in 1998 that it had “been in business in Cracow, Poland, for five generations by the time the Germans invaded in 1939.”
Smoked salmon also holds a unique place in Jewish Brooklyn’s history. In was a staple of the Jewish middle class in the early 20th century but has since become a high-priced delicacy.
If Service closes, Brooklyn will be left with just two smoked fish factories — Acme Smoked Fish in Greenpoint and Banner in Coney Island.
Wiener said he might even sell the business itself.
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“Everything has got its price,” Wiener told The Brooklyn Paper. “If someone offers me enough money, I will take it.”
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