CREVE COEUR — A new operator will be taking over the former Corn’s Kosher Deli space after the area’s last kosher deli suddenly closed earlier this month.
Vard Heuer of St. Louis, which provides kosher certification for Cornes, said in a statement this week that Nate’s Kosher Deli will have a soft launch at the restaurant at 10405 Old Olive Street Road, filling the hole in kosher services left by Cornes’ departure.
Nate’s Kosher Deli is owned by Avi Rosenberg, former director of operations for Simply Sushi, a kosher franchise with locations in New York and New Jersey. Nate’s consists of a butcher shop for dine-in dining, a take-out deli service and take-out catering.
An opening date has yet to be announced.
Verd Heuer said Rosenberg and his family will be relocating from New York to St. Louis to manage the day-to-day operations, and Nate’s will be located in the former Cornes store until a permanent location is found.
Anyone else reading this…
Corn’s Kosher Meat & Deli Restaurant is currently Sale It’s listed for sale on a real estate website for $1.7 million.
The listing includes 7,795 square feet of space, as well as existing amenities, a full kitchen and food system, furniture, fixtures, products, and business names and trademarks for the kosher deli, bakery, grocery store and catering operations.
Last month, an Illinois-based food distributor filed a lawsuit against the deli’s owner, Bake Cones LLC, alleging that the company failed to pay it about $150,000 for selling and delivering the products. One of the company’s members, Yehuda Kestenbaum, is also named as a defendant in the suit.
Earlier this month, Kestenbaum St. Louis Jewish Rite “We have been actively searching for an operator interested in carrying on the Cornes tradition for some time.”
He said he hoped a new operator would be in place soon, but declined to answer questions about the pending litigation.
In a July 9 statement, Waad Heuer said privately that it was working to reopen Cornes, but that “the parties involved need to resolve a number of practical and legal issues.”
“Vard is acutely aware of the need for fresh kosher meat, kosher catering and kosher restaurants in St. Louis,” the statement read.
Holocaust survivors Simon and Bobby Cone founded Cone’s in 1963. The Cones’ adult children, Renee Cone and Rosemary Cone Cooper, ran the business until 2022, when new owners took over.
Kestenbaum did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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