By Jeff Huebner
In the back of the van six large coolers are stocked with blue ice packs and hundreds of plastic containers filled with what Manesky calls his “world food, ethnically diverse, mostly Mediterranean style” sauces and spreads: hot and mild salsa, salsa verde, hummus, red pepper hummus, tomato basil sauce, marinara sauce, and Asian sauce. The 7- and 13-ounce tubs bear an unfancy label (“All natural”), nutrition facts, and an expiration date two weeks after the food was made.
Mendoza likes to talk about nightclubs and girls, though he seems barely to have time for either. Like his brother and two cousins, he holds down a second job at the Heartland Cafe, where Manesky was the chef for seven years–from 1977, the year after it opened, to 1984. Many of his recipes were developed and refined at that countercultural eatery, which, two decades later, still offers Manesky’s inventions on its eclectic, vegetarian-oriented menu. Donlon also worked at the cafe, as a manager and codirector. She met Manesky when he interviewed her for a job in 1983, and they married a year later.
“Thirty-five large hummus.” Manesky turns to me. “In the big scheme of things,” he says, “this is nothing compared to what these other guys put in.” He then returns to the task at hand. “Fifteen small red pepper, nine large red–”
“We really do have a good product,” Manesky tells me. “It looks good and tastes good. It’s hard to be modest about it, of course. But everybody does say that ours, in all modesty, is the best-tasting product out of all of them–the hummus and the salsa. Even the competitors say that. But still, it’s not the best-selling.”
Cedar’s hummus was the first to appear on the market, in 1981–though it didn’t make it to Chicago until 1992. The New Hampshire company boasts 16 ready-to-eat products including tabbouleh, baba ghannouge, bruschetta, lentil salad, and grape leaves. Toledo-based Oasis has been on the market since 1989–since 1995 in Chicago–and is distributed in many midwestern states as well as New York and California, according to local rep Moshe Sperling. Oasis has a similar line and a comparable number of products to Cedar’s, but with a more specific Middle Eastern emphasis (the company was founded by a Lebanese restaurateur).
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Manesky says salsa sales still lead the way, accounting for over 60 percent of his gross, though hummus does well too. At small stores, he might sell a dozen units a week, while larger stores can move several hundred. The numbers vary depending on time of year (salsa moves more slowly in winter), on taste demonstrations, and on the prices of his shelf neighbors. Chef Earl’s foods are slightly more expensive; depending on the size of the container, its hummus costs between 10 and 70 cents more than Cedar’s or Oasis hummus.
