Diaries of the Fruit Lady by Chaia Frishman

Diary of the

Fruit Lady BY CHAIA FRISHMAN

June 10, 2004

Just got off the phone with my friend Etti Siegel. We were talking about ordering refreshments for the camp staff meeting on Sunday, and she suggested that instead of ordering fruit from a local store, to ask my husband to make a platter and the camp would pay him. I’m so excited!!!! And nervous. I mean, I know Eliahu can make a simple platter. He did the entire fruit display for our vort when he worked for the Katzes (and came late to the vort because he worked to the last minute, but we won’t talk about that, perfectionism. Feh.) Eliahu and I made a calculation of the costs and time involved in making a platter and charging a fair price. Here’s hoping!

July 17, 2004

Wow. When all camp division heads heard where Etti got the platter, they started ordering fruit platters whenever they had a meeting. Timewise, it works for us. Eliahu is off from his regular job. The boys in the yeshiva he cooks for are on ben hazmanim. We need to have more faith and buy enough fruit for a few platters at a time.

August 31, 2004 With camp ending and yeshiva in full swing, Fridays have been a bit nutty. Luckily, Shabbos starts later still… Word has gotten out about our new side gig. This week we had TEN platters. I hope

Eliahu can juggle making the platters and finishing up his cooking for the yeshiva stuff… I know he can. He used to manage parties of

hundreds of people and prepare food in lunch programs for almost a thousand kids. His organizational skills are key in the summer job in camp where he runs the state food program.

I’m proud of my part in the biz: answering the phone and driving the platter to its destination. Utilizing my real talents for the good of our community. Ha!

December 28, 2004

I don’t know how people have side businesses. Waaaay too many things to manage at once... Is crying a reasonable response?

April 4, 2005

“You really should give your business a name. It’s official. You have so many platters ordered each week now.” Etti was right once again. She was right. But I was stumped. I dreamed we would have a clever name, like Fruitique, a combo of Fruit and Boutique (maybe people would think we sell clothing made out of banana peels…). Or The Fruit Guys (but that was already taken. Thank you google search).

Etti suggested Fruit Platters and More. I asked her what the “more” was. She brushed it off, reminding me that we also sell vegetable platters. Good point. The name would say exactly what my business sold. I ran to the printer in Cedarhurst and had 200 business cards printed with that name and our phone number. I splurged and got green foil lettering on linen-colored cardstock. Check me out.

September 18, 2005

What a crazy summer it’s been. Eliahu knew since May that he wouldn’t be continuing at his job and the stress of that uncertainty paled in comparison to being mugged and being seriously injured. Now, he’s not only recovering but wondering what he will do for employment when he gets back on his feet. We are so blessed with our community. They are friends who are like family! Rabbi Yaakov Bender, the Rosh HaYeshiva in Yeshiva Darchei Torah where I work, made sure we were supported until we would get back on our feet after our shocking summer. But we don’t want to take advantage of the kindness gifted us. So, while Eliahu is on the mend, we are brainstorming what to do the day he can work again.

A close friend, and quasi-mentor, suggested we take the business to the next level. Till now, Fruit Platters and More was a nice thing we did to make some extra cash on the side. We never considered it a REAL business. But, I mean, business has picked up and we even started selling containers and bowls of fruits and vegetables. Besides, it’s hard to go to job interviews while you’re recuperating. Here goes nothing….

June 3, 2006

Sending out an SOS. No one told me running a business while teaching and caring for a bunch of little people, aka, my kids, was a momentous feat. Who has time to write in a diary? the Vaad. He has been so helpful. It’s humbling that we now have to get the mashgiach to wash the strawberries, since the policy is that an owner can’t wash their own. Then again, it takes another thing off Eliahu’s list of things to do. (And guess who always has fresh strawberries ready for her whipped cream?)

January 13, 2007

It’s such a good feeling to be under an official hashgacha of the Vaad Harabanim of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway. Till now, a lot of people bought from us because they were friends who would eat by us anyway for meals. It’s so much easier to direct all the kashrus questions to Rabbi Eisen, the head of February 12, 2008

What a difference a year makes. I’ve been so bad at journaling. Been Eliahu and Chaia Frishman so busy. It’s amazing how word of mouth gets out. I met a lady at the

YDT Tea, and when I introduced myself as Chaia Frishman, teacher and parent, she said, “Hey, aren’t you the fruit lady?”

Well, look at that. I guess I am. Been hard juggling working Fridays in the winter and getting platters delivered and Shabbos prepared with clean, happy kids by licht benching. AAAAH. But baruch Hashem, we are already up to 20 platters a week!

March 8, 2008

I really need to do what my friend said and put a rubber band on my wrist and snap it every time I space out. (Though, do spaced-out people remember to snap rubber bands?) But when I walk into Costco, I either picture myself sitting on my deck in the patio furniture or conveniently forget that I don’t need another hoodie, since I have 12 at home. (Hard to resist, it was smushy velour!!!)

Anyway, I was in the small appliances aisle, and I noticed an ice cream making machine. A light went off in my head! What if we took some of the fruit that is still yummy, but no longer pretty, and make sorbet out of it? I imagined cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, or pineapple sorbet. Yum! Or what about mango or kiwi? What if I mix them?

By the time I was at the checkout counter, I happily added a new product to the “More” in our biz.

April 30, 2008

Seems that mango sorbet and strawberry sorbet are the most popular. So much for only using leftover fruits. Will order more cases of each for the next batch of sorbet.

December 2009

Yussie Seif is the grapefruit man. Also, the “help the clueless Frishmans get a car for deliveries” man. When I bring the grapefruit to his shop, we schmooze about business. He told me to start making soups out of the vegetables that are left over. I don’t usually have leftover vegetables. But I like soup, and it fits in with our biz motto, “If it grows from the ground, we sell it.” He did mention an idea to also use leftover fruits (how much leftovers do people think we have?! I mean, we sell almost a hundred platters a month!) to make fruit soup. Visions of berries and peaches and mangos and pineapple danced in my head. Yay. Yussie helped us add new categories to the “More!”

March 2010

Erev Pesach season. We have a really great avreich who makes amazing dips who asked if he could sell them through us. The timing of introducing a new product isn’t great, but hey. Why not? I’m addicted to his hummus!!!

July 2010

Eliahu’s Moroccan aunt Esther came to New York for a month. They have been puttering around the kitchen as she teaches him her famous recipes for matbucha, Turkish salad and eggplant dip.

August 2010

Avreich moved to Monsey. But he left us his recipes and permission to use them to make our own dips to sell. (More. More. More.)

September 2013

Cool that I found the diary again. I should clean my magazine rack more often. I probably also shouldn’t leave my diary in a magazine rack. Maybe I’ll write something in it later. Who am I kidding?

March 12, 2014

I took another deeeeeep breath. I had to take many such deep breaths today. It prevented me from a raised voice, but did not prevent a stomach whose bottom felt like it fell out. A well-meaning child getting something for a class Chumash accomplishment opened one of our five business freezers (the basement one.) Said child has zerizus and a double sealed bag of kosher for Pesach brownies. What said child lacked was the presence of mind to CLOSE the freezer.

The 450-plus containers of sorbet (about $3,500 dollars in inventory…) that Eliahu prepared for Pesach two weeks ago (it’s crazy how we turn over our kitchen for Pesach before Purim…) are now mere colorful pints of liquid. Baruch Hashem, we started prepping early enough to re-churn them. Did I mention that I replaced potential yelling with deep breathing?? I think I need to reward myself with a pint of lemon sorbet. It sure fits the mood. At least the upstairs freezers are frozen.

June 8, 2015

I’m sitting in the car at Restaurant Depot when I get the call from my editor, Chanie Nayman. She asked if I would be interested in writing a new column for Mishpacha Family Table’s magazine. I’ve written for her before, mostly recipes, and in general consider writing one of my professions, but MY OWN COLUMN!!! Life is good. And being in the food industry really helps with my connections to find more people to interview for my “Soundbites” column. Some of the recipes are from our business. Share the wealth, I say. People still like it when Eliahu makes it!

WHEN I INTRODUCED MYSELF AS CHAIA FRISHMAN, TEACHER AND PARENT, SHE SAID, “HEY, AREN’T YOU THE FRUIT LADY?”

September 8, 2015

Rosh Hashana is soooooo early this year! And, it’s on a Monday night. So our fruits need to be delivered on Thursday and the Shehecheyanu bowls need to go out even earlier. AAAHH. I tried telling my customers that I’m closing this Rosh Hashana. They didn’t believe me. Maybe because I only DREAMED of telling them that. Sometimes, I wish I could change careers and become an assistant veterinarian, or a hot air balloon operator, or maybe something really soothing like a judge in a pie eating contest.

Even though I know it works out in the end, coordinating Rosh Hashana new-fruit baskets and ordering those weird fruits a month in advance to reserve our cases is stressful. Sometimes, fruits don’t ripen in time and don’t even materialize! Did I mention that the start of the school year is a killer for us teachers?

November 2015

It’s really funny. Our business is ten years old and people are constantly assuming I make the fruit platters. (Sure, I can make you one. Do you have six hours to wait?) A colleague once stopped me to comment on the beautiful platter he received during shiva. Told me what a great job I did cutting it. I corrected him. “No, no! I don’t cut the platters, my husband does!”

I do think I know why the message isn’t getting across. Eliahu told me some woman in Costco stopped him and gushed. He told me she said, “Tell Chaia she did a wonderful job on the vegetable arrangement.” My humble spouse’s answer? “Will do.”

January 2016Mrs. Shapiro was on the phone again. Frantic, as usual. Taking the order was stressful enough as I assured her we would not let the pineapple touch the watermelon in her platter. Apparently, her platter never arrived... Without missing a beat, I asked, “Did you look in your basement fridge?” I don’t know if she even has one. Bingo. Of course, it was there. Fruit prophecy is my specialty. (That, and knowing that kids never tell their parents when they put away deliveries…)

February 2017

Tu B’Shvat always terrifies me. I guess this is what an esrog seller feels like in the months leading up to Sukkos. We decided to change it up a bit and do a haeitz platter with dried fruits, nuts and fresh fruits. A lot of the shivas haminim are on there. But I put my foot down when someone asked me to put olives and barley and wheat crackers in the package. Ew.

I bought enough stock for the usual 70-plus platters. Almost half of those orders were cancelled when people realized that Tu B’Shvat was during midwinter vacation so they wouldn’t be around to use it. Phooey. Gonna be selling a lot of dried fruit this coming year.

February 2018

A blizzard. Two years in a row for a stressful Tu B’shvat!! With fifty orders waiting to get out. Charming. I need to ask Eliahu again if he would consider changing our business to selling something less stressful. Idk, like paper clips.

March 2019

Why do people call at midnight on Monday to order a fruit platter for the following Wednesday? An even better question is, why don’t I put my phone on airplane mode after 8 p.m.?

May 2019

I’m not a pushy person. I usually talk people out of ordering a super deluxe platter that feeds 50-60 for their Shalom Zachor. Yes, there might be that many people there, but not everyone is going to take fruit on a Friday night! The hardest to gauge, though, are the mini cups for simchas. So nice and sanitary. But do you order one per anticipated guest? I usually tell people to order ¾ of the number of guests they are having. You expect 100 people, get 75. With a caveat. I told this worried customer today that if he thought his wife would freak out if there wasn’t fruit left ten minutes before the end of the party (usually when there is also no cake or salad…) he should order more. Shalom Bayis trumps all.

June 2019

Prepped for graduation and end-of-the-year gifts and end-of-the-schoolyear parties. Thirty-five cases of fruit for this weekend. People are so funny. Some call two weeks in advance to place their order to make sure it’s in; others call 45 minutes before licht benching and calmly ask to order a platter like it’s not strange at all. Our policy is that any orders after cut off time can’t be filled. We have Shabbos like everyone else, and boundaries has only helped our business. That is, unless a baby boy was just born. Then Eliahu will bring out the knives and cutting board.

I remember one Sukkos. It was Thursday, second day Yom Tov. There was a knock on the door, and a neighbor’s son came in to ask if we had a platter to sell him. I thought it was chutzpah to come directly to our house! Till he told me that he came right after his mom just gave birth to a boy. Yup. The knives came out again. (Even as I type this, it feels a little violent.) Yosef asked me once why people called last minute for platters. I told him that sometimes when the baby is born on Friday, they have no choice. “Yeah, Ema, but that doesn’t explain the people who call Friday afternoon for a bar mitzvah platter. They had 13 years to order!”

Smart boy.

April 22, 2020

I was so nervous about this week. No one is really making simchas because of Corona. Who would order platters? “Fear not!” Hashem said. I had more platters ordered for this Shabbos than for Pesach! Why? Tons of parents sent their kids’ rebbeim and teachers platters of hakaras hatov. Really, no words. It was very moving. (Though I will point out that none of the parents in my class sent me a fruit platter for my hard work. I’m really miffed.)

November 8, 2020

We decided to surprise some friends and gift them by adding a special touch to the vort platter they ordered. Eliahu made cutouts of the letters in the chosson’s and kallah’s names in watermelon and arranged it really nicely. When the father picked it up, he noticed the surprise and thanked me. A few minutes after he left, I got a text. “Thanks so much for the extra touch but you spelled Akiva with a kuf and it’s really spelled with a kaf.”

When I pointed out that that’s how Akiva is generally spelled, he insisted that this family has a different way of spelling it. Being ever so open to learning new things, I thought, Wow. I should have asked. Who knew? I mean, I have friends who spell their names Gennypher not Jennifer or Sarah and not Sara, but I thought Hebrew was different. Still, being stubborn, I wanted to confirm I wasn’t illiterate. It took me only half an hour and a few calls to my Israeli peeps to assure me this was a joke. Once I figured out, I was laughing pretty hard at my gullibility. I took back my profuse apology from before. Hey – the customer is always right. Even when they are kidding around and giving you a heart attack for a huge error. My need for everyone to LOVE their platters sometimes gets in the way of common sense. Also, remember the space cadet in Costco? She’s alive and well living on Beach Ninth Street in Far Rockaway.

January 21, 2021 Shoshana Soroka, the editor of The Jewish Home, called to ask me if I was interested in writing an article about our fruit platter business for the Tu B’Shvat issue. I thought it would be weird to pretend to interview myself so I pitched the idea of

“Diaries of a Fruit Lady.” She really liked it. I hope I can meet the deadline. After all, Tu B’Shvat is here again. Is there a Nor’easter in the forecast?