{"id":253934,"date":"2026-01-23T17:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/253934\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T17:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:38:10","slug":"my-soul-is-in-these-jars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/253934\/","title":{"rendered":"‘My soul is in these jars’"},"content":{"rendered":"

One year before Ziv Sherman founded the business that would grow into the Alalechem (in Hebrew: on the bread) brand, he learned for the first time how to roast potatoes and sweet potatoes in the oven. He was 26 at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a friend who had a recipe,\u201d he recalls, \u201cand I always said that one day I\u2019d want to make it for my kids, and I didn\u2019t know how. So he taught me. It was a weird recipe, with Coca-Cola. Back then I knew how to fry an omelet, make pasta with red sauce \u2014 tomato paste-based, of course \u2014 and make potatoes with Coke.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ziv Sherman <\/p>\n

(Photo: Efi Sharir)<\/p>\n

Today, 14 years later, Sherman sells more than 50% of the pesto spreads in Israel and likely buys most of the basil grown in the country for that purpose. It all stems from a recipe he developed himself, with the help of a friend\u2019s wife \u2014 a pesto without pine nuts, to accommodate consumers with allergies, and without Parmesan cheese, for kosher reasons. It is one of the tastiest industrially produced pesto spreads on the market.<\/p>\n

Sherman is the owner of the Alalechem factory in Maalot-Tarshiha, which produces eight tons of spreads a day \u2014 between 20,000 and 30,000 units daily at full capacity. That is an impressive achievement for a business that began with making 50 jars of jam at home. He no longer produces jams, but rather 21 types of refrigerated spreads and aioli, competing with Fresco, Biton, Zahavi, Olivia, Osem and others on a category shelf that continues to grow in Israel. Three major companies \u2014 Strauss, Coca-Cola and Leiman Schlussel \u2014 distribute his products, handle commercial relations and logistics, and serve as long-term partners.<\/p>\n

He is 39, originally from Ganei Tikva. \u201cI have one sister who\u2019s a scientist doing a postdoc, another sister who\u2019s a software engineer at Google who also started a forest kindergarten, and then there\u2019s me, who makes harissa. A spread-maker,\u201d he laughs. \u201cEven though I\u2019m Ashkenazi, I grew up on harissa because my aunt is married to a Tunisian. Pesto, on the other hand, I learned to make the day before I opened the factory.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The factory in Maalot-Tarshiha <\/p>\n

(Photo: Efi Sharir)<\/p>\n

These days, Sherman is busy marketing the company\u2019s Petit Beurre spread \u2014 his own idea, for which he registered a patent. The Biscotti chain will produce desserts using the spread, and Leiman Schlussel is distributing it to retail chains, alongside another new sweet spread called Choco-Butter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed something happening on social media,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of influencers we never even spoke to started sharing the spreads on their own. I only opened Instagram a year and a half ago \u2014 before that I didn\u2019t know Nadir Eliyahu, Likush, Eden Habib or Daniel Amit. And they all shared stories about the Petit Beurre spread and it became a thing. That\u2019s everything I dreamed of since I started working on the sweet spreads in 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n

You sound very emotionally connected to the product.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s right. My soul is in these spreads \u2014 whole lives inside a jar. It\u2019s everything I went through since I started producing: my parents\u2019 health, two years when I couldn\u2019t sleep at night because I didn\u2019t know how I\u2019d pay salaries in two days when there was no income coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did your parents react to the idea of opening the business?
\n\u201cI was supposed to be an insurance agent, but my parents were never disappointed in the kid who decided to sell jam. On the contrary. On the first day I opened my first stall at the Givatayim Mall, selling jam I made at home, my father sent me a message at 7 a.m.: \u2018Good morning. An ancient Chinese proverb says that even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Good luck.\u2019 I keep that message to this day. Later he came to the mall to watch me selling jam from the side. That kind of support carries you through hard times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support also came from the factory\u2019s 25 employees, who continued working throughout the war. \u201cMy employees are the gold of the north,\u201d he declares. \u201cThe best people in the country are there, really. I worked in high-tech, but the quality of people in the north is sky-high, without the posturing and abrasiveness of the center. When we launched the sweet spreads in September, after working so hard, I gave them a book about them and the factory, which I created using AI on my iPhone. I connected to the north through the vein, and I hope to move back there. But that also depends on my partner.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It all began after Sherman returned from a four-year post-army trip to Australia. One ordinary visit to a greengrocer set his business journey in motion. \u201cA woman came in and asked if it was okay for her to buy fruit \u2014 she didn\u2019t mind taking the more bruised, shriveled ones, as long as he sold them cheaply. I thought she didn\u2019t have money, and afterward I told her quietly, \u2018Listen, it\u2019s fine, I\u2019ll pay \u2014 buy good fruit.\u2019 To my surprise, she laughed and said, \u2018No, no, it\u2019s fine. I make jam at home.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter she left, I asked the greengrocer what he would do with that fruit if she hadn\u2019t bought it. He said it spoils every weekend and on Sunday he throws out six or seven kilos. I said, \u2018Listen, I have an idea. I\u2019ll take the fruit you\u2019re about to throw away and make jam.\u2019 I don\u2019t know where the confidence came from \u2014 I had no business experience. I said, \u2018I\u2019ll make jam and we\u2019ll sell it here, fifty-fifty.\u2019 He said, \u2018That\u2019s fine, but do you know how to make jam?\u2019 I said, \u2018No, but there\u2019s Google.\u2019 This was before ChatGPT. I saw it was 50% fruit, 50% sugar, and that was it. I started making jam and called it Ribal’e.\u201d<\/p>\n

A designer friend made him a label, 1950s style. Each month he brought the greengrocer 50 jars to sell. Sherman had started studying business administration and thought that if he did this with two more produce shops, it would cover rent and expenses. He began going to all the greengrocers in the neighborhood and buying their leftover fruit. Everyone was happy to sell cheaply rather than throw it away. He started making jam and selling it at a farmers market stall at the Givatayim Mall, and it quickly caught on.<\/p>\n

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Within months, he quit his job and opened another stall in Herzliya. Soon there was a third.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day a guy came up to me at the mall and said he loved the jam and asked if I sold to delicatessens, because he owned one. I said, of course \u2014 completely invented it. Of course, that\u2019s my forte. He started buying for the Pat Lechem deli in Givatayim, and it sold well. Then I went to the grocery store where I shopped every week and he gave me a chance, then the one next to it, and so on. I reached a point where I had 10 customers and three stalls a week, and I was already making a ton of jam a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

What kinds of jam did you make?
\n\u201cStrawberry, of course. Fig, pear and apple with cinnamon. My neighbors didn\u2019t understand why my gas tank was replaced so often \u2014 my stovetop was running nonstop, every day, all day. One neighbor even set me up with an older man who taught me how to make apricot jam. Older women at the mall helped too: \u2018You know what goes well with figs? Clove.\u2019 Eventually I upgraded \u2014 for holidays I\u2019d make things like pumpkin jam.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Interdisciplinary Center where he studied, people didn\u2019t know what to make of it. \u201cOne time a woman heard I made jam and probably wanted to needle me,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWe were sitting at a table and suddenly she says, \u2018You know what I think is the most pathetic thing for a man? Making jam.\u2019 I told her, \u2018More embarrassing is taking money from your parents.\u2019 Not that it\u2019s bad \u2014 but that\u2019s what came out. It was very belittling, but my parents raised me to be proud of what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you manage to study?
\n\u201cI stayed enrolled the whole time, but I didn\u2019t attend much. The lecturers were very understanding. Two lecturers bought from my stall. Friends from school would ask me to buy for their mothers. So the one day a week I came to class, I\u2019d show up with bags of jam \u2014 for this one\u2019s mom, for that one\u2019s friend. It was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

During that period, Sherman was essentially running a small factory out of his apartment. Jars of jam were stacked under the TV in the living room. The piano doubled as a label-gluing station. \u201cI didn\u2019t really have a home,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter a year like that, I said, OK, this can\u2019t go on. Either you shut it down and tell your kids one day as a nice story, or you take a risk and open a small factory.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s the Health Ministry issue.
\n\u201cAbsolutely. At that stage, everyone who bought from me knew it was homemade. I didn\u2019t want to take unnecessary risks, so I said, okay, I\u2019ll open a business.\u201d He took out a loan and opened a small factory in Petah Tikva\u2019s Kiryat Aryeh industrial zone \u2014 next to a carpentry shop, with a welder above him, in an area unrelated to food production.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the mornings I\u2019d drive around to greengrocers, delis, health food stores, walk in with samples and say, \u2018Hi, I\u2019m Ziv, I opened a business, these are our spreads and jams, want to start buying?\u2019 I tried to recruit at least five to seven customers a day. After two or three months, I already had 50 to 100 customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that stage, he decided to make spreads as well. \u201cI said, if you already have a manufacturer\u2019s license and jars and suppliers, make more products. I thought a long time about a name for the spreads. I had many opportunities to choose names that were 70% or 80% good. I didn\u2019t compromise, thank God, because I\u2019m in love with the name Alalechem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s a great name.
\n\u201cI think it helped us succeed. It makes people smile.\u201d He learned how to make pesto the day before opening the factory. He called a friend\u2019s wife who had studied cooking with Estella and told her, \u201cI need spreads. She said: \u2018OK, pesto: basil, garlic, salt, oil \u2014 grind it in a food processor. Tasty? Write it down. Tomato spread: sun-dried tomatoes, oil, garlic, salt. Tasty? Write it down.\u2019 Within three hours I had all the recipes. Some of them are still basically our recipes today, and people like them.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about the jams?
\n\u201cI gave them up. Jam needs uniqueness, which I was still searching for. As soon as I opened the factory, I brought in two people I found through job ads. One had kitchen experience, the other had no experience at all, so he worked closely alongside him. A third employee spent the day sticking on between 150 and 200 labels, which was our daily output, and I washed dishes at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the mornings I\u2019d get in the car and start going around to greengrocers, delicatessens and health food stores, walking in with a few samples. \u2018Hi, my name is Ziv, I opened a business, these are our spreads, these are our jams \u2014 do you want to start buying?\u2019 I tried to sign up at least five to seven customers every day. After two or three months, we already had 50 to 100 customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a year and a bit, Sherman decided to grow and become more efficient. \u201cI went on an adventure \u2014 and that\u2019s where the trouble began.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took out maximum loans from four banks simultaneously and moved to a 1,500-square-meter facility in Maalot-Tarshiha, requiring renovations of about 4 million shekels. Sales didn\u2019t justify it. \u201cI was at 250% credit relative to turnover. That\u2019s basically suicide,\u201d he says. He bought machines suited for much larger businesses and hired too many employees. At the same time, personal tragedy struck: on the day the factory opened, his father was diagnosed with cancer. His father later died, and his mother suffered a stroke and was left with aggressive Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no one to teach me how to work at those volumes. A lot of mistakes were made. At my father\u2019s shiva, a bank representative showed up \u2014 I thought he came to comfort me. After two minutes he said the branch manager wanted me to write a check from another account or they\u2019d bounce one. That\u2019s when it really felt like pulling a plane up a meter before crashing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you consider declaring bankruptcy?
\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t. My father believed I could get out of any situation. And my mother always said, \u2018Don\u2019t owe anyone a single coin.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For two years he negotiated with suppliers, cut costs and scraped by. At one point, his electricity was cut off in his rented apartment. The disconnection notice is still framed in his office today.<\/p>\n

A turning point came when he met a Strauss product development technologist at a food exhibition. \u201cI told them, \u2018I believe in the Alalechem brand.\u2019 We checked sales data \u2014 and I was selling more in my niche than they were. That\u2019s how the partnership began.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strauss began distributing Alalechem products without taking equity. \u201cFinancial institutions calmed down. I focused on what I\u2019m good at \u2014 creating quality spreads. Overnight, I went from 300 to 400 sales points to thousands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Coca-Cola also distributes his products. \u201cI messaged the CEO on Facebook,\u201d he says. \u201cHe agreed to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot even once, even though it could help us grow as a manufacturer. I was worried about criticism from consumers and retailers. So I prefer to become more efficient \u2014 through automation, by keeping the existing team and by smarter purchasing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After everything you have been through, why do you call the Petit Beurre spread your \u201clife project\u201d?
\n\u201cBecause I\u2019ve been working on it for four years. This series is dedicated to my parents, who loved children so much. The Petit Beurre spread is in memory of my mother. Another product will be in memory of my father. I also hope to donate a fixed percentage of sales each year to sick children.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the dream?
\n\u201cMy long-term dream is that one day, after I have financial security, I\u2019ll retire and become a teacher or a social worker.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One year before Ziv Sherman founded the business that would grow into the Alalechem (in Hebrew: on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-253934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}