Joyva Corporation
Company typePrivate company
IndustryConfectionery/Chocolate
Founded1907
FounderNathan Radutzky
Headquarters
Brooklyn, New York
Key people
Richard Radutzky, president
ProductsCandy bars, Halva
WebsiteJoyva Corp.

Joyva is a chocolate and confectionery manufacturer headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. "The house that sesame built"[1] was started in 1907 by a newly immigrated man from Kyiv, Ukraine, named Nathan Radutzky, who was looking to start a company producing and selling sesame-based halvah. The company is still family-owned and continues to operate out of its Brooklyn location.[1] Over the years, the company expanded its production to include a variety of sesame, marshmallow, and jelly-based candies. Joyva candy is kosher parve, and is most commonly found in kosher delis or stores in Jewish neighborhoods.[2]

Joyva is operated by Richard Radutzky and Sandy Wiener, who are cousins and descendants of the founders.[3] Radutzky graduated from Northwestern University in 1985, has been married to Leslye Sussman-Radutzky since 1988, and is a former actor.[4][5] Richard Radutzky and his father, Milton, received special thanks in the credits of The Kids Are All Right (film).[6]

Products

A Joyva Joy, chocolate-covered raspberry jelly

Joyva manufactures a variety of confections, but its flagship product is halvah. The company has a line of halvah products ranging from halvah bars, halvah in cans, and loaves of halvah with nuts. The halvah can be plain (vanilla), covered in chocolate or have chocolate mixed in (marble).

Products that are not halvah-based either incorporate jelly, marshmallow, or sesame. Their jelly-based candy is chocolate-covered, uses either raspberry or orange jelly, and is made into rings or bars.[1] They also offer Sesame Crunch, a candy composed of brittled sesame seeds, and various chocolate-covered marshmallow products, such as Marshmallow Twists.

Joyva sesame tahini, 15 oz.

Joyva is the largest halvah producer in the United States.[1][7]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Charles DeLafuentenov (November 8, 2004). "A Longtime Brooklyn Company That's Known for Its Sesame Sweet". The New York Times.
  2. ^ "Company bio". Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  3. ^ "Brooklyn's Joyva Has A Helluva Halvah Story". The Forward. 21 January 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2020. Family legend has it that the four Radutzky brothers, whose painted portraits adorn a wall of Joyva's cluttered, unpretentious office in Brooklyn, experienced nary a squabble. Today Richard Radutzky, son of Milton, the youngest of the four brothers (and the last to pass away, in 2015 at age 93), and his cousin Sandy Wiener, grandson of Alex, the eldest brother, run Joyva.
  4. ^ "Leslye Sussman Wed To Richard Radutzky". The New York Times. 5 September 1988. Retrieved 25 January 2020. Leslye Fran Sussman, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sussman of Hewlett, L.I., and Alford, Mass., and Richard Radutzky, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Radutzky of Old Westbury, L.I., were married yesterday. Rabbi Joseph P. Sternstein officiated at the Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst, L.I.
  5. ^ "JOYVA CORP. DEPENDING ON WHOM you ask, the Brooklyn-based Joyva Corporation ..." www.nypress.com. Retrieved 25 January 2020. Radutzky, a former professional actor who joined the company 16 years ago,
  6. ^ "AFI|Catalog - The Kids Are All Right". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 25 January 2020. Milton Radutzky, Richard Radutzky
  7. ^ Melissa Clark (24 March 2004). "For Halvah, Use 1/2 Cup Nostalgia". The New York Times.

External links

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