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It’s a tale as old as time: A Jewish expatriate lands on the Lower East Side, starts selling culinary treats from his home country from a pushcart and eventually makes it big.
Katz's Deli, Russ & Daughters and Moscot are some of the most prominent NYC businesses that have followed that trajectory.
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What's different about Joyva—the chocolate, confectionery and halva business that debuted in downtown Manhattan in 1907 but has been occupying the same Brooklyn corner since 1931—is that, although the country as a whole is familiar with all of the brand’s products, the history behind the creation of the company is not as well-known as that of the Zabar or Russ families, for example.
Today, over a century since first establishing Joyva, the Radutzkys hope to change that.
But let’s start from the beginning.
Back in 1906, one Nathan Radutzky moved from a small town outside of Kyiv in the Ukraine to New York. Upon his arrival on Ellis Island, he took up residence in the tenements of the Lower East Side, with a precious halva recipe in hand.
A type of sweet confectionery that originated in Iran but has always been popular across the Middle East and South Asia, halva is basically a thick paste that is made with ground sesame seeds and sugar.
Radutzky’s dessert quickly earned fans and, following marriage and the birth of four sons, the business owner moved into a factory at 53 Varick Avenue in Bushwick, which is where the company still operates today.
Between 1931 and 1950, Radutzky’s children joined the business and, in 1951, the company formerly known as Independent Halva and Candies, Inc. became Joyva, named after Radutzky’s granddaughter Roslyn Joy and, well, halva.
Soon came new product launches—the brand’s jelly rings and marshmallow twists are staples on Passover tables all over the United States—and, eventually, in 1988, Richard Radutzky and Sandy Wiener joined the business, of which they took full control in 2015, when the last of Nathan’s kids passed away at 93.
Today, the company is also led by Ben Radutzky, Richard’s 30-year-old and Sandy’s first cousin.
When asked about Joyva’s recently rebranded packaging, Richard and Sandy are quick to point to Ben, whose involvement seems to be the clearest sign of the owners’ desire to push the business forward and cater to a younger generation of consumers.
That recalibration of sorts, however, takes into account the fact that perhaps the most important part of the Joyva brand is something that is innately theirs and innately old: the company’s long and storied history.
"We've been trying to stay grounded in our tradition and legacy while also evolving for the next hundred-or-so years," says Richard.
In a nod to the present, the owners decided to revisit the ingredients they use daily, satisfying the needs of a more educated clientele that pays attention to how food is made and not just what it tastes like.
“We wanted to clean up the label a little bit in terms of cleaner, healthier ingredients without sacrificing the taste,” explains Richard. “We use responsibly sourced palm oil and just things to allow us to exist in a new marketplace because those things are important to today’s consumer.”
What hasn’t changed throughout the years, though, are the machines that produce the various treats and the staff that operates them: many people I’ve spoken to at the factory have been dedicated employees for over three decades.
In a world dominated by the constantly new and the computerized, seeing delicious desserts be born “the old-fashioned way” is, to put it simply, refreshing.
Although not yet as recognized as the Zabars and the Russ’, it’s safe to say that the Radutzkys know what they are doing when it comes to sweets and operating a business that has been part and parcel of the creation of what Brooklyn is today, belonging to a roster of local businesses that New Yorkers have always been proud of.