PACKAGED LUNCHES FEED KOSHER APPETITE.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

Supermarket menschen have a new option in the deli aisle.

Sold under the name Kosherbles and slowly appearing in local markets, the lunch meals marry the heft of a bagel with kosher spreads and meats. Taking the form of tiny salami platters, old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly, cheese pizzas or a cream cheese smear, the packaged lunches, manufactured by Miami-based The Funny Bagels Food Co. Inc., tap into a growing and lucrative demographic.

``It's growing every day,'' said Celeste de Armas, Funny Bagels' chief operating officer. ``There are lots of households who don't necessarily keep kosher, but they like healthy food. Kosher has that healthy perception. The market is very strong.''

Currently sold in 27 states, primarily toward the East Coast, the meals are in a test phase in Los Angeles, which Funny Bagels' marketing manager Diahann Young cites as key to judging the line's viability. National chains such as Kroger - parent to the locally based Ralphs chain - and Albertson's have picked it up already, and Funny Bagels sees a possibility for a nationwide rollout.

According to the trade magazine Kosher Today, sales of certified kosher products in the United States have soared in the past decade, hitting $150 billion last year, and are projected to top $200 billion by 2005. An additional $300 billion was spent last year on kosher ingredients, and the consumer base should swell by 2005 to include 14 million shoppers who specifically seek out the religious certification.

``The core market, people who observe the Jewish dietary laws, has been growing in the last 10 to 15 years,'' said Menachem Lubinsky, president and chief executive officer of Kosher Today's parent, IMC Marketing and Communications. ``Also, other groups like Muslims, Seventh-day Adventists and vegetarians are getting interested, which adds to it. When it became such a major segment of specialty food aisles in markets, it became much more noticeable.''

Kosher specialty products tend to be pricier than their uncertified counterparts, due to the strict oversight process and limited production facilities. Funny Bagels' normal line, with a package of yogurt for its dessert, retails for $2.99 at local Ralphs. Its Kosherble cousin, which replaces the yogurt with a fruit snack, boasts a $4.99 price tag.

``The bagel is different, and the meats are coming from different sources,'' de Armas said. ``When the products are kosher, they cost more because of the special handling. But people expect to pay more, so from a cost standpoint, it hasn't hurt us.''

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National chains such as Kroger - parent to the locally based Ralphs chain - and Albertson's have picked up Kosherbles.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer