At the turn of the century, a humble Jewish watchmaker, Lloyd Rakusen, would spend each Passover in the back room of his 19th century terrace house perfecting his Matzo recipe. Using only two ingredients, flour and water, he would bake Matzos day and night and serve them to his family during the Jewish holiday. As the years passed by, word spread of his traditional, home-baked recipe, and the people of Leeds began to adopt the Rakusen’s Matzo as their only choice. Demand grew further and Lloyd Rakusen opened his very his very own factory on the outskirts of the city; a place where he could continue to refine his Matzo recipe.
After his death in 1944, Lloyd Rakusen handed the business down to his sons Phillip and Mannie. And with a strong family-orientated vision, the brothers continued to maintain the traditions that their father had applied to producing high-quality Matzos, setting the standard for years to come.
Just like Lloyd, Phillip and Mannie, we still uphold these time-honoured traditions today. When making our famous Matzos, we source only the finest farm flour and the purest Yorkshire water to create the dough, then flame-bake it for precisely 18 minutes to ensure the perfect balance of taste and crispiness.
Our small, dedicated factory team works together as a family. They understand the importance of preserving the Rakusen’s legacy through their work and ensure every Matzo is carefully crafted with care, skill and passion.
Further still, our Jewish heritage still plays an influential role in our business, in fact, it’s the foundation for everything we do. In the late 1970s, our factory came under the supervision of London Beth Din and the KLBD to ensure all our Kosher products fell in line with the required methods and standards. Fast forward to 2018 and we still proudly bear the KLBD seal of approval. Our resident Rabbi represents the KLBD in the factory, and his watchful eye allows us to ensure the highest possible Kosher standards are applied to every single Matzo we produce.
For 128 years Rakusen’s has been a pillar of quality foods. We have consistently served the Jewish and wider communities with the highest level of care, compassion and authenticity.
Our product range has evolved to include a whole range of biscuits, crackers, soups and spreads, but our vision has stayed the same: for over a century, we’ve sought to produce great tasting products made with simple ingredients – making them not only delicious, but characteristically authentic.
