Keeping a 70-year-old family business in the food industry is a truly significant achievement. Pursuit of profit at the expense of quality has made even the most successful entrepreneurs fail. Accustomed to the taste of food, customers quickly withdraw when they feel a change in the contents of products. Therefore, for the Levi family, who are Israeli immigrants from Bulgaria, the secret of success lies in keeping to traditions. Their customers remain loyal and do not hesitate to travel many miles for their favorite taste.

Even today, Yossi Levi's malabi dessert is the same as that his ancestors made. For seven decades, their workshop has not left the “Bulgarian market street” in Jaffa – Sderot Yerushalaim. Their product is famous as “the Rolls Royce of malabi” in Israel.

"In the beginning, they used to make it at home," Yossi says. "I wasn't born yet. They delivered the ready-made malabi using a cart and ice to preserve the product. I was a student when we were allowed to build a miniature booth for selling malabi in the yard of a hospital. Work there did not cease day or night.”

For many customers – coming and buying malabi or other homemade desserts is a matter of family ritual.

I know four generations of our clients. They used to come before and after the Maccabi Jaffa matches, before and after the concerts, because Jaffa was the center of cultural life of Bulgarians in Israel and had its cultural institutes and stars. They no longer exist... On their way to work or back,  famous people often stopped to have a malabi.

Yossi's father passed away because of cancer when he was just 60. He wanted his son to study because he was a bright student with promising future, but fate decided otherwise:

"I went to replace him in the shop only for a while, and I have stayed for a lifetime. A small shop near our booth went bankrupt and the owner sold it. We moved to the shop, but the construction of the metro started. There were not many customers and we rented a room near Bloomfield Stadium where our business flourished. Because of the pandemic, we were banned from working between 10pm and 6am. Despite restrictions, customers from all over the country come."

The secret of success is the natural products used and no preservatives. "In restaurants, they sprinkle malabi with coconut or pistachios, but it's to keep the smell of preservatives away," Yossi says, adding: "We don't need additives. We have nothing to hide. We use starch, milk, red syrup and rose water." We also have an option without milk."

“Our regular clients who are stars in sports and pop music also contribute to our popularity. Their fans also come, because here they can take selfies with them. But above all, they come because of the dessert, which unfortunately is already missing in Bulgaria."

English: Alexander Markov