The Weight Watchers factor.....

Howdy all.... now it's summertime and the livin' aint so easy. Michael and I are jumping around, making follow up calls since the Fancy Food Show in June. One of the things that we learned at the show was during a one-on-one meeting with a Broker. While we were pitching our sauces, he was reading our nutrition labels and noodling something or other on his iPhone. "what are you doing there?" I asked. he replied that he was calculating weight watchers points of our sauces. He said, " did you know that you have some pretty good points here--just 1 point and two points for these sauces." It was like a friggin lightning bolt went through my head. Weight Watchers!!! Duh.... we gotta do something with this. And we are. We're trying to contact them for permission to use their logo on our site. We've posted the points on each of the simmer sauces pages, too. Weight Watchers is a verrry major player in healthy eating and dieting and we are very healthy, too! WOW. GEE! Who knew?

Demos at the shore

So...what do you do when you're about to do a demo of our delicious gourmet simmer sauces at a NJ shore food store and it's 98 degrees and the store has no room for you? Why, you demo outside!! That's exactly what Michael a. did on Friday in Sea Isle NJ. There was just one slight problem though....he was set up right outside the entrance--you'd think that's great because you'll catch every customer entering the store. Well it didn't work out that way on this sweltering day. People were in such a hurry to get out of the heat, they would blow past Michael in search of an A/C'd store. Now we know.... when it's hot outside of a really small store with no room inside to set up your demo table--you're gonna lose weight. Hmmmm....maybe I should book demos only during heat waves!!

Later folks....!!

Rockin the Pizza World

Oh baby, what a show at the Fancy Food Show in Washington DC! Michael and I set up on Saturday June 17 for the big three day event. Our chef, crazy friggin Dave was there to join in on this event, too. He was working the crowd and lining them up for sampling like a pro. His style is...uhh...different. But who cares? It worked. A bazillion people showed up and many of them sampled not only the simmer sauces but our new and FABULOUS pizza sauces as well. Man....they loved 'em. They went nuts. A lot of "wows!" "Ummm!!" and "oh boy, thats good". Yup, they were a big hit. An editor from "O" Magazine stopped by and asked for samples to be sent to her. And.... we were also included in Specialty Food New's top 10 innovative food list. That's amazing. I mean, there are over 100,000 different food items at the show. So now Michael and I will be getting on the phone to follow up with about 85 leads. The saga continues. Back-breaking. Exhausting. But good progress always comes with a little pain.

Hey!

Does anyone out there have any new recipes for our superb simmer sauces? Looking to post some new recipes on our website. Speaking of great recipes, try the recipe on our site for the Chicken Pot Pie using the Marsala sauce. It is #!@!&$! awesome!!

Ahhh...Spring!

Greetings- It's been awhile since I last posted anything on this blog. Reason? Busy. Pure and simple. As we continue to grow, there's certainly a lot more that needs to be done. Michael and I are running around like a couple of nuts, trying to get it all done. More stores that want more displays or POS (point of sale material), reports, applications to food shows, trips to Distributor shows--just got back from Orlando. 4 days in a posh resort with no chance to enjoy the pool or other amenities. Our brains are full. But hey, this is the food business. It runs at a snails pace, and in a way Im glad it does. It allows us to have the time to get this n that done before we move onto the next friggin crisis. Just sent in a one minute video to Philadelphia's NBC 10 Show. They're running a contest for people who have changed careers during this "lovely" economy of ours. So, I created a 60 second vid that people will vote for on the NBC10 website facebook page. Not sure when this contest kicks in.... ALSO- the Fancy Food Show is in just 3 weeks! Michael and I are busy getting that together. 45,000 people, 2400 exhibitors, and....we will have our chef consultant with us! Oh lord, help us...... big, bad, crazy Dave. It WILL be a trip to remember fer sure. Lastly, (this may bore you but its a kick in the head for us). We are now getting reports from our distributors, which actually tell us where our sauces are being sold. They normally don't supply these unless you request it. Turns out we're in stores all over the place! Stores in Missouri, Connecticut, Vermont. Hey, who knew? So, like my waistline, we may be bigger than we realize..... Next blog will have photos from the Fancy Food Show.

We are cleared for takeoff!

After months and months of this n that and push and pull and not knowing what the heck is (or was) going on.... we are now cleared to sell our simmer sauces in Whole Foods! Yes. Finally. I've said many times that the food biz moves slowly. It does. Very slowly. But in this case, patience was a virtue, my friends. We'll start with a few stores in the Philly region and go from there. If you shop at one, let them know about us...that is, if you like our simmer sauces....and tell them to check us out. One reason I'm glad we're going into Whole Foods is because they have a high standard for the food they sell. There is so much crap out there that calls itself food. Chemicals. Sugar. Preservatives. Enough sodium to choke a horse. Food you wouldn't serve your cat or dog. The trend is starting to reverse itself however. Overly processed food is starting to take a hit. People are wising up to the fact that a good healthy diet is important. Reading labels is important. If you don't....you should. You'll be horrified by the fat and sodium levels in a lot of what you think is "natural" or "healthy". Low calorie frozen entrees contain upwards of 500-700mg of sodium in order to give them some sort of flavor. Yikes! Our ingredients flavor our simmer sauces....we don't rely on sodium to provide taste. SO... there you have it, my saucier friends......we are working hard to redefine how America (and the world) shops for food. We will NEVER create a food item that contains junk. Lizbeth Lane Cuisine respects your health and wellness.

Two days in casinoland!

Well, Michael and I have now recovered from another adventure of showcasing our sauces at a major food show. We headed north to The Foxwood Casinos in Connecticut last week where our new distributor, Bozzuto's Distribution, was having a buyers show. We were one of many companies displaying and sampling our SKUs to a variety of independent food store buyers from all over New England. We didn't sell as many as we had hoped but it was a good start. Those who sampled our simmer sauces loved them! They also were intrigued by the news of our upcoming pizza sauce launch.

As for the four new pizza sauces....we are now in the process of getting production costs. This is going to be a critical part of the launch. What will they cost to cost produce? This will determine retail pricing. We shall see. Either we're gonna be real happy or we're gonna be really bummed. The demand is high. The interest is there....they taste incredible! Now it's all about getting the price point right.

Stay tuned......