"Shorten your stride, maintain your pace, keep pumping those arms, and NEVER look up"
Molly Flynn’s cross county coach on the art of running hills
Well, I guess you’ve noticed that I think that it is the 4
Th quarter....It is indeed a stamina event that can easily discourage anyone who looks at the whole task( like the top of the hill) at once.•
Inventory: we have inventory here and more on the water.•
I got skunked on the La Cravenco (actually it was my own fault) so I have no Vallée desBaux olive oil. The plan is to go to France in the chilly month of early March and redo our range
Of oils. I’ve been hearing about some new oils, and I need to renew some of my relationships.
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Fleur de sel is on the boat finally. I ordered plenty of sel gris and the seasoning salt. Now it only has to arrive hopefully week 45•
The CUDIE Spanish chocolate and almond [hazelnut] confections have finally arrived!!!! Because of bloom concerns, I ordered what I was positive I could sell. The packaging is great. See the Sweet Sheet for details.•
Le Vinaigre de Banyuls for a change there is plenty. Catherine Lemesle from La Cave d l’Abbé Rous has been terrific about helping me get a larger allotment. So go make some new friends by selling some and know that you are helping change America one terrific meal at a time!•The Wine of Banyuls. Hiram Simon has done a great job of placing the rimmage Banyuls wine and now you can find it on the menus of such establishments as Gary Danko’s, Caesar( in Berkeley), Boulevard and Campanile. If you need it in your store or restaurant give him a call at (510) 848 6879. This is the wine to cross merchandise with the Scharffenberger or Cluizel chocolate. It has a flawless lean structure, and doesn’t suffer from the overstatement of others I’ve tried.
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Alaea Hawaiian sea salt is selling!!! I’m seeing some great movement on the product in many geographic areas. I subjected some grilled " T"bones to it recently with tasty results. Some of my friends used it with a slowly cooked pork.•
Delouis Fils mustards. Still the B E S T. Still subject to the 100% duty. I figure that mad cow disease may become more important than hormone feed beef with the E.C. countries, so I hope the duty will pass. In the mean time all the prices EXCEPT ONE are going to stay the same: Strong dijon will be the same cost as the special mustards in 7 oz.•
Spanish sea salt from Bilbao. For me much of these last months has been as a fireman.... So the final negotiations for the salt were never completed and the product never ordered. I am very sorry.•
Assembled Gift Packs: they’re ready limited quantities (see the back of the Sweet Sheet for the breakdown.•E& A Gispert herb bundles, saffron & 5 peppercorn mix. ARRIVED
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Website: klkellerimports.com. It is finally up and complete. Use it instead of a catalog, for the newsletter, or recipes! There should also be some good stuff in the spring like "e"mail order confirmation and tracking and "E"mail order forms.Kitty talks
: What's NEW?We could make a great case for the idea that the middle of October in the 4th quarter is not the time to be introducing anything, but then think just who we are talking about....... I’ve talked to many of you about my friends Agnès and Xavier. Well, Xavier was here and tried some galet he didn’t care for so he returned to France, sourced some galet, tried them, approved them, and had them send samples air cargo to me and: Welcome Filet Bleu Biscuiterie á Quimper! They’re (the company ) FAST, they’re (the galet)Fresh and they’re( the company & the galet)FAB.
What are galet & what has kitty done??? Galet, galette, and galettes sablés are what we would call FABULOUS butter cookies. That’s an exact description of the product. But I can tell you now that Xavier doesn’t approve of such a simple terms. They are authentic sweets from Brittany. The exact description of the product however does nothing to describe the quality The ingredients read like food poetry: wheat flour, fresh butter, whole eggs. The area where the galet are made is famous through out the world for it’s signature pottery (sorry Xav, faience) design called Quimper. The packaging is spectacular. Check it out on the
Sweet Sheet I know that you have all done pre orders with other vendors, but I’ve developed this theory that during the 4th Q, the person left standing is the one who wins. I’ve brought in a good amount of inventory, but not too much, so even if you pre ordered something else, feel free to give us a try if you run out . The product should be available just in time ( week 45 I hope)What my dead grandmother could sell during the holidays and why:
I did a demo on the Pablo Garrigos Ibanez turron in August in conjunction with a Spanish foods promotion. One young woman stopped and was very excited to see the product here . She was Spanish. When I asked here to try an taste( free) she said "No, I want to wait for Christmas." The moral of this story: Don’t forget the Euro’s when you do these orders. There is not only an increase in business for the 4th Q but there are also some hidden buyers of cultural products that might not come to mind on the first pass by. The mazapan/marzipan is also available in very limited quantities in 400 gr, wooden boxes. It is fresh, good quality and not so cloyingly sweet.
Calissons are starting to sell very well. Jacques has priced them in an attractive way, and I in turn have passed along the favor. Not only are they fresh, but they are also priced to sell. Also the Nougat de Montélimar is available in three new forms A 200 gr. bar, a pochette of 150 gr. that is cut into bite sized pieces, and sacks of bite sized pieces of 200 grams. All fresh and all GREAT. Jacques Savin is the best partner we could ever have and his 1.75 oz. bar is now my highest volume item!
The bonboms of Cudié. These Spanish sweets are great in taste and package, and are not widely distributed. This means that you can have something a little different. See the
Sweet SheetThe caramels au beurre Salé au fleur de sel. Wonderful package(wooden camembert box) wonderful product. The price is still the same, and one of my close friends in the cheese business has complained about the markup: too low" Kitty, even really bad chocolate sell for more". You be the judge.
Galets, Galettes sablés see the Sweet Sheet, don’t miss the chance. The regular 125 gr. can sure work in a basket for fill, a good look and a lot of volume for a small price.
What all businesses have to do but hate to talk about: AR’s
.A large and long D.O.S. is not our goal. It is not unreasonable for you as customers to expect us to have inventory. But nothing is that simple. The reality is that there is about a 60-90 day order turn around from Europe. Our prices are based upon a timely turn around on the AR’s. This did not happen over the summer, and has wracked havoc on our ability to pay our existing vendors in a timely fashion and pay cash where necessary(the vendor is smaller than we are). This has meant that from time to time we had to wait 60 days+ for inventory. We have already discontinued relationships with a couple of larger customers who felt no moral imperative to meet their obligations in a timely fashion. For those of you who have been prompt in your payments, thank you so much. We are grateful to many people who have taken such an active interest in the business, and look for every opportunity to return the favor. For those of you who are more isolationist, we hope that this will explain the benefit to your firm: Pay within terms and we will have better inventory levels.
Well, I’m glad that is over. Please be assured that we will make every effort to be pro active, engaged partners. Feel free to give us a chance on the hard or fast challenge. Anything that we can do, we will.
We wish each of you a very successful holiday season. We wish you a few good moments to enjoy it. Most of all, we wish you many good meals full of fine conversation with cherished friends and family.
Kitty, Maureen & Phoebe