CELEBRITIES BOOST SALES OF LOCAL PRODUCTS

Elisa UngE-mail feedback to me at ung@northjersey.com; if you include yourname, town and phone number, your thoughts may be incl
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
05-08-2011
CELEBRITIES BOOST SALES OF LOCAL PRODUCTS
Byline: Elisa UngE-mail feedback to me at ung@northjersey.com; if you include yourname, town and phone number, your thoughts may be included in futurecolumns. Blog: northjersey.com/foodblog Twitter: elisaung
Section: BETTER LIVING
Type: News

Ali LaRaia didn't start out with a concerted strategy to promote her cookies by feeding them to famous people.

But LaRaia is a big fan of singer Sara Barielles, and when she went to a recent concert in Rhode Island, she brought along a big box of treats from Marianberry, the Glen Rock-based confectionery business she started with her mother last year. She passed it along to Barielles' lead guitarist, whom she ran into at a wine bar after the show.
Next thing you know, Barielles' 2 million Twitter followers saw this message from her: "Can't lie, we ate our weight in @eatMARIANBERRY cookies last night. I felt sick, but biscotti dipped in my coffee makes it all better."

Hits to Marianberry's website suddenly spiked, along with mailing orders. Shortly afterward, Jacqueline Laurita, one of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey," professed her love for the baked treats to her 100,000 followers. Marianberry had catered a party for the housewives that was filmed for an upcoming episode, and Laurita loved the cookies so much she "got in touch with us and wants to help us out," LaRaia said.

The celebrity enthusiasm is proof, LaRaia said, "that our cookies are so good that we didn't even have to do anything. Once we get it into someone's hands, they take it and run." It's all perfectly timed, too, as Marianberry's cookies will soon be sold in Bloomingdale's stores from Boston to Florida.

Food businesses and restaurants may spend big bucks on advertising and marketing, but there is nothing like a celebrity's thumbs-up - even inadvertently -- to send sales soaring.

Nancy Finkelstein remembers when Oprah Winfrey named Carousel Cakes' red velvet cake one of her "favorite things" in a 2007 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. "It totally made our Internet business explode," said Finkelstein, co-owner of the Rockland County-based company and its Ridgewood shop, Cupcakes by Carousel. That mention resulted from the work of a publicist, but Carousel has also gotten some unsolicited celebrity exposure, such as when actress Salma Hayek was spotted eating a slice of its coconut layer cake.

"I think the normal person thinks that celebrities can do and buy and get whatever they want. They can have anything, so if they think it's great ... it must be good," Finkelstein said. Carousel's website still calls the cake "Oprah's Favorite Red Velvet Cake," giving anyone who serves it automatic bragging rights. The company got another boost recently when the Ridgewood shop's red velvet cupcakes were featured in the same magazine, and Barbara Walters ate one on "The View."

Then there's reality TV - where a few minutes on screen can translate into a whole new customer base. After TLC's "Cake Boss" released doves from a wedding cake at Bella Notte in Little Falls, many viewers became new dinner guests.

"The Real Housewives of New Jersey," the popular Bravo show that starts its third season next week, has opened up a whole world of exposure. Sales of panini sandwiches at the Market Basket in Franklin Lakes, for instance, soared after one housewife was televised coveting them.

"It's positively affected our business no matter how [the housewives] behave in public," said Rina Oh, a spokeswoman for Portobello in Oakland, which was thrilled to unwittingly host a dramatic Housewives catfight last season.

Customers have even "booked parties at the banquet hall just because they've seen 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey.' That's strange, but that's how people are." And the restaurant continues to benefit from the favor of the housewives - former cast member Dina Manzo taped an episode of her upcoming HGTV show there a few weeks ago.

As the chef-owner of Gourmet In-flight Catering Inc., a Wood- Ridge business that cooks for private jets, Aret Cakir is accustomed to celebrity clients, including Jennifer Lopez, Keith Richards, Steven Spielberg and the late Patrick Swayze. Their demanding nature for items like ripe, sweet fruit in wintertime and top-notch meats results in higher quality for both the catering business and his restaurant, Martini Grill, Cakir says - but he says he also benefits simply from the association with famous people.

"People are fascinated by it," he says.

2011