We made it on the million dollar question segment of the “The Big Idea! with Donny Deutsch” check it out here. We were also contacted by a distributer in Detroit, who caught the our segment on CNBC. So we’ll see if that pans out. 
Today I sent some of Aunt Ermas finest to Whole Foods North region. I should have a response from them in about a week. Meanwhile, this morning I was recorded via webcam for the CNBC show “The Big Idea! with Donny Deutsch” I asked Donny if he like the packaging for Aunt Erma’s Mandel Bread. Don’t know if we are making it to air yet. Stay tuned….
So far, I’ve submitted to several Whole Foods regions. Mid-Atlantic has passed. I’m waiting to hear from Pacific, and waiting for submission requirements from Southern Pacific. There are 11 regions, I haven’t made contact with all of them yet – but will make more calls tomorrow. Monday, I spoke again with Trader Joe’s, a very nice and helpful woman, who even though it didn’t work out with TJ’s, had lots of good advice on getting started, and was able to expand on why our product didn’t make the cut at TJ’s. It really came down to price point, shelf life, and TJ’s already tight shelf space. We can’t compete with a biscotti that has a six month shelf life and sells for $2.99 at TJ’s. Marie (the TJ’s woman) thought we could test the waters at upscale farmer’s markets such as the Santa Monica Market, so today I skipped out of Disney for a few hours and Crystal and I went to the fancy Santa Monica market to check it out. It’s a great market. Most of the well known LA chefs come here to get their produce, and the weekly radio broadcast Good Food opens each show with a feature called ‘The Market Report’ which a weekly report live from the market. If we can get something going there, maybe get the attention of an LA Chef – anyway, a possble way to start a little buzz on the stuff. More later on this angle.
Today I submitted Aunt Erma’s Mandel Bread to the Whole Foods Mid-Atlantic regional offiice. Pretty easy submission, just a modification of the same booklet that went to Trader Joe’s. The Southern Pacific Regional Office I had to leave a message with some info., then they will e-mail the submission form. Next week I’ll inquire to all the other Whole Foods Regional Offices.
Whole Foods market reviews new products by regional submission. The Southern Region office is right here in Sherman Oaks, Ca., and the mid-atlantic regional office is in Rockville. Team Mandel Bread East Coast Division may be recruited for the eastern submission. I’ve also placed another call to Trader Joe’s for some more clarification on what was the main factors that ruled out our product. I’ll update as soon as know more.
Citing tight shelf space, and an already successful biscotti business, this afternoon Trader Joe’s passed on Aunt Erma’s mandel bread. They enjoyed the product, but felt that it would take some effort to educate the shopper on what mandel bread was and how it is different than a biscotti. We had a brief conversation about the packaging, the ingrediants, etc. they thought it all was great and liked the product, but the shelf space issue and the ‘kindof like a biscotti” issue was what sunk it. Next stop is Whole Foods Market.
This morning Crystal and I took the mandel bread package to Trader Joe’s for evaluation. Yesterday our packaging broker hooked me up with a very nice woman who bakes all the almond cookies for Panda Express. We met at her manufacturing company in South Pasadena and shrink wrapped our prototype tray loaded with fresh baked mandel bread. She owns several companies and manufactures products for TJ’s so she took me shopping at Bristol Farms (it’s like a Whole Foods Market) and gave me some tips on what Trader Joe’s will be looking for. Her comments inspired some last minute changes to the nutritional panel and to the booklet I left with TJ’s. She also offered to do a moisture test on the mandel bread to see how much shelf life it has.