Russ Steele
With all the negative economic news, business and restaurants closing, it is nice to discover some positive local economic news. I was having coffee with a friend at Hollywood Sweets when Kim Stewart stopped to say hi. I met Kim when she was Larry Burkhardt's assistant at the Economic Research Council, where she developed the first ERC web page and some of the early marketing materials. Kim had a lot of marketing savvy, but was more interested is starting a family and being a full time mom. After her two boys Colin & Branden were born, Kim starting thinking about putting her marketing skills to work again. Two years ago she bought American Leather Products, a manufacturer and wholesaler of leather kitchen products from a local family.
Kim improved the product line of leather hot pads and oven mitts, and found 60 stores willing to sell her growing product line. Then one of those unexpected opportunities came out of the blue. One day she I got a phone call from the Art Director who works for Giada de Laurentiis, a celebrity chef on the Food Network. They had discovered her products in a West Hollywood store. The Art Director told Kim, "Giada loves these oven mitts... We must have them on the new show". They are now part of Giada's kitchen on "Giada At Home" which airs Saturday's on the Food Network. She uses different color oven gloves for each episode.
Knowing that she need a way to capture the Food Network audience, she formed a new retail distribution company called, "Cuvee Kitchen Apparel" and commissioned Gary Gustafson at New Press Websites to develop www.CuveeKitchenApparel.com. With the web site turned on three weeks ago she is now selling products online to Giada's fan base. A fan base which is growing and is blogging on the Internet. Recognizing the power of blogging, Kim has started interacting with Giada's fans and expects to sell more products, Products which are manufactured in Penn Valley. Kim has plans to stay local and grow to her companies, someday employing 10-15 people.
This is the kind of positive news the we need keep us looking forward, to buck us up when we get overwhelmed store and restaurant closings. Kim has tried to get some local buzz, but so far the Union has ignored her efforts. So, please pass this information on to a friend,encourage them to check out Giada de Laurentiis show on the Food Network and visit Kim's web page www.CuveeKitchenApparel.com An opportunity to buy something for that hard to please person on your Christmas list.
Giada de Laurentiis will be on Oprah today, Friday the 5th of December.
Posted by: Russ | December 05, 2008 at 08:58 AM