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Friday Program
Louisa provided a most entertaining look at her very successful candy and cookie company, The Elegant Gourmet. Louisa got her start in marketing with a company that provided marketing services to Studio 54 in New York City. She spent five years with NBC in Southern California, time with Hallmark Cards and with Pacific Institute in Seattle before taking time off to raise their second child. She recounted how, in 1989, a friend gave her her late Aunt Marian’s toffee recipe and suggested that they go into business of toffee. In three months they had produced 10,000 pounds of toffee on Louisa’s kitchen stove.
President Jimmy Z, definitely a short timer, called the meeting to order. Before he could do anything except observe that it was the first day of summer, he was paid a visit by Aretha and the Franklinettes (aka Mary Bell, Jenny Andrews and Margie Burnett) who lip-synced and gyrated their way through “I Say a Little Prayer for You” as their way of saying au revoir to President Z, who quite seemed to enjoy the feminine attention.
Steve Goldfarb gave the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance, while Dean Pollock greeted visiting Rotarians and guests.
Steve Szirmai presented the Treasurer’s Report, which you can view here (flash file). Despite booking high-priced talent like Aretha and the Franklinettes, the BBRC appears to still be solvent.
Mini Assembly - Club Service I and II
Rourke O’Brien provided a summary for Club Service II, along with Sayoko Kuwahara. Rourke proudly proclaimed that BBRC membership is at an all-time high of 116 members. Sayoko recounted how she agreed to chair the Membership Retention Committee only if the name could be changed to Membership Support. Sayoko shared her feelings that the BBRC is her family in the United States and what superb support she was given by club members at a very difficult point in her life.
New Member Proposed: Manfred Markevitch The BBRC Board has voted to approve the application of Manfred Markevitch for membership. Manfred, his wife Patricia, and their toddler Elisa are residents of Bellevue. Manfred is a consultant and is being proposed for the classification of “investment banker.” He is being sponsored by Steve Szirmai, and co-sponsored by Alan Pratt. In accordance with our by-laws, if you have any comments on Manfred’s candidacy for membership, please contact Club Service II Director Tom Smith.
The Friday Program:
Louisa provided a most entertaining look at her very successful candy and cookie company, The Elegant Gourmet. Louisa got her start in marketing with a company that provided marketing services to Studio 54 in New York City. She spent five years with NBC in Southern California, time with Hallmark Cards and with Pacific Institute in Seattle before taking time off to raise their second child. She recounted how, in 1989, a friend gave her her late Aunt Marian’s toffee recipe and suggested that they go into business of toffee. In three months they had produced 10,000 pounds of toffee on Louisa’s kitchen stove. In one of those lucky breaks, John Nordstrom received a gift of the toffee at Christmas and decided he needed that product in his stores, so Nordstrom became Louisa’s first customer.
Louisa, however, has decided that it is time to expand, and the company is entering a new phase. It will continue to provide its high-end products through existing outlets from its Woodinville factory, but it is entering the mass market, and to do so, is planning to open a factory in China. As one might imagine, product quality, financing and a host of other issues have accompanied this decision to enter the mass market. If you wondered why the company makes cookies as well as chocolate and hard candy, it is because the chocolate market and the hard candy markets are seasonal and chocolate does not preserve well. So, to fill in for the remainder of the year, the company produces very high-end, hand-crafted cookies. Another product line is marketed under the mark Elegant Sweets, high-quality chocolates. A mainstay of the holiday season are The Elegant Gourmet’s hand-crafted candy canes and hard candies. Call it bribery or proof that Louisa knows how to market, she brought a container of Hannah’s Delight cookies for every BBRC member. Incidentally, Hannah is the name of the daughter of one of The Elegant Gourmet’s employees. Another good marketing idea is the company’s welcome to visitors at its factory in Woodinville. Louisa says that visitors are welcome any time, but the best time to visit is before the holiday season when the employees are hand crafting candy canes. Affixing the red stripes to candy canes is a craft which is being preserved by the Elegant Gourmet.
A sweet success story is always worth hearing, and this reporter for one will be hauling his grandchildren to the candy factory come the holiday season. Heck, even if they don’t want to visit, I do.
VERBAL PROFUNDITITIES
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Preliminaries & Opening Number 
On a sadder note, President Z announced that Kelly Nolan, our only member in uniform, is being transferred by the Salvation Army to New Mexico. Good luck, Kelly, we’ll miss you!
Wendi Fischer recapped the activities of Club Service I, which includes the Programs Committee, chaired by Bob Holert, the Fellowship Committee, chaired by Chris Ballard, the PR Committee, chaired by John Martinka, and the Reveille Committee, chaired by Mark Hough.
Well, just as President Z was preparing to give his thought for the week, always a profound moment, in came two disreputable-looking “musicians,” closely resembling John DeWater on the banjo and Chip Erickson on the guitar. Trailing right behind them were Andrew Face and those Franklinettes, now morphed into Beverly Hillbilliettes. In a final good-bye to President Jim, they struck up a passable version of the Beverly Hillbillies tune ... of course, with original BBRC lyrics:
The Elegant Gourmet has had its ups and some very serious downs, almost going out of business three times in the last 18 years, but the company has remained until now a relatively small business. Louisa’s target markets are high-end stores such as Williams-Sonoma, Starbuck’s, Crate and Barrel, Nordstrom and Sak’s Fifth Avenue. She relies on having excellent product; her skills in marketing are apparent, with a customer list such as she enjoys. The company now employs 130 people, has been in Food Magazine many times, as well as on the Food Network 18 times.
Louisa, at her husband’s prompting, provided another interesting anecdote. She referred to one of the cookie products which is an exceptionally nice-looking product, but because the cookie is produced long before it goes into the store, it does not taste as good as the other Elegant Gourmet products. Louisa recounted how she was called by an angry buyer at Sak’s Fifth Avenue complaining about the taste. She freely admitted that the taste was not as good as that of their other products, but reminded the buyer that the product sold because of its looks not because of its taste. Her candid comments to the buyer led to a long-term friendship with the buyer.
