Meat Business - February, 1995

REDUCE COSTS, INCREASE SALES AND CAN FOOL AN EXPERT

Since Smitty's, a Missouri-based full service supermarket chain, began using replica meat and cheese trays last November to advertise the store's party trays, sales have increased by more than 50 percent. "We haven't been able to keep up with demand from our customers but we're not complaining- we're just working harder to meet the orders. One of our stores, for example, recently sold 90 meat trays in one day," said Eddie Fourt, Smitty's meat director. "Our deli and produce employees and our customers love the replica food trays. They always look fresh and we don't have to worry about spoilage."

Fourt added that the replica trays look so realistic that a few weeks ago, a health inspector demanded that a replica meat tray be immediately refrigerated. Fourt said when the inspector realized his error; he jokingly rescinded his order.

The replica deli trays are made by Fax Foods, a Vista, California company that produces a full line of replica food items from cherry tomatoes to lobster and lemon slivers to ice cream sundaes.

Restaurants and delis across the country are seeing sales jump and waste decrease when replica displays replace costly fresh displays.

Acapulco Restaurants of California used replica foods on its dessert trays to find that sales doubled in the first month. The reason: replica foods always look fresh and appetizing-unlike real food displays, which even when replaced every day, can quickly lose their appeal.What's true for desserts, is doubly true for delis. Fax Foods makes replica meat and cheese trays that always look like they were just made and aren't a health problem when displayed. Also the plastic food has never drawn a fly.

The company's founder Francesco Dorigo, is no stranger to a kitchen either. The Venice, Italy native studied culinary arts in Switzerland, and worked as a chef in Germany and the Bahamas before traveling to California State University to pursue a degree in engineering.

Dorigo became interested in bronze casting and sculpture; one thing led to another, and before he knew it he found himself the creator of a plastic corncob. It was his first food replica; and it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Today Fax Foods makes $1 million a year, and is hoping to double its sales in 1994. A recent market survey shows a $40 million potential in the United States, and Fax Foods only has one competitor. The company's hottest selling item is "replikale," a replica of kale that is great for decorating deli cases and salad bars since it doesn't wilt and is dishwasher safe. While the initial cost of a deli tray (around $240), makes it an investment to carefully consider, restaurants and delis nationwide have found that eliminating the cost of displaying real food and enjoying the benefits of increased sales, means that a replica deli tray is an investment that pays for itself in short order.

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