26 Friday, August 24, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS • Coming Soon Tofutti man Bruce M. Weiss Continued from preceding page Custom Designed Jewelry Next To The Gold Place in Mayfair Shops Behind Gabe's Fruit Market 26325 12 Mile Road, Corner Northwestern Hwy. Formerly of Al-Kay Jewelers, Bruce M. Weiss Proudly Announces The Opening Of His Own Jewelry Store LOOK FOR SEPTEMBER OPENING A New Dimension In Which To Buy Jewelry 0 Swim in our outdoor and indoor pools. Play Tennis, Jog, enjoy Free Aerobics, exercise on Nadtilus and Universal equipment, dine in our Restaurant or Lounge, you name it. It's Southfields most luxurious Athletic and Social Club. Hurry! Last chance for 75% OFF initiation. i,S44• • .(c1,111. h c) '03 ;34 La cr 110 ' 1 0 11111 11111k U MW i ; i11101. 1 Hall HAMILTON PLACE Athletic & Social Club 30333 Southfield Rd. (between 12 & 13 Mile Rds.) CALL NOW 646-8990 ...A Presented by: HALL REAL ESTATE GROUP OFFER ENDS AUGUST 25th m. 4,4ft Oa, Ayt1-.!;.4...... in Southfield; and General Nutrition Centers. Tofutti is also available in single servings at the Plaza Deli in South- field; Custard Ice Cream in South- field; and Sandy's Stockade in South- field. "A lot of the professionals in the ice cream business told me I was wasting my time, and that I wouldn't be able to produce this sort of product, because they had tried and they had failed," said Mintz, "but I kept on sticking with it. And with the help of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, thank God, I was given the spiritual guidance to keep on going." Tofutti is actually being distrib- uted by the Haagen-Dazs company. It is produced in a plant in Philadel- phia. There are current plans to move the headquarters from Bensonhurst to Rahway, N.J. There are also possi- ble plans to build production facilities in other parts of the world. At this rate, that might become more of a necessity than anything else. "We're getting accepted by people all over the world. They want the product. I just had a person call me this morning from Australia," Mintz said. "We've had feelers from reps in Paris, London, Sweden, De- nmark and Japan. I've had over two dozen requests from people in Israel, and inquiries from people in Ireland, Taiwan and Red China." Mintz kisses the mezuzah and then leads his guests through a door into his lab. There, rows and rows of amber-colored bottles containing flavor extracts, rattle with the ap- proaching B-line subway on a stain- less steel table. An old bearded man named Reuben pushes his tsitsit away as he washes out a Tofutti con- tainer. The Tofutti recipe is a secret that Mintz has only shared with his assistant, Reuben. Mintz treats the equipment in the lab with a certain sanctity. He said there are days when he spends up to 15 hours dreaming up new re- cipes using tofu." "People ask me if this is just a fad," he said. "I tell them absolutely not. We haven't even scratched the surface yet. All of this is a dream for me, and there's no end to the dream." Indeed, the dream did cost him his first marriage in 1982. "Bean curd wasn't exciting to her," he said. "She kept asking me when I was going to give it all up. But I had a whole new world opening up." Mintz has since married Rachel Avalagon, who works with him in the company. Polner said that she had to push him out the door of the headquarters to get him to shul on time on the wed- ding day. Mintz, though, would rather talk business: He's a workaholic who attended the Lubavitch Yeshiva and Brooklyn College before working as a fur contractor and then starting up in the food business. "I think the reason we might have come out with this before any- $44..,;-11,., a= one else is because of my experience. When I had my gourmet restaurants, I just didn't sit at the register and take the money. I worked in the kitchen. Everything we sold, I helped make myself. So when it came to tofu, I had the food preparation back- ground already. "There's a need for this item," he continued. "This is not a fad. People today are concerned about their di- ets. We managed to reach them with a product before everyone else." Mintz has some other plans for tofu up his sleeve. Don't be surprised to see a non-dairy yogurt made with "People ask me if this is just a fad. I tell them absolutely not. We haven't even scratched the surface yet. All of this is a dream for me, and there's no end to the dream." tofu and vegetables come out soon. He is also developing a tofu pasta. There is also a chance that soon small Tofutti shops will be scooping out the dessert all over the country. Another tofu concept will be the tofu fast food shop where everything from tofu burgers to tofu drinks will be served. "I don't think this product could have made it 10 years ago," Mintz said. "It's all a matter of time and place. I stay humble about all of this success. I will never forget where I came from." Tofu Time Inc. is a public com- pany with the price of its stock tripl- ing since December of 1983. Mintz has made sure that the Lubavitch movement shares in his success by donating stock in the company to them. "I don't want to lose perspec- tive," he said. "God forbid, I lose perspective. When we first moved here, we had one room, and now we have 15 rooms. I remember in May of 1982 I got a call for five gallons of Tofutti. The guy said he'd pay me if people bought it. I put the five gallons in my car and took it to him. By the time I got back to the office, I had a phone call from the same restaurant. They had sold out and had a line of people waiting for me to come back with more. I was excited." Toffuti has only 128 calories per four ounce serving comparesi to 300 for ice cream and about 150 for yogurt. Mintz didn't plan for anyone else to get fat on his product. Except for himself. • 1.;, .. t .Yst-.41, st ak,ao .1.4. 40 kit