BUSINESS

STORY

Real estate developer
Sandy Layne is
making his debut
in the spaghetti
sauce business.

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

Jacqueline and Sandy Layne test the new Domino's spaghetti sauce in their West Bloomfield kitchen.

R

eal estate developer
Sandy Layne was
always fussy about
spaghetti sauce.
The West Bloomfield busi-
nessman never really liked
the stock sauces on grocery
store shelves.
"So I always made my
own. And I always made
sure there was enough to
feed my family and give
some to- friends and business
associates," he says.
Now, for the first time,
everybody can taste the
sauce that started in Mr.
Layne's kitchen. Beginning
today, the family recipe will
be stocked for about $2.29

66

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1990

for a 30-ounce jar in major
supermarkets throughout
metropolitan Detroit under
the Domino's pizza brand
label.
For Mr. Layne, president
of Brooks and Layne Real
Estate Co. and a gourmet
cook for more than 20 years,
mass marketing a spaghetti
sauce was the furthest thing
from his mind.
Cooking was second na-
ture in his family. On Friday
nights, he and his wife,
Jackie, would eat matzah
ball soup made from an old
recipe of Mrs. Layne's
grandmother. And on Satur-
day nights, Mr. Layne would

prepare his spaghetti sauce,
a southern Italian recipe

"I always made
sure there was
enough to feed
my family and
give some to
friends and
business
associates."

Sandy Layne

that was handed down three
generations.
He used all natural ingre-
dients — raw tomatoes, fresh
Parmesan and "a secret
combination of herbs and
spices."
Then nine months ago,
after filling hundreds of jars
with sauce on request, he
thought he'd try his hand at
the commercial market.
Mrs. Layne suggested he
send samples to the licens-
ing division of Domino's Ann
Arbor-based pizza head-
quarters.
Soon after, Domino's sold
Mr. Layne the licensing
rights to its name and logo,

giving him an opportunity to
begin production. With an
initial $1.5 million in-
vestment, Mr. Layne laun-
ched the Farmington Hills-
based Prestige Foods Inc.,
the company responsible for
producing and selling the
product.
Prestige, which plans to
launch a $500,000 advertis-
ing campaign through tele-
vision, newspaper and radio,
will pay Domino's a royalty
based on the sauce's gross
wholesale revenue.
Mr. Layne's recipe, once
made in an eight-quart pot,
will be reproduced by Del
Grosso, an Altoona,