I LISTENING POST I

I BEST OF EVERYTHING I

A West Bloomfield Operation
Has Swiftly Expanded Business

WISHING OUR CUSTOMERS &
FRIENDS A VERY HAPY NEW YEAR

LOBSTER FESTIVAL

7 DAYS A WEEK

1'/2 LB. LIVE MAINE LOBSTER

COMPLE DINNER INCLUDES:

$1595

• SOUP OR PASTA
• SALAD
• POTATO OR VEGETABLE

Live Piano Entertainment Mon. Thru Sat.
Tableside Cooking at Dinners . . . • Steak Diane
• Caesar Salad • Seafood Fettucini • Fettucini
• Veal • Dover Sole • Flaming Desserts
Catering For All Occasions
• Lunch Served Mon.-Fri. • Pastries Made On The Premises

935 W. 11 MILE, S.E. CORNER 11 & 1.75
Res: 399.5960
Chef: Peter Lieber
Your Hosts: Bruno Ferguson & Tim Kowa1ec

We Wish All Our
Customers, Friends & Relatives
A Healthy & Happy New Year

— Marvin, Jean & Jerry Yagoda

S
0,011.CAL

usx/8

31005 ORCHARD LAKE RD
Just South of 14 Mile • Look For The Pink
Awning To The South Rear Of F & M

444f
-

MON.-THURS. 'TIL 9 p.m. • FRI. & SAT. 'TIL 12 MID.
SUN. 12 noon-8 p.m.

626-5020
THE GREATEST PLACE FOR BIRTHDAY PARTIES!

Hemingway
s
C

Grill & Bar

y OFF ENTRy

)

• Seafood • Pasta • Chicken • Ribs • Burgers

LL

✓ Daily Early Bird Specials
/Carry Out Available

when
of

o
cornd

is purchased.

/Banquet Facilities
For Up to 100 People

1990 Hiller Rd., West Bloomfield, 681-6195

Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 11-11, Fri. 11-12, Sat. 4-12, Sun. 2-10

Off good with this ad only

expires 9/13/91

U.S. SAVINGS BONDS

The Great American
Investment

For the current rate, call

1.800-US-BONDS

124

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991

DANNY RASKIN

Local Columnist

omentum . . . a key
word in the success
of any type of opera-
tion . . . When coupled with
proper merchandising, it
becomes invaluable . . .
capable of a long-lasting win-
ning streak.
This has happened to the
American Bulk Food stores
on Orchard Lake Road, south
of Maple in the West Bloom-
field Plaza, with a current
fast pace that shows no signs
of letting down.
If anything, it is on a roll
that keeps getting even big-
ger . . . While many complain
of economic or whatever
blues, West Bloomfield's
American Bulk Food store
continues to bulge as the cash
registers jingle for happy
consumers.
The brainchild of Marty
Benson and Nate Fink has
been so capably operated at
this locale by Mitch Benson
that it has veritably erupted
as the number one store in a
highly respected chain.
What 27-year-old Mitch
Benson has done is create a
phenomenon so big that even
his father Marty and mother
Sandy among many have
marveled at its continuous
growth of such wide
acceptance.
This is only the store's third
anniversary but looking
around at the wide amount of
carefully chosen merchandise
for consumer acceptance, and
much person-to-person ser-
vice, one can only give vent to
thoughts of veteran participa-
tion with many years of such
know-how.
When the West Bloomfield
American Bulk Food store
opened in 1988, it had about
1,200 items . . . Today, in a
small, more compact locale
selected so customers didn't
have to walk distances for ar-
ticles, is a choice between
4,000 and 5,000 . . . and still
growing.
One of the most asked ques-
tions is why American Bulk
Food in West Bloomfield went
kosher . . . And herein lies
another story of health con-
cern, which originally pro-
mpted Marty, a former
registered pharmacist, to
come up with sugar-free, fat-
free Slimmery Ice Cream and
other like products.
He is a lover of nuts . . . un-
til discovering that so many
are processed with lard or
lard derivatives . . . When

M

Marty asked where kosher
nuts could be gotten, he was
told New York and his call
became the beginning of
another chapter in the boom-
ing West Bloomfield
American Bulk Food success
story.
Kosher was his only
guarantee that no animal fat,
solely vegetable oil, was used
in the processing . . . If this
was the case, surmised Mar-
ty and Mitch, why couldn't it
also perhaps apply to some
other products . . . This is
when Rabbi Jack Goldman
was contacted and American
Bulk Food in West Bloomfield
came under the supervision of
the Metropolitan Kashruth
Council.
Health conscious and with
lower cholesterol, Marty

The store has
quadrupled the
number of items
and added kosher
products.

could not eat nuts and some
other items with kosher
assurance.
That's also how the bakery
at the West Bloomfield
American Bulk Food, with its
sugar-free muffins, got
started . . . He and Mitch
decided to expand for
customer health and now buy
as much kosher as possible of
whatever is carried at the
store.
American Bulk Food is not
to be considered as a health
food store whose focus is the
sale of natural products .. .
But Marty and Mitch are
health-conscious to the
degree that most of the items
carried among their vast in-
ventory are good for people
.. . They absolutely refuse to
carry anything which may
even have a tint of not being,
healthwise, good for their
customers.
Because of this, the amount
of confidence amassed among
customers has reached amaz-
ing proportions.
Not far away in the West
Bloomfield Plaza, opening
this month, is American
Gourmet . . . a new division of
American Bulk Food . . . with
kosher baskets, Michigan
baskets, Shalom baskets,
Israeli baskets, L'Chayim
baskets . . . one for every
theme imaginable . . . geared
exclusively to fit all occasions.
It even has a design center
where people can concoct

their own custom-made
baskets . . . Imagine a sugar-
free basket, a fat-free basket,
ethnic baskets (Oriental,
Mexican, Polish, etc.) and
even a baby basket.
American Gourmet has
taken separate offices and
areas for making up the
baskets and displays in an ad-
ditional 7,000 square feet of
space near its American Bulk
Food parent company store.
There will be both
wholesale and retail divisions
. . . and the orders are already
pouring in.
The success story of a
father-and-son team is heart-
warming . . . Marty and
Mitch Benson are to be
envied.
"IT'S LIKE BEING back
home again," said Walid and
Faten Eid as folks con-
tinuously came for the grand
opening of their new
Mideastern restaurant on
Northwestern Highway bet-
ween Middlebelt and 14 Mile.
Prior to opening their
Riverfront Cafe in downtown
Detroit, they were bossfolks
at Sultan's on Orchard Lake
Road . . . and being on the
northwest again is much like
a dream come true for them.
They call it Waleed's
because it's the exact way to
say "Walid" . . . and their en-
tire efforts are now being con-
fined into the small but cute
place with its seating for 60
amid silver and black tones of
intimacy.
Walid and Faten are happy
. . . being among the people
they know so well.
The Wilbert Peagler duo
backed fine songstress Peggy
Bogard at the grand opening
as she warbled tunes from the
'40s on . . . standards, pop,
blues, whatever folks asked
for . . . She is a joy to listen to.
REUNION DEPT.... Oak
Park class of '63 meets Oct.
21 to make plans for its get-
together of grads . . . In-
terested folks to work on the
shindig can call Ron Berlin,
589-3943, Ext. 790; or Bar-
bara Stern Fink, 661-4888 .. .
Central High class of '42 is in
search of current home ad-
dresses for its mailing list .. .
Togetherness affair is being
planned for September, 1992
. . . Call Sara (Matz) Manson,
352-1468; or Coleman Rot-
tenberg, 569-1301 . . . Not far
away, Sept. 21, at Troy Mar-
riott, is 50th by Central High
alumni . . . Call Betty Jane
Herman, 357-1854.
CONGRATS ... to Leah
Kash . . . on her 80th
birthday.

N