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• 9 restaurants with an

array of fine dining, casual

and deli style to serve you

Elf (I)

• Michigan's largest privately

P

owned caterer with 5

SHIRAZ

varieties of facilities

accommodating every type

of event from small gather-

ings to several hundred guests

Jonny Levy prepares a table for production.

— including kosher catering

affecting their business mainstay, the
cinnamon almond. At the time, a cus-
tomer asked them to use a spicy flavor
from a cashew product and the Levys
invented their Buffalo peanut.
"It used to be a customer would say,
`Give me a few [25-pound] cases of
Buffalo peanuts with my cinnamon
almonds,' says Johnny. "Now they say,
`Give me a few pallets'"
He also tried the flavor on almonds,
"but I thought it was horrible."

Israel Ties

The Levys have strong connections
to Israel. Their dad, Avi, retired from
lighting sales locally, is from Israel
and works for his sons doing sales,
deliveries and handling the phones.
Both Danny and Jonny are married
to Israelis and are frequent visitors
to Israel. In fact, the Middle East may
be the next new market for Nuts Are
Good.
Danny made a lengthy visit to Israel
in November and took samples with
him. "We have extended family there
we can call on, we know people in the

food business and we are no longer a
flash in the pan," he says.
"The Middle East imports a huge
amount of nuts," says Danny, "and we
know the raw materials market."
He speculates the brothers could
become brokers for their Israeli con-
nections."We have a good pipeline for
information now for the near-future.
Buyers can trust our information."
Having begun working together as
children, the brothers have honed their
skills. Danny claims "Jonny does all of
the hard work [with production], and
I get to fly around the world [doing
sales]. But we solve problems together
a lot and then one of us goes and
executes. It's more fun that way and it's
more effective."
Danny says owning your own busi-
ness is not an eight-hour, 10-hour or
12-hour-per-day job. "As an entrepre-
neur," he says, "you are always thinking
about how to make it better and faster.
"We're trying to make a living, we're
having a good time at it and, on top of
it, we think we have some good prod-
ucts." ❑

• Gourmet carry-out for

working lunches —

delivery available

Deli Deli

West Bloomfield Bloomfield Hills

Hatt
rent

CATERING FOR -

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THE CENTER

RESTAURANT
GROUP

O

SHIR SNP

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MOTEL BARONCTTE

KINGS LEY
HOTEL

2+8.6+6.0570

WWW.MATTPRENTICERG.COM

December 13 • 2007

A31