Stirring up profits.When Bill Washington quit his $40,000-a-year job as a tax accountant to make potato salad, everybody thought he was crazy. "I knew nothing about the food business," Washington admits, "but I knew I had a good product." His talent for dicing dicing Trauma surgery Multiple 0.5-1.0 cm, cube-like lacerations of the skin seen in MVA victims who strike shattered tempered glass car windows a few potatoes and mixing in Creole spices has paid off in a big way. The 41-year-old entrepreneur is now the owner and president of Oakland, Calif.-based Mother Dear's Creole Salads, which Washington founded six years ago. He says that this potato salad is sold at supermarkets and deli counters in more than 350 stores in northern and southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and Nevada. And last year, he sold an estimated $375,000 worth of salad. (He projects 1992 sales of $1 million on potato salad alone for his two-employee firm.) So why did this Southern University graduate, who majored in business management, trade in his calculator calculator or calculating machine, device for performing numerical computations; it may be mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic. The electronic computer is also a calculator but performs other functions as well. for an apron apron, n a piece of clothing worn in front of the body for protection. apron band, n a labioincisal or gingival extension of an orthodontic band that aids in retention of the band and in proper positioning of the bracket. ? "When I moved from my hometown home·town n. The town or city of one's birth, rearing, or main residence. Noun 1. hometown - the town (or city) where you grew up or where you have your principal residence; "he never went back to his hometown again" of New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded to the Bay area 16 years ago, the Creole food was horrible," he recalls. In 1986, Washington started test-marketing his salad by giving away free samples at food festivals, trade shows and conventions. His salad also placed first in a food-and-wine contest. He started out by preparing batches of potato salad from his apartment on a part-time basis. But as demand increased, Washington quit his job, used $1,500 in savings, and in 1989, opened Mother Dear's Creole Salads as a full-time business. Washington now has his sights set on distributing his Creole potato salad nationwide and plans to introduce more New Orleans-style Creole products to the market in the near future. |
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