I just got back from Miami. It was a trade show, so I can write it off in 08, which is going to be the last good year I’ll see for a while. From now on, break-even is the name of the game. That’s what I told everybody down in Florida. I call it the 99-cent club. Count us all in for a dollar, along with the three stooges from Detroit. But they have their expenses covered. And compensation is deferred I’m sure. By the time they’re gone, they’ll be set. The rest of us will have to settle for less.
People tell me my prices are too high. I had a guy who made me explain to him what I spend all the money on. We were both at The Raleigh. He’s buying drinks for $20 apiece and he wants to complain about the price of a hoagie. When I look at a prosciutto, I understand why a guy wants $300. It makes sense to me. But some guys want 5. I met a couple of guys who wanted 7 - Italians, selling the last pigs on earth. And they didn’t care that the guy from Michigan could deliver bulk at 2 and change, because it’s domestic. They laughed at him. And you know what? Most of my customers wouldn’t know the difference. And neither would you. But that’s the thing with ham. It’s a cult.
I like to walk the floor at trade shows, see the people. I go to fairs all over the world. It’s a way to get around. It doesn’t add much to the price of a sandwich, and I always come away with something good. That’s how I met my wife. She was helping out her brother, who was selling oxygenation, which you need to farm fish. My wife was the beautiful girl attached to the pitch, which everybody needs. It’s no wonder the Italians can charge so much. We were introduced at a party given by some vacuum packers. The minute I met her, I was ready to start a fish farm. But I tend to stick with what I know, which is what I tell my wife, now that I know her.
Here, a global sandwich. That prosciutto is domestic, in case you were wondering. That tomato? Some guy in Chile grew it for a guy in Holland who uses a Greek to get it here, where I buy it from you know who, who got it from some Chinese. I used to get my tomatoes from Jersey. The guy who grew them drove them here in the back seat of his car and took the money in cash. Those tomatoes are easy to miss, I'll say that.
