Stores go nuts over fruitcakes

COUNCIL BLUFFS — There may be more fruitcake jokes than, well, pieces of fruit in a fruitcake.

No wonder Old Home Bread/Sara Lee Bakery outlet stores decided to do something extra to promote the fruitcakes they sell — Grandma's Fruit Cakes from Beatrice (Neb.) Bakery Co.

The higher-ups decided to hold a friendly competition among their outlet stores to see which could do the best job developing a sales display to evoke the nostalgia of a grandmother's homemade fruitcake.

All the stores are doing special displays of the fruitcakes, said Vicki Rollins, manager of the Council Bluffs outlet store at 2201 W. Broadway.

Employees at the West Broadway store built a miniature kitchen and furnished it with props gathered from a variety of sources, she said. The scene went up at the beginning of November and will remain on display until mid-December.

“A lot of our customers have said they think it's cute,” she said. “It's just been a lot of fun.”

Rollins believes the promotion is working. And she thinks the fruitcakes are worth the effort.

“They are very good,” she said. “Actually, they are probably the best fruitcakes you can get.”

It's one thing to believe in Santa Claus, but a yummy fruitcake? How could it be?

“It's stirred up by hand, and we have them individually wrapped,” she said. “This one has all the nuts and cherries and so many different ingredients — and some alcohol, even — and they're just a very good fruitcake.”

According to the Beatrice Bakery Co.'s Web site, “In 1917, a father and his sons revealed the sweet results of a secret fruitcake recipe they brought to America from Europe. This fruitcake recipe had the magic to create a dessert cake so perfect in every way, it was concluded that no one but a grandma could have dreamed it up.”

« Money

Share