A Chronicle of the Passing Scene
Vanna Who?
When Kirsta Fleischner went to Greece three years ago to try to model and soak up a little culture, she didn’t expect to become one of the best-known faces in the country.
Without knowing a word of the local language, she got a gig as the Vanna White of Greece.
The television game show “Wheel of Fortune” had been a big hit in Greece for several years when Fleischner arrived, but the hostess wasn’t working out.
Fleischner had dropped in at a modeling agency there when two men arrived and said auditions were being held at that instant for a new hostess, and they insisted she try out.
So this Valley girl, who is home visiting her parents in Encino, is still turning the Greek letters. Only now she understands what she’s looking at because she’s learning the language.
“When I started I didn’t understand a word,” says Fleischner, laughing. “I had to wait until the letter lit up before I turned it around.”
Corporate America’s Dark Chocolate Future
Chocolate, as we all now know, tickles our endorphins, which makes us feel good.
A study last year by the U. S. Department of Commerce for the Chocolate Manufacturers Assn. shows that Americans consume 2.8 billion pounds of chocolate annually, which is more than 11.5 pounds per good-feeling person per year.
Corporate America has done its part for chocolate consumption in recent years by changing its approach to gift giving, says Rena Procrass, president and candy designer of Chocolates A La Carte in Van Nuys. The influx of women in industry and a shift away from alcohol as a corporate gift have made chocolate a palatable alternative.
“Gifts used to be geared primarily toward men, and now that is shifting,” says Procrass, whose company specializes in making specialty chocolate goodies for businesses. With such corporate clients as Nissan, IBM, 7-Up and Chevron, she is expecting her company’s gross to top $5 million this year.
Her outfit makes such things as chocolate cars for automobile companies and chocolate computers for a computer company as well as corporate gifts for a company’s employees and customers at Christmas and other special times.
Feedback from her corporate clients also shows a shift in when gifts are given.
There is strong sentiment to give personalized presents on employees’ birthdays. “Many companies think gifts on birthdays are more personal and have greater impact than mass giving at holidays,” she says.
Internal company gifts are being given more often today to motivate employees, and many companies are giving gifts to reward employees for ride-sharing and other company programs.
One strong corporate movement is to give donations to charities in place of gifts because it is perceived as having real value and making a contribution toward the community and the environment.
Can a chocolate tree from the rain forest be far behind?
Champagne Dreams
If only the homeless situation could really float away in a champagne bubble.
Mumm is doing its best to try.
The champagne company is sponsoring a program in which it donates $3 from each bottle bought in participating restaurants to Share Our Strength, a Washington-based national coalition of groups helping to relieve hunger.
The Bistro Garden at Coldwater in Studio City and Val’s in Toluca Lake are part of the program, joining such restaurants as Trumps, Tribeca, Spago, 72 Market Street, Bice, Citrus, Morton’s and Le Dome over the hill.
Fred Kernbach, the beverage manager for The Bistro, Bistro Garden and Bistro Garden at Coldwater, says he is planning special promotions to get the program moving.
Mumm is not as popular a champagne as it once was, but Kernbach said his patrons will buy it if they know it’s for a good cause.
Boss Car
Ever been in a mall parking lot heading toward the white sale when you walk by a designer car that starts talking to you?
“Warning, you are too close to the vehicle. Step back,” the unctuous HAL-like voice of the talking car orders you.
You consider giving the car a good, swift kick, but keep walking.
“Thank you,” the little monster says to your departing back.
Michael Nykerk, 36, manufactures these chatty little alarmers at his Electronic Security Products company in Canoga Park. The former car salesman from Miami designed the first one in 1985.
“I saw what a big deal car alarms were when I was working as a sales manager at a BMW dealership in North Hollywood in the ‘80s,” Nykerk says. “I thought up the talking alarm and had some people make one for my car.”
His friends and friends’ friends wanted them, so he went into the talking car alarm business.
He says there are now 100,000 in cars throughout the country, at about $300 a pop. He sells the alarms through a variety of car stereo outlets in the United States and Canada.
Today, Nykerk offers an array of talking car alarms, including a rap version and those that come in two different languages.
“In Los Angeles and Miami you would want the English/Spanish version, and people in Montreal want the English/French version,” Nykerk says. All you do is push a switch and it changes from one language to the other.
Overheard
“That’s a postcard with a picture of the San Fernando Valley. Who would want that?”
--Woman showing picture of Warner Center and surrounding mountains to friend at Kmart in Chatsworth
