Smokey Robinson Gets Valley Help on New Food Line By JEFF WEISS Contributing Reporter When most people think of Smokey Robinson they don’t think of seafood gumbo. Not yet at least. However, if the Motown superstar has as much success in the frozen food business as he has had during his 45-year singing career, the author of such songs as “Tears of a Clown,” “My Girl,” and “Shop Around” will be doing great in his new endeavor. Glendale-based Smokey Robinson Foods has already debuted its first product, Smokey Robinson’s Seafood Gumbo in the Chicago market and is slated to make its California debut in the Southern California market during the week of June 1. Albertson’s and Safeway have already contracted with the company to sell the gumbo and according to company officials, several other market chains have already inquired about adding the product to their inventory. “The project was brought to me by [actor] Leon Isaac Kennedy and what interested me more than the food was that part of the proceeds will go to teaching minority children entrepreneurship skills,” Robinson said. “We started with something that I love as well. I’m a gumbo connoisseur and we worked on the recipe for about a year and a half to produce a first class A-1 gumbo. The thing is gumbo takes all night or all day to make and this is already prepared for you in the frozen foods section and it’s microwavable and you get a top notch gumbo that’s low in sodium and cholesterol.” Robinson played an active role in the development of the recipe, having input until he felt the gumbo’s taste perfectly suited his tastes. The musician has licensed his name to the company for its food products and is an active shareholder in the corporation. The company has already begun boxing the second and third products that will hit stores: red beans and rice and jambalaya. It also plans to have a health food line in supermarkets across the United States by the end of the year. Manufactured in Vernon, the gumbo is expected to retail for $3.59. Brain is CEO Jeff Brain, a Valley activist most noted for his work with ValleyVOTE during the Valley secession movement, has been tabbed to be Smokey Robinson Foods’ chief executive officer. “I have worked in business consulting for many years and when I was asked to be a member of the team I found it to be a great opportunity. There really aren’t any other products like this and that’s why Smokey is breaking new ground bringing Southern cuisine to the broader market,” Brain said. “There really is no mass production distribution of soul food. We’re getting calls from restaurants across the country, we’ve even gotten military people interested in carrying the food, Smokey Robinson is an incredible individual who is well liked by all segments of society.” Glen Fulton, director of supplier diversity for Albertson’s, also sees great potential in the brand. “We see this product as an item that isn’t just a diversity item, it’s an item that has national potential. We are rolling this product out every month to a different division within the company and we are hoping that all of the divisions will be fully locked in on this by the end of the year,” Fulton said. “We rolled it out to a lot of fanfare in Chicago and are bringing it to Southern California at the beginning on June. We’re looking to continue the momentum.” A member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and honored by the National Academy of Record Arts and Sciences as a “Grammy Living Legend,” Chatsworth resident Robinson has certainly had a story book musical career and early indications point towards his continued success in this much different venture. “We started in the Chicago area in the Albertson’s chain and they have about 300 stores in that area and we’ve already sold out 10 times. When I went to Chicago to promote it, it had been in the stores for two days and there were even return customers,” Robinson said. “The proof is in the pudding, people might buy it out of curiosity because my name’s on it but they will love the gumbo. Of course, the ultimate goal is for the gumbo to become huge but also I really want the opportunity to give back to the community.” Celebrity hurdles As sanguine as the company’s projections are, celebrity-endorsed products have met with mixed results over the years. For every Paul Newman line of lemonade and salad dressing there has been a Bing Crosby’s Ice Cream. Francis Ford Coppola might have succeeded in his forays into the wine business but Phyllis Diller’s line of chili flopped. Bob McMath, consultant to the food industry, placed Robinson’s odds of success at 50/50. “In order for a celebrity product to succeed you need a lot of money behind it to promote it. I’m not aware of any pressing need for a new Cajun line but there’s always the curiosity factor with something new but it’s a question of the long term viability and I would say that’s where the real problems come in,” McMath said. “When you take somebody’s name it doesn’t make any difference nowadays, someone needs to know how to get it out and keep it in the stores. You have an awful lot of potential problems, if a celebrity gets caught with drugs or in a brothel it can fail overnight. It’s a very big risk, that’s why a lot of celebrities eventually stop doing it. I’d say that it’s a 50/50 chance, soup and gumbo products usually aren’t considered growing parts of the industry. You have to realize that 80-94 percent of new products fail anyways. It’s an awfully competitive world and it’s very expensive to get things going and be successful.”
