March 14, 2005 Page 9
Brett Ottolenghi:
■ UNLV studentruns rare foodbusiness, succeeds
To make some extra cash,Brett Ottolenghi once org a n-ized a flea market.
He advertised for the spotsin the market and soon hadplenty of patrons buying upspots for $15 a piece.
Once he had the peddlersin place, he promoted andadvertised for the big day topotential customers. T h eoutcome was a foreshadow-ing of things to come: a greatsuccess that in Ottolenghi’seyes, “made some money. ”
Ottolenghi was in sixthg r a d e .
What began as sellingcandy to friends in gradeschool evolved into sellinglaser pens he brought overfrom China to schoolteach-ers for $20 a piece.Ottolenghi brought home afew hundred dollars a day inprofits from the laser pens.He even ran his own suc-cessful nightclub gearedtowards local high schoolstudents for one year out of ameat locker in Gettysburg .Years later, Ottolenghiwould channel his knack forbusiness and marketing intoa profitable business sellinghis rare product for up to$240 an ounce to some ofthe nation’s best chefs insome of Las Ve g a s ’ m o s tdecadent restaurants.
Brett Ottolenghi grew upin Gettysburg, Penn. Hisf a t h e r, raised in bothPiedmont, (Nothern) Italyand New York City, instilledin Ottolenghi a passion forthe science of fine foodmarked by an insatiablecuriosity for, of all things,f u n g i .
“My dad and I would gointo the woods and searchfor mushrooms,” recalledOttolenghi of his childhoodin Gettysburg.
The town in whichOttolenghi spent his child-hood did not boast many finedining establishments, so hisfamily took ideas from theirfavorite restaurants andmade their own.
On a family vacation toSan Francisco, then 13-year-old Ottolenghi dined on adish that altered his life.
“I tried the scallops witht r u ffles and that sparked theidea of the company,” her e c a l l e d .
And with that bite of truf-f l e —tuber melanosporu mfor the black mushroom-likedelicacy and tuber magna -
Truffle merchant, food connoisseur,
t u m for the white—TheTr u ffle Market was con-c e i v e d .
Ottolenghi describes theconception of his business as“the culmination of food andbusiness” which, from anearly age, were his twol o v e s .
His father helped himorder preserved truffle prod-ucts and market them to aspecific clientele using noth-ing but flyers and a crudewebsite.
During its first year ofbusiness, The Tr u ffle Marketgrossed $2500 of profits.The company’s profits havedoubled each year since.
Six years have passedsince the birth of The Tr u ff l eMarket. Ottolenghi nowattends UNLV and lives inthe freshman dorms. On thesurface he looks like anyother college freshman: ten-tative, excited and idealistic.
But upon a closer look,Ottolenghi is anything butt y p i c a l .
His business has grownfrom basement-of-his-par-ents’-house hobby to full-fledged respected business.
The Tr u ffle Market isaccelerating at a rapid pacesince Ottolenghi moved to
Las Vegas. He travels aroundSin City, going from exclu-sive restaurant to exclusiverestaurant, vending his truf-fles to some of the most cel-ebrated head chefs in then a t i o n .
These chefs knowOttolenghi on a first namebasis and ask him for feed-back on their truffle dishes.
“I brought in my ownwhite truffle, and the chef (atN e r o ’s inside Caesar’sPalace) had just got in somescallops that day. [He mademe a dish] specifically forthe truffle and then asked mefor my feedback,”Ottolenghi said.
The 19 year old freshmanhas received books and let-ters from world-famous chefThomas Keller, who wasnamed best chef by Ti m emagazine. Keller ownsBouchon inside T h eVenetian and the ultra-exclu-sive The French Laundry inNapa, California. Ottolenghisells Keller the truffles heuses in Bouchon.
Brett Ottolenghi possessesmaturity beyond his limitedyears, and perhaps that’s
Brett Ottolenghi operates The Truffle Market, a company which sells truffles and other fine delicacies to restaurants and to consumersvia www.trufflemarket.com
by Katie Haney || The Rebel Yell
The black truffle, ortuber melanosporum, isfound throughoutEurope
Courtesy Photo
See TRUFFLE, pg. 12
What are truffles, anyway?
The black truffle—which grows underground in tubes—is foundthroughout Europe by pigs that are attracted to the fungus’ scent. Thewhite truffle, whose pungent aroma can fill an entire room, is the mostexpensive of the 50 species of truffle and can only be found in Italy andCroatia. The white truffle sells for $210 to $60 an ounce.
Two hundred years ago, thousands of tons of truffles were found eachyear throughout Europe. Now, less than eight tons of truffles areunearthed per year.
The high cost of truffles comes from the expense involved in bringingthem to the United States from the European Union.
“Sometimes the shipment of truffles gets held up by the FDA (Food andDrug Administration) or customs because the truffles have a little bit toomuch earth or bugs on them,” explained Ottolenghi. By the time the truf-fles are released from customs, they’re spoiled.
There is a 100 percent duty on truffles imported from the EuropeanUnion as well, meaning that a $1200 (one pound) shipment of trufflescomes to $2400 after the duties (taxes)—and that’s before retail markup.
college freshman
BY LINDSAY JOHNSONTHE REBEL YELL
