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Show PagelBlO - THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Sunday, April 5, 1592 Company making money from little known spoil Press lerblade ads and events. They saw John Kennedy Jr. NEW YORK (AP) Spring wearing Rollerblades in People is in the air, and millions of so they sent him Americans are lacing up their magazine, he'd stay loyal. skates, hoping Rollerblades. The company also revved up Skaters have been sprouting demonstration vans to tour city like the crocuses in Manhaevents and anywhere parks, ttan's Central Park, where else could be coaxed into hundreds of bladers come on a freepeople lessons and protecskate, Sunday afternoons to slalom tive equipment included. The through obstacle courses, dance company formed Team Roller-bladboxes or otherwise professional skaters who 'play on the hardtop. wow spectators with their That's no small accomplish-'me"blading" skills. for Rollerblade Inc., Rollerblade got even more 5ich gave the sport its name publicity by hooking up with skate other companies. It started in by: pioneering the The private company 1987 when General Mills apdoesn't release sales figures, proached Rollerblade for a joint but one estimate last year put promotion sweepstakes with its consumer sales of Rollerblades Golden Grahams cereal. Now in the hundreds of millions of you can see Rollerblades in dollars. commercials for McDonald's, Credit much of this work to Diet Mountain Dew, Coors and Kodak. Mary Horwath, a marketing whiz who came to If imitation is the greatest the company in 1986 from the form of flattery, Rollerblade U.S. Freestyle Ski Team, with should be beet red. Thirty other a, tough assignment: Make Rolcompanies are now making inlerblade grow. line skates and fighting for a " Her budget: $200,000. Her piece of Rollerblade 's dominant staff: two, including herself. market share. The task was especially Now Rollerblade and Hormust position their 'datmting because few knew wath what the comskating was, let product and alone Rollerblade. The only petition, which includes Bauer, people who owned the skates the brand worn by a majority of with plastic wheels were proplayers in the National Hockey fessional hockey players and League. ski racers. The company has been Horwath accepted the chal-- ; "looking for new opportunities to build better products, expand lenge, and her work is a textbook study in how to succeed in the market in general and put business without really having the product out the money. there," Horwath says. "We depended primarily on For one, Rollerblade has some creative grassroots activcome out with its own line of ities that might generate larger sportswear. It doesn't hurt to be ."exposure than just something by the ski boot mak; local," Horwath, vice presier Nordica, which also makes dent of marketing. apparel and is owned by clothFirst Rollerblade gave skates ing giant Benetton. Rollerblade has licensed its ;;to just about anyone famous "gosh," name to toymaker Mattel for a j;who would use them rhundreds of people," Horwath Rollerblade Barbie. The doll says, "from the New York Jets will be advertised on children's !to Michael Keating to Rick television shows this spring. " Moranis to Janet Jackson to Rollerblade will also introi Richard Dean Anderson to a duce Microblades, a three-whe! children's skate, to hook variety of people across the I 'em while they're young. map." The company had learned The company will continue ; that Los Angeles Kings star Luc to sponsor events and keep ! Robitaille liked to train on RoTeam Rollerblade on the road. "To continue to fuel the growth llerblades. "We immediately ' called him and started sending of the market, it's important to him skates and made (the rela-- ! continue to ... hold events, suptionship) a little more official," port the sport, ensure there are Horwath says. That included places to skate, etcetera," HorRol in wath says. Robitaille's ; appearance By The Associate - I f ' - " f 'J 1 - i iI 1.1 I ' 'i 11 as If-- ' if . 1 Is! SS's- I - - e, nt ft si - i in-li- ne in-li- ne out-ska- best-quali- r jssawws . Milchaiiov Vaiery, left, and Delia Roche - Kelly pose in their New York East Village restaurant "Delia's." Their trendy take out: restaurant to go. ew conies I dishes out an unusual By The Associated - ty Press NEW YORK A pair of enterprising restaurateurs have come up with the ultimate in trendy takeout: a restaurant to go. and Vaiery Delia Roche-Kell- y Mikhailov, owners of the Manhattan eatery Delia's, are holding a contest to give away a lease on a restaurant. All wannabe gastronomists need is $10 and a dream. "We're looking for someone with guts and brains and no capital," Mikhailov said. The original plan was to give the winner a lease to their own restaurant in the city's offbeat and sometimes raucous East Vilone-ye- ,' el one-ye- ar ar lage. That idea got bogged down in legal problems, so the couple instead acquired options on half a dozen failed restaurants complete with ovens, refrigerators and freezers in the city. The winner gets the paid lease, said to be worth between $3,500 and $5,000 a month, and a year of free advice from Roche-Kell"Every mistake that could have been made was made by me. So why shouldn't I teach mem all I know?" she said. "I built my own place from scratch, from a burnt-ohole in the wall." Industry judges will select the winner from contestants who submit a brief description of their fantasy bar, restaurant or combo. The deadline is June 30, and the winner can opt for a $25,000 cash prize. The couple has received about 1,500 responses since the contest sponsored by Mikhailov 's company, God Bless America Inc., began last month. The couple said they got the idea watching the mostly immigrant y. ut paying Social Security payroll taxes on tip income. wag. fHaiming that the legislation unfairly targeted restaurateurs as an easy .source of additional revenue, the foodservice industry has fought law since it the'CA was passed by a Congress in 1987. Prior to the deficit-conscio- In presenting the amendment to the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Breaux pointed out that the 1987 legislation created a regulatory double standard, resulting in 72,000 lost restaurant industry jobs over the last four years. Preliminary results from a National Restaurant Association member survey indicate that apof restauproximately rants required to pay FICA taxes on tips have reduced employee hours to accommodate the added cost. In addition, 53 percent have reduced benefits and 47 percent report reducing the number of employees. The senator also indicated that the proposed FICA tax credit which would be permanent would have a positive impact on the creation of new jobs, a key element in sparking a sustained economic recovery. two-thir- as wages for tax purposes, the full amount cannot be counted as wages when minimum wage is calculated. Although today's move is not an outright repeal of the law for which the industry had hoped, National Restaurant Association president John Farquharson praised the Senate initiative. "Today's action is a tremendous victory for foodservice," Farquharson said. "Four years of bad policy has been corrected. Our tax-on-ti- ps us law's enactment, restaurateurs paid FICA taxes on only a portion of the tips specifically, any tip income used as a tip credit to satisfy an employer's minimum wage requirements. Currently, the law demands that enfployers pay FICA taxes on all tips,' even though employers do not - "I Could Never Be ie TITCH $277 spin-a-di- S&rgerLike List $529.95 lllllllll lMWW!I.Hi.."T.U in r . 5 r faster steam spfay. LIST $449.05 5367 ryuniUmi .f "1 TITWIfTirriWfflttlllillllliff 'V",1P'ua'-''- '' Spln-A-Dla- l, List $449.95 J4I t it Rolled Ham, Gamers, LIST $649.95 iym wjrur1 34 Combo. iMfTrTj 'iW T.nrmr ." J .i - ' ; AGAIN WITH... The perfect mastectomy breastform. Now available in a wide range of sizes.' For your own personal fitting, 850 Signed and Numbered; Doolittle. Accompanied by Countersigned by General Jamei a complementary hardcover copy uenerai uooutue'a autobiography, 1 coma Never Be So Lucky Again, published by Bantam Book. H. of . r '295 mi 62 W. CENTER ST., PROVO 377-436- 7 11,11 (Ul mil 07 f&gpflut ELNA ELNITA SERGER nni .' ' I iJ I JH;ii.iii.iiihh 151 SWISS ELNA PRESS with Open Arm, Brand New yourselfL - - elna "elnita" OPEN ARM ELNITA Feel good about Lucky Again" ds mmmapwinMi UId INVITES YOU TO win-wi- tax-on-ti- ps restaurateurs of of 10-di- come." The credit wiil relieve the cost to (D-L- tion, says the winner has only a slim chance of making it. Manhattan has about 7,000 restaurants and ' tha failure rrtto frvr noiv rmAc ic high, he said. y, message was heard, and Congress responded. The result will be a more healthy, productive and dynamic industry for many years to pay tips and often do not even know how much tip income employees receive. Furthermore, although the law considers those tips hailed last month's decision by the Senate Finance Committee to include a $ 1 .5 billion FICA tax credit in its economic recovery package. Proposed by Senator John and passed by an Breaux unanimous voice vote, the credit wi(l relieve the cost to restaura-teurs'paying Social Security, or FICA, payroll taxes on tip income abtjve and beyond the minimum workers in their restaurant kitchen and remembering their own struggles when Delia's opened 3 lA years ago. "I know how most American banks treat immigrants like numbers," said Roche-Kell43, an Irish immigrant. Mikhailov, 37, is from Ukraine. Roche-Kell- y acknowledges that some may think she and Mikhailov are only out to make a buck, but doesn't care. ' 'I hope we make millions out of n situait," she said. "It's a tion for everyone. A newcomer gets his or her chance, the landlord gets his depressed place rented and we get publicity for Delia's. What's wrong with that?" But Fred Sampson, president of the New York Restaurant Associa William S. Phillips So Senate approves FICA tax credit for beleagured foodservice industry taurant operators 4 AP Laserphoto ! 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