Ever wish the stale messages found in fortune cookies were more applicable to your life, or at least good for a laugh?
L.A. entertainment journalist Ray Richmond is whipping up a solution. His Sherman Oaks startup, Ray Richmond Co., will launch a line of fortune cookies with city-specific messages at the L.A. Gift Show on Jan. 25.
“You can’t drive today. In fact, you can’t do anything – it’s raining,” reads one fortune. Another: “Does this cookie make me look fat?”
Richmond came up with 20 fortunes for each of three cities – Los Angeles, New York and Las Vegas – and hopes to sell them to novelty gift stores and gourmet food shops. Ten cookies, packed in a Chinese-style takeout box, retail for $9.99.
The cookies vary from the standard in another way, too. Each line of cookies comes in two flavors and colors.
Richmond, a former Hollywood Reporter staffer and Daily News television critic, started selling the snarky snacks last year after a lot of the freelance work he had been doing dried up.
“I realized I was going to have to print my own words if I wanted to stay in print,” he said.
He started by selling fortune cookies with holiday themes for Christmas and Hanukkah, as well as for special occasions such as bar mitzvahs and birthdays. He sold them online, and in synagogues and local food markets where he personally talked rabbis and managers into selling the cookies.
Now, he’s ready to make a bigger mark.
“It’s time to branch out and really get into the marketplace,” he said. “I’m hoping to start with L.A., Vegas and New York, and spread ultimately to every major city, maybe even overseas.”
The venture has so far cost Richmond about $40,000, including about $10,000 to showcase his cookies at the L.A. Gift Show.
“It’s not a small thing,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a scary proposition, but it’d be scarier if I weren’t so confident in how well this is going to do.”
One New York fortune reads: “Welcome to the center of the universe. Don’t piss us off.” Another: “Somebody just died. Quick, grab their apartment!”
What’s his favorite L.A. fortune?
“I’m a little bit of a twisted soul, so my favorite is probably the one that says, ‘Don’t worry, it’s only a pedestrian. You’ve hit them before,’” he said.
– Bethany Firnhaber
