Casting call
Nabisco is seeking "real" (actually "surreal" might stand a better chance at winning) people to star in an upcoming cracker commercial.
To audition, you must present YOUR favorite Ritz, Wheat Thins, or Triscuit cracker snack suggestion to a panel of judges who will be looking for originality, creativity, enthusiasm and humor.
An example: "When my mother-in-law comes to visit, I serve guacamole with sour cream on a Triscuit. Mother Smith hates guacamole!" I call it "The Short Visit Triscuit."
(Come on, Utah, we can do better than that!)
You must be 18 or older to audition. One winner will receive $500 and go on to big and beautiful Boise to compete against 51 other finalists for $25,000 and a chance to star in a Nabisco cracker commercial.
Why Boise? It's the cracker consumption capital of America!
Please bring your already-prepared cracker snack and any props you'd like to use with you to the audition. Be sure to know when you like to eat it and what you like to call it.
Auditions: Thursday, July 18, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Off Broadway Theatre, 272 S. Main, Salt Lake City. To register, call 1-800-762-5423.
King of the roost
Leon W. "Pete" Harman, whose handshake deal with the late Colonel Harland Sanders launched the 8,000-unit Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise system in 1952, has been named winner of the Nation's Restaurant News 1996 Pioneer Award.
In 1941, with only $15 in his pocket, Harman began his food-service career when he and his wife, Arline, opened the "Do Drop Inn" in Salt Lake. After a slow start (certainly not because of the name!), more restaurants followed.
In 1957, Harman was credited with developing the first "bundled" meal when he packaged 14 pieces of chicken with potatoes, gravy and biscuits - all for $3.50.
Harman, 77, is Founder of the Harman Management Corporation, of Los Altos, Calif., which operates a 264-unit Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise system with sales of $240 million a year.
Visual vittles
A fine food man about town, Jerry Johnston, recalls a sign on the long-gone Brigham City Bradbury Drive-In: "Eat here . . . Diet home."