Nov 25, 2001

Virginia Monks Lead an Austere Life, but Make a Decadent Fruitcake

By Matthew Barakat Associated Press Writer

BERRYVILLE, Va. (AP) - The Trappist monks at Holy Cross Abbey live an austere life. But they make a decadent fruitcake.

Loaded with fruits and nuts, and liberally doused with sherry and brandy, the Monastery Fruitcake has become the abbey's largest source of income. The monks expect to sell all 23,000 cakes they baked this year. It would be the fifth sellout in the last six years.

Brother Barnabas Brownsey, who oversees the abbey's fruitcake marketing, is well aware that many people hold fruitcake in low regard. He once felt the same way.

"I said ... 'You've got to be kidding me. I hate fruitcakes,'" said Brownsey, who arrived at the monastery in 1989. "But the first time I tasted it, I couldn't believe how good fruitcake could taste."

The abbey's customers seem to agree. The abbey began fruitcake sales in 1985. Its previous money maker, bread sales, had slowed, and a fruitcake made by one of the brothers to give to the abbey's benefactors and friends had become increasingly popular.

In the mid-'80s the monastery sold a few thousand cakes a year, Brownsey said. Sales have progressed steadily, thanks to repeat business and media exposure. A segment this year on The Food Network cable TV channel has been especially good for business, he said.

Frank McKellar, president of McKellar Group in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, bought a dozen fruitcakes about 15 years ago to give to clients after seeing an ad in the National Review. This year he ordered 550 cakes.

"I think it's the best commercial fruitcake available on the market," he said. "Our clients really like them."

Because of the relatively weak Canadian dollar, the fruitcakes are an expensive item, but McKellar said the money is well spent.

"We just got out of a meeting looking for ways to cut money out of our marketing budget, but nobody even suggested getting rid of the fruitcakes," he said.

The monks have changed operations slightly to increase production. Twenty-three monks live at the 1,100-acre abbey, but only five bake fruitcakes. Twice a week, they'll bake 450 cakes in the months from February to September. All the cakes are then doused in brandy to cure for six weeks.

This year, the monks used a mechanized plunger to divide the batter into even portions, which greatly sped production, Brownsey said.

But the basic recipe is the same. Sugar, rather than molasses, is used as a sweetener. Cherries and pineapples are the two biggest ingredients, but the fruitcake contains about a half-dozen fruits, including papaya.

Business has increased even in the face of competition from other Trappist abbeys. The Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Ky., The Assumption Abbey in Ava, Mo., and Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Monastery in Lafayette, Ore., all have large fruitcake mail-order businesses.

The Trappists, formally the Cistercians of Strict Observance, are among the most austere orders in the Roman Catholic Church. Only in the last 20 years or so have Trappists given up their vow of silence. They now prefer silence but speak when necessary.

Guided by the 6th-century teachings of St. Benedict, the Trappists emphasize self-sufficiency, so the monks need not be a burden on others.

For many abbeys, fruitcakes have turned out to be an ideal business. Brother Robert Cummins, food manager at Gethesemani abbey, where they have been making fruitcakes soaked in Kentucky bourbon for nearly half a century, said he doesn't mind the competition from other abbeys.

"There's enough for everybody," he said.

Brownsey agreed that the abbeys don't seem to cut into each other's business.

"We'll call each other up and say, 'How'd you do this year?' It's very seldom that one monastery will have a bad year when the others have good years," he said.

The Berryville abbey already sold about 9,000 2.5-pound fruitcakes for the Thanksgiving holiday, each at $25, including shipping. He's optimistic that he'll sell out for the Christmas holidays, but he has one worry.

"Warm weather is a killer for holiday sales. If it's warm, nobody is thinking about fruitcake," Brownsey said.

A former computer executive with a background in marketing, Brownsey has come up with a few tricks to boost sales. Last year, for instance, the monks gave away a Monastery Fruitcakes mouse pad with the purchase of two fruitcakes, and two-fruitcake sales doubled.

In the long run, though, Brownsey said the fruitcake business is largely a matter of faith.

"If you're here and you don't posit a certain amount of trust in the Lord, then you're on shaky ground to begin with," Brownsey said.

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On the Net:

http://www.monasteryfruitcake.org

AP-ES-11-25-01 1913EST

This story can be found at : http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA2218JHUC.html

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2001

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I imagine some FRLians who would enjoy this post.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2001