Marani Brands Inc. (MRIB)

[Matthew Berg]

Of course the Costco deal is real. That said, anyone can do that deal with the right spiff and suitable slotting/promotional fee. I worked with a small specialty food company the last few years and the deal was easy. Pay them, give them full recourse stock for a dozen regional stores and set up a booth on Saturday morning. Our was actually very successful but the margins were destructive and lack of national branding just could merit a specialty product in a chain like Costco. That's the rub here. The only reason for Marani to do a deal with Costco is to create hype because there will never be sufficient sell through and the margins and terms Costco requires will smother them but I think they know that and as I said it's just a ruse to get a pop in the stock to generate a little more cash through insider stock sales. One other thing in relation to branding... do you really think the average Costco shopper is part of the MoneyTV audience? There's a total disconnect there. It all points to nothing more than an amateur stock promotion.