Business

Inspired by his favorite store in South Africa, Mervyn Sacher has created a Preston Hollow institution on the westside of Preston Royal Village.

(PHOTOS: KERSTEN RETTIG)

NEUHAUS CAFÉ: FROM THE KID IN THE CANDY SHOP

Mervyn Sacher’s eyes twinkle when he talks about his early career as a candy buyer for a large department store he calls “the Walmart of South Africa.”

“I loved the colors, shapes, creative packaging, the smells, everything about it.” More than 40 years KERSTEN RETTIG later, his eyes also light up when he talks about the Belgian chocolates he imports and sells at his Preston Hollow institution, Neuhaus Café.

Mervyn, his wife Linda, and their young children arrived in the United States from South Africa in 1980 with dreams of opening a gourmet chocolate shop like one he’d been enamored with at home.

The Swiss Miss Café in Cape Town was perfectly merchandised: rows upon rows of pralinés, as chocolates are called in Europe, colorful candy, biscuits, and truffles showcased with discipline and care.

The café had fabulous coffee drinks, and guests could linger with biscuits and chocolate. It was charming, filled with Mervyn’s beloved candy, and would be the reason for his great American success story.

Except the owners of South African Swiss Miss didn’t want to share their name with Mervyn, which was a moot point anyway because Swiss Miss cocoa owned the trademarks. On to Plan B.

What started as four locations in Dallas, including cafés in Prestonwood Mall, NorthPark Center, and the Galleria, is now just one in the heart of Preston Hollow. The lone survivor, despite economic downturns, tornadoes, and COVID-19, doesn’t just survive; it thrives.

Guests like Britt Brookshire rave about Sacher’s work ethic and how his team got through COVID-19 with to-go and delivery options. “I see the details here. I see Mervyn and his staff on top of everything - food, service, operations, and connecting with guests.”

Brookshire knows a thing or two about service. His grandfather founded Brookshire’s supermarkets which requested employees “Pay obsessive attention to each customer.” “And,” Brookshire adds while eating one, “Neuhaus has the best Reuben sandwich in Dallas.” It’s also the best-selling item on the menu.

Sandwiches, soups, salads round out the menu with top sellers, including the hamburger and Cobb salad. The Neuhaus menu is inspired by his travels, especially to New York, where Sacher took photos of menu items from delis and cafés and brought them home to recreate. Mervyn has also relied on his good friend Greg Katz, owner of Beverley’s, for advice on operating the restaurant. Neuhaus has a full bar and plenty of gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options. But the pièce de résistance of Neuhaus is candy. Guests must pass a table tollgate of beautiful ballotins to get near the immaculate bi-level cases filled with truffles and chocolates, mostly Neuhaus from Belgium, which has produced

I loved the colors, them since 1857. Just like Swiss Miss, shapes, creative Neuhaus’ candies packaging, the smells, occupy one-third of the space and everything about it. are lined up on the Mervyn Sacher counter and tucked in colorful corners. Old fashioned in the very best way, Neuhaus is a generational gem worth a visit. Follow Kersten Rettig, a Park Cities-based writer with more than 30 years’ experience in food and beverage marketing and public relations, on Instagram @KerstenEats.

The Root of All Irresponsibility?

The impact of the pandemic upon college students who work to pay for

LIBBY MAGLIOLO education ex penses is go ing to present some tricky choices and temptations.

Even before we tuned in to a labor shortage among restaurant workers and some retail jobs, we knew students tend to be cheaper to hire and are seen as more motivated and energetic. Those traits will be attractive now as employers monitor labor costs. Freshmen and sophomore college workers might be tempted to take on too many hours and jeopardize academic success.

Student-workers can prevent this by establishing at the onset clearly defined work schedules. There is research indicating that students working more than 15 hours a week could be trouble. Managers must be made aware of when classes are and be flexible during exams.

Students and parents should not get carried away with the buying power a job affords. Building healthy financial habits is crucial.

1. Create a budget and stick to it.

Start with your monthly inflows: scholarships and grants, part-time job income, the odd freelancing gig, or teaching assistant earnings. Next, list monthly outflows: food, transportation, and phone bill costs, as well as discretionary expenses such as entertainment. Subtract the outflows from the inflows to check how much you make monthly. If it’s positive, great! Keep it up and try to increase that number over time. If it’s negative, you’re creating debt.

2. Beware of the small costs.

Even the occasional $3 coffee and $8 fast-food lunch will add up, so keep those in check.

3. Watch your credit.

Though a credit card helps you build credit and get past temporary cash shortages, irresponsible use defeats its function. The card is a short-term loan that must be paid back in full. Carefully tracking your credit card expenses and starting with a low credit limit ($500 per month or so) are good strategies for avoiding a hefty bill at month’s end.

Libby Magliolo is an alumna of the SMU Dallas Cox MBA program. She leads a sales training team at Southwest Airlines and teaches college students (including those bound for SMU) about personal finance fundamentals.

REPRESENTING THE FINEST HOMES IN DALLAS

#1

TEAM IN TEXAS

#26

TEAM IN THE NATION

AS SEEN IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REAL TRENDS

A reputation for serving Dallas families

LEARN MORE detwiler-wood.com FOLLOW US @detwiler_wood_realestate

All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. All measurements and square footages are approximate, but not guaranteed and should be independently verified. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Nothing herein shall be construed as legal, accounting or other professional advice outside the realm of real estate brokerage. Compass is a licensed real estate broker. Equal Housing Opportunity. Ranking based on MLS data at time of print. #1 Compass Team in Texas as ranked by Compass 2020 performance metrics.

Dallas family’s Kaurina’s Kulfi peddles traditional Indian treats

By Samantha Ponce

Special Contributor

A traditional Indian dessert recipe passed down through generations has spread from a Preston Hollow family’s kitchen to stores nationwide.

The Singh family first sold their homemade traditional Indian delicacy, Kulfi, in a Dallas Indian store in 1998. Now you can find Kaurina’s Kulfi products in Costco’s around the nation and most recently Dallas-area Whole Foods stores.

We’re happy to be a part of this community and this neighborhood. And we’re happy that now many more of our neighbors can share my mother’s recipe. Aman Singh

“We’re a home-grown company, family-owned and operated, been living in Dallas pretty much the entire time that we’ve been in the United States,” said Aman Singh, whose mother made the first bars the company sold.

Many know Kulfi as Indian ice cream,

Find boxes of Kaurina’s Kulfi bars at Whole Foods supermarkets in Highland Park, Park Lane, Lakewood, and Uptown. FROM LEFT: Pam,

Jas, Hari, and Aman Singh. (PHOTOS: KAURINA’S KULFI)

but Kaurina’s goal is to introduce a new dessert category: “ice cream perfected” or “the next level of ice cream.”

Kulfi bars – creamy, dense alternatives to the traditional ice cream treats – contain minimal ingredients, 80 calories, no egg, and only seven grams of sugar. They are certified gluten-free.

Cooked slowly and prepared diligently over two days, the bar is slow to melt, allowing you to savor it longer.

Jas Singh first noticed that Kulfi was a big hit every time she made the dessert for home parties.

When she first got the opportunity to offer her homemade Kulfis through a local Indian store, she spent two days making 50 Kulfi’s to sell. The next day the store sold out and asked for more.

By 2000, the company was selling bars in Indian stores around Dallas.

Then Jas’ husband, Hari Singh, was laid off from his job and began devoting his time to their start-up. Around the same time, their son, Aman Singh, quit his job as an electrical engineer and joined his father in pursuing what they knew would become something great, Kaurina’s Kulfi.

In 2012, Kaurina’s Kulfi won the firstplace prize in the Championship Dairy Product Contest for creative and innovative technology.

Kaurina’s Kulfi sells six flavors in bar form.

The traditional malai – the purest flavor to the original Kulfi made in India – has a natural flavor of slowly cooked milk and fresh ground cardamom spice.

The other flavors are mango, pistachio almond, creamy vanilla, rich chocolate, and luscious strawberry.

By the end of the year, Kaurina’s Kulfi expects to release Kulfi in pints.

“We’re happy to be a part of this community and this neighborhood,” Aman Singh said. “And we’re happy that now many more of our neighbors can share my mother’s recipe.”

FAMILY LAW

Duffee and Eitzen

Marilea W. Lewis

Marilea W. Lewis lives and breathes family - not just her own but those of her clients. Tough and experienced, yet compassionate and approachable, she blends an impressive family law background with a client-friendly style, providing a winning combination for those she represents. Board Certified in Family Law, and with a background which includes nearly 25 years on the bench as an Associate Judge and a District Judge, she is also an accomplished mediator and arbitrator for both general and family practice, and is qualified to sit as a private judge or special judge.

Lewis is a partner with the boutique family law firm Duffee + Eitzen LLP“Family law is more than just divorce. Divorce is just one area of our practice,” Lewis says. Post-divorce modification, adoptions, premarital and post-marital agreements, and enforcement of divorce decrees and orders are routine.” She is also trained in collaborative law.

“The collaborative approach is a very successful model in many cases,” Lewis says, unfortunately, if it falls apart, then basically people start over, making it important to be well represented from the start. “

Texas is one of the few states that allows a jury trial in family law cases.. Lewis has seen jury trials from both sides of the bench. “Although jury trials are rare in family law, there are some cases that require what is referred to as ‘the collective wisdom’ of a jury. Trying a case to a jury is much more challenging because there are twelve people listening, not just one.

Whether the case is settled before trial, tried to the judge or tried to a jury, the Texas Family Code directs that the main priority and objective should be to determine the best interest of the children involved.

Lewis is a fifth-generation Texan who grew up in Waco. Earning both her undergraduate and her law degrees from Baylor University qualifies her as a “double bear.” Her friends say that she “bleeds green and gold.” During her seven years on campus, she served as a freshmen representative for Student Congress, participated in theater, pledged a sorority, and was a fraternity sweetheart! “I had a grand time!” she says.

She and her husband live in University Park and raised their twin son and daughter here. Both her children are HP grads and are now practicing attorneys.

Widely honored and respected as one of the best attorneys in Texas, Lewis has received numerous honors throughout her career; most recently, she was named one of D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas for 2021. She currently serves as cochair of the State Bar of Texas Firearms Conference, and she will be moderating the CLE class this fall.

“During COVID, people’s emergencies did not stop; their family law needs did not stop.. We adapted to new technology so that we could continue to advocate for our clients. Representation of a client in a family law matter is not only a responsibility but also a privilege.”