Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003 | 8:17 a.m.
One of the true delights of living in Las Vegas is meeting unique and unusual people who have subtle effects on our lives. One such person is Jed Baron, an entrepreneur, film producer and food importer.
Baron is the president of Jag Productions and Italvegas, the latter business a distributor of food products such as olive oil, pasta, tomatoes and vinegar. Many of us eat his products on a regular basis, but don't realize it.
"If you are eating Italian in any of the major hotels here in town," he says, "then you are probably eating my products."
His films are also popular with viewers. This year alone, Baron has been the executive producer on the current release "Narc," starring Ray Liotta and Jason Patric, and also on a pair of big films that are about to be released: "Heaven's Pond," starring Tara Reid, and "U-Boat," an adventure film starring William H. Macy, Lauren Holly and "The Pianist's" Thomas Kretschmann.
So how does a film producer come to sell spaghetti, olive oil and tomato sauce? Baron's life is, according to a phrase he coined spontaneously, "where Hollywood meets vine" -- the tomato vine, that is.
Actually, the ebullient Baron came to his current ventures through happy accidents. Interviewed in his spacious office in an industrial complex west of the Strip, Baron held forth on his evolution as a producer and food distributor.
While studying at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Baron got a job as a $300-a-week gopher for the company producing the show "Vega$," starring Robert Urich. In three years Baron worked his way up to assistant producer, and eventually landed a job with the influential Alan Godfrey, who produced the show "Quincy," with Jack Klugman.
At the same time Baron studied public health and took classes to be a health inspector, excelling in classes taught by local health expert Sam Moldave, and briefly toyed with the idea of doing this professionally. But Baron stayed the course as a producer, and today is a go-to guy for many Hollywood film studios.
"Vegas is a great place to shoot a movie," he says. "I've got the contacts, too. I know who to call if you want to block the freeways for a chase scene, arrange a casino shoot, or practically anything else."
Italvegas Inc., Baron's fine Italian foods company, came about unintentionally. A couple of years ago a friend asked him to take over an existing company that had been struggling, and Baron discovered that he loved the food business.
"I eat out almost every night," he says, "so I've always been interested in what restaurants buy." And in short order, he turned things around for the company.
Today Baron runs his business out of a small warehouse, where he stores and ships boxes filled with his products to local casinos and restaurants.
"I'm a small businessman, but I compete with the big boys, Sysco, Van Rex and others," Baron says. He handles mainly Italian products, which he personally selects and buys, and private labels in his warehouse.
Interestingly, Baron was quick to draw the distinction between anything labeled an Italian product, as opposed to product labeled imported from Italy. The import has to be grown in Italy, but in order to be labeled an Italian product, all that is necessary is that the product be packaged and shipped from Italy.
"You could buy olives from Turkey or Lebanon, for instance, and then press the oil in Italy and label it a product of Italy," he says. "And that's just what a lot of clever importers do. But that doesn't make it true imported Italian olive oil."
Baron's oil is purely Italian, though -- oil he selects personally at private tastings in Italy, which he then orders in huge 40-foot containers. In that respect, he is similar to what the French call a negociant, a wine merchant who buys grapes from growers, bottles them with his own label and then sells to the public.
Baron is also proud of his tomatoes, which are grown in California and sold in 6-pound cans, either diced or whole.
"These are San Marzano-style pear-shaped tomatoes, some with added fresh basil, and they are plumper and prettier than the tomatoes I could get from Italy," Baron says.
He added that he saved a great deal of money in freight by getting the tomatoes from California as opposed to Italy. "You can open up the can and eat them whole, and my diced tomatoes are perfect for salsa," he says.
Baron gets five truckloads of the tomatoes per month, and his demand often exceeds supply.
The other two products he sells are from Italy, however. One is a thick, syrupy balsamic vinegar from Modena, which he gets in 5-liter containers. The other is semolina pasta, in seven cuts, such as rigatoni, spaghetti and penne, to name three. The pastas are sold in 1-pound packages, so they are perfect for home use.
Many local casinos and restaurants use Baron's products. The short list includes Suncoast, Paris Las Vegas, Bally's, Hard Rock Hotel, MGM Grand, Bellagio and restaurants such as Villa Pizza and the newly opened Ventano in Henderson.
Baron also gives generously to local charities, donating his products to such entities as St. Vincent de Paul, Food Kitchen, Safe Nest and the Salvation Army.
The business is a family affair. Baron's sister Jodi Baron is the office manager, and his longtime friend Joey D (he prefers the initial) is sales manager.
What Baron says sets him apart from the competition is service.
"Nobody can beat our service or speed of delivery," he says. "We offer next-day service in general, same-day service if needed, and emergency service within 30 minutes if necessary.
"I'm energetic, enthusiastic and available."
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