Sales of Tofurky hit new highs

HOOD RIVER, Ore., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- While most U.S. families opt for the traditional turkey at Thanksgiving, sales of the vegetarian alternative are at record levels this year.

Seth Tibbott, founder of Turtle Island Foods of Hood, Ore., told The Washington Post the company expects this year's holiday sales to hit 270,000. So far this year, Tofurky sales are up 37 percent over last year.

Tofurky has been given a boost from television, getting mentions on shows ranging from "The X-Files" to "Jeopardy," where none of the contestants got it as the answer.

"It's a name that resonates with consumers," Tibbott, who grew up in Chevy Chase, Md. "We're fine with the fact they think it's funny or they get a smile out of it. You remember jokes."

Tofurky is no longer Turtle Island's biggest seller. But it helped turn the company from a hippie enterprise, financed by Tibbott and his immediate family, into a company with $11 million in sales. When Tibbott invented the soy-based entree in 1986, he was living in a tree house in Washington State because he could not afford anything else.