Mustafa Arat knows how to sell.
He did it for 27 years for Xerox Corp., Pitney-Bowes Inc. and other Fortune 500 companies. Now he's doing it for himself, peddling something that almost every grown-up craves. Only, as Arat figures it, he's providing a healthier alternative. And he's not selling a product so much as a method that he sees as a hot trend.
From his home in Corona, Arat runs www.turkishcoffeeworld.com, a retailer for everything needed to make and serve Turkish coffee. He offers a big selection of pots, grinders, gift items and fresh coffee.
"I actually kind of stumbled onto Turkish coffee as a possible product idea by a coincidence, while I was searching for ways to stop smoking," said Arat, 55, whose health issues forced him to make lifestyle and career changes.
"As anyone who has tried to stop smoking knows, after meals can be one of the worst times to deal with the urge to smoke," he said. "I decided to prepare Turkish coffee after my meals to deal with my urges, and it sure has worked for me."
Turkish coffee, he said, "takes several minutes to prepare . . . which keeps a person busy."
A demanding job, hectic days and a four-hour work commute had occupied him for much of his life -- and contributed to his suffering a heart attack in 2005, leading him to quit smoking, he said. Before he took up Turkish coffee, he didn't even own a cezve (pronounced "jazz-veh"), the brew's special pot.
Arat -- who holds anthropology and international business degrees from Western Michigan University and Indiana University -- considered selling other products, especially items in the technology sector, before he struck on Turkish coffee.
"Sales and marketing is something in me," said the Turkish native, who remembers selling gum in front of an Istanbul circus when he was 12.
Arat took two years to research Turkish coffee and its varied associated products and sources worldwide. He got samples from manufacturers and sold goods on Amazon .com and EBay for a year before launching the website in January.
His venture is percolating now. Arat is loath to invite competitors by disclosing too much but said he expected to reach $250,000 in sales by the end of next year. He speaks of a market potential in the "tens of millions," envisioning a cezve in every U.S. kitchen.
The market for Turkish coffee is growing, he said, because of customers like Alicia Watins, 42, a Long Island technology consultant. She and her husband, Michael, have never been to Turkey but they love the Turkish coffee served in New York restaurants.
