Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/691740
Info@ReliantRibbon.com • Call 1 - 8 0 0 - 8 8 6 - 2 6 9 7 A Family Business Since 1963 Wrap Up Your Confections In Style S H O W R O O M L O C A T I O N S : ATLANTA • DALLAS • NEW JERSEY · Specializing in Custom Ribbons and Bows · Custom Printing on Ribbon · Large Stock on Pre-Made Twist Tie Bows Just add hot milk, water or coffee! NY NOW #3485 Visit us for a sample! wholesale@debrand.com • 260.969.8331 • www.debrand.com Dallas #1115 Atlanta #2 - 3 - 210 From impressive chocolate gifts to impulse items! producer profile ate. She dreamed of starting a food and travel magazine as well as finding a way to help inner-city kids learn about farming. All along, she'd also been altering clothes on her sewing machine and making elaborate scarves. One day, a buyer from Macy's approached her, asking in amazement, "Where did you get that scarf?" and her hobby evolved into a ready-to-wear fashion label, Julie K. SF, which she ran back in San Francisco from 1990 to 1995. But even with her success, she kept wondering about her exit plan. "Making clothes wasn't my passion," she says. Focusing on Flavorful Food As it turns out, Mexican food and salsa in particular, was what she really cared about. She frequented a taqueria in San Francisco's Mission District where the salsas were especially good. She liked them so much she offered to market them for the owner, but he wasn't interested. At a local farmers market one day she ran into Bret Jeremy, a fellow salsa fan with "a palate that was impeccable," she says. Before long, they hatched an idea to buy fruit and vegetables at the end of their shelf life from the market's vendors and make seasonal f lavors of salsa. It didn't work. "We realized you can't use overripe fruits and vegetables," she says. "They have to be freshly picked." Experimentation continued, and by the end of 1995 they got a label together and acquired their own stall at a farmers market. By 1996, Native Kjalii Foods became a full-time, incorporated busi- ness, expanding to five days a week at farmers markets from the San Francisco Ferry Building to Walnut Creek to Marin. By hitting up retailers surrounding those markets they continued to build their customer base. Its fortunate timing coincided with Americans' growing appetite for salsa, the condiment becoming as mainstream as ketchup. By 1996, Native Kjalii Foods became a full-time, incorporated business, expanding to fve days a week at farmers markets. Its fortunate timing coincided with Americans' growing appetite for salsa, the condiment becoming as mainstream as ketchup. 102 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com