Idea Network - February/March 2005

Grandma, What Big Ideas You Have

by Nancy Mann Jackson

This spunky grandmother took a family salad dressing recipe and turned it into a thriving business with the help of her grandson. Try tossing in a few of their ideas to make your business grow.

Growing up in the 1920s, Dorothy Holterman loved her mother's unique homemade dressing served on salads and slaws. As an adult, Holterman tried to make the dressing herself but could never get it right-and her mother was of little help, since she never had an exact recipe.

"She always made it with a dab of this and a dab of that, and I fooled with those dabs for years, but it never tasted like Mama's," Holterman says. "It took me 23 years to perfect it."

Once she got the recipe right, Holterman found that friends loved the dressing and frequently asked for bottles of their own. She dreamed of marketing it, but never had the know-how or the cash to do it. At Holterman's 84th birthday party in 1999, the family's conversation again drifted to talk about marketing Grandma's dressing. Holterman's grandson, Steve Picker, decided to accept the challenge.

By January 2000, the first bottles of Holterman's famous Grandma's Cool & Zesty Dressing ( http://www.cool-zesty.com ) were on grocery shelves in Holterman's hometown of Jefferson City, Mo. Within months, the dressing was being sold at stores within a 65-mile radius of Jefferson City, and by mid-2001, it had entered the St. Louis market. In almost five years of business, Grandma's Cool & Zesty Dressing has grown its profits by at least 15 percent each year. And in 2004, after introducing Grandma's Cool & Zesty Sugar-Free and Carb-Free Dressing, the company earned even higher margins of almost 40 percent growth.

"My grandson Steve takes care of everything; and I just enjoy every minute of it," Holterman says. "It's my product, but it's his business."

Apparently a natural at running a family business, Picker received the Missouri Governor's Small Business of the Year Award in early 2004. He says three important qualities have led to his company's success:

Passion.
"I was na?ve, but I was passionate about the product," Picker says. "I think you have to be very passionate to make your business work. If you don't try, you'll never know how things will work out, but you have to be prepared to work hard to make it happen. I don't have a lot of spare time, but I'm doing the things I want to do everyday."

Planning.
The company has grown slowly, with careful planning before every step. From the beginning, Picker decided to focus on marketing the dressing rather than producing it, so he outsourced production to a nearby bottler. That decision gave him time to carefully plan new launches, such as the sugar-free dressing, as well as other products that are in the works.

Persistence.
With no prior experience in the grocery market, Picker learned quickly to handle rejection and to be persistent, returning to some stores numerous times before getting his product on their shelves. "You have to prove that your product is going to sell," he says. "But once you do that, it's a great industry to be in."

* Do you have a family treasure just waiting to be turned into a business venture? Even seasoned business owners can learn tips on starting something from scratch in the "Starting a Business" category at http://www.NFIB.com/toolsandtips