Sandy Breininger, creator of Sandra Lee's Country Goodness in Wisconsin, enjoys the taste of food. Her creative juices start flowing when she’s eating and imagining a jam or jelly to complement the meal. She compares her process to picking a wine to go with a meal.
She likes to think outside the box when it comes to how to use her products – how about a jam as a cake frosting or filling, or a marinade or a condiment to go with a particular main dish? Her jams may combine cranberries and cherries, or strawberries and lemonade, or fruit and wine, for example.
Sandy thinks two excellent places to go for help if you want to start your own jam-making business are your local Extension Office and local Chamber of Commerce. Her advice is to keep it local – scout out farms and farmers’ markets for local fruit, wineries in your area, and grocery stores with high-quality produce. She employed a local graphic arts college student to design her logo, label, and website.
Another tip: Sandy always hands out samples when she’s selling her products. She pairs crackers and cheese with some jams, chips and salsa with others, and bread with others.
As Sandy says, starting and running a jam-making or canning business is hard work and a long process. But for her, it is built on love. She started with feeding her family, then making for others and giving it away, until friends told her she had to start a business. So she did.
More information about Sandy and Sandra Lee's Country Goodness.
