Dan Aronson and his stepbrother Jack Page are back in the salsa business with their new Missy & Mel’s brand.
Dan Aronson has salsa in his blood.
He was just a toddler when his parents, Jack and Annette, opened a restaurant, Clubhouse Bar-B-Q, in Ferndale. One of their customers was Jim Hiller, owner of Hiller’s Markets, who loved the restaurant’s salsa so much he asked if he could sell it in his stores. Garden Fresh Gourmet was born. Dan was 6. His earliest memories include working in the business next to his parents and four older siblings.
For many years, Garden Fresh Gourmet, started at the back of Jack’s restaurant, sold salsas and hummus through high-end specialty markets like Hiller’s and Westborn. The company’s reputation grew when Meijer started carrying the products; soon it was the best-selling fresh salsa in the country. In 2015 the company made national news when Campbell Soup bought it for $231 million.
Three years later, Campbell sold the company, and the Aronsons’ bid to buy it back was unsuccessful. A non-compete clause in the original sales agreement meant no one in the family could market similar products for five years.
After the Garden Fresh Gourmet sale, Dan, 29, and his siblings started Clean Planet Foods, making packaged, refrigerated ready-to-eat meals in a bag that could be heated in a microwave, and Skinny Butcher, similar meals made with plant-based protein. Both lines are sold through food markets rather than directly to consumers, often with the market’s brand name.
Almost as soon as the non-compete period ended, Dan and his stepbrother, Jack Page, 42, of Milford, were back in the salsa business. Their new Missy & Mel’s brand — named for their two sisters, Melissa Bihl and Melanie Mena — is producing salsas and tortilla chips at a commercial kitchen in Royal Oak.
Like the original Garden Fresh Gourmet brand, Missy & Mel’s salsas and chips are made from scratch, in small batches, using only fresh ingredients. Aronson says the recipes are different, though, and the products are somewhat higher-end. The new company’s first effort was a medium-hot salsa made with Scotch bonnet peppers. They also produce a chipotle flavor and a fruit salsa made with mango, peaches and pineapple.
For now the salsa, priced at $6 for a 14-oz. jar, is available at the Rust Belt Market at Woodward Avenue and Nine Mile Road in Ferndale, which is open on weekends, and at the company’s factory, a commercial kitchen at 2520 W. 14 Mile Road in Royal Oak, which is open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aronson hopes to have the products in area food markets soon.
The Link LonkSeptember 04, 2020 at 12:00AM
https://thejewishnews.com/2020/09/03/detroit-made-fresh-salsa-is-back/
Detroit-Made Fresh Salsa is Back — Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News
https://news.google.com/search?q=fresh&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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