Chicago - March 09, 2010

Due Dilligence

Gramps Gourmet Foods

When you retire, you’ll:
a) lose your #$%!.
b) begin a love affair with your DVR.
c) start a fledgling business and watch it grow as quickly as your gangly grandson.

If you answered C, you’re in good company with Janet and Bill Brickner, the gram and gramps behind Gramps Gourmet Foods, who began their postretirement biz with an original sweet and sour pickle. After gifting homegrown snacks to clients (and with encouragement from their grandchildren), the Brickners began jarring and labeling their delicacies to sell at local farmers markets.

Fast-forward ten years: They now produce seventeen pickle varieties from dill to horseradish cinnamon, along with other things like gooey Apple Pie in a Jar (for sundaes), Martha’s Mustard, and sweet pickled beets. 

We’re just pickled tink.

Available online at grampsgourmetfoods.com.

Photo: Courtesy of Gramps Gourmet Foods

  Homespun, Mom-and-Pop, Snack Time