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://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/375622
Hoppy together. For more pairing ideas visit Parrano.com Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 2823 The Drive to Survive In 1929, Rose Biggi started grating and bot- tling her husband Louis' horseradish crop, working out of their basement. She traded the condiment for meat at the butcher's, peddled it door to door, and sold it for 10 cents a jar at a nearby grocery store owned by Eve and Fred Grubmeyer. That store grew into a chain, Fred Meyer, which today has more than a dozen locations in Oregon, Alaska, and Washington. The company Rose founded, Beaverton Foods, spread far beyond the Pacific Northwest to the shelves of almost every grocer in the United States as well as many retail outlets in Canada and Europe. Today, Beaverton Foods enjoys sales of $25 million annually and is run by Rose's grandson, Domonic Biggi, who was named CEO in 2012 when his father Gene stepped down. Rose died in 1985 but lived long enough to become a millionaire through horseradish sales and shrewd real estate investments in the Beaverton area. Domonic says the job is a perfect fit, since he loves horseradish and being in sales. He even advises new food entrepreneurs to avoid the field unless they love the business and the products they are trying to sell. But that advice wouldn't have worked for his grandmother, though she thrived as a busi- nesswoman. He mimics her Italian accent when recalling her words: "All I like-a about the horse-a-radish is the money." So why did she build a horseradish empire? "Beaverton was a hub for growing horseradish, so if you have lemons you make lemonade," Domonic says. "My grandfather was never active in the business. She did what she did so her kids wouldn't go hun- gry. For being four-foot-eleven, she was the toughest person I ever met." The family ceased farming horse- radish decades ago but the company still sources ingredients locally. The certified organic Seus Family Farms, in Northern California's temperate Klamath Basin, has been their longstanding supplier. producer profile DOMONIC BIGGI Age: 49 Years in specialty food: 24 Favorite food: Pesto. I grow the basil myself and make it from scratch. Least favorite food: IÕve had bad experiences with tripe. Last thing I ate and loved: I got a gift of a block of cheese from a friend from Boston, an Italian cheese that was spectacular. I ate it with crackers and salami and made a three-cheese macaroni with it. I donÕt know the name of it. If I weren't in the food business: I had notions about being an architect. One piece of advice I'd give to a new food business: DonÕt get into it unless youÕre in love with the business and the products youÕre trying to sell. 42 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com