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GOURMET NEWS JULY 2018 www.gourmetnews.com SUPPLIER NEWS 1 5 Ruth's Mustard Named Small Business Champion BY LORRIE BAUMANN Ruth's Mustard was named an American Small Business Champion in May by SCORE, the nation's largest network of vol- unteer, expert business men- tors. Laurel Smith, Ruth's Mustard's Owner and Founder accepted the award, and a chance to win one of three grand prizes, at an April event in Reno, Nevada, along with her husband, Ed, and entrepreneurs from 101 other small businesses across the country who gathered for a two-day networking and training event that featured presentations by SCORE vol- unteers who offered informa- tion and experience to help attendees grow their businesses. Founded in 2012, Ruth's Mustard is a New Hampshire company that's one of the businesses operating out of Genuine Local, a shared-use commercial kitchen located in Meredith, New Hampshire and owned by Mary and Gavin Macdonald. Like the Mac- donalds and some of the other small food producers there, she lost the use of her pre- vious facility when it suddenly closed with little notice. "When that went out, we were out," Laurel says. With a four- to five-hour trip to the next-closest available commer- cial kitchen, that might have been the end of the business, but Ruth's Mustard was res- cued by the Macdonalds' decision to build the new shared-use facility and open it as Genuine Local. "They bought all the equip- ment and kept it going and kept us going," Laurel says. Genuine Local is still a two- hour drive from her home, so she still spends a lot of time on the road on mus- tard-making days, but that's just part of the price tag for keeping the business going. "When we make it, it's a haul, but we want to keep doing it," says Laurel. The "Ruth" in the mustard's name is Lau- rel's Grammy Scranton, who used to make her special mustard for fam- ily celebrations. "I thought everyone ate this as a kid. I didn't know it was a unique fla- vor," Laurel says. "They'd eat it with ham. It was usually what she put on the ham – just drizzled on. Now people use it for everything." Laurel herself started making the mus- tard without a thought that she'd ever sell it. Instead, she gave jars to friends. And then friends asked for more. They said they'd buy it. Suddenly, she had orders for 61 jars, and she had to step up her produc- tion from the eight jars a night she'd been making when she was handing them out as gifts. "We were now up to 24 jars a night to get this order done," Laurel says. As the orders kept coming in, it was ob- vious that she was either going to have to scale back or move out of her home kitchen. "I got an idea, which are the words that totally make my husband cringe," she says. The idea was that if they took Grammy Scranton's mustard into real commercial production, they could use it as a vehicle to help others, as Grammy Scranton herself would have liked. "You always felt wel- come, and she always made sure people had enough, and she was always concerned about other people," Laurel remembers. "When we started this, we didn't feel like it was ours, so we used her name and put her picture on the label. And we said we'll make sure we share." Today, Laurel and Ed are making nine flavors of mustard in batches of 250 jars. The two of them can make two batches a day, and the mustards are sold in shops across New Hampshire and online nation- ally – Laurel's son Cory han- dles some of the sales. Ten percent of the profits are do- nated to charities, which have included local charities that serve the homeless, the Make a Wish Foundation and St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. "We'll give 10 percent to feed the need of others, whatever their need may be," Laurel says. "We feel if you have it and you share it, it comes back. She had the attitude of, 'Give your best, and God gives you the rest.'" Ruth's Mustards' nine flavors include Original Hot & Sweet, Sweet Grillin' Glaze, Cranberry, Raspberry, Garlic, Horseradish, Jalapeño, Cracked Black Pepper and Maple Mustard Marinade. In addition to single 7 fluid ounce jars, Ruth's Mustard also offers three-jar gift sets packed in miniature crates made by Laurel's son Dwight from recycled wooden pallets and gallons for foodservice use, and she also takes private- label orders. All of the mustards are gluten free, and the Maple Mustard Marinade is paleo. "All of them have vinegar, mustard and sugar – except for the maple. The maple is made with natural organic maple extract in addition to local maple from our area. There's no coloring or salt – most of them are three or four ingredients," Laurel says. Boosted by the experience of the SCORE workshop, Laurel and Ed are looking for- ward to making good use of the opportu- nity it provided – whether or not she wins the grand prize that she'd like to have to ex- pand her marketing efforts. "I do want to thank SCORE and Sam's Club for hosting that small business award," she says. "Sam's Club was one of the sponsors." For more information, visit www.ruthsmustard.com and look for Ruth's Mustard on Instagram, Facebook and Twit- ter. GN New Noodle Bowls from nona lim BY LORRIE BAUMANN nona lim introduced new grab and go ramen bowls as well as a new Shiitake Beef Bone Broth this year at the National Restau- rant Association Show and will be launch- ing them into the specialty food retail market at the Summer Fancy Food Show. The National Restaurant Association Show was held May 18-21 in Chicago, Illinois, and the nona lim Shiitake Beef Bone Broth took home a FABI Award from the show. The National Restaurant Association's FABI Awards celebrate the most creative, mar- ketable and tasty foodservice products and are awarded by an independent panel of foodservice experts from the industry's most prestigious brands and organizations. The three new noodle bowls are the nona lim Thai Coconut Lime Noodle Bowl, the Green Curry Noodle Bowl and the Chicken Pho Noodle Bowl. Sold from the refrigerator case, they're all made from scratch with fresh ingredients and are free of dairy, gluten and preservatives. All three are Non-GMO Project verified. The Shiitake Beef Bone Broth is an extension of nona lim's line of Heat & Sip Cups that in- cludes Turmeric Chicken Bone Broth, Ginseng Chicken Bone Broth, Miso Broth, Vietnamese Pho Beef Bone Broth, Thai Coconut Lime Bone Broth, Carrot Ginger Soup and Tomato Thai Basil Soup. The Vietnamese Pho Bone Broth won a bronze sofi Award last year. nona lim's Thai Coconut Lime Bone Broth won a gold sofi Award in 2015. Nona Lim founded her company in 2014 after leaving a previous meal kit de- livery business behind to focus on pack- aged goods. "Right from the beginning, it was, how can you get better-for-you products that are convenient and flavor- ful?" she said. "Everything I make is, how can I make clean, convenient and better for you?" Nona Lim's Shiitake Beef Bone Broth Cup uses or- ganic, grass-fed beef bone broth that has simmered for more than 24 hours, whole dried shiitake mush- rooms and perfect spicing. The chicken for the Chicken Pho Noodle Bowl is antibi- otic free and cage free, and the Green Curry Noodle Bowl offers a vegan option. All of her products are functional, draw- ing on the Chinese tradition of food as medicine, she said, and the cup packaging for her Heat & Sip Cups, a year in devel- opment, is an example of the way she's turned a traditional Asian comfort food into a convenient snack or meal that meets the needs of on-the-go consumers. De- signed like a coffee cup, the consumer peels the seal, microwaves the broth cup for 90 seconds, snaps the lid back on, and the broth is ready to sip. The new noodle bowls are a take on the ramen bowls she grew up with, Lim says, but they're made with bone broth and gluten-free noodles. They're non-GMO and offered in compostable packaging. "We're trying to do things better for the environ- ment," she said. "We thought, how can we design a package that's innovative, beauti- ful and doesn't take too much plastic?" The Bone Broth Heat & Sip Cups hold 10 ounces and retail for $4.99. They have a 20-week shelf life in the grocer's refriger- ator case. The noodle bowls are 14.5 ounces and retail for $7.99. They have a 10-week shelf life in the refrigerator case. For more information, visit at the Summer Fancy Food Show or online at www .nonalim.com. GN

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