Most college students don’t think to seek out little roadside farm stands to buy fresh produce. But, while her classmates filled up on frozen pizza and cafeteria food, Emmy Moore was busy seeking out the good stuff. Growing up in the bay area, food - cooking, eating, and buying directly from local farmers - had been a central part of her family dynamic. “It was really just a hobby, I went to college in New York, near a lot of agriculture. I started canning as a way to preserve the bounty. There’s just so much at the height of the season. I was studying art, basically learning about how to make things in a variety of ways, and teaching myself to can was a similar challenge. It’s a cool way to eat locally year round. I like to think of the jars as a little time capsules.”
After college, Emmy found her way back to California, taking a job with the biggest organic produce distributor in California. Seeing first hand just how much produce goes to waste because it spoils faster than it can be eaten was just the push she needed. “Not only did it really drive home my interest in food, it showed me how much there is this need to put the produce somewhere. It also connected me with local organic farms, and really bulked up my understanding of the local agricultural systems.”
In 2009, Emmy’s Pickles and Jams was born. Thanks to some local (now defunct) underground farmers markets who bent the rules a bit about selling products made in an uncertified kitchen, Emmy was able to experiment with the business a bit before pouring too much into it. It was an almost instant success, and by 2010 she was able to leave her job with the distributor, rent space in a commercial kitchen, and devote herself to the company full time. “My partner was able to quit his job, too. We’ve been able to focus on the business and it’s grown way faster than we ever expected. It’s good! But it’s keeping us very busy.”
Looking towards the future, while Emmy is thrilled that the business is thriving and healthy enough to support her and her partner fully, growth isn’t a priority. “I hope to plateau soon, and to continue to have my hands in every part of it. I find it really meditative, working with food. I never want to give up working in the kitchen or selling at the farmers markets, so I would like it to stay pretty small. ”
Emmy has weathered the stresses and challenges that come with navigating the world of owning a small food business with help from local small business support networks like the Women’s Initiative and of course fellow SF makers. She and her partner have just hired their first employee, and the three of them make all of the pickles and jams by working two 12 hour days a week in the commercial kitchen space that they share. At the height of the summer season, they process up to 600 lbs of local, organic produce. “We pick up everything at the farmers market in the morning and process it that same day. A lot of the quality comes from how much energy we put into sourcing REALLY REALLY high quality produce. We don’t just buy organic and sustainable, but we buy from farmers who chose the best seeds and treat their crops in the best ways possible. The farmers really inspire me, being able to support what they do inspires me to work hard.”
