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| Just like Grandma made it |
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VIRGINIA, Ill. — Discerning central Illinois consumers seek out her products’ plain, old-fashioned label at area farmers’ markets and specialty grocers because they know her award-winning relishes, jams, preserves and other goodies are made with the freshest fruits and vegetables using time-honored family recipes. Her business thrives on word-of-mouth, repeat customers who report that her recipes rival those of dear ol’ Grandma.
And that, says Kathy Keylor of the Virginia, Ill.-based Kathy’s Kitchen, is one of the primary goals of her small but growing business: To recreate the nostalgia of days gone by through old-fashioned recipes and preparation techniques, while retaining the best flavor, colors and textures. The process includes bypassing a lot of preservatives and artificial ingredients.
Growing and consuming produce from Kathy and Daryl Keylor’s family garden was “a matter of self-preservation” when the couple farmed in the nearby Sangamon Valley, but it has evolved into full-time occupations for the “retired” couple, Kathy said.
“I started off making pickles in the early 1960s living on a farm, when preserving food was a way of life, a necessity,” she said. “Over the years I developed some family recipes and everyone said ‘You should really sell these.’
“We decided to go into business and about 15 years ago, my husband and I built a production facility at our house, most specifically for preparing acidified foods, although we also (produce) jams, jellies, apple butter and those kinds of foods.”
Starting small, the Keylors began operations with a 20-by-20-foot kitchen in which they processed a few products sold to locals and those who had sampled Kathy’s award-winning pickled beets and sweet pickles at the Illinois State Fair – where she has won numerous ribbons. Over the years their facility grew with their products’ popularity, culminating in a recent addition that increased the size of Kathy’s Kitchen threefold.
The couple’s mini-plant is regularly inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“All of the processing, jarring and everything else is done right here in Virginia,” Kathy said. “I went to the University of Arkansas and took their Acidified Foods Processing course so I could be qualified to manufacture this type of food.”
The Kathy’s Kitchen brand is stocked by several area stores, but a large portion of the orders are filled to individuals through mail orders from every state.
“Mostly our business is through word-of-mouth; we don’t have an advertising budget or a website,” she said. “People coming through stop at farmers’ markets and buy a jar, get back home and like what they bought. We put our phone number on our labels, and they call and order more.
“People who go to Arizona, Florida and Texas for the winter take our products with them and share them with friends and our business blossoms,” said Kathy of her brand, which generates more than $100,000 in sales per year.
Kathy and Daryl knew they were onto something when her pickled beets won a blue ribbon at the state fair the first year she entered the competition in the 1960s.
“I haven’t changed that recipe a bit over the years,” she said. “It’s a proven winner.”
Her Blue Ribbon Chips (sliced sweet pickles) also proved to be a consistent winner at the fair and is still one of the couple’s most-ordered products.
When the Keylors decided to build their production kitchen and sell commercially, they began with the intent of preserving only fruits and vegetables they either raised or gathered themselves. Their business, however, soon outgrew the couple’s capabilities.
“We still raise our own blueberries, asparagus and a few other products, but we’ve gotten big enough that it’s impossible to raise all of our own products, so we contract with other (growers),” said Kathy, who still grows her own blueberries for use in her products. “Cucumbers, zucchini, jalapeno peppers and other products are purchased from central Illinois growers, but when it comes to things like onions for our Vidalia onion relish, we buy from Georgia growers.”
Probably 50 percent of all fruits and vegetables that go into Kathy’s Kitchen products are raised in Illinois, she said.
Kathy took early retirement from the Illinois State Board of Education in 2003 and now works full-time with Daryl to grow, purchase, process, market and distribute the couple’s Kathy’s Kitchen brand, which boasts a roster of some 80 products. Their ordering sheets offer condiments such as chow chow, corn salsa, boysenberry jam, beet pickles, sweet pepper jelly, peach butter and many more homemade delights.
As a shining example of small business entrepreneurism, Kathy has been called on to lead several workshops for the University of Illinois extension to share her “blue ribbon tale” that began with the urging by friends to market her homespun, award-winning family recipes and processing skills.
To request an order sheet from Kathy’s Kitchen, write to 201 N. Pitt, Virginia, IL 62691, or call 217-452-3035. Though the business has no website, you can contact the Keylors via e-mail at kkitchen@casscomm.com |
| 5/21/2008 |
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