The year was 1990 and even with our success as fruit farmers, our season was limited to the spring and summer months. As we did in the many years before, we were going to leave the blue berries on the bushes and let the peaches hit the ground. Our season was coming to an end and as the northern fruit was just being harvested, the rules of economics were at work. As the influx of northern fruit hit the market, the price would fall and the labor to pick the fruit was costing us more than we could ever sell the fruit for. Mrs. Bradshaw’s son was a marketing student who was learning about added value in the market place and was soon to recognize the opportunity his family had in their predicament. Before season was over Mrs. Bradshaw was using the excess fruit to make Preserves and Fruit Syrups. This was the beginning of something that was unimaginable to the family.

     Starting out in her kitchen, Mrs. Bradshaw cooked and poured up several jars of preserves a day while the fruit supply lasted. When season was completely over, the customers stopped coming and now she had to find a way to sell what she had made. She quit her job and began traveling and selling her preserves and syrups to specialty shops until she ran out of customers in her area. Now what? With a little research she discovered three hours away in Dallas there was a Gourmet Food mart that ran four times a year. The price of a booth there was unbelievable and a pivotal moment for her. She bit the bullet and decided to buy the booth. For four years she attended the shows and ran home to process the orders. Pretty soon she met sells reps in Texas and recruited them to help her sell. Eventually, she met a marketing group that would help take her to a national level.

     The continued growth was taking its toll and the family who was now involved was struggling to keep up. Financially, it was do-or-die time. By now, it had been six years and countless nights and week-ends. It seemed there was no choice but to leverage everything the family owned and invest in small equipment and warehouse storage. The many challenges the family had faced in the past seemed insignificant in light of the new burdens of loans, employees and over 150 customers. Quite frankly, the family thought it would get easier, not consistently more challenging. It was at this point that the demand for their products began to pull out in front of what they were capable of producing. Things only became more trying. It would be two years until things smoothed out and the process they had started with were now being reconsidered. Mrs. Bradshaw knew that what made her products so special was how she made them. She knew her husband’s fresh produce and her old fashioned techniques had to stay in place. But how? How do you process food in small batches, enough times in one day, to fulfill all of the orders the company was now having? The answer was simple, but not easy. You just do it.

     Now came the hard part. Teaching managers to do what the family had been doing for so long. To leave the responsibility and love for what that had been doing up to someone else. It turns out that not only the way they loved there products were important to their customers but it was also important to their employees. Many of the employees that they had given work to for years had become family. They to, had a love for the products and how they were made.

     As a result, Gourmet Gardens has grown to be a nationally recognized company that services well over a thousand customers. You can find their products in every state in farm stands, gourmet food stores, health stores, tourist areas, museums, historical monuments and gift shops. With well over one million jars or their delicious products going out every year and hundreds of retail customers who come to the farm to find their products it has become a taste of the American Dream we all can enjoy.