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Small Batches of Handmade Salsa Make For Big Business In Orleans
Rhythmic chopping sounds radiate from the production area of a 6,000 square foot food processing plant in Orleans, Nebraska, confirming the fact that employees chop and dice vegetables by hand for the popular Mama’s Salsa brand of salsa.
Says owner Tracy Dietz, “Our salsa tastes like a garden. Our process maintains the integrity of our fresh tomatoes, peppers, and onions. We are hand dicing until we can find or invent a machine that will prepare the product according to our standards.”
Tracy and her husband Sam process and pack their salsa products for distribution by Farmers Premium Produce marketing company, among other outlets. The product is produced in small batches by six full-time employees
“Small batches maintain the integrity of the product and make Mama’s Salsa special,” says Dietz. “I’ve never gone out and marketed it because it has always sold itself.”
A Dream Of Owning Her Own Business
While working as a loan secretary for a local bank, Tracy Dietz continually dreamed of owning her own business. She came up with numerous business ideas and wrote business plans for all of them, but her husband Sam always said, ‘First prove a demand for the product, then we’ll look into it.’
In 1980, the idea of capitalizing on her salsa recipe took hold, and she produced a case of it to sell at craft fairs and farmers markets.
“I sold it all; I sold it quick. I had orders for more of it and I later delivered a large order to a gift basket company in North Platte.” Dietz said. “My dream began to take shape and our business was born.”
She says her time in the banking business was far from wasted.
“Six years of banking experience helped tremendously,” said Dietz. “When bankers asked about our collateral, credit, cash flow and balance sheet, I understood.”
Help From The Experts
The University of Nebraska’s food processing entrepreneurship program provided help testing the product, labeling and marketing.
Dietz said, “It was great to work with people with knowledge of the food industry. They offered us a wealth of information.”
Meeting David Grams, a hydroponics tomato grower in Minden who was searching for someone to utilize undersized or oversized tomatoes, filled-in another piece in the start-up puzzle.
GROW Nebraska, a non-profit organization offering aid to Nebraska entrepreneurs helped the Dietzes incubate their business and among other things introduced them to Tara Hosick, Development Consultant for the Southwest Region of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED). Hosick pulled various partners together, including the DED, the Small Business Administration and local banks to help the Dietzes apply for a community development block grant, job training funds and other monies.
On Their Way
With the money from the block grant, Mama’s Salsa, Inc. built a 6,000 square foot building in Orleans to house the processing, packaging and distribution of products. The success of their initial offering has only encouraged Dietz to grow bigger.
“The future involves making a lot of salsa, inventing new products to add to the Mama’s Salsa line, and co-packing products for other food businesses.”
Co-packing products for other local food entrepreneurs presents a logical path for growth, because the Mama’s Salsa test kitchen and food processing area are inspected and licensed by the Nebraska Department of Health.
“We currently are communicating with someone from this region who has a great barbecue sauce, but isn’t yet big enough yet to invest in the infrastructure to pack, label and distribute their product on their own,” Dietz says. “We will make it for them while maintaining strict confidentiality, and reasonable co-packing fees.”
Dietz is also engaged in an ongoing process to create an entire line of Mama’s Salsa products. She is currently testing recipes for green, yellow and red peppers because supplies are plentiful.
Advantages of a Small Town
The community of Orleans was behind Dietz from the very beginning.
“ I wanted to give back to a community that has given me a lifetime of memories and support,” Dietz says. “The people in Orleans really want this to work. I can call people at 10:00 p.m. with an idea, and they are receptive to talking it over with me.”
The ease of hiring new employees surprised Dietz. She says, “We advertised only in regional newspapers and received applications from 45 people who live within 30 miles of Orleans.”
Dietz’s family also takes a hand. “Today our thirteen-year-old is taking my place in the shipping area, running our forklift among other tasks.”
Dietz points out that there is a great deal of help for entrepreneurs who seek it. “Knowing who to contact and where to go to get help challenges new entrepreneurs,” she says. “We try to surround ourselves with knowledgeable people and learn from them.”
But watching the business grow is what really energizes Dietz.
“I always get a rush when I see someone pick up a jar of salsa knowing they are spending their money on a jar of something we produced.”
Who To Contact...
Mama's Salsa, Inc.
401 W. North Street
Orleans, NE
308.473.8008
GROW Nebraska
www.growneb.com
888.476.9632
Nebraska Department of Economic Development
Tara Hosick, Development Consultant
308.367.8844
tarah@neded.org
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