Lucy’s Granola
On the first day of snow, I visited Lucy’s Granola in East Blue Hill, Maine. We had met at the Fancy Food Show a few months earlier, and with family ties in the area as well as an appreciation for a thriving food crafter scene, it was only a matter of time and low air fares before I’d pay a visit.
Lucy is one of those lucky moms who works at home. Only it wasn’t luck. It was all according to plan:
Lucy and her architect husband extended their home (which has an amazing water view) to add a room that is a certified commercial kitchen. Meaning, she did not certify her home kitchen under a cottage food law but built a separate kitchen, zoned similarly to any purely commercial facility, where she and her helpers make her granola and other products. All the while overlooking cows and a beautiful water view. And cows. That they eventually eat. All in the spirit of local, good eating.
Zingerman’s now stocks her Extra Seedy Granola, a boon after a Zingerman’s buyer became a farmers market fan (on his visits to Downeast Maine).
Lesson learned: Be where you want to be but you also need to be out in the world. That’s where the magic happens! Good food, great business, awesome life. (This is not an isolated success story, of course! Lots more “farmers market discovery” stories in Good Food, Great Business.)
