An Experiment in Buying American Made *Olivia's Croutons*

This is the second in a periodic interview series featuring companies that are proudly "Made in the USA". There is a certain charm to shopping small town America that is being bulldozed by mega box stores who care only of their bottom line. I will be attempting to track down and interview small business' that:

1. still stand by their products AND
2. make quality products to be proud of right here in the good ol' USA. 

 Of course living in this day and age where you can hardly find shoes made in America, our small town America is ALL of America. So if I can't buy shoes made in my home town maybe I can buy shoes made in your home town or the next town over. Who says WAL*SHMART is the only place to shop? I have a computer and I can easily access hundreds of small producers right online. With a few savvy customer reviews and referrals I can find exactly what I want while sitting in my jammies at two in the morning. Kind of like shopping from the old Sears catalog, you have to wait a couple weeks but the wait is worth it.

 This week's interview is with Francie the owner of Olivia's Croutons. I have personally tried these croutons and I love them, hands down best croutons ever. And my sons who love salad anyway, LOVED them in their salad, we ate a LOT more salad this week which can never be a bad thing right? In fact they will be so sad when we are done with our croutons that I will probably be purchasing many more boxes of them. I recently walked in on my teenage son sitting down eating them straight from the box, you don't have to take my word for it, their actions speak volumes.

Why don't you tell our readers a little about your company history and your product line...

  I started Olivia’s Croutons in our home in 1991.  I wanted to do something that would allow me to stay home with my two young children.  I chose croutons because there wasn’t anything like homemade croutons available in a supermarket.  Homemade croutons are completely different from the kind of commercial croutons you would typically find. I was sure that people would be excited to have an option and possibly buy, instead of make their own croutons. Our best customers are people who typically make their own croutons.

Do you grow all your own wheat on the farm? We didn’t start growing wheat until 2006 when we moved to the farm where we currently live and make our croutons.  We have 50 acres and I thought it would be really cool to be able to grow some of the wheat that we used in our croutons.  We can’t grow all of the wheat.  In 2009 we received our organic certification.  It was the first time that we were able to get a large amount of wheat milled into flour.  In 2010 we are hoping for a bigger and better yield. We could potentially reach 20% of our flour need from the farm.

I see you have Organic Croutons now, is this a direction the company is heading?

We started making Organic croutons in 2000.  We were getting a number of requests and I thought it would be a good idea to add an organic crouton to our mix.  I loved the idea of supporting more sustainable farming practices as well.  It would be great if all of our croutons could be organic, but it is unfortunately too expensive.  Our hope is to someday use organic bread in all of our croutons even if we can’t afford the organic butter, Cheddar, Parmesan and fresh garlic.  With all of our croutons, we source the best, wholesome, ingredients, as many as possible close to home.

What do your kids think of your business, do they work with you? Olivia is now 22 and graduating from college with a studio art degree.  She helps us on occasion, especially with demos. For now she is interested in pursuing a career with her art. Who knows, she may come back to the business someday.  Our son David is a business major and will graduate next year.  He has been very helpful with computer assistance and help with business plans.  For now he would like to go off and explore other types of business, but again, we may see him back here sometime in the future.

Got any new products coming out soon? We were hoping to have a new crouton flavor this June, but it looks like it will be later than that.  We are adding a new stuffing flavor for the fall. We currently make a seasonal traditional stuffing and we are adding a cornbread stuffing to our offering.

Where are your products available? 

We are available spottily across the country.   We partner with The Fresh Market to make their croutons. We are in King’s Supermarkets in NJ, some of the Food Emporiums in NYC, Hannaford’s in the greater New England area, Big Y in Massachusetts and Connecticut, some of the Whole Foods, Central Market in Texas and many Coops and Independents throughout the East.  We are also available on the web at www.oliviascroutons.com.

What do you value deeply?

Family, kindness, and passion.

Anything else you want my readers to know?

If you have a dream, pursue it.  Live the best life you can live.

  Small batches and owner controlled quality make a real difference even in something as small as a crouton. I think this is a lost art in the world of mega corporations. Well and customer service too. Both became quite apparent to me after having contact with Francie, she was personable, friendly and on top of things.

their farm:

LOVE!!

Francie has graciously offered one lucky reader a mix and match 6 pack(!!!) of her croutons so you can try them for yourself. Ummm I hope no one enters because then the prize reverts to me! No?? dang! 

1. Head on over to Olivia's Croutons and then come back and tell me which flavors you would like to try
2. You can earn an extra entry by becoming a follower
3. blog mentions or tweets count as an extra entry, either @whats4dinnermom me or leave a link here in the comments section for blog posts

 Good luck! I hope no one wins! I know you guys will love these as much as I do, well actually, we do.

we love croutons

 Did you know a crouton will fit perfectly between your front teeth where your missing teeth used to be? Well they do!