We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Barbara Geller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Barbara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I can remember as early as a 6-year-old, traditionally we would have dinner with our grandparents several times a week until my grandmother, Lillian, (who we affectionately called Grandmoo) passed away. Grandmoo made sure we had a green salad, served on an ice-cold plate that consisted of celery, carrots, artichoke hearts, tomatoes and iceberg lettuce (yes, iceberg lettuce, I truly think that’s all that was available back then) with every meal. The dressing was always Grandmoo’s special dressing. I LOVED it even as a young child. This dressing recipe has been in our family now for over 60 years. It is now, our family tradition.
I learned how to make this recipe as soon as my mother Janet, Lillian’s daughter, taught me how. I gifted this dressing in mason jars for all types of celebrations. People loved it. If there was ever an occasion, I was always assigned to be the salad maker and to be sure to bring “the dressing!” People told us we should bottle it and sell it. Momma and I would laugh and think “well, maybe we should?!?” In 1994 Central Market, this AMAZING grocery store opened in Austin. My mother, who was a grocery store connoisseur/diva, (and by the way taught me to be) knew the meat market manager, Maurice. She would come to Central Market and talk with Maurice and tell him about “the dressing” and how it would be a perfect fit for the store. Mom retired due to an illness, and was home alot…..thinking. So, she started investigating how to get a product shelf ready. This excited me, but I was so busy with my nursing practice, I had little time to engage. In around 2001, Momma called me and said Maurice told her to bring a salad to the store for him and other employees to try. Maybe if they liked it we WERE on to something, By this time, Momma had learned that “the dressing” could be used for MUCH more than just a salad. We used it as a marinade for meat and chicken, along with using it to marinate raw mushrooms in. (Today, there are SO many other uses) Since Momma wasn’t feeling 100%, I prepared the salad, having abandoned iceberg years before, that consisted of romaine, tomato, carrots, celery, avocado, artichoke hearts…very simple; I also marinated meat and chicken (purchased at Central Market), marinated it in “the dressing” and grilled it. We brought it to the store, and it was very well received by all who tried it. Maurice told Momma to get it “shelf ready” (which is a large undertaking) and he would give her further direction. Momma had been in remission from Ovarian Cancer, and very shortly after we brought samples to Central Market, she passed away. Everything regarding Grandmoo’s dressing was put on the back burner. As we were going through Momma’s paperwork at home, we found a Shelf Viability Study that was done through Texas A & M (unaware to any of my siblings) on “the dressing.” This was something that Momma did on her own without telling us. This was a paramount piece of the puzzle in preparation for getting a product “shelf ready.” Subsequently I continued to gift ‘the dressing,” with the idea cooking in the back of my mind that just maybe I should and could somehow sell this product. I was not schooled to be a business woman. I have always been a nurse. My brothers, however are businessmen. I would have these thoughts, including design and details of opening a GOOD SALAD food truck, to somehow get the word out about “the dressing.” I would also dream of having my own commercial kitchen, so that I could produce “the dressing” and be able to sell it on the shelves of stores. My brothers and sister would laugh and talk with me about all the heartaches that go along with business etc. My youngest brother, (the entrepreneur of the family) suggested I listen to Guy Raz, HOW I BUILT THIS, to see how others started their ideas. As I was driving to the hospital one morning very early, I turned on the podcast. I was in tears of joy. Really connecting with the person whose story I was listening to. And, I felt as if Guy Raz TRULY was excited and interested in the person’s story. So, it became very personal to me. I would fantasize about being interview by Guy Raz. What would he ask me? I had never heard of KENDRA SCOTT jewelry, probably because I am not a “jewelry type” woman, (I am into seaglass). BUT…. her story really got me for many reasons as mentioned earlier. For me, this idea about “the dressing” had become a passion, and a fire I could not seem to smolder. A couple of years later a childhood friend of mine suggested that I enter the HEB Quest for TEXAS Best contest. I did and did not get any type of recognition. I was a bit let down, but kept moving forward. The experience actually motivated me to do more. So I reached out to another childhood friend who is a marketing and design genius. He created a label instantaneously! “The Dressing” became “LILLIAN’S GARLIC INFUSED VINAIGRETTE SALAD DRESSING AND MARINADE.” He sent me something via email and I was able to go up to the FED EX store and print very simple temporary labels (I had no nutrition label, or UPC code at this time). The label was a very rough draft, but a beautiful inception. He also created a website for LILLIAN’S. My husband and I began making salad dressing on the weekends, 150 bottles were the most we could produce on a Saturday and Sunday. He bought a garlic peeling machine and I used the juicer/saucer attachment for my Kitchen Aide to puree garlic with. In the first year, by word of mouth only, we sold over 1000 bottles of LILLIAN’S. I would bring it to the hospital that I mainly worked at and people would try it and order it and, pay for it. That was a bit uncomfortable for me initially since I was so used to gifting it. I would deliver it to people’s home and to the hospital; people would pick it up from my home and from my carport. My brother the entrepreneur said, “If you want to sell it in stores, you might want to look at a commercial kitchen.” I researched this, and looked for a co-packer to no avail. It was beginning to get a bit out of control. The demand for LILLIAN’S was increasing. I had sent an email to a co-packer in Austin. He never replied to me, but something came over me and so I called him this time. We met. And since 2020 he has been my co-packer. Our first production was about 250 bottles. I thought, “WHAT am I going to do with all this dressing?!?! Next thing I knew I was visiting the childhood friend who suggested I enter the HEB contest and she directed to a Farmers Market by her home, just to check it out. I then had a Sunday spot at the PEDERNALES FARMERS MARKET.
I had become a small business. We had gotten into 8 specialty stores in the Austin/San Antonio/Spicewood/Pflugerville area. Since I am still working full time as a Nurse Practitioner, I have limited time to do much more. One day at work while on my lunch break, I looked at my email and I was alerted to an email on my website from Central Market. It basically said that they found our product, in one of the specialty grocery stores, liked it and wondered if we would be interested in being featured in the TEXAS FOOD EVENT at Central Market!!! I was SO excited. I could imagine my mother screaming for joy. I called my entrepreneurial brother and he responded that it was probably SPAM email. He called me back and said NO!!! It is NOT SPAM….It was the real Central Market!!! That was 1 year ago. The last production on 5/6/22 we produced 1657 bottles!!!!
LILLIAN’S is still gathering “appropriate time sensitive” steam. I say this because it all couldn’t have been better planned….fast forward…..I am going to be retiring from my 45 year Nursing practice in January 2023. I feel sad but am so grateful for Grandmoo’s “Bashert” gift of “the dressing.”
The Yiddish definition of “Bashert” is destiny, is most commonly used in reference to a “soul mate.” To me, Momma always used it as it was “meant to be.”
This WHOLE story is truly Divine Providence, which is “that all that occurs in the universe takes place under Divine Providence—that is, under God’s sovereign guidance and control.”
Barbara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am presently a full time APN (Advanced Nurse Practitioner)/RNFA (Registered Nurse First Assistant) and have gotten to work for an amazing group of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons “CTVS” for the last 14 years. I have been in the nursing profession for 44 years. I will be retiring from my practice in January 2023. My “side hustle” has been LILLIAN’S GARLIC INFUSED VINAIGRETTE SALAD DRESSING AND MARINADE. My grandmothers recipe. I gifted this dressing in mason jars for many years. The demand increased and we were unable to continue making it in our home. We obtained a local copacker who could bottle our dressing/marinade. I started off in specialty stores in the Austin/San Antonio/Pflugerville/Spicewood areas and did well. I also attended a wonderful farmers market in Spicewood, Texas called PEDERNALES FARMERS MARKET. And another farmers market, GOOD SHEPHERD FARMERS MARKET in Austin, Texas. Central Market discovered LILLIAN’S in a local Austin specialty store and were featured in the TEXAS FOOD EVENT in 2021 that Central Market has annually (This all took place during COVID)
I love to participate in farmers markets and demo my product. I love to meet all the customers and see their faces light up when they taste LILLIAN’S. I am most proud of the fact that a didn’t give up when others would tend to be slightly pessimistic. Honestly, this whole thing has been Divine Providence. Doors began to open, and kept opening, so I kept walking through. Also another thing I am proud of that we give a portion of our proceeds to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Lillian’s is sugar, gluten, preservative, & thickener free. It is heart healthy, low in sodium.. Shelf life is one year. It doesn’t need refrigeration but it’s much better when served cold.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
After I retire in January 2023, my “side hustle,” LILLIAN’S will be my main focus. I would like to take this product to other stores in Texas and hopefully, other locations outside of Texas.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
My mother and I made Grandmoo’s dressing forever! From the inception of the “idea” of selling my grandmothers salad dressing, we made it in our kitchen, one mason jar at a time. A lifelong friend thought it would be a great idea to enter HEB’s Quest for Texas Best. So I entered the contest for the experience. We did not win, but it sparked an interest to obtain a real bottle, label and a nutritional label. I started selling it to friends and by word of mouth. We no longer could keep up with that demand in our kitchen at home. Eventually we obtained a UPC code. After that the demand increased, so we initially thought of making it in a commercial kitchen. We decided against that simply because of time constraints and the inability to find a commercial kitchen that met my standards. Subsequently we found a wonderful copacker in the Austin area. Again, finding the copacker was stressful for multiple reasons. I actually emailed the copacker and received no reply. I was at my wits end and it had been several months since I had last emailed. I decided to call him. It was perfect timing. He was willing to talk with us since he had an opening. Another reason why it was difficult was due to the fact I was so particular about everything. The main lesson I have learned is that know one truly cares about your product as much as you do! With that being said…..once again, we were divinely led to our copacker who is perfect in every way.
Contact Info:
- Website: lilliansdressing.com
- Instagram: lillians_dressing
- Facebook: Lillian’s Dressing
Image Credits
matt manroe [email protected]