We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carmen McBride a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Carmen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

I show all of my customers that I appreciate them. I send them personal emails with thanking the customers for their purchases.
I also give free small samples of my jams and jellies to preferred customers.
I have given little gift packs of jams for preferred customers.
Doing this allows me the feeling of pride, and a personal approach, as well as the chance to show just what the customer really means to me.
I want my customers to have the feeling & taste of Home In A Jar.

Carmen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Carmen McBride.

As a little girl, I grew up watching my grandfather grow vegetables and fruits in his backyard garden.
He would show me all of his gardening tricks and tips that he was taught as a farmer’s son growing up in the south.

It was amazing to see my grandfather grow massive zucchini squash, tomatoes, and many other vegetables right alongside his fruit trees at his Western Pennsylvania home.

It meant everything for me to walk behind my grandfather and watch him work while armed with his salt and pepper shakers tucked in the pocket of his blue jean overalls. I knew that we were in for a treat when he pulled the tomatoes off the plants and we ate them right were we stood.

It was pure magic when it was time to help him with the planting, caring, maintaining, and harvesting, and finally, watching my grandmother canning & preserving all of the treasured jewels from that huge backyard garden of his. From here is where I developed my craft of canning many years later in my very own kitchen as a wife and mother.

As an adult, I became a serious foodie during my years as a military spouse traveling throughout Europe.
For a hobby, I started a raised garden bed and began companion gardening about four years ago here in O’Fallon, Illinois.

My husband and I decided to plant as many fruits & vegetables as possible in a small scale backyard space, using raised beds and containers while keeping in mind to keep it aesthetically pleasing.

During these past fours years, I have learned how to appreciate the craft of organic gardening of home grown fruits & vegetables and lovingly preparing items from our harvest.

I am always more than happy to share my passion with any and everyone who either has, or is developing that same passion for gardening that I have.

Jam Right I Can started out simply as looking to creatively use items grown in my garden for family and friends during dinner parties and small events held at home. Making jams and jellies started to grown into a passion, especially when I started to create my own unique recipes based on traditional recipes and influences from other cultures I experienced over the years. Once my jams and jellies started to come in demand, it was time to look at ways to share them with as many people as possible.

At Jam Right I Can, we use all-natural and organic ingredients which are either home-grown or locally sourced from farmers in an effort to support local small businesses. We offer approximately fifteen jams, jellies, and fruit butters. Aside from the more traditional jams, such as strawberry and grape, Jam Right I Can offers our “Boozy Lineup”, which are jams and jellies infused with wines, tequila, or bourbon. We also have specialty breads to pair with the jams and jellies.

The responses that we receive when people try our jams and jellies make what I do worthwhile. Those responses are what I am most proud of; seeing and hearing how much people enjoy the literal fruits of my labor. What I want is for our product to become something that families enjoy at gatherings and holidays and it becomes nostalgic and part of their traditions down the road. I want Jam Right I Can products to bring memories much like the smell of certain foods bring at Thanksgiving time.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Jam Right I Can was actually started a year before we were able to begin operations. The idea was to launch the business on 2/2/2022, however that postponed due to the unexpected death of my sister-in-law, who had given birth two weeks prior. The following month, we lost my mother-in-law to cancer, and a few months later, my own mother passed away. It seemed that starting this business was not meant to be, but with the encouragement and support of many friends and family members, I was able to dust myself off, grab my jars, and get to canning.

Pouring myself into Jam Right I Can was therapeutic and being in the garden and part of the local gardening club kept me motivated. I first introduced Jam Right I Can at a garden party held with the local garden club at my home. The products were well received and highly lauded and that let me know that it really was meant to be.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

While researching how to start a small business, there was so much information on how to obtain funding; grants, loans, personal funding, etc. Because of the different set-backs that forced us to postpone getting fully started, we were not able to completely focus our energies on the work that comes with requesting funding, so my husband continued to work full time so that I can work part time, allowing me to be able to come home and focus on all that comes with the business.

All of the funds that we used to start Jam Right I Can were from our personal funds. We would purchase necessary items over a few months time (jars, canning utensils, mixers, packaging, shelving, etc.) Personal funding was used to obtain a domain and create a website, food handling, safety & business license, trademarking, labels, procuring a commercial kitchen for production, and even making T-shirts for marketing purposes.

Since I still require more production equipment and supplies, I will be continuing to apply for grants and possibly business loans.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jamrightican.com