We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keisha Hensley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keisha below.

Keisha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I chose to call my business Mother’s Homemade because though we only sell chow chow now we have plans to roll out other products that will fall under that umbrella. I’m hoping my daughter will take over for me one day and she will be able to say these are my mother’s recipes.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Keisha Hensley and I own Mother’s Homemade in Rock Hill SC. My family and I make the best chow chow around! I’ve been in business for the past 6 years and counting. Chow chow is a part of southern food culture that is slowly dying out due to recipes being lost and people not having the time to do the work it takes to make it. Every family had their recipe for this amazing side dish, I created mine for everyone. All done by hand with a perfect balance of sweet and tangy perfectly cooked veggies. My chow chow is gluten free and comes two ways Hot and Not Hot. Our Hot is a pleasant flavor forward heat that won’t have you running for water and the Not Hot is no spice at all but that same beautiful versatile flavor.

The first dishes people think of when they think of chow chow is their mother or father putting it on pinto beans or greens but I wanted to change that mind set. Ours is great on just about anything such as hot dogs, burgers, BBQ, fish or just alone as a side. If you have a dish that needs that extra level of flavor Mother’s Homemade Chow Chow is the answer. If you’re scared of “relish” chow chow isn’t like your run of the mill pickle relish, ours is a mix of cabbage, green tomatoes, red onion, red bell pepper and carrot cooked together with celery seed, mustard seed, salt and tumeric gives it it’s bright golden color. So delicious!

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

My husband and I make and pack every jar of chow chow we sell. From cooking to labeling and coding we do it all. Regulations to produce acidified food is pretty strict which is understandable because we are producing a shelf stable product. I was required to take a food manufacturing course along with food safely course and our product has to be made in a state regulated facility.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I keep up with my current customers and find new ones by doing local vendor pop ups where you can sample both versions of our chow chow with my sweet moist cornbread. I also keep our social media up to date with current and upcoming events.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mothers-homemade.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mothershomemade?igsh=bXk2Mmk2MThpMXd5&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MothersHomemadeLLC?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits

Nicole Avenko