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

Laraina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

My dad was coming out to visit. I was working at a restaurant in Nederland. The Sundance cafe. We wanted to make pickles for the bloody Mary’s served there. My dad and I set up a propane burner outside the restaurant with a canner and made my first batch of garlic dill pickles. That’s how I started my business. On making Bloody Mary garnishes;) i started making a few other things, corn relish was one, a crowd favorite. Pickled green beans and okra. I was selling them to locals, local restaurants and friends as well.
That year I participated in the Nederland holiday market. My first event I shared a booth with my best friend Beth. (Cold Shed Designs) Jewelry and pickles!
A short time after the holidays, a few of us had the idea to start the Nederland farmer’s market An outlet not only for me to sell my products but to provide our community with more local food options. Produce, eggs etc. we succeeded in getting the NFM started and it is still going strong. We just finished our 9th season.
After doing the Ned market I started looking down the hill, boulder, Fort Collins and denver area for other markets I could participate in. That’s how I continued to grow my little business.

Laraina, 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’m actually a fourth generation canner. My great grandmother, grandmother and then father taught me canning.
Preserving the harvest is what my family’s always done in the past so now I continue that tradition by using different local farmers produce. I make a variety of pickled vegetables, including garlic, dill, pickles, pickled garlic, pickled green beans, pickled okra, pickled brussels sprouts, corn, relish, peach salsa, and a seasonal apple chutney. All of my products are canned and pickled with vinegar. Shelf stable. Years. Once you open them and refrigerate them you have an entire year to enjoy them.
Everything I make has a ton of flavor and a little bit of spice as part of that flavor

Have you ever had to pivot?

Towards the beginning of Covid, when they started shutting things down, I had to pivot. I was used to selling my products at the farmers markets and had not yet gotten many wholesale accounts.
I started offering Delivery on my website and on social media. You spend X amount and you got delivery from Mountain Girl pickles.

Fortunately,, I got some orders . Some through messenger and social media others , from calls and email whatever it was, I was delivering
So if any of yall reading this ordered pickles for delivery during Covid, thank you! You helped me stay afloat.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Just recently I was in Dallas for an event with the intention of getting my products excepted into Central markets.
A natural foods company.
I put together snack packs. Pickles and green beans in little reusable “snack packs” to giveaway. It was a short trip and I really didn’t have much time. I decided to uber over to the nearest central market store to try and give some away. My thoughts being once they taste them, they’ll love them. I didn’t really have a plan once I got there.
I looked around and asked for the grocery manager. I asked him if I could give out the snack packs to his staff and customers. He was so gracious and even showed me where the employees break room and offices were. I was really nervous. I ended up giving away half of the bag I brought to employees. they deserve a snack!! I walked into a meeting room, accidentally, and passed out more there. I Walking thru the store asking people if they liked pickles, hoping they didn’t think I was a crazed pickle lady!!
I gave them all away.,
I’m still waiting to hear if I’m excepted as a vendor ….

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mountaingirlpickles.com
• Instagram: Mountain girl pickles
• Facebook: Mountain girl pickles

Image Credits

None