We recently connected with Molly Mahoney and have shared our conversation below.
Molly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I truly believe that any industry/food-related business should be started at the farmers market level.
During Covid I had the opportunity to start and manage an indoor farmers market located in Boise, Idaho called Eat Drink Shop. While it originally started as a means for myself and other small businesses, farmers and ranchers to stay afloat during a pandemic it has helped me realize even more how coming together as a group can bring success to brand new businesses and established businesses/vendors alike. Local communities are hungry to shop from and to support any and all small companies, especially now.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started my garlic-based spice company as a job during college. My parents had moved from the Seattle, Washington area to a rural community in North Idaho where there was little to no summer work for me as a college student. I could only find work cleaning apartments in a college town, which was easily the grossest thing that I have ever done. Mind you, I have a degree in Forensic Anthropology and was president of the Forensic Science Club. Dead bodies along with crime scenes were very comfortable for me…cleaning up after college students college not so much! The house that my parents had bought had a garden that had been planted originally in the spring and had gone to seed during the home a selling process. In that garden was a ton of garlic and with me being a garlic fanatic I did not want to waste it. When garlic goes to seed it flowers and it grows an almost popcorn kernel style seed at the head of the flower. I harvested all the seeds and dried them on a dehydrator and then put it in a pepper mill with coarse sea salt. It was a huge hit amongst my family and from that day on is where my garlic company bloomed from.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
While my little spice company was very well established in North Idaho, I have had to pivot several times. The main one was about three years ago now. I was fortunate enough to escape a very abusive relationship. In order for me to stay safe I actually went to visit a childhood friend in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Keep in mind that I also happen to be quite handy and have been a general contractor in the past. She had just gone through a nasty divorce and needed help remodeling her condo and I was needing to get away from an ex who had gone to jail for hurting me. While visiting her, I realized the potential of the Arizona farmers markets and how they were open at almost the exact opposite months of the Idaho farmers markets season-wise. I needed a place to escape and feel safe again so we came up with a plan for me to join the farmers markets down in Arizona during the wintertime when my Idaho markets were closed and during the week I would stay with her and fix up her place. Besides being super close friends since we were 12, we naturally helped each other heal and I expanded my company to an entirely new state!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
After conquering my first major hurdle and managing to expand my small company at the same time, Covid happened. While at first, I was enjoying the extra time gardening and working on my home back in Idaho I soon realized how necessary farmers markets were. I have many friends who are small business owners, farmers, and ranchers. During Covid most of our farmers markets in Idaho were shut down especially during the winter. Leaving no place for, not only me but all my farmers market friends to sell their products and have an income. That is when we devised a plan to start an indoor farmers market that would allow the community to keep shopping and supporting local businesses and give these tiny companies a place to stay afloat during a pandemic. We would go wherever would allow us and at first we started at a small local brewery and were in the production facility area. From there we have expanded to an even bigger brewery that happens to have an event center and it is a symbiotic relationship where our shoppers bring people to their new brewery location. We now have a wonderful place to sell and our shoppers have a wonderful place to shop. Plus there is a food truck, beer and wine!
During the pandemic, I started hosting farm-to-table dinners at my home along with the folks from https://instagram.com/under_
Contact Info:
- Website: Mollysmills.com
- Instagram: @mollysmills
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/MollysMills/
- Other: https://eatdrinkshopidaho.com/
Image Credits
http://gracestufkosky.com/ https://oscarmphotos.pic-time.com/-underthetable/gallery