We were lucky to catch up with Toby Gilbert recently and have shared our conversation below.

Toby, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Growing up on a 5 acre homestead farm on the eastern shore of Maryland, I was constantly outside tending to the garden and our animals. I was at my Mom’s heals every time she’d be cooking. This connection to food and nature made me gravitate towards cooking. After cooking through high school and college, I moved to Puerto Rico, where I met a chef who invited me to New York. The following years were spent as sous chef around the Delmarva area with a very formative stage at two of Sean Brock’s restaurants, Husk and McCrady’s. In 2016, I found my self as Sous Chef to Hari Cameron, at Amuse in Rehoboth Beach, where I focused on fermentation, and learned modernist techniques. At the time, I was engaged and found myself wanted more of a life off of the line and without the insane stress of a fine dining kitchen. I began working on a plan for a upscale grocer/cheese/charcuterie/ferment and pickle shop for Berlin. Berlin’s a small, historic town with a growing food scene, but there was no specialty food shop.I opened Gilbert’s Provisions July 7th 2017. Taking something from idea to brick and mortar was extremely fulfilling, but as any small business owner knows, it ain’t easy. You learn quick that not too many people want white truffle flake salt for $45 per 4 ounces, or that idea of carrot & kelp kimchi won’t be loved by all. Going from foul-mouthed kitchen rat to retail customer service was a larger hurdle than I expected and return on investment did not come as fast and I had hoped. Through 7 years of professional, culinary, and personal development, Im proud to say the business is doing the best it ever has and my in-house products have expanded to meet customer demand.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My background is learning through experience. I graduated from Flagler College with a business degree, and was planning on attending CIA the next year, before meeting a chef In Puerto Rico, who invited me to cook with him in New York for a year, and if I still wanted to go to culinary school then go for it. Needless to say I didn’t want to spend another couple years in school and add another $100k in student loans. New York taught me strong cooking fundamentals and was the first time I learned to ferment vegetables. My stages at Husk and McCrady’s, in Charleston, South Carolina, exposed me to what a real farm to table, fine dining experience could be. It was the first time I had seen house fermented hot sauces, mustard, and miso. I was mystified. My last professional position as Sous Chef at Amuse under Hari Cameron furthered my love for all things fermentation and pushed me into the deep end of bacteria and mold.
At Gilberts, I make an array of fermented vegetables (kimchi, sour pickles, mushrooms, string beans, sauerkraut, beets, green tomatoes), vinegar pickles, fermented hot sauces and condiments, as well as quick charcuterie (Old Bay Cured Bacon, Pate, Duck Breast Ham, Duck Confit). Im lucky enough to curate other goods to compliment my contribution. My cheese list is usually somewhere around 35-40 cheeses, domestic and imported. We carry around 20 different charcuterie items like prosciutto di parma, Spanish chorizo, pate, and salami from domestic creators. On Sunday’s, during our farmers market, we sell about 80 loaves of our house sourdough, while serving the best damn breakfast burritos around.
One fo the things Im most proud of is being able to expose locals to fine foods and fermented products that many just can’t get around Berlin. Its amazing that I can sell about 50 pounds of kimchi a month out of a tiny 700 square foot space. Being able to expand the culinary minds in my area helps raise the demand for better, more honest food.
And about the squirrel. Our logo is a squirrel. When I first started getting tattooed, at 18, I looked up all the standard tattoo ideas, which led me to the Gilbert family crest (which I thankfully did not get). The top of our crest has a squirrel breaking a nut and symbolizes “Good Harvest.” Under the squirrel reads “Tenax Propositi,” or tenacious purpose. Kind of a perfect mash up for the mindset of a good kitchen. Our logo itself is a rendering of a small wood figure that my great-great-great-great-great uncle on my Mom’s side whittled. He was a graphic designer and was responsible for the first Joe Camel and the logo for Sherwin Williams. Since adopting this mascot, I’ve had countless customers give squirrel themed gifts, send squirrel memes, and now have a few squirrel tattoos (not the crest).

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This is something that almost every small business owner can relate to. Most people have heard, whole opening a small business, from other small business owners that “you’re probably going to want to just shut it down at times.” These words always fell on deaf ears when it came to me, but gee whizz they weren’t lying. Bounced checks, insufficient funds, not knowing how to pay rent, and for that order, and gas. Yes, I can walk my dog twice a day and eat dinner at home, but I felt the same anxiety that came from having 9 tables with tasting menus getting rung in at the same time.
The important thing is to power through, learn from your mistakes, and ask for help. To anyone in that situation, hearing those things sound a lot like the teacher from Charlie Brown, but its really all you can do. This is especially true when opening a store with a lot of things people either have never had, or had already written off as not for them. But, I’m still here, still making tons of kimchi, and the people are still coming and buying more than ever.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I was a very tenacious and more importantly interested young chef. I wanted to know everything and how and why things happen. I would host tasting dinners, where I put things on the menu I had never done, just so that I HAD to get good at them. People started to know me for doing food differently and practicing techniques that were very old, classic, or modern. I think my excitement for food and gaining all the knowledge I could, translated into people wanting to try my cooking.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/gilbertsprovisions
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/gilbertsprovisions