Provenance has been carrying McClure's Pickles for quite some time now, and recently we brought in the McClure's Bloody Mary Mix. Fans of the spice know these products to be very addictive. In fact, some of us have been known to each most of a jar just standing up in the kitchen...ahem... This post of "Meet Your Makers" is a Q&A with brothers & founders Joe and Bob McClure.
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** Do you personally know the farmers that produce your products? We know a good majority of them, yes and have been working with them for awhile. When you are a smaller manufacturer your direct relationships with farmers help you leverage prices and actually get the produce, as so often it easily gets bought by larger companies who work on volume deals.
**What is involved with working with the farmers to get a product to market? Simply, just connecting with the farmer to get the best quality produce possible. It all starts with the raw material. Putting bad raw materials into your line...makes for a bad product. There's no magical transformation that occurs.
**Is there anyone else on your “team”? Yes, there's a total of about 15 employees with us currently working to produce our products. Everyone works extremely hard as we grow and we they will be with us while we continue to do so.
**How often do you come out with new products? Are you working on anything new? About once a year we come up with something new....that said, it's not always something that gets to market.
**How did you get into this “line of business”? This is an old family recipe passed down from our mother's side. We grew up making the pickles in Michigan and then in 2006, Bob in Brooklyn and Joe in Michigan started making the product and trying to sell it.
**What did you do before this? Joe was studying classical guitar, composition and then went on to get his phD from Wayne State Medical in Physiology.
**Are your products sold anywhere besides Chicago? Yes, our products are sold nationwide and most heavy presence in the midwest and in New York area.
**What was the spark that led you to working with food? We've always been doing it somewhat and the spark that led us into the business of food was seeking a more steady future by doing something we know very well.
**How do you plan to grow your portfolio? I guess in terms of business operations....vertically and horizontally....it has to be an evolving, growing model...adherence to a strict set of guidelines can certainly point you straight but can also blind you from other potential benefits....so: buying a farm or operating trucks? Maybe. Maybe not.
**Of all the millions of food products you could have specialized in, why these?
It's the thing we know best and using that as a foundation we felt we had a good launching pad to start the company.
