This mother-daughter small business team is our jam
Small businesses have faced unprecedented challenges as we all adapt to the new normal of life during a pandemic. That’s why Newell Brands, the maker of Ball® home canning products is excited to announce the Made For More Small Business Fund, an opportunity for 10 small businesses to be awarded $10,000 to help fuel their business, growth, and community support. Learn more and enter to win at www.freshpreserving.com/madeformore, and read on to learn about a small business making a big impact.
Small businesses give our neighborhoods personality, offer customized solutions for local issues, and tailor-make products which make our lives more interesting and delicious — down to a signature jar of jam you can only find at your local café. And they’ll remember your name at the farmer’s market.
Take the mother-daughter team behind Los Angeles-based M. Greenwood Jams, for instance. Their locally sourced products bring people back for more, and that’s just one thing they love about running a small business.
“The majority of our customers are repeat customers,” says Margaret Greenwood, who runs M.Greenwood Jams with her mom and business partner, Julie Mooney. “They are looking for that connection and the fact that our business is so personal.”
Making jam to be jeal-y over
When Greenwood and Mooney decided to launch a small business, food was a natural pick — literally, they started out by picking fruit from their backyard. “My mom grew up making jam with her dad from his apple tree, and I grew up with her making apple butter from that same tree,” says Greenwood.
The mother-and-daughter duo began selling Meyer lemon ginger marmalade at local fairs around the time California legalized the sale of homemade cottage foods in 2012. “We picked the Meyer lemons right from a tree in my parents’ yard,” says Greenwood. “It’s still one of our most popular jams.”
Showcasing handcrafted quality
Once the team knew what they were selling, they had to figure out how best to package their goods. Luckily, they didn’t waste much time settling on their favorite option.
“We immediately knew that we would use Ball brand home canning products,” Greenwood says. “They go so naturally with our small batches aesthetic and we love that our customers can reuse the glass jars at home for their own food storage, making crafts and more.”
Addressing community food waste
That spirt of reducing waste carries through all of M. Greenwood Jams’s business philosophy. In a city sometimes overshadowed by a tangle of freeways, their handmade products are a reminder of the greener, quieter side of Los Angeles and its bounty of seasonal produce. “In Southern California, we are lucky to have so much fruit all the time,” says Greenwood. However, she saw a need to use surplus fruit “not pretty enough” for sale.
“We are really focused on reducing waste and making a difference,” says Greenwood, who sources as much fruit as possible from local farmers—another element of staying tied to their community, and helping other small businesses, in the process.
Nurturing a small business fam
Through markets like Unique LA, she has connected with a whole network of local small businesses. “We have been really lucky to meet so many restaurant and store owners who now carry our jams throughout Los Angeles and around the country,” says Greenwood.
Among those establishments, Lavender & Honey, an espresso bar and deli in Pasadena, has stocked their jams since opening day. “We’ve grown together. They ask for custom flavors like strawberry with lavender or pumpkin butter to serve on their toast — and also sell on their beautiful shelves.”
Spreading the love
Launching a small business is rewarding, but the challenges keep coming. “The work never stops, there’s no line there between life and work, it’s all the same,” says Greenwood.
But it’s undoubtedly a labor of love for this mother-daughter team. “Our customers are choosing to support a family-run business,” says Greenwood. “In turn, we volunteer at our local food bank and find it so important to give back to the community who has given us so much.”
Do you run a small business that uses Ball brand home canning products and helps its community, too? Enter to win at www.freshpreserving.com/madeformore.
