Looking for something easy, quick and delicious to serve for Superbowl Sunday? You may not need to look far. Enter Miss Bonnie’s Gourmet Cheese Spreads.
Beginning this Friday, the newly introduced classic cheddar cheese spread will be available for sale at 11 Kroger stores in the Roanoke Valley. Kroger introduced Miss Bonnie’s pimento cheese and jalapeno pepper cheese spreads to the area last summer. “It’s a great product line and we’re proud to carry it,” enthused Cheese Category Manager Tonya Morris.
On Saturday and Sunday, Kroger customers will have the opportunity to sample Miss Bonnie’s Olive Salad recipe, made with her Cheese Spread and Gambino’s Olive Salad from noon until 6:00 p.m.
“Gambino’s found that sales of their olive salad products increased as a result of Miss Bonnie’s recipe. We’re piggy backing on Gambino’s and vice versa. It’s a win-win for both as well as for the customers who love the cheeses and the recipes,” remarked Ron Adleman, Bonnie’s husband.
The story of Miss Bonnie’s Gourmet Cheese Spreads began because “I wasn’t satisfied with the choices offered in the food stores and I began crafting my own cheese spreads. My friends and family members encouraged me to market my cheese spreads and I decided to give it a try,” said Bonnie Adleman.
The home based start-up business began in a 600 square-ft. space on the second floor of their garage in Midlothian, Virginia. Miss Bonnie’s pimento cheese spread was introduced the day before Thanksgiving 2006 in a Kroger store in the Richmond area. The Adlemans had decided to make enough cheese spread for ten (10) cases with one dozen jars in each case. “Almost all ten cases sold that day and Store Manager Milton Foster told me late that afternoon that I had the best first day sales of any vendor he ever had in any of the stores he had managed,” she recalled.
Because the Adlemans didn’t have any cheese spread to restock the store, they postponed Thanksgiving dinner until Friday and on Thanksgiving Day made 12 more cases of cheese spread. By Christmas, Miss Bonnie’s was in two additional Kroger stores in Richmond.
By the end of 2007, they were able to expand distribution to eight Kroger stores by streamlining production. Two of these stores were new. One of the two new stores that opened in 2007 was the Midlothian Ivymont Kroger, managed by Ed Southern, who has been in the grocery business for 41 years and manages the largest volume Kroger store in the Mid-Atlantic, having opened three of the new Kroger locations in Richmond during this time.
“I have never, ever, seen a more prolific, customer accepted and demanded, grass roots promoted food item in my entire career,” exclaimed Southern. His was the second Kroger to receive Miss Bonnie’s cheese spread for sale; it was immediately recognized that anyone who tasted this cheese was a fan. “My challenge: get it into the mouths of my customers. Using a demo dome daily made this easy and I watched the product grow to the number one position in my specialty cheese commodity.”
In September 2007, the Adlemans learned that Miss Bonnie’s Gourmet Pimento Cheese Spread was named the “2007 New Product Success Story of the Year” for Kroger Mid-Atlantic.
The release of their second item, Jalapeno Pepper Cheese Spread “took off just like its predecessor,” said Southern.
“I am so proud of Bonnie. She has become a star in this dim economy and everyone that she comes into contact with loves her. The customers gravitate toward her,” Ron Adleman remarked.
“In November 2009, Miss Bonnie’s Gourmet relocated production from their garage to a 13,200 square-ft. plant that previously produced smoked fish in Front Royal, Virginia. They are currently using only 25 percent of the plant and there are five acres behind the plant that will allow room for expansion. The business currently has eight full-time employees and as the business expands, additional employees will be hired,” he said.
The product line is presently sold in 56 retail grocery locations in Virginia. The products contain “zero gluten fillers, no sugar, no trans fats and no carbs. It’s a blend of naturally aged cheeses – no artificial anything. It contains pure ingredients, is chunky, old fashioned and “diabetic friendly.”
“National rollout is scheduled to begin in mid-February beginning with the completion of distribution of the products to the remaining Kroger stores in the Mid-Atlantic Division. We appreciate all that Kroger has done to help the little guy,” said Ron Adleman.
For recipes and other information, visit www.missbonnies.com
By Susan Ayers [email protected]