Z CRACKER STORY
We make Z crackers and are currently in many stores around the country
including Whole Foods. For nearly 30 years we have come up against a series
of obstacles but have adapted along the way. Actually, itÕs really been a
slow and sloppy attempt to create what I longed for: a Òreal businessÓ. I
think that our story might be instructive, if terrifying.
August 1980
I am unhappy as a recording engineer. No money, long hours, and IÕm hearing
disco songs repeated endlessly, and at full volume. I long to see daylight.
My wife, Pam, is earning money as a graphic designer. This allows me the
luxury of considering other possibilities. My godfather, Pete, a rotund Sicilian,
is opening a pizzeria and wants to know if I would be his partner. I accept.
Pam protests. I should have listened. It becomes a two-year incarceration,
but I learn a lot about business, and pizza. At one point we are shown on
TV making our specialty pies based on old Sicilian recipes. The location
is rough, though, and we sell the place for next to nothing. Pete retires
to Arizona. We travel to Europe and are impressed with a French bread called,
Òpain de sonÓ. We learn that the main ingredient is bran.
March 1982
Pam is laid off and I have nothing going on at all. When the wolf is at your
door, you do what you have to. I make a few of PeteÕs specialty pizzas in
our home oven, adding bran to the dough. Lacking a baking stone I make the
pies in tart pans. I take them on the subway to Dean and Deluca on Prince
Street in Soho. Joel Dean finds them interesting and when a curious employee
asks what they are he says, Òsavory piesÓ. He orders a dozen for the weekend.
I go outside and jump up and down.
At this time there are only three fancy food stores in New York. Elated from
my fresh success I bring my Òsavory piesÓ to ZabarÕs. The surly manager yells
at me, right in front of the customers, saying he sold quiche with LOBSTER
in it for less than I was asking. I take my samples back on the bus, tears
in my eyes. BalducciÕs is not interested either.
July 1982
The pies are doing well in Dean and Deluca, and small specialty shops are
starting to open up. I make my pitch to them and manage to add a few outlets.
Thank goodness that Pam got some work in graphic design. WeÕre calling ourselves,
ÒBelly Timber KitchenÓ (an obscure term for food). I am constantly explaining
the name. Still making the pies at home. For packaging I am removing cardboard
dividers from soda cases in a local beverage shop. A little plastic wrap,
and then into the trunk of my 1968 Chevelle. I go around our Cobble Hill
neighborhood with a shopping cart for ingredients. By now IÕve abandoned
PeteÕs recipes and have come up with some pies that are right for the times.
Meatless, all natural and very pretty.
October 1984
Our building is sold and we find another apartment around the corner. We
donÕt tell the landlord that we will be running a baking business out of
it. We diversify by coming up with some tarts. I am spending a lot of time
sculpting fruit into gorgeous creations. On my first delivery I drop the
entire order on the shop floor. The owner laughs. By winter I have abandoned
the tarts. Too labor intensive.
April 1987
Our landlord tells us to take our baking business and leave. He makes us
replace the oven. Our families help us with the down payment for a house
in Ditmas Park. We set up our new kitchen with a small convection oven and
use our new basement for storage. We are getting some meetings with chain
stores like Fresh Fields and King Kullen. I am still delivering to every
store and doing weekend demoÕs. We hear that people use something called
a ÒdistributorÓ to help expand their business. I park in front of the Javits
center while Pam runs in on a borrowed pass, holding a bag of the pies, and
looks up and down the isles for a distributor. She meets a friendly woman
named Jennifer Richards at the Gourmeco booth who is intrigued.
August 1990
We have adopted two baby girls from Korea. One is constantly asking questions
while the other is on my back, making the oven work a little more difficult.
Some days we all go on deliveries together. Quite a show. WeÕve got a distributor,
finally, but the only way to make it work is to freeze and Ôslack outÕ the
pies at the stores. Not ideal. WeÕre tired of explaining ÒBelly TimberÓ and
incorporate ourselves as ÒThe Savory Pie CompanyÓ.
February 1993
By now IÕm getting nervous that cooking in my home may not be the best way
to go. When a store becomes available around the corner I take it. It seems
cavernous as we put our few pieces of equipment in a corner. A gas line must
be installed from the front to the rear of the store, along with electric
and plumbing. This is running into money. I hire my first employee.
September 1995
The pies are just too expensive. The shelf life is too short. IÕm taking
more and more returns. IÕve got to come up with a cheaper recipe that still
looks special. When I was a kid my family took a trip to the South where
I had my first hushpuppies. Ever since then I had a love of cornmeal, so
I put some of that in the dough. I fold the edges back over the pie, thinking
that I had invented the technique. Years later I was surprised to see that
the French had been doing it with galetttes for some time. But my new ÒBrooklyn
PizzasÓ took up some of the slack of the Savory Pies. Now I used pizza boxes
for deliveries in my new Previa.
February 1997
Did I say that there were only three fancy food stores in Manhattan when
we began? I left out Fairway. And they are the roughest of all. Since the
shelves are so crowded, your product has to be good enough for them to remove
someone elseÕs. We make hundreds of attempts to get in. At one point we asked
if we should keep calling. David Grotenstien, the manager, says we should.
They like people who donÕt give up. He is an unusually friendly guy for such
a tough business. More typical is one of FairwayÕs owners. When I have my
young daughters with me, this guy brags to me about his new pizza oven. ÒIÕm
going to put your daddy out of businessÓ, he says.
At this point IÕm getting burnt out. Sales are slow. Returns are high. IÕm
jealous of products that have a shelf life. No returns, infrequent deliveriesÉ.profits.
Pam gets involved. She is the gutsy, energetic and realistic member of the
family. She says I shouldnÕt be so fussy with the recipes, and tosses some
spinach over some cheese. ÒThatÕs a pieÓ. And, so, the Savory Pizzas are
born. Fast and cheap, but with an excellent sauce, good dough and a mixture
of cheeses. They sell.
May 1999
The business is now supporting three employees, two of whom I have sponsored
for citizenship. Unfortunately I didnÕt know that I couldnÕt employ them
until their working permits come through. I am brought down to the INS and
fined $1400.
Meanwhile, when IÕm not around, they fight. When I speak to each one privately,
the others are always to blame. I pick one and fire him. It takes two hours
because he nearly talks me out of it. But, thankfully, I make the right choice
and there is harmony in the bakery, now equipped with a wrapping machine,
a dough roller, and a third oven. But now the ovens arenÕt working so well.
Three experts tell me the gas line we installed needs to be replaced with
a bigger one. We close down during the process. The gas company breaks up
the street to supply more gas to the store. The ovens still donÕt work. I
am feeling very light headed and long for the days back in our home kitchen.
Then it is discovered that there is a problem within the new oven. The old
gas line would have been fine.
December 2000
Now IÕm getting very burnt out. Distributors have come and gone. I canÕt
seem to make the pies last more than a week, and IÕm not willing to take
the chance to create a frozen pizza. That would put me in an aisle full of
competition. I visit various labs to see if they can help with mold issues.
Now IÕve got petrie dishes all over the bakery. Nothing helps.
Some people think that the path they are on is an inevitable one, while others
have no problem taking a detour. ÒWeÕre going to make crackersÓ, says Pam.
And, despite my skepticism, we begin experimenting with the various pizza
doughs we have come up with over the years. The one with the corn meal and
bran actually makes a nice cracker. We are tired of explaining ÒSavory PiesÓ
and decide on a very simple name: ÒZ crackersÓ. Z best!
July 2001
Fancy Food Show, New York. We are a finalist for Best Cracker. We tell everyone
we can find of our achievement. The crackers sell. And just as important,
they last. Sweet. A distributor is willing to give us another try. But they
want exclusivity. We accept.
September 11, 2001
I am about to leave for a delivery to Amish Market near the World Trade Center.
Pam calls from work to tell me to stay home. Amish Market is destroyed. All
of the employees get out safely.
September 12, 2001
IÕve got fresh pies from the day before, and I need the money, so I decide
to go on deliveries despite the pandemonium. I find a spot at 14th Street
and take the pies downtown by luggage cart. Storeowners are very surprised
to see me.
July 2002
We hire Linda Luke as our broker. She becomes our fairy godmother, is indispensable
and leads us through rapids that lesser people couldnÕt navigate. Our exclusive
distributor deal has become a strangle hold. ItÕs a very awkward moment.
We decide to move forward.
August 14, 2003
I am doing a demo at Garden of Eden on 14th Street when the lights go out.
The owners bring perishable food out to the sidewalk to sell. I give away
pies to eager pedestrians. Dozens are gone in seconds.
June 2007
Things are really improving. We start to have what I call Ògood problemsÓ.
We canÕt fill the cracker orders and the Savory Pizza orders at the same
time. We make a big decision and stop all pizza making. We are now a shelf
stable company. But the crackers are breaking the plastic bags. We change
plastics. They still break. We find a clear, strong box. Pam designs a label
for any display option.
May 2008
We are starting to outgrow our store. Because of the small door we are carrying
the cases out to trucks by hand. Drivers are not happy with the delay or
the fact that they must build a pallet while double parked on Beverley Road.
And our distributors are tired of waiting for product. We look at other locations,
but are nervous about the large investment. Could we actually get someone
else to do the baking?
July 2009
WeÕre outdoors at a wedding in Saratoga Springs. IÕm hot and miserable in
my suit. We make small talk with some distant cousins. These people are from
the moneyed, sophisticated, Connecticut branch of the family. They condescend
to speak to us. I mention the crackers and their faces light up. ÒWe LOVE
those crackers! You make them?!Ó We have arrived.
September 2010
We have a co packer out in Long Island City. It is a hell of a transition
but they do a great job. We have a new attention grabbing package. My former
employees have taken over the store lease and are running a successful Mexican
deli. Pam and I are spending more time traveling around to shows and potential
distributors. And for the first time in 30 years I feel like everything is
in place and that we finally have a Òreal businessÓ.