For a specialty food company, a distribution contract with Whole Foods Market Inc. represents the Holy Grail. In her search to find it, Margaret West left a career with the church.
West”™s Tokeneke Foods has begun selling gourmet cookies at Whole Foods Markets in the New England region, hand-making them in a small Bridgeport kitchen, along with frozen appetizers and bar snacks.
The new contract has West talking with local and state economic development officials about expanding into a larger facility in the Bridgeport area next year to accommodate new hires.
A Yale Divinity School graduate, West became hooked on cooking after being wowed on the spread at a Greenwich soiree, and decided to leave her publishing job with the Episcopal Church.
After training under a Greenwich caterer, she eventually whipped up a recipe that formed the foundation for the “Pesto Cloud” the company still makes today, initially selling it at the Weston Farmers Market as “The Pesto Lady.”
Pesto Cloud is still a crowd pleaser ”“ it was voted the outstanding appetizer at this year”™s Connecticut Food Trail awards, sponsored by the Connecticut Specialty Food Association of Farmington.
In 2003, West”™s husband, Mac, joined the company and Tokeneke Foods took over a Bridgeport industrial building formerly occupied by a candy distributor.
Initially, they built the business by selling to caterers in the region and to small, independent grocers like Caraluzzi”™s Markets in Bethel and Redding.
Perhaps their breakthrough account came with Murray”™s Cheese, a New York City store extolled by Forbes as the best cheese shop in the world.
In July 2006, while rubbing elbows with wholesale buyers at New York City”™s Fancy Food Show, a contingent from Whole Foods stopped by the Tokeneke booth to sample its offerings.
One year later this past July, a Whole Foods buyer e-mailed to say she didn”™t find a better cookie, and wanted to carry Tokeneke cookies in Whole Foods”™ Northeast stores, as well as Tokeneke”™s sweetened nuts.
It is not unusual for local vendors to get placement on the shelves of an individual Whole Foods store ”“ each store manager is given incentives to work with local vendors. Getting a regional distribution deal to the 40-some stores in the Northeast is a tougher proposition.
Once a supplier is in, however, it can change the fundamentals of one”™s business ”“ in a three-week stretch, Tokeneke sold more cookies at one Whole Foods Market than any of its previous grocery customers had sold ever.
With sales averaging more than 1,000 bags of cookies a week and the approach of the holidays, West thinks production will quadruple in the fourth quarter.
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Anticipating the need for a larger facility to accommodate increased volume, the Wests spoke last week with Connecticut officials about incentive zones in Bridgeport.
The Wests are thinking about stamping Tokeneke”™s blue heron icon on books about cooking and catering; serving dishes; and tabletop linens. Their vision is to stay true to the “artisan” roots of their kitchen ”“ any foods that lend themselves to easy mass production could be a candidate for a sale to a big brand such as Kraft Foods or Sara Lee ”“ even the Pesto Clouds on which they built the business.
“What we are doing is building the ”˜handmade”™ market,” Mac West said.
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