SEPTEMBER 3 • 2020 | 45
D
an Aronson has salsa in
his blood.
He was just a tod-
dler when his parents, Jack and
Annette, opened a restaurant,
Clubhouse Bar-B-Q, in Ferndale.
One of their customers was Jim
Hiller, owner of Hiller’
s Markets,
who loved the restaurant’
s salsa
so much he asked if he could
sell it in his stores. Garden Fresh
Gourmet was born. Dan was 6.
His earliest memories include
working in the business next to
his parents and four older sib-
lings.
For many years, Garden Fresh
Gourmet, started at the back
of Jack’
s restaurant, sold salsas
and hummus through high-end
specialty markets like Hiller’
s
and Westborn. The company’
s
reputation grew when Meijer
started carrying the products;
soon it was the best-selling fresh
salsa in the country. In 2015 the
company made national news
when Campbell Soup bought it
for $231 million.
Three years later, Campbell
sold the company, and the
Aronsons’
bid to buy it back was
unsuccessful. A non-compete
clause in the original sales agree-
ment meant no one in the family
could market similar products
for five years.
After the Garden Fresh
Gourmet sale, Dan, 29, and his
siblings started Clean Planet
Foods, making packaged, refrig-
erated ready-to-eat meals in a
bag that could be heated in a
microwave, and Skinny Butcher,
similar meals made with plant-
based protein. Both lines are sold
through food markets rather
than directly to consumers, often
with the market’
s brand name.
Almost as soon as the
non-compete period ended,
Dan and his stepbrother, Jack
Page, 42, of Milford, were back
in the salsa business. Their new
Missy & Mel’
s brand — named
for their two sisters, Melissa Bihl
and Melanie Mena — is produc-
ing salsas and tortilla chips at
a commercial kitchen in Royal
Oak.
Like the original Garden Fresh
Gourmet brand, Missy & Mel’
s
salsas and chips are made from
scratch, in small batches, using
only fresh ingredients. Aronson
says the recipes are different,
though, and the products are
somewhat higher-end. The
new company’
s first effort was
a medium-hot salsa made with
Scotch bonnet peppers. They
also produce a chipotle flavor
and a fruit salsa made with
mango, peaches and pineapple.
For now the salsa, priced at $6
for a 14-oz. jar, is available at the
Rust Belt Market at Woodward
Avenue and Nine Mile Road
in Ferndale, which is open on
weekends, and at the company’
s
factory, a commercial kitchen at
2520 W
. 14 Mile Road in Royal
Oak, which is open on weekdays
from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aronson
hopes to have the products in
area food markets soon.
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
COURTESY OF DAN ARONSON
Detroit-Made
Fresh Salsa Is Back
Dan Aronson
and Jack Page
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