 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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