Current three Picnic spreads available on display at Balduccis including tandoori garlic, Moroccan cilantro and herbed goat cheese.
Today the herbed goat cheese dip is the customer favorite at Arlingtonian Brady Marz’s Picnic gourmet spread demo at Balducci’s in McLean on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. Two weeks ago the favorite was Moroccan cilantro. Marz says they currently offer three dips with two new ones, Parmesan and jalapeño herb, to come out next month. “We used to have a lot more choices but some of them, like caramelized onion and chipotle sage, never found a market. We figure out what sells.”
The business started in their kitchen in Charleston, South Carolina in 2009 where Marz’s wife, Heather, experimented with making labneh and adding different herbs. “We were in the furniture business at the time and then the recession hit and we weren’t selling furniture. So we had to pivot.”
They moved this area in 2011 where they found business at local farmer’s markets, and they picked up Whole Foods. But then Covid hit. “I remember my last demo at Giant when somebody said to me ‘do you think you should be doing this?’ That was March 16, [2020].” And then he didn’t do any demos for four years. Marz says before Covid hit he was doing eight demos a week but now he does about two.
“I really like to meet the people and talk to them but I have found that we sell close to the same number of spreads without or without demos,” Brady says.
Marz remembers that when Covid hit, business actually spiked as people were stocking up on things as they anticipated “the end of the world.” He says he and Heather adjusted the website to reflect the new situation and offer recommendations to home “chefs” on how to use the Picnic spreads now that they were cooking at home and not eating at restaurants much anymore.
Marz explains the spreads took hold by word of mouth. And now in addition to Whole Foods, they have Balducci’s, wineries and small specialty stores. Marz says on holidays business is generally good but he has noticed customer behavior can be a little different. “People can come in with one thing on their mind that they have to find for their New Year’s Eve party and ignore everything else.” But today Marz is guessing he will sell four cases of 12 units.
Penny Morrill is checking out what they have today. “I’ve been coming here since years ago when Brady first started. I get the spreads all the time — Moroccan cilantro is my favorite.”
A mother and daughter stop by. Marz explains to everyone who is curious about tasting the spreads. “The spreads are healthy, all natural and versatile; good with meat or fish or as a traditional dip with crackers or vegetables.” The mother comments, “I don’t usually like goat cheese but this is good.”
Marz says when they started the business it was a learning experience in many ways. Working with Whole Foods took some effort because all ingredients had to be certified as natural. “There was a whole list of things we couldn’t use.” In addition, he says, “We weren’t in the food business and started out with a modest $2,000 budget for ingredients and containers. We had no investors, no backing. We did this by the seat of our pants — printing labels at Kinkos, no advertising budget — just me as salesman.” He says they were two people with no expenses just trying to see if their product had legs.
Now Brady and Heather work with a copacking facility that produces their product by upscaling the recipe under their specifications. “We just launched into it and made it work.”