By Stephanie Foster
sfoster@cnc.com
Debbie Greiner and Tina Labossiere of Harwich spend more time
with each other than they do with their husbands. Each has three
children and an incredible amount of energy. Seven years ago, they met through their
children’s
play group
and now they’re on a roll with their homemade jelly
business, Cape Cod
Cranberry Harvest Inc.
“We started off making Ballerina Bunnies. They were a big
hit,” says Greiner. The women took them to craft shows and
ballet school recitals but eventually ran into a roadblock. Each
bunny took two hours to make so production was limited. And they
quickly saturated the market with the same customers accumulating
a half a dozen bunnies in different colors and sizes. They considered
finding another market but something else happened two years ago.
“Deb made pepper jelly for friends and family for the holiday
season to give as gifts,”
says Labossiere. “We were getting ready for a home show, making
snowmen, and Christmas stockings when they suggested we do food.”
The ladies made up little loaves of bread and jars of Deb’s
pepper jelly. (She admits she hadn’t even tasted it until
then.) It was a hit and they sold out. They made a decision to pursue the jelly business.
“We decided it would be easier
to concentrate on one thing instead of 12 different things,”
explains Labossiere.
The following year, Len Greiner, Deb’s husband, suggested
using local cranberries. “He said we had to find something
that is produced on the Cape that would be readily available.”
It made sense. They changed the name of their business from Whimsical
Creations of Cape Cod to Cape Cod Cranberry Harvest Inc. and booked
craft shows for every weekend.
They added cranberry-pepper jelly to their offerings. “Every
year we do another flavor. We did three new ones this year.”
The jelly lineup now includes cranberry, cranberry-apricot, cranberry-pineapple,
white cranberry, white cranberry-pepper and cranberry-orange marmalade.
In the past two years, they have won first and second place awards
at the Cranberry Harvest Festival in Chatsworth, N.J., the only fair they attend with
a recipe contest.
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Cranberry Harvest Inc. of Harwich now makes
jellies in eight flavors.
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“The cranberry pepper has won first place two years in a
row,” says Greiner proudly.
One of the secrets to their success is careful scheduling and
flexibility. “We both go in the morning to set up at a craft
show. Then one stays and sells the jelly and the other goes and
watches the kids or runs them to events they need to go to. Because
we work together we can do it,” says Greiner.
They’ve also had a lot of family support. Greiner’s
mother sells her products in New Jersey where she lives. And her
husband has helped by finding supplies such as jars and labels
and doing some of the footwork.
The Greiner kitchen is state and town approved. The Women work
side by side making batches of jelly weekdays and then selling
it weekends. They thought they were all set for the year but they
keep adding clients. One day, the Greiners drove around to bed
and breakfasts and asked if they would like to sell or serve the
jellies and found a whole new outlet.
They also hooked up with Paul Luciano, whose family owns the Jenkins
Bogs across from Cape Cod Regional Technical High School on Route
124. He saw their product at Lambert’s and called them up
to ask if they wanted to buy his berries.
Luciano introduced them to white cranberries, which are picked
early before they gain their cranberry color and produce a blush
colored product. And he has introduced their products to his berry
accounts. Now the women are selling to Harbor Mist Coffees, Ring
Brothers, the Pampered Palate and other upscale stores.
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“Paul is very enthusiastic and a good seller. Most people
know him. He comes into a room and fills it with energy.
He sincerely wants us to succeed. He’s shown us how to promote
our products.
”
Now they can barely keep up
with the demand. “We work an eight-hour day and label at
night. We work more than a 40-hour job. We make 300 jars of jelly
on a good day when we’re working in sync,” Labossiere
says. “Other days, pots boil over, the phone rings, the
doorbell rings. We can’t get interrupted. Some days are
terribly brutal. But we roll with the punches.”
October was a busy month for the two. They did both the Harwich
Cranberry Festival and the Scallop Festival in Bourne.
“We underestimated how much product we were going to sell,”
Labossiere admits. With their stockpile gone, they are selling
jelly almost as fast as they are making it. “Talk about
fresh. We’re selling jelly that is only two weeks old.”
Their husbands are not lolling around the house while the ladies
work. Len Greiner works on a tugboat and can be gone anywhere
from two weeks to three months. In Season, he has a charter boat
business. He’s also experimenting with duck hunting trips.
Rob Labossiere is the produce manager at Stop & Shop in East Harwich and
puts in a 70-hour week.
With six children and their activities between them, plus their
own and their husband’s schedules, the ladies take it all
in stride and have become as close as sisters. “Our husbands
are amazed. They don’t know how we get it all done. We are
constantly together or on the phone. My husband jokes about it,”
says Greiner, who is expecting her fourth child next year.
How far do they want to go with their business?
“We’ll go as far as we can. We take it one day at
a time,” says Labossiere. We got a call from the Cape Cod
Lavender Farm wanting us to make lemon-lavender mannalade for
them exclusively. We came up with a recipe. It’s wonderful.”
New products take time to develop and time is what they don’t
have these days. Usually they take a January break but not this
year. They have thought about opening a retail store but then,
they ask, who would make the jelly?
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