For 11 years,
Mary-Lynn Mondich tested and developed recipes for food magazines, cookbook
authors and TV cooking shows, including Weight Watchers International, Food
& Wine Magazine, McCalls, Ladies Home Journal, Burt Wolf of CNN and Molly
O'Neill, The New York Times food critic. Mary-Lynn also cooked privately for
Cheryl Tiegs and tested products for Food & Wine Magazine's "What's
New" column. Throughout this time, Mary-Lynn was constantly surrounded by
the people and items that were "hot" in the food business. Her
peripheral vision was always scouting for some undiscovered or forgotten food
item that could be popular. She found it in a family recipe that no one else
made and everyone loved. Using the palates and support of friends and
co-workers she refined the shape and flavor of this cracker for today's market.
She
met with two friends who tasted the crackers from a zip lock bag and within 48
hours put money into a business account to begin. Then came developing the
company name, label, packaging and strategy. In January of 1990, American
Vintage began production and had an immediate response with orders, free
publicity and re-orders.
The
first year we ran the office out of an apartment and we baked, packed and
shipped from a kitchen which we rented evenings and weekends. In Fall of 1990,
we started our own full-time production facility. In 1999 Mary-Lynn introduced
2 new flavors, of the still handmade crackers.
One
of our favorite fans is the famed Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme. When Mary-Lynn
introduced herself as an owner of a small business, he responded, "You
won't be small for very long, not with that flavor."
Fortunately,
many agree with him!
