Thank God it’s Monday, again. I always look forward to Mondays, as they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you. Therefore, happy Monday, to everyone.
Last week celebrated Small Business Week but small businesses should be celebrated EVERY week, as they’re considered to be the backbone of our nation’s economy. Since the earliest known brick-and-mortar stores, in the 1700s, small businesses have been building relationships with their surrounding communities.
These small “Mom-and-Pop Shops” are renowned for offering superior customer service, especially compared to large chain stores. Entrepreneurs take personal pride in themselves and their businesses, as they represent and exemplify each other.
Small business owners correspondingly have a lot of pride in their community, too. They participate in local events, sponsor community sports and other programs, as well as partner with and support other local small businesses. Building a business takes a lot of small steps, hard work, and dedication.
Nevertheless, the average lifespan of a small business is generally only about 8½ years. However, Mom and Dad’s dining room table operation far surpassed that. For 27 years, from January 1974 through December 2000, Mom wrote, designed, published, and promoted her “Secret RecipesTM Newsletter”.
“RECOLLECTIONS OF HOW we developed our Secret Recipes and the unique circumstances under which this dining room table operation has endured… will surely never make the best sellers list, and perhaps not even interest most critics, let alone the skeptics. They predicted that the public’s interest in my kind of cookery would not last long. It continues because it has merit!” – Gloria Pitzer, The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; June 1997, p. 2).
In its first ten years of publication, Mom’s newsletter went from a few hundred subscribers to tens-of-thousands of subscribers. She also wrote and self-published over 30 new and revised cookbooks, as well as many recipe folders and bulletins, during a more than 30-year span from 1973 through 2004.
Mom was often asked by interviewers and subscribers how they could create a successful newsletter and small business like hers, to which she always had a difficult time answering. She continuously claimed that there was no generic framework or outline from which she operated, no “How to Succeed at…” manual that she could share.
Her success in the recipe newsletter and cookbook industry came from an accumulation of experiences that she and Dad each faced throughout their lives and all the little steps they took. That, as a whole, led them down their own unique path to success.
“IF SOMEONE WERE to copy our so-called ‘success’, I could give them no blueprint for that condition. Each one of the little steps that we had to take to develop [our] kitchen table activity into a professional business operation, are like the grains of sand that the oyster requires to form a pearl.” – Gloria Pitzer, My Cup Runneth Over And I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 25)
I’ve often thought about starting my own monthly e-newsletter, similar to Mom’s, for highlighting her legacy about being the Secret RecipesTM Detective – including my own stories about what I’ve learned from her over the decades, as well as some recipes and household hints, gardening tips, and maybe an occasional craft project.
I’d love to travel and write restaurant reviews, as well as create my own imitations of their popular dishes, as Mom did. Unfortunately, my biggest downfall would be marketing it because I’ve never been the talented salesperson that Mom was. Although, I remember helping her with this endeavor, along with my sisters, about 50 years ago.
MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 43)
MARKETING INSPIRATION
TO MAKE THE MIMEOGRAPH pay for itself, I even printed up my own business cards on it, using dime-store construction paper and then cutting the cards apart with scissors until I had neat little stacks of about 50 and a total of two or 300 cards.
These I distributed at the mall whenever… we might be in one. Paul did not know I was doing this, at first, either, or he would’ve disapproved. It was unprofessional and risky, but I thought anything was worth a try and what I could do ‘quietly’ until I could prove it was either a mistake or a benefit, would have to be my little secret.
Well, actually, the kids were a part of that secret too. I had heard an interview on TV or radio with ‘the world’s most successful salesman’, who was a Chevrolet salesman in Detroit and who believed heartily in business cards, placing them everywhere and anywhere that it was allowed.
From his story, I found it was easy to drop my card into the pocket of a bathrobe in the ladies’ wear [areas] in the department stores and in the purses and tote bags; on public phone booth stands, [in] restaurant restrooms, even in others’ cookbooks in the bookstores.
From these, you’d be surprised, we DID hear from people who wanted to know about my recipes, which was the first experience I had with public response. What I had at that time was a little book entitled ‘The Better Cookers Cookbook’ [1973], as opposed to our current popular book, ‘Better Cookery’ [1983 – the one I rewrote for Mom].
The distribution of information on the book included my mailing a copy of it along with a letter explaining how and why it was written to several of my favorite newspaper columnists and friends.
One with whom I had contact on various subjects before, was Bob Talbert of the ‘Detroit Free Press’. He mentioned this little book in one of his columns as ‘for a buck-and-a-half-and-a-belly-laugh’. It worked!
Mom constantly found innovative ways to sell her creations, mostly through radio talk shows across the country, as well as some local and national TV talk shows – the biggest one she did was “The Phil Donahue Show”, in 1981. We received over a million letters from that episode, alone.
Besides placing her business cards (everywhere and anywhere allowed), Mom offered free sample recipes in exchange for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and she mailed special promotional packages to all sorts of media sources (newspapers, magazines, radio stations, etc.) that catered to her focus group.
For decades, Mom’s newsletter, recipes, and collections of self-published cookbooks seized the interest of people all over the country and internationally. There wasn’t anything else like them, on the market – until new copycats began copying the ORIGINAL copycat cook.
I was especially inspired about creating an e-newsletter by some of the information I found in a Google search for “e-newsletter ideas”, such as Laura-Andreea Voicu’s article for restauranteurs, called “Restaurant Newsletter Ideas” (Updated: June 20, 2024), at GloriaFood.com.
Such a newsletter (or any newsletter) can contain things like related industry news, including what’s new and fashionable, promotions, gifts or freebies, and more. Keep in mind that the experts suggest to not let a newsletter issue be very long, nor full of text and nothing else. Pictures, charts and the like break up the flatness and add eye-catching interest.
Mom described her self-published creations as being like patchwork quilts. She found, through trial and error, that her smaller monthly newsletters were more popular than the bigger, less frequent, seasonal ones that she produced for a short while. She returned to the monthly format to keep her readers’ interests more current.
Additionally, in exchange for a self-addressed, stamped envelope, Mom promoted a sheet of 15-20 free sample recipes, from her most popular requests, which changed, periodically, during her 40-year publishing career; plus, an order form for her currently available, self-published cookbooks, folders, bulletins and newsletter (which she retired in December 2000).
A well-crafted newsletter increases brand awareness and potential customer engagement. In due course, it also generates more revenue by driving repeat business, boosting sales, and building customer loyalty. Mom usually included special offers for her loyal readers in her newsletters.
Many of her famous imitations were only found in her newsletter issues and not in any of her cookbooks. She discovered, through her fan mail, that her customers were always glad they subscribed and often recommended her newsletter to their friends or they gave them their own gift subscriptions.
Either way, it increased her list of subscribers – which was always kept private. Mom never sold her list to anyone – no matter what they offered. She was very adamant about that and keeping her customers’ trust.
Mom’s newsletter was a perfect platform for her to introduce her newest food industry information, imitations, and ongoing projects. She discussed these on her regular radio interviews across the country and she always listed her upcoming schedule (of radio interviews) in her newsletters so her fans could get the latest happenings from her, in between issues.
It was through her radio show interviews that she got a lot of inspiration for new imitations. While taste-testing many famous dishes, Mom loved to get acquainted with the restaurant’s staff, chef, and manager. She usually learned a bit of history about the place and its surrounding community, too.
Sometimes she was lucky enough to encounter some friendly chefs, who would allow her to interview them. On occasion, they’d even share a recipe or two. Other times she might only get “hints” from them and the challenge of discovery was on.
I read somewhere that over 90% of potential customers choose where to eat, stay, shop, and a multitude of other things based on reviews. Thus, collecting positive reviews is usually a business’ top priority and they’ll often attempt to respond to reviews on the platforms that allow it. Popular ones are Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google My Business.
Marketing, persistence, and commitment to one’s small business endeavor are key, although, it takes a lot of little steps to make the journey down the path to success.
LAST THOUGHTS…
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.
IN CLOSING…
In honor of May, being American Cheese Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Cheese Wish”; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 273). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)]. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
May observes… Better Speech and Language Month, National Asparagus Month, National Stroke Awareness Month, Older Americans Month, National Barbecue Month, National Egg Month, National Get Caught Reading Month, National Hamburger Month, National Photography Month, National Preservation Month, National Recommitment Month, National Salad Month, National Salsa Month, National Strawberry Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month – among other things.
This week celebrates, among other things… American Craft Beer Week.
Today is also… National Nutty Fudge Day. Plus, as the start of the 2nd full business week in May (for 2025), it’s also the start of… National Etiquette Week, which runs through Friday.
Tomorrow is… National Crouton Day, National Apple Pie Day, and National Fruit Cocktail Day.
Wednesday, May 14th, is… National Buttermilk Biscuit Day.
Thursday, May 15th, is… National Chocolate Chip Day.
May 16th, is… National Barbecue Day, National Do Something Good for Your Neighbor Day, and National Mimosa Day. Plus, as the 3rd Friday in May (for 2025), it’s also… National Pizza Party Day.
May 17th, is… National Pack Rat Day, National Cherry Cobbler Day, National Walnut Day, and National Idaho Day.
Sunday, May 18th, is… National Visit Your Relatives Day, National No Dirty Dishes Day, and National Cheese Soufflé Day.
Have a great week!
…19 down and 33 to go!
