Based in Eau Claire, Michigan, Flamm Pickle & Packing Co. provides a high-quality pickle relish that large food manufacturers use in salad dressings, sauces and dips. In contrast to competitors who sell pickles as a primary product with relish being a side business, Flamm is laser-focused on relish. Many customer accounts even date back to the 1960s.
Dorothy Munao joined Flamm Pickle in 2006 as its general manager, bringing a long track record of expertise in quality assurance and operations. When president Gina Flamm retired in 2021, Munao bought the company and assumed her role. Finding the transition from operations to strategic direction to be more difficult than she expected, Munao joined a manufacturing cohort program in 2023, which was co-hosted by the Edward Lowe Foundation and the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
The seven-month program began with an in-person retreat at Big Rock Valley, the foundation’s 2,000-acre learning campus in southwest Michigan. “It’s a great place to start building relationships,” Munao says. “You feel as if you’re in a safe zone where there is no judgment.” One of her major takeaways from the three-day event was the importance of working on her business instead of in it. “I need to look to the future and make sure we’re planning appropriately and heading in the right direction,” she explains.
After the retreat, the cohort continued to meet monthly in virtual roundtables, and Munao rediscovered the power of peer learning. Earlier in her career when she worked in Fortune 500 companies, plant managers from different processing facilities attended periodic training sessions and discussed common problems. “Yet as a small-business owner, it’s easy to become isolated,” Munao says. “You get caught up running your business and think you’re the only one dealing with something. In the roundtable, however, even though I was the only food manufacturer, it was surprising how familiar issues were throughout our organizations. It was comforting to realize I wasn’t the only one dealing with a particular challenge.”
The cohort program also enabled Munao to work with business experts in the foundation’s System for Integrated Growth (SIG). One of the issues Munao chose to focus on was wastewater from her company’s production process.
Since Munao joined the company in 2006 Flamm Pickle has been able to double its production, moving from 6 million pounds to 12 million pounds of relish per year. Although that’s good news for company revenue, environmental regulations now require Flamm Pickle to reduce the amount of saltwater flowing into an effluent pond. Munao had been considering a water treatment system that could safely redirect water into a nearby river, but was reluctant due to its $2 million price tag. A SIG specialist worked with Munao to look at best practices and identify alternative solutions. “It was a great reminder there could be other options out there,” she says.
Another SIG specialist helped Munao identify a list of potential new customers. Flamm Pickle has been fortunate to experience organic growth due to its high profile within the salad dressing industry. Yet Munao says the list will help her be more strategic about sales development and identify prospects closer to Flamm’s home base — important in light of rising transportation costs.
“I’ve never had assistance like this before, and it’s been a very uplifting experience,” Munao says of the cohort program. “As a second-stage business owner, I’m still struggling to move from being the day-to-day firefighter to the person who is truly leading the business. It really hits home that as your business grows, your role also has to change.”
Published Oct. 7, 2024