How Ben's Began....

We began making this mustard over 30 years ago for our own personal use. When friends would come over for barbecues and comment on how good the mustard was, we would naturally just give them a jar. We NEVER, EVER, thought of this as being a business. Before long, we were making more for friends than we were for our own personal use. We entered this mustard in the Fiery Food Challenge in 2001 and won first place in the condiments division, and 3rd place for best new product of the year. We didn’t have it in a store yet, but I wanted to see how it stood up to the competition. The next couple of years were quite hectic in our life; we sold a business, moved, and took care of an ailing mother. In 2004 we entered the competition again and won first place. In 2005 we placed second in the Scovie Awards. This confirmed what we always knew, Ben’s Mustard is an exceptional product.
As our business was growing we began to use two kettles on the stove, then we added two turkey fryers on the back porch. It took 4 people stirring making 4 batches each just to come up with 18 cases of mustard. This was insane! We either had to go bigger with commercial equipment or just quit, so we made the decision to commit ourselves to this business and do whatever it would take in October of 2003. We built a building, went to school so we would have a certified canner on the premises, and had our kitchen approved by the ODA, so then we were finally ready to go "Big time" and sell Ben’s to the public in grocery stores “legally”.
Shawn and Natalie would take a plastic container filled with cheese, meat and crackers into a store and tell them about our mustard. Most of the time, they would buy it and put it on a shelf to try…so a great big thank you to those privately owned stores that helped us so much in the beginning and still do today. On a funny note, Natalie would get hungry while they were doing this so she would help herself to the samples and Shawn would say “Nat, we’re not going to have any samples left to pass out!”
What makes our products so unique? The mustard has all natural ingredients and we have always grown our own peppers that we use in all of the products, therefore we know there are no herbicides or pesticides used. All of the products we make came from recipes that we personally make. As one person said at a show when they tried the products, “Everything is good!” Thank you to all of our customers who have shared our products with their friends and family. Because of you spreading the word, customers in 50 states has tried Ben’s Products. We are a small business, and we love what we do so believe me when I say every jar that is produced has been made with TLC.

Our Family

Family is more important to us than anything and we had three children, Shawn, Nathan and Natalie. I was fortunate enough to be a "stay at home" Mom when the kids were growing up. When school would be out and they would come running through the door the first thing out of their mouth was, "Mom where are you?", knowing full well I was in the kitchen cooking dinner. My kids always loved to eat, and their favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. When they were grown, they asked me to make a cookbook for them with all the recipes they had as children growing up, so I did. All of them are great cooks, so I know they won't starve in the future.

There is a very special person that came into our lives when we were at the campground. Her name is Doreen (the kids called her Sugarplum) and she was like a second mom in our family. She helped me immensely, not only with the kids, but with many other jobs whether it was the restaurant, boat rental, store or mowing grass. I could not have made it without her.

We are quite the competitive family. Everyone helps in the business in one way or another and we all take pride in what we are building. Enjoy the pictures of the family below of our kids, their kids, and their kids.

Ben's Mustard

How Ben's Began....

Our Family

Family Pics

Ben's Mustard

How Ben's Began....

Our Family

Family Pics

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