HAVERHILL — For years, Carolyn Grieco ran a food business from her home, selling specialty baked goods, jams and baking mixes to customers at the Haverhill Farmers Market, local farm stands and via home delivery.
Now, with his company's products experiencing phenomenal growth, Grieco, 58, has opened a retail store and commercial kitchen at 800 Broadway.
The Stoneham native, who majored in culinary arts at Newberry College in Brookline in 1990, said she has always had a passion for food ever since becoming obsessed with the Easy-Bake Oven as a child.
“Since graduating from culinary school, I've had some unique opportunities in the industry, including being a personal chef, running a private cafe for a law firm in Boston, teaching cooking classes for adults and running my own bakery in Middleton,” she said.
“Before I knew it, I was deeply involved in local farm foods and seasonal baking, working on several family farms around the state, running farm kitchens and developing retail products using fruits and vegetables from our fields and orchards.”
And thus, she says, Carolyn's Farm Kitchen was born.
“We currently produce a line of original farm baking mixes made from seasonal recipes we've developed over the years, and we sell retail and wholesale to farmers markets and specialty stores throughout the state. In addition to the baking mixes, we also produce homemade jams and preserves, granola, and lots of freshly baked breads using our baking mix recipes.”
For the past 12 years, Grieco has run his small business from a licensed, city and state inspected second kitchen in his Haverhill home, selling his products at the retail and wholesale levels.
As the business grew, she began selling up to 500 scones and 100 loaves of bread a week at the Haverhill Farmers Market, not to mention other products, and she's also known throughout the area for her cooking classes.
Grieco said she prides herself on creating “clean” baking mixes that are in season. Her easy, one-bowl premium mixes ask customers to add fresh ingredients that are in season in New England, such as eggs, milk, apple cider, vegetable oil, vanilla, butter, pumpkin, apples, cranberries and other fruits, setting them apart from commercial mixes that contain processed, dried or dehydrated fruits and other ingredients.
“It's important for people to know that I use only the finest ingredients, like aluminum-free baking powder and stone-ground cornmeal,” she said.
The varieties are seemingly endless: Zucchini Bread and Spiced Loaf Mix, Blueberry Muffin and Crumble Mix, Shortcake Biscuit and Garden Herb Biscuit Mix, various scone mixes, Fruit Buckle Coffeecake Mix, Maple Cornbread Mix, Gluten Free Mixes (Fruit Bread and Muffin Mixes, etc.) There's also a Cider Donut Baking Mix and Baking Kit, which is one of her most popular mixes as fall arrives in New England.
“It's an old-fashioned baked good that just requires the addition of a few fresh ingredients,” she says. “All you need is a bowl, a whisk and a spatula, and our mix is ready in the oven in five minutes.”
Her jams are made from premium ingredients, including locally grown apples, wild Maine blueberries and rhubarb from Willow Spring Vineyard in Haverhill and Pleasant Valley Farm in Methuen.
“All of the farms I work with follow good practices,” she said, adding that they strive to use non-GMO ingredients.
Delivery is always free in Haverhill on purchases over $25, but there is a small fee for neighboring communities, she said.
“We're excited to remain in Haverhill and expand into a larger commercial space, which will allow us to grow both our retail and wholesale business as well as continue to engage with the community in the form of cooking demos, pop-up events and more,” she said. “While this is not a bakery, we will always offer fresh baked goods in some form throughout the year.”
She plans to initially open a retail store during production hours, continue attending the Haverhill Farmers Market and making deliveries via Red Buggy, and also host cooking classes and culinary demonstrations.
“I always say, 'We have the best customers,' and their support and the support of this community has allowed us to grow and move forward,” she said.
