I climb a set of concrete stairs to peer inside a much smaller room, where six 200-gallon kettles spew spice perfumed steam into the confined space, creating jungle-like temperatures for the seven cooks who work four days each week. In a month, they’ll be working even more shifts as they gear up for the holiday season. These cooks are responsible for transforming raw ingredients, such as tomatoes, mustard seeds and mangos, into the sinfully delicious sauces, jams, salsas and chutneys that define Stonewall Kitchen.
From humble beginnings at the farmers’ market in 1991, Jonathan King and James Stott catapulted their tasty wares into a national culinary presence, with more than 6,000 wholesale accounts, eight company stores and 360 employees. Today the company’s headquarters are located on Stonewall Lane, just off Exit 7 in York. Here the rambling 65,000-square-foot building with gray weathered shingles has the feel of a seaside cottage.
This casual, homey aesthetic is a hallmark of the distinctive Maine brand known for its square jars with handwritten labels and forest green lids. It also carries over inside the corporate headquarters, which includes a gift shop, a cafe and a cooking school. From the public spaces to the executive offices, overstuffed cottage couches and sage green wainscoting give the building the comfortable vibe of a beach house.
This look, also found inside the company stores, is carefully crafted, according to King, who now serves as Stonewall’s president.
“Our stores are designed to feel like old Maine mercantile stores, with real tin ceilings, wainscoting, antique pine floors, rolling ladders and floor to ceiling cabinets,” he says. “We are a Maine-based brand and want our stores to reflect that deep heritage.”
Idea factory
Each year the company adds new offerings to its stable of roughly 200 products. Everyone in the company helps come up with these innovative flavor combinations. Ideas spring from anywhere and everywhere, including old family recipes and dishes served in cutting-edge restaurants.
King continues to be actively involved in the product development process, saying, “I find inspiration for new items daily, from magazines, cookbooks, menus, from sauces served in restaurants to other items I see on shelves around the world. I often get too inspired after visiting foreign places and need to have a cooling down period.”
Once a promising idea presents itself, a team sits down to flesh out the recipe and determine whether the necessary ingredients are available at a reasonable price. If a recipe passes the ingredient hurdle, it is sent along to the research and development lab. This department is run by food technologists Sara Kelley and Michelle Cole.
“We go from a stove top batch to a five gallon batch and then we do one full-scale test batch,” Kelley says to explain their process.
As they increase the recipe’s proportions, the pair watches for ingredients that react in unexpected ways or flavors and colors that are off. The test batch is then bottled and sent to an outside lab, which determines how long the product will remain fresh on the shelf. In the meantime, everyone on staff gets a chance to taste and comment on the recipe, while Kelley and Cole monitor the bottled product’s ability to maintain its texture and color.
Once in a while the unexpected happens.
Spokesperson Cynthia Maranhas, who has been with the company for almost 10 years, recalls a salad dressing that exploded and a raspberry curd that went from brilliant red to drab brown after a few days in a jar. It’s no surprise that neither product made it to store shelves.
This year’s new products include Cinnamon Apple Jelly (which was responsible for the wonderful warehouse aroma on the day I visited) and a line of brunch jams, featuring Mimosa, Kir Royale and Bellini. Since 1995, Stonewall Kitchen has been racking up awards from the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. This year, its new Balsamic Fig Dressing and the Barefoot Contessa Lemon Curd won top honors from the trade group.
Beyond the test lab
The work isn’t over once a recipe has been successfully tested and bottled. Instead it moves on to the in-house photo studio, where co-founder Stott oversees the creation of mouth-watering images. The studio is actually a full kitchen, which gleams in white on white with marble countertops and white subway tile.
The hallway leading to the studio serves as a massive pantry, with shelves holding rows and rows of flea market finds Stott has amassed over the years. These kitchen props include everything from colorful tea towels to delicate stemware to white stoneware. The props and the food styling team stay busy creating photographs for the online store, the printed catalogs and the company’s many cookbooks.
A crucial part of the styling team is Kim Gallagher, the company’s recipe developer. She works with all of the products to craft corresponding recipes, such as Lemon Cloud Pie with Blueberry Sauce and Coconut Beer Battered Shrimp with Peach Pomegranate Sauce. Her creations not only provide fodder for the camera, they also help customers find innovative ways to use Stonewall Kitchen products.
Between the enticing smells and the frequent tastings, Stonewall Kitchen serves up a sensory dream for employees and visitors alike. It’s a combination not lost on King.
“I’ve worn every single hat at Stonewall Kitchen, from cook, to shipper, to retail clerk,” King says. “I’m doing exactly what I want everyday. Being the creative director allows me to bring to market my dreams. There is nothing more rewarding than having an idea and months later seeing it come to fruition on the shelves of stores nationwide. I love being creative, and when I’m being creative I’m most satisfied.”
And when King is satisfied, the legions of Stonewall Kitchen fans are satisfied too.