Milford Spice Company
Despite most of Laura Stearnes’ customers buying from her online store, she knows how important building a community is. Connecting people is one of the key components to her spice business, and she works hard to make that happen.
“We encourage interaction with our customers through our website and through our private cooking group on Facebook (called Cooking with Milford Spice Company),” says Stearnes. “We have a robust recipe blog on our website and continue adding to it from new recipes from our employees, chefs, customers and bloggers.”
Milford Spice produces over 300 natural spice selections and blends, all free of preservatives, MSG, gluten and anti-caking agents. They have forty core products with flavors ranging from simple dry rubs to the more complex truffle salt and quality paprikas. Their best seller is Pontiac Trail Pig Powder, followed by the zesty An Evening in Tuscany.
Stearnes is never happier than when she gets feedback about how her spices made somebody’s meal a success at a gathering.
“I am passionate about helping people use local ingredients, create tasty meals from fresh spices and share their meals with those they love,” she says.
For Stearnes, a big part of building community is about staying “close to the action.” She started out selling at the Oakland County Farmers Market, and continues to participate nearly every market day. The company is also involved in larger events such as VegFest, Ann Arbor Art Fair and other events throughout Michigan. She even has people from other states who love her blends so much that they’ve started selling for the company in locations across the country.
“We hope to build awareness in person,” says Stearnes, “and then encourage customers to stay in touch and re-order online."
There have been some steep learning curves for Stearnes and her team as they figure out their company’s role in the community. e business started in Stearnes’ kitchen nearly ten years ago and grew quickly—almost too quickly. After launching a particularly ambitious marketing campaign the business garnered over 10,000 orders—far more than their small company could handle at the time.
“We had to take a step back, communicate with our customers to let them know our situation, and do everything we could to make it right.” Despite the challenge, the company was eventually able to fulfill the orders and Stearnes is proud of how they learned from the experience.
“We’ve even seen the majority of those customers become repeat customers.”
Now, with that experience under her belt, Stearnes know what works to build her brand. She makes sure she builds relationships with local chefs, restaurants and farmers to provide opportunities for customers to try her products. The company recently participated in a bourbon and barbecue tasting with chef Michael Metevia at Slows Bar BQ in Detroit ,and she hosts an annual holiday open house at a new location each year, where guests can sample catered morsels and shop for holiday spice gift sets.
“It’s become a tradition I really look forward to,” says Stearnes. “Events like this help us build relationships with our customers, many of whom have become great friends.”
