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We'd love to hear from you! If you have any questions about our products, this web site, wholesale/retail opportunities or to just say "hi". please feel free to contact us by the means outlined below.
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Hours: |
Mon - Wed: 8:00am to 2:00pm PT Thurs: 8:00am to 12:00pm PT Fri: No set hours. Customer service email is checked regularly and sometimes even on weekends. |
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Phone: |
888-GARLICFEST 888-427-5423 831-638-9556 |
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Fax: |
831-636-3505 |
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Email: |
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Mailing |
Garlic Festival® Foods,
Inc. |
History
In 1979, Gilroy, CA held its first "Gilroy Garlic Festival" and hence became world renowned as the "Garlic Capital of the World". It featured fresh garlic in the many food booths and for sale in the form of braids and loose garlic. But, alas, the Garlic Capital had no garlicky products. Caryl, the creator of Garli Garni, was, at the time, the owner of an advertising and graphic design firm. Inspired by the wild success of the festival and being a fine cook, she started mixing up a garlic herb blend that she used regularly in preparing daily meals as well as dishes for her frequent entertaining. Guests regularly raved and asked what the seasoning was and wanted to take some home. Up to that point, it had been a loosely thrown together concoction.
Down the road a couple of years, the Hayward Zucchini Festival joined the food festival scene. Caryl's "secret seasoning", Garli Garni, was the seasoning used in the stir fry vegetables prepared in a giant wok at the kickoff for the press and VIPs. Attending the event were several food writers from Bay Area newspapers. After the cooking and tasting, several of the food writers from the Bay Area wanted to know what the secret was to the "best stir fry they'd ever had". The carrots, zucchini, onions...? NO! It was the Garli Garni seasoning! Thus, a culinary star was born. In fact, it was the biggest breakthrough since salt & pepper.
At that point, Caryl realized she had a winner on her hands. However, the exact formula was lost. Caryl spent a feverish month trying to duplicate the formula she had sent to the Hayward Zucchini Festival. But, something was missing from the many ingredients. Finally, success! The missing ingredient was rediscovered and Garli Garni was born (or reborn, as it were). A period of test marketing followed. The bottles were flying off the shelves at the new Garlic World store in Gilroy. It was a winner!
In 1986, Caryl started Garlic Festival® Foods with Garli Garni as her first and still most popular product. She then went on to create an entire line of award-winning "garlic laced" products that are marketed nationwide. Users proclaim they are "addicted" to Garli Garni and can't cook without it. Many have tried, and failed, to reproduce the unique blend of garlic and herbs which enhance, rather than overwhelm, the flavor of the foods on which it is used. Likewise, GFF's many other sauces, seasonings, mustards, and condiments.
The company has remained family-owned and is located in central California, considered by many to be 'heaven on earth' with its' beaches, mountains and fertile valleys. Central California produces everything from artichokes, fine wines, salad greens for the entire country, berries, apples, tomatoes, apricots, nuts, citrus, and crops too varied to list and.......GARLIC!
The Folks Behind Garlic Festival® Foods
Caryl Simpson
Caryl Simpson is the President and creator of Garlic Festival® Foods award-winning specialty food products. She has a degree in Art and a BS degree. Before starting Garlic Festival® Foods, Caryl owned an advertising and graphic design firm as well as a screen printing and sign firm. Her experience as an artist who did work for many other firms came in very handy when it came to designing packaging for our extensive product line. Several years ago after studying at the University of California, Davis and training with international experts, she became one of the first certified olive oil tasters in the United States and served on the tasting panel of the California Olive Oil Council, which certifies oil to be "Extra Virgin". She has also served as a judge at the International Olive Oil Competition held in Southern California. In that capacity, she has been a guest on radio programs, conducted training for culinary professionals, held olive oil tastings, has conducted seminars on olive oils at such places as Cornell University in New York. She is also an accomplished landscaper/gardener, designer, still cooks daily for family and friends, and loves to entertain. Most recently, she has been the chef / owner of the popular "Cafe Aromas". |
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Tracy Taggart Tracy, our new "bulbcounter", came on board to replace our previous bookkeeper. What started as a temporary gig has turned into a regular position watching our bottom line and keeping the office ship shape. We don't know what we'd do without her. Tracy is married to Tom, who is a strawberry guru and mom to Clara. When not crunching numbers and paying bills Tracy is an avid tennis player, volunteers at her daughter's school and shuttles between many activities. She's a real go-getter. |
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Arthur Hernandez Arthur is our knight in shining armor! He showed up at just the right time to get our warehouse ship-shape and then moved it practically single-handedly! Quick to learn all there is to know about moving garlic from point A to point B, Arthur is a pleasure to work with, so far! (We're sure he must have a fatal flaw hidden away someplace. lol) Arthur is a sports loving Dad to three kids, and had a terrific wife named Elizabeth.. We are so glad to have him as part of our Garlic family! |
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Hannah....The Garlic Girl Hannah had the good fortune to be born into a family-run garlic company and automatically became our "spokesgirl" from the age of two; that is, from about the time she could actually speak. And, as you may have guessed, the first words out of her mouth weren't "mama" or "dada", but "gaga", which we naturally understood to mean garlic. She is the daughter of Heather and Greg and the granddaughter of Caryl Simpson, the founder of Garlic Festival® Foods. From the time she was a toddler, some of her favorite foods have been garlic stuffed olives and pickled garlic. And....she won't hesitate to tell you....she LOVES Garli Garni! A child with excellent and highly developed taste! Watch for some of Hannah's favorite recipes. Great for kids AND adults! |
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Heather Simpson-Bluhm Heather is the daughter of Caryl and mother of Hannah. She has been working for the family business in one form or another since she was 9 years old and has attended 30 out of 32 Gilroy Garlic Festivals. Heather created our original web site and opened our retail store in Gilroy where it thrived until she decided to "retire" seven years ago in order to bring baby Hannah into the world. Since then, Heather has filled in various roles at Garlic Festival® Foods from answering phones to marketing to overseeing our new push into social media when she isn't working as an artist or shuttling Hannah to play dates or horseback riding. |
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Bandit (aka Mr. B, Bandito, Fatty) Bandit sort of adopted us. Apparently he was dumped out near our business and was forced to scrounge in the bushes and dumpsters until Heather took pity on him and started putting out food. Of course, that was the end of it and soon Bandit had visited a clinic to bring his vaccinations up to date and had a bed, food bowl and litter box all INSIDE the walls of Garlic Festival Foods world headquarters. Bandit is a sweet boy who is VERY affectionate and funny. He knows he was saved from bad things and readily shows his appreciation with his playfulness and skill at keeping the warehouse rodent free! We love coming to work and seeing his little face waiting for us in the mornings |
