Pacific Pickle Works began as a hobby for Bradley Bennett, who made pickled treats to give to close friends every holiday season.
“I was improving and perfecting the recipe every year,” explains Bennett, whose list of recipients grew quite large after about four years. “We decided we either have to brand this and sell them, or stop doing it completely.”
So Pacific Pickle Works was born in 2010, and C’est Cheese on Santa Barbara Street became his first customer that next year. The company steadily expanded since. “Then it became eight stores and then 10, and 10 became 20, then 40,” said Bennett. “Then we got into one Whole Foods, then three, then 15.” Today, they are in most of the West Coast’s Whole Foods as well as in Jimbo’s, Bristol Farms, and Gelson’s in Southern California and Lucky’s, Save Mart, and more in Northern California.