BALTIMORE – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today brought his “Made in Maryland” jobs tour to Tessemae’s All Natural, a family-owned craft condiment company whose recipe for success blends healthy ingredients and a commitment to giving back to local communities. Senator Cardin and the Vetter family discussed the company’s plans for this weekend’s “Crop Circles” event, which will distribute 25,000 pounds of free, fresh produce to Baltimore residents who live in “food deserts” and lack ready access to fresh and wholesome foods.
“Maryland is a prime place to grow a business, the best of which strive to build communities while building their companies. Tessemae’s is a great example of a family-owned Maryland company that is both principled and profitable, and I strongly applaud its efforts to find solutions to the challenges in Baltimore’s food deserts,” said Senator Cardin. “This weekend’s ‘Crop Circles’ event will bring fresh food and fresh ideas to many of the 1 in 4 Baltimoreans – and 1 in 3 children – who lack ready access to healthy and sustainable options for feeding their families. I know that Tessemae’s will bring the same infectious energy to the event as I saw when touring their production facility and factory store, or ‘Tree Fort,’ in Essex today.”
Tessemae’s “Crop Circles” event will kick off at 10:00 AM next Saturday at the New Hope Academy, 900 Druid Hill Ave., and feature workshops on urban gardening and a celebrity cook-off featuring Woodberry Kitchen chef Spike Gjerde, while distributing bags of free, fresh produce to an estimated 5,000 local residents.
Senator Cardin’s “Made in Maryland” jobs tour highlights the diversity of Maryland-made products and the Marylanders who create them. The Vetter brothers, Greg, Brian and Matt, launched the Tessemae’s All Natural brand in 2009 at their local Whole Foods in Annapolis using a simple recipe created and used by their mom; today their products are available in Whole Foods, Kroger, Safeway, The Fresh Market and Costco retailers across the country. For more information visit www.tessemaes.com.
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