THE PEANUT SHOP OF WILLIAMSBURG

Located in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg is The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg, the place where our own "founding fathers" began. It was in that tiny shop where their small batch, hand-cooked roasting techniques were developed and perfected. Although there have been many changes since The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg first opened its doors, what hasn't changed is the extraordinary, crunchy flavor resulting from time honored roasting methods. The Peanut Shop peanuts still achieve their legendary flavor and crunchiness as a result of time honored cooking practices. They begin with only premium quality, super extra large Virginia peanuts, hand selected for their size. These peanuts are first water blanched, which gives them their fresh and unique crunchiness, and then small batch roasted in 100% peanut oil under the direct supervision of their Roastmaster.

FERIDIES

In 1973, the Riddick families (twin brothers, Bob and Bill and their wives) opened The Peanut Patch. What started out as a furniture company and a gift shop is today a national peanut company. Southampton County, Virginia, where the shop is located, is one of the world's largest peanut producing counties. At that time, one could travel through the county and not know where to purchase a bag of peanuts. The Riddicks decided at that time to sell Virginia peanuts and promote them worldwide. Hence, the name - The Peanut Patch. After a few years, the Riddicks decided to cook, package, and sell their own Virginia type peanuts. Virginia peanuts are known for their large size and crunchy flavor. In 1992, the Peanut Patch became nationally recognized for its Virginia peanuts as a finalist in the International Fancy Food and Confection Show in the categories of "snack foods" and "classic." These award-winning peanuts are sold worldwide.

Over the years, their crunchy extra large gourmet Virginia type peanuts have become increasingly popular and have won several International Specialty Food Awards. A few years ago, they made the decision to rebrand their product line to trademark their brand name. In order to trademark a brand name, they needed to create or manufacture a name. It was important to them that this "made up name" have special meaning. Hence, FERIDIES was developed which comprises a piece of each of their family member's last names (Alice & Paul ShafFER, Judy & Bob RIDdick, Jane & Ted FrIES).

Feridies pride themselves on the large size, fresh flavor and crunchy taste of their peanuts! This high quality is achieved by using extra-large grade Virginia-type peanuts and pure peanut oil to maintain the peanuts’ distinctive flavor and healthy qualities. No artificial preservatives or additives are added. Their packaging is upscale and makes a worthy gift.

VIRGINIA DINER

A LEGEND IN A NUTSHELL SINCE 1929
You may not realize that the Virginia Diner really is a 80-year old diner located in Wakefield, Virginia known for its home style cooking served up with plenty of Southern smiles. In those days the little diner was a refurbished Sussex, Surry, and Southampton Railroad car. Being in the heart of peanut country, it wasn’t long before they were cooking peanuts and serving them in the Diner as their country version of “after dinner mints.” Today The Virginia Diner has been replicated and the old railroad car has become a legend, but its quaint atmosphere has been faithfully preserved and still reflects throughout the restaurant. Antique peanut vendor roasters and buckets of free peanuts for munching continue to greet guests at the front door along with the irresistible aroma of freshly prepared dishes. Today, people all over the United States buy and enjoy many varieties of Virginia Diner peanuts and many send them to friends, colleagues, and family as appreciated gifts, fresh from local fields and prepared in its kitchen instead of after-dinner mints. On March 24, 2008, in Season 3, Episode 3 of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, called Regional Favorites, Guy Fieri journeyed from the East Coast to the southwest for regional specialties including classic Southern cooking at the landmark Virginia Diner.

CHINCOTEAGUE SEAFOOD COMPANY

Chincoteague Seafood Co., Inc., a local family-owned business has successfully operated boats and processing facilities in Chincoteague and Atlantic, Virginia, located just south of the Maryland line. Chincoteague is nationally known as the home of quality seafood, particularly clams, crabs and oysters. It is also famous because it is the focal point every year of the nationally known Pony Swim, in which the wild Assateague ponies are gathered together for a swim across a shallow channel into Chincoteague, where many are auctioned off.

The company was started in 1955 when Bernard Rubin, their founder and current Chairman, began selling their clam chowder to restaurants in New England under their original Cape Cod label. In 1969, as a result of a clam supply problem in the northeast, he searched for a new location and opened a processing facility in Atlantic, Virginia to take advantage of the area's abundant supply of high quality clams. In 1974, as a result of company growth, the second processing facility was opened in Chincoteague, Virginia and also became the corporate headquarters.

Their newest venture, completed in May 2001, was the acquisition and move into a brand new office facility and distribution center in Parsonsburg, Maryland (outside of Salisbury, Maryland). This facility allows greater access to the trucking companies that transport their products to their many repeat customers around the country, and the future expansion of their company.

Their product line can best be described as a "gourmet" quality line that is competitively priced and is “Naturally Sea-Licious”. They cut no corners on quality and the results can be seen in their finished products. Today, they sell their products to restaurants, colleges, hospitals, other institutions, and retail customers throughout the United States. Their uncompromising recipes are based on fresh, high-quality ingredients, and provide a home-made authentic taste and presentation. They use no MSG, preservatives, artificial colorings or artificial flavorings in our soups. They have expanded their product line over the past few years, including their newest items, Crab and Cheddar Soup, Shrimp Bisque, and Lobster and Cheddar Bisque, in order to meet the growing demand for diversity in consumer tastes.

They have been awarded the American Taste Award of Excellence certificates on our New England Clam Chowder, Manhattan Clam Chowder, Lobster Bisque, Cream of Crab Soup, and Vegetable Red Crab Soup.

To this day, Chincoteague Seafood Co., Inc. remains active in all phases of the seafood business including a large commercial and retail distribution network.

BLUE CRAB BAY

In 1985, Blue Crab Bay founder Pamela Barefoot had an inspired vision of what a business could be. From her seaside farmhouse kitchen she imagined a company that would put the tastes of the Chesapeake region on the map, be a protector of the environment and provide stimulating and fun employment for citizens of her rural community. Surrounding herself with foods from the Chesapeake, a functioning stove, a list of contacts and boatloads of imagination and determination, Barefoot got to work. Sales exploded, awards rained plentiful, and the number of employees mounted. Barefoot began distribution of other products, including foods and gift items.

Her first brand, Blue Crab Bay Co.,featured original products like seasonings for crab dip and gift packs wrapped in weathered fishnet with seashells. In the late 1980's, on the strength of the addictive "Clam Dip Blend", the customer base escalated geographically and her small company began exhibiting at national trade shows. Blue Crab Bay offers an extensive product line of specialty foods and gifts, internationally recognized for their signature blue labeling, handsome packaging and unrivaled taste. The handsome packaging even gained the attention of Hollywood set directors. Kitchen cabinets were stocked full in an opening shot of Julia Roberts' film "Sleeping with the Enemy."

When she found her company in financial trouble, Barefoot did not give up. She went into her kitchen and developed her dream product. She spent the early months of 1994 mixing tomato paste, clam juice, horseradish and seafood spices to create Sting Ray Bloody Mary Mixer. Their best selling Sting Ray^® Bloody Mary Mixer won top honors in Outstanding Beverage a prestigious award competition at the International Fancy Food Show in New York. Blue Crab Bay Co. has been featured in many national publications, including INC., Coastal Living and Nation's Business. The company was selected as a 1998 Blue Chip Enterprise and in 1999 Barefoot was honored as the Small Business Administration's Small Business Person of the Year for the State of Virginia. In 2003, she received the SBA's Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur Award in Washington, DC.

In the shadows of all this success, Blue Crab Bay Co.'s corporate culture continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to the environment and its rural Eastern Shore community. Each year, employees energetically plan and execute charity events. Since 1998, the Blue Crabbers Relay for Life Team has raised over $50,000 to benefit the American Cancer Society. The company supports various organizations including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore, The Nature Conservancy, and the United Way of United Way of Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

GOLD TROPHY WINNER International Fancy Food Show:

· Outstanding Beverage STING RAY MIXER June 1998.

SILVER TROPHY WINNERS International Fancy Food Show:

· Outstanding Appetizer CRAB DIP KIT July 1999.

· Outstanding Product Line June 1998.

· Outstanding Food Gift Pack SOUPER GIFT PACK June 1998.

· Outstanding Beverage STING RAY MIXER June 1997.

· Outstanding Beverage STING RAY MIXER July 1995.

OTHER PRODUCT AWARD:

· Award of Excellence for a Regional Product, presented by Julia Child and the American Institute of Wine & Food, Washington, DC October 1991.

SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS:

· Hottest National Brand, Virginia Business Magazine 1999.

· Fantastic 50 Award, Virginia Chamber of Commerce, for recognition as one of Virginia's fastest-growing private companies March 1998.

BYRD MILL

The Tradition of Byrd Mill began in 1740. Young Patrick Henry visited the mill often, bringing corn, wheat and buckwheat from his father's nearby plantation. Byrd Mill continued in operation at its original site until 1968 when an untimely fire brought an end to production in the original building. Byrd Mill now located in Ashland, Virginia manufactures some of the finest gourmet mixes available while still offering many of those old tyme products.

GRAVES MOUNTAIN

Graves’ Mountain Lodge is nestled deep in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Syria, Virginia. Graves Mountain Lodge established its cannery in 1980. They use family recipes to make their old-fashioned preserves unmatched for their quality and goodness. They cook their preserves in open kettles. The batches are kept small and each product is made as needed. They use the finest quality fruit, pure cane sugar and all natural seasonings in creating a product they feel is as good as "Grandma used to make.

HOLY CROSS ABBEY

Monastery Creamed Honey is from the monks of Holy Cross Abbey, Berryville, Virginia. Holy Cross Abbey is a monastery of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists) sheltered by the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It is a natural product made of the finest clover honey, slowly mixed until it has light creamy texture, the consistency of butter.

ROWENA'S

Three backyard fruit trees and almond pound cake sparked what is today a thriving gourmet food business for Rowena Fullinwider, founder and president of Rowena’s, Inc, in Norfolk, Virginia. Fullinwider often baked for family, friends and church bake sales. People liked what she made and wanted to buy them. A friend offered to carry things in her store. After that, things just started to grow. She started with her almond pound cake, some jams and the lemon curd. As word spread about the “cake lady”, requests for Rowena’s specialty foods exceeded the capabilities of her kitchen. Rowena opened her gourmet manufacturing facility in May of 1983 and in 23 years, her facility has grown to 18 employees, a retail store, staff offices, call center, tearoom, two spacious kitchens and two warehouses. The Almond Pound Cake is to this day her biggest selling item.

Rowena and her company have won numerous awards over the years, including the coveted Blue Chip Enterprise Award in 1994 and the Women Business Advocate Award for Virginia and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Small Business Administration in 2004.

Rowena not only runs her successful business, but she also serves or has served on several boards (including president of the local National Association of Women Business Owners in 1996-97), mentors other women business owners, donates tons of time and product to charities, and gives tours of Rowena's to at-risk children. She lobbied Congress to help small business receive an exemption from the National Labeling and Education Act of 1990, served as chairman of the Governor's Small Business Advisory Board for six years, and was a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995, serving as the co-chair for the Regulation and Paperwork Reduction committee.

Rowena’s has been featured in national publications such as Lady’s Home Journal, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Taste of Home and Southern Living, and has appeared on Food Finds on the Food Network’s Food Finds, QVC, The 700 Club and The Today Show. Virginia’s Governor who declared Feb 20th as “Rowena Fullinwider Day” also has honored her. Rowena’s is the first US small gourmet business to present at the Moscow World Food Fair.

LA PROVENCALE CELLARS

Tom Rodriguez was convinced that Virginia apples could produce sparkling apple ciders as fruity and complex as the ones he enjoyed in Brittany and Normandy. After retirement from an international champagne, wine and spirits house, he designed a business to market the effervescent apple cider he remembered.
During twenty years of corporate division management and marketing, he traveled regularly throughout the middle Atlantic region tracing many miles through the apple orchards of northwestern Virginia. His background expertise in champagne and sparkling wine led him to consider the high acid level of eastern apple production - the same level of acidity being one of the factors that make good sparkling wines. His proprietary cuvee of several orchard varietals was infused with bubbles to create Le Mousseux, a gourmet sparkling apple cider - a non-alcoholic festive favorite. Production problems have caused the unfortunate discontinuation of Le Mousseux.
Apple spreads, based on memories of his grandmother's cooking were a natural extension of the product line. His West Virginia grandmother's handwritten recipes and notes in the margin of her cookbook were the source of his fruit combinations. The huge cook pots over an outside fire are gone, but the home-cooked flavors are wonderful.

WOODPECKER FARM FOODS

Woodpecker Farm Foods presents food products that are all natural from Old Virginia family recipes. Woodpecker Farm Foods was originally founded in 1993 by Charles and Pat Linton. Charles is a great grandson of George Washington's sister, Betty Washington of Lewis Kenmore in Fredericksburg, VA. In 1993 they decided to share some of the family recipes that were passes down through the years. Many of the family recipes date back to George Washington's family and Colonial times. Woodpecker Farm Foods has strived to provide quality, Virginia-made products with a tie to our nation’s history. For example, they use unbleached wheat flour and stone-ground corn meal instead of processed flours. The only processed ingredients are those that are part of the baking powder or baking soda found in the products, which have been added to the original recipes to improve preparation. Try some of these great products and see for yourself how history and modern times have combined to bring you the "best of the best."

The company is now owned by Mike & Mandy Onda (Mandy is a relative of the Lintons) who seek to provide the same level of quality and service that Woodpecker Farm Foods is known for. They hope their products become a tradition for your family, too.

CABIN CREEK ROASTERS