Meet Vickie Nortz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vickie Nortz. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Several years ago, my son Andrew and his GF Malori were hit by drunk driver in Syracuse NY. Both had extensive Ortho injuries. Andrew was in the hospital for 2 weeks and transferred to Dodd Hall in Cbus for 2 weeks for physical rehabilitation. Malori spent over a week in the hospital and moved home so her mom could care for her. Andrew moved back home with me and my husband. Andrew had 3 surgeries and Malori 2 surgeries. Andrew was out of work for 9 months, and Malori 2 months. 

During Andrews recovery at home his friends would come over on weekends to watch football. I had an old family salsa recipe that I kept playing around with and serving Andrews friends. Soon, they suggested we sell the salsa. I’m a PT RN and I decided we should try and find a store. I knew that Andrew needed to work; physically, and mentally to recover. I thought if he could chop veggies, package, and label salsa it would go a long way towards healing. His right arm and left leg were injured and he needed extensive physical therapy. Little things help like chopping, labeling, cleaning veggies, etc. would give him a sense of accomplishment 

I took Andrew in his wheelchair to Celebrate Local at Easton. Since his background is in sales I had him make the pitch. It didn’t hurt that the owner ate half the container during the meeting. 

We got the ok, and a few weeks later I was rolling Andrew into the store and he would hand the containers to me and I would stock the shelf. Eventually, Andrew returned to his job and we had requests from other stores for our salsa. 

Andrew and Malori have since married and have a son, with another son due soon. I am a proud grandmother and feel extremely blessed to do what I do. Andrew is now working for RGS part-time and a stay-at-home Dad. Life is good!!!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing worth having is ever easy. Our initial start was anything but smooth. I had no intention of having a salsa business. I only did this to help my son recover from an accident. 

Today, our struggles are much the same as everyone else; hiring employees, supply chain, constant price increases, finding reliable distributors, making sure we are aware of our customers’ needs. We provide a fresh, premium salsa, and want to continue doing what we love to do; bring people together. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m most proud of the fact that we are a small family-owned business making fresh salsa every week. Everyone told us to make our salsa shelf-stable. Being new to the food business we tried to do this. I took a class in canning, and we “canned” our salsa. 

When we opened the jars and tried the salsa it tasted like mush. We had a neighborhood focus group and presented both salsas. No one liked the canned version. We decided to stick with what we knew and if that meant we limited our opportunities, then we could live with that. What was important is that we were true to our vision; the best salsa with the freshest local ingredients 

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Oh my goodness, yes! We were fortunate that there was still a demand for our salsa during Covid. That was the biggest surprise! What we learned was that people had more time to spend together. Simple snacks/meals were easy to prepare and people were eating at home. 

We started using social media to show how you could use RGS in a recipe. It was a slow start but it was worth it! 

Pricing:

• Salsa $8.49 – $9
• Spicy Margarita Cocktail mixer $18

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rgoodsalsa.com
• Instagram: @ridiculouslygoodsalsa.com
• Facebook: Ridiculously Good Salsa

Image Credits
Aimee Thomas Photography