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Business & Tech

Lilburn Business Partners with National Food Brand

This family business has taken off quickly, and has no signs of slowing down.

Amy D'Angelo's Garlic Clove Foods has formed a partnership with Renaissance Specialty Foods and Gourmet Merchants International in order to increase their distribution to the west coast. 

The health-conscious company offers delicious, healthy and convenient whole grain pilafs, a product created out of Amy's desire to offer quick, healthy meals to her children. 

“We had two small kids at home at the time,” said this working mom in an interview with Lilburn Patch. She would come home from work and spend an hour to an hour and a half preparing healthy dinners for her family. 

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“I kept searching for healthy alternatives,” she said, “and made things to keep in the pantry.” 

She and her husband, Dean, realized that if they were looking for these types of products, others must be out there, too. 

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Garlic Clove Foods was launched in January of 2009 and has been a huge success. The products - which includes things like Spice Cajun Pilaf, Santa Fe Pilaf, and gluten-free items – are available in all the whole foods and natural food stores in Atlanta. They are also available through different CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).  

The pilafs do not use any partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugars, refined grains, preservatives or "anything else a fifth grader couldn’t pronounce."  Instead, they include fast cooking whole grains, dehydrated vegetables, legumes, herbs and spices.  All products are low in sodium.  

Amy was previously a fundraising consultant, while her husband was in real estate development. Now, they are truly a family business. They occasionally hire part-timers, but do the vast majority of work themselves. Their children are involved in the process as well. 

After a year and a half, she and her husband were both in the business full-time.

“Work-life balance is something that we thought we would struggle with very much,” she said. “But our kids have grown up in this business. Instead of separating business and family, we combine it all.” 

Their son has an incredible attention to detail, so he helps with quality control, while he and her daughter both help count inventory. 

“We have been able to blend our family with our business so we don't struggle with balance,” she said. “They are involved every step of the way.” 

Robert Chavelle, President of Gourment Merchants International, said in a recent press release, “Garlic Clove Foods is the type of line we love to bring to our market – owner operated, passion driven products that have great flavor, are all natural and offer a nutritional benefit, yet are versatile and easy to prepare.”

On average, the products only take around 20 minutes to prepare.   

For more information or to order their products online, visit their website and "Like" their Facebook page.  

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