Amanda Crowley was faced with a scary diagnosis in 2023. She turned it into a successful entrepreneurial story.
Crowley is the owner of Piper’s Pure Pickles, a business that recently opened a self-service, product pick-up location in Indian River. The idea of Piper’s Pure Pickles came from a desire for Crowley to completely change her diet following a breast cancer diagnosis three years ago. She has been a lifelong lover of pickles but turned her health profile into an opportunity to create clean, healthy and tasty pickles.
“When you go to the store and you buy pickles off the shelf it’s hard to imagine all the junk that you have in (the jars),” Crowley said. “I’ve been obsessed with pickles my whole life. I’m pretty sure if you took an ultrasound of me you would see pickles in my stomach.”
It took Crowley a few months to develop a good tasting pickle product that is dye-free, preservatives-free and includes only natural ingredients. Her husband, Aaron, family members and friends were her taste tasters. By 2024, her pickles were in high demand within Crowley’s personal network. That’s when she began to explore renting a commercial kitchen to make larger batches for sale. Michigan law requires commercially sold food products that need refrigeration and are canned to be produced in a licensed and inspected commercial kitchen.
It’s a significant time commitment to run Piper’s Pure Pickles. Crowley works full-time remotely for General Motors but estimates that she spends about 20-25 hours a week making and bottling pickles. Aaron is a huge support handling the “IT stuff,” Amanda said with a laugh. For example, he manages Piper’s point-of-sale system.
“I couldn’t do this without him,” Crowley said.
She is also assisted by daughter, Ashlynn Torres, who sells and distributes bottled pickles at the Tecumseh Farmers Market in Adrian. Ashlynn also leads the business’ social media accounts on TikTok and Instagram.
Crowley plans to sell her product at the Harbor Springs Farmers Market over the next few months. Several local businesses also carry Piper’s Pure Pickles, including Bonnieview Farms in Alanson, The Whi-Ski Inn in Boyne Falls and more.
Crowley also started shipping pickles to clients last year and continues to research methods of affordable online sales. She is selling up to 200 jars of pickles most weeks.
Her pickles were even awarded “Best Pickle” at the Pickle Palooza event in Grand Rapids on May 2, beating out larger Michigan-made pickle brands like Freakin’ Pickles, Dill Daddy Pickles and more.
“I want to increase those numbers to 300-400, which will require more sales through wholesaling,” Crowley said.
The Indian River resident doesn’t plan to stop with just pickles either. As the current business grows, she will consider creating all-natural alternatives to salad dressing, dips and other food items that Crowley feels lack clean options in the marketplace today. She also likes the idea of creating a “clean” fast food restaurant with food made without preservatives and artificial ingredients.
In short, Crowley believes a healthy diet is the best way to support a healthy lifestyle and profile. Her cancer is in remission, and she believes her healthy eating habits are supporting her long-term well-being.
“People can eat clean and still enjoy their food,” Crowley said. ‘It’s not hard to make food with clean ingredients. You just need to know where to find them.”
Learn more by visiting piperspure.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Piper’s Pure Pickles focuses on clean ingredients, expanding in Northern Michigan
Reporting by M. Alan Scott, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
