Check Out Barbara Geller’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Geller.

Hi Barbara, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I began eating salad with my Grandmother, Lillian’s salad dressing on it as a 6 y.o. This recipe has been in my family for over 60 years. For years I gifted this dressing in a mason jar, & for people that really liked it, a large Martinelli Apple Juice Bottle. My mother Janet was a great cook and realized that not only was Grandmoo’s (that’s what we called our Grandmother Lillian) dressing was great on salads, but it was an excellent marinade. People would tell my mother and I we should sell it….we would laugh, but actually gave it some thought. In late 2001, we informally took some samples of meats we had marinaded and grilled and a big salad dressed with Lillian’s to Central Market. My mother at the time had a friend who was the meat market manager at Central Market and he had suggested we do this to see what type of response we would get. Everyone loved it that tried it at Central Market. Unfortunately my mother got ill so we left the dressing on hold. My mother passed away in 2002 and when we were going through her paperwork, we discovered a shelf life viability study that was completed. We didn’t even know she had sent dressing to Dr Wagner at Texas A & M to be tested! Retrospectively, I look at this whole journey as “Beshert.” which in the Jewish religion (and we are a Jewish family) means inevitable, or preordained. I lost interest in getting this product “shelf ready” after momma died. I did however continue gifting the dressing. People kept telling me I should sell it. In 2017, a good friend suggested that I should enter HEB’s Quest for Texas Best contest, which I did just for the experience. This motivated me to reach out to a childhood friend, a marketing and design genius, and ask him to help me with labeling, and eventually a website and other marketing ideas. I didn’t win the contest, but it rekindled my interest in trying to market it. Just by word of mouth, I sold over 1000 bottles in a very short period of time. It was time consuming to produce the dressing in our very small kitchen, mainly peeling and puréeing the garlic. My husband bought me a garlic peeler that would peel over 8 lbs. of garlic in about 8 minutes. I also had an attachment to my Cuisinart that would purée the fresh garlic. In a weekend we could only bottle 150 bottles. Eventually we got all the labeling done and met all of the requirements to be able to sell to stores. We also found a copacker that now bottles our product. Royal Blue Grocery in San Antonio, Texas was the first store to sell LILLIAN’S GARLIC INFUSED SALAD DRESSING AND MARINADE. Then my high school girlfriend, Terri Smith-Gebbia, and her two partners, Diane and Jill who own a cute boutique that sells clothes, great gifts and other locally made products, RUFFLES AND RUST in Pflugerville, Texas became the second store to sell LILLIAN’S. Then one by one, next thing I knew, we were in 8 specialty stores. On 2/26/21 I received an email via my website from Central Market: “I am the buyer of dairy and frozen foods for Central Market in Dallas. I am very interested in selling your product in our stores for our Texas Foods Event in May. If the product does well it could receive permanent placement. We would love to feature this Texas product for this great event. Please let me know if you are interested.”
THIS WAS A TRUE DREAM THAT BECAME REALITY! My mother would have loved this so much. So the rest is history. We are now in 8 specialty stores in Pflugerville, Austin, Spicewood and San Antonio. We are in all Central Markets stores in Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Plano, Ft Worth, and Southlake. We also are at PEDERNALES FARMERS MARKET and GOOD SHEPHERD FARMERS MARKET at least once a month. It has been a spiritual journey for us in so many ways. A portion of our proceeds go to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). As a Nurse Practitioner, I see even more the need for the treatment of mental illness…..since our brain is the driving force for our entire body, and when and if you are mentally ill, which could just mean depression, you do not want to take care of yourself. And in our country…..we see the need for treatment of mental illness. I would like to be a change in the “mental illness stigma” and make sure that EVERYONE knows it is nothing to be ashamed of and that there is help. Also, Lillian’s is a heart healthy product. I did contact the American Heart Association, and they said it was a heart healthy product, but to be able to have their logo on our bottle is quite costly and we are at this time unable to do so. Hopefully in the future.

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?
It truly has been a smooth road……that is why I feel in my heart that this is “Beshert.” Challenges were of my own making. I had been making my grandmothers recipe for so many years, and even imagining someone else making Grandmoo’s dressing as good as I make it seemed almost impossible. Another challenge has been time. This has not interfered with my “full time job” as a APN (advanced practice nurse) but it does take up weekend time for my husband and myself since we LOVE to do Farmers Markets and Demos at Central Market! We did have an issue when we got our first order from Central Market….Due to Covid, there was a bottle shortage, but it all worked out. Also, costs have increased, due to Covid, increase in ingredients, especially oil, has recently just happened. But we continue to have faith that it will all work out…..and it has so far.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I graduated from UTMB Galveston in 1978 with BSN in Nursing. I practiced until 2006 and decided to return to school to obtain my Masters in Nursing. I am presently a full time Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) and a Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) working for Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons in Austin, Texas.

I am most proud to work for and with such an amazing group of surgeons, advanced practice providers and other ancillary personnel. I particularly love to advocate for the patient and family during times when there is opportunity to educate and guide them through the pre and post-operative process.

I have lived out my dream professionally.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I have received so much support from family, friend, coworkers, and the community. For continued support, try Lillian’s and if you like it, share it with friends. Also….please donate to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).

Pricing:

• 12.00/16oz bottle

Contact Info:

• Email: lilliansdressing@gmail.com
• Website: lilliansdressing.com
• Instagram: lillians_dressing

Image Credits
Matt Manroe @ matt@bl-nkcanvas.com. (the picture of me holding the bottle of Lillians)