From One Jar to Millions
Turns Out, Great-Grandma Made a Pretty Darn Good Pickle.
In the early 1900s, Greg’s great-grandmothers came to America carrying a few things from the old country—including family recipes. One brought her canning knowledge. The other brought a recipe for bootleg liquor and built a still in her kitchen. 😂 But that’s another story.
The canning recipes weren’t written down. They were passed from one generation to the next by doing—from Greg’s grandmother, to his father, and eventually to Greg himself.
And somewhere along the way, one thing became pretty clear: the pickles were really, really good.
Then Greg Got His Hands on the Recipe.
Greg grew up with those recipes the way the generations before him had—by learning them hands-on. But Greg did something a little different: he wrote everything down. The ingredients. The amounts. The process.
And if you know Greg, that probably isn't surprising. The man loves growing things. He grew his own produce and canned what he could for friends and family. Over the years there were plenty of things coming out of Greg's garden and kitchen.
But one thing always seemed to disappear faster than everything else.
The pickles.
After 25 Years in the Business World, Greg Had an Idea.
After 25 years in the business world, Greg decided he needed something more to do. And after years of watching friends and family make those pickles disappear, he had a pretty simple thought:
Maybe more people should get to taste these.
So he took the family recipe, the process he'd carefully written down, and the pickles everyone kept asking for—and Tru Pickles was born.
No elaborate business plan. No corporate boardroom.
Just a really good pickle and a guy who thought more people should know about it.
And Then Something Funny Happened.
Greg started Tru Pickles because he wanted more people to taste the pickles his family had been making for generations.
Turns out, a lot more people wanted to taste them.
What started with one family recipe grew jar by jar, customer by customer, and store by store. Somewhere along the way, Greg became “The Pickle Guy,” and Tru Pickles went from sharing jars with friends and family to selling more than 2 million jars and counting.
But the best part wasn't the number.
It was watching something that started in Great-Grandma's kitchen become part of other people's tables, cookouts, Bloody Marys, gifts, and traditions.
Turns out, one little pickle can start a whole lot of stories.
The Customers Had a Few Ideas, Too.
Turns out, customers didn’t just want to eat the pickles. They had ideas about what Tru should do next.
They used the brine in Bloody Marys. They asked if they could buy the juice by itself. They found new ways to use the flavors Greg had created—and they weren’t shy about telling him about it.
Greg listened.
Over time, one family pickle recipe grew into something much bigger: new pickle flavors, Ultimate Mary Mix, Pickle JUCE, hot sauces, and more.
A lot of what Tru Pickles has become started with a customer saying, “You know what you should do…”
And Greg saying, “Huh. That’s not a bad idea.”
Some Things Haven’t Changed.
Greg still loves growing things. He still has plants tucked around the pickle office, starts things from seeds, and propagates just about anything he can get his hands on.
In fact, his mother's 40-year-old Christmas cactus has turned into somewhere around 300 plants over the years—most of them given away to other people.
That's kind of how Greg operates.
Someone can walk into the Tru Pickles office expecting to taste a pickle and walk out with a few jars, a story, and quite possibly a plant cutting. 😂
Because for Greg, Tru Pickles has never really been just about selling pickles.
It's about growing something—and sharing it with other people.
Open the Jar. Close Your Eyes.
A pickle recipe made its way from Great-Grandma's kitchen to Greg's garden, then into a jar, and eventually onto tables all across the country.
More than two million jars later, we still think the best part happens when someone opens one.
Maybe it reminds you of the pickles your grandma used to make. Maybe it ends up next to a burger at a backyard cookout. Maybe somebody takes one bite and immediately asks, “Where did you get these?”
Those are the moments we love.
Because after all these years, everything still starts the same way.
Open the Jar. Close Your Eyes.
Everything Starts with a Pickle.