#Spike seasoning history full

That's another thing that Harrison is kind of known for. The Cavender family, they've also taught their children and their children's children work ethic. 'So many times you'll hear that one generation creates the business, the next spends all the money or something. 'It's generation after generation after generation,' said Patty Methvin, president of the Harrison Chamber of Commerce. Her husband, Lance, is the plant manager and oversees the purchase and costs of ingredients. Wohlgemuth, who was an educator, is the vice president and secretary. It was with a heavy heart, but we just kept on going.'Ĭavender, who had a background in business marketing, is now the president and treasurer of the company. 'We just came back on Monday and did what we did. 'Luckily we'd been here for 15 years or so and doing what we do, which is probably why we've succeeded for the last seven years since he passed away,' Wohlgemuth said. When Steve Cavender died suddenly in 2008, his daughters took over in a full-time role. It wasn't long after his passing that Steve Cavender persuaded his daughters - who had moved away from the area - to return to learn the ins and outs of the family business as well. Spike Cavender died in 1992, but in 20 years his company had become a success in Harrison and beyond. 'By the time we were through with dinner, we were moving. 'We were sitting at the dinner table and my grandfather called,' Lisa Cavender said. Steve Cavender's daughters remember the move being abrupt.

#Spike seasoning history full

So after first spending weekends mixing and bottling batches to meet the weekly demand, Spike asked Steve to move from Clinton to Harrison to join him in the business full time. He took the seasoning to grocery stores and the litmus test was simple: If it was gone by the time he went back it was time to dive in full time. Spike eventually moved to Harrison and saw a big opportunity when the popularity of the seasoning spread. With the chef's blessing, they started mixing their own batches to give to friends. The recipe had been passed down to Spike and his brother years earlier by a Greek chef who used the spices to season steaks at his Oklahoma restaurant. But the Cavenders had been mixing and giving the seasoning blend to friends long before the company started. The company traces its beginnings to 1969, when Spike Cavender and his son, Steve, mixed the first commercial batch of seasoning in a washtub on the back porch of his Harrison home.

'And we like it that way,' Wohlgemuth added. In fact, we don't even fit the definition of a small business because we employ under 50 people,' said Lisa Cavender. 'We're still a small family-owned business and we're still able to fly under the radar. They accomplish it with a 10-person staff housed in a 10,000-square-foot facility, finding success behind their family's business philosophy of sticking to what it does best in order to achieve slow, maintainable growth. Inc., which manufactures 4 to 5 tons of Cavender's Greek Seasoning daily for distribution in the 50 states and Canada. But the girls certainly aren't pretending any longer, running a company that has maintained a loyal following while changing very little about a product first marketed and sold by their grandfather about 45 years ago.Ĭavender and Wohlgemuth are third-generation owners of Harrison's S-C Seasoning Co. The company has moved into a different facility since those early days and the 13 ingredients that make up the family's secret formula are now mixed and packaged by machines. While their parents and grandfather were in the back going through their weekend routine of mixing ingredients, packaging and labeling containers of Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning, the young girls were in the front pretending to answer phones and take orders.