Austin Food & Drink
Food & Drink
Pouring on local flavor
Heat, health focus make Austin Best Dressed City
AMERICAN-STATESMAN FOOD EDITOR
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Austin — the Live Music Capital, the seat of state government, the site of the Capitol 10,000 — has a new claim to fame.
Best Dressed City.
Snicker not, T-shirt wearers. This brag is not about attire, but salad dressings. Those creamy, vinegary, savory, peppery potions people pour atop their salads with such abandon.
Creative Central Texans have blended at least 61 different commercial bottles that have found their way to the shelves of Randalls, H-E-B, Wheatsville Co-op, Whole Foods Market, Central Market and Austinuts on Anderson Lane. Prices range from $3.19 to $11.49 a bottle.
The dressings represent 17 companies, counting some single-dressing makers and popular area ones from Fredericksburg. (However, this tally does not include the farther out Brianna's of Brenham or World Arts Food of Temple, both of whom sell dressings in Austin. Nor does it figure in bottled dressings made and sold only in restaurants such as Satay, or market-only products such as Sunset Valley Farmers Market Triple "T" Dressing, or the Green Wings' collection of four fresh refrigerated dressings sold at the Austin Farmers Market.)
That total "is a lot for a city our size," says Lauri Raymond, president and co-founder, with her twin Carol, of 19-year-old Sisters & Brothers Inc. With their first salad dressing — Sesame Garlic SASS, a product that would win the prestigious award for best oil, vinegar, or salad dressing from the National Association of Specialty Food Trade — the sisters created a successful recipe.
They added more SASS dressings. And in 2001 they purchased Martin Brothers Salad Dressings, which continued to sell under its 20-year-old name until this spring. That's when the sisters consolidated the two lines, adding and subtracting dressings for a current total of 10 varieties, all bearing the SASS label. (Former Martin Brothers flavors also carry a necktag on them, to help identify them for fans.)
Gail Calder, owner of Austin Kitchens Inc. co-packs for 50 food companies. In the past five years, the increase in locally made salad dressings has been extraordinary, she says. "I can't tell you the number of people I have talked to about salad dressing production in a year. When I started I was 85 percent salsas. Now I'm 30 percent salsas. I do so many more things. Salad dressings are probably 20 percent now."
"Salad dressings became important to us with consumer demand", says Case Fischer, CEO and president of Fischer & Wieser, which just launched five new dressings. The Fredericksburg company, known for its award-winning sauces, jellies and condiments, upgraded its equipment to add the news dressings that come in such flavors as Sweet Corn & Shallot Dressing and Spicy Lime & Coriander Dressing.
If a manufacturer is going to have a good food line, Fischer says, salad dressings need to be in it.
Will Petty of Cookwell & Co. began his Austin food company in 2004 with a wet chili mix, green stew mix and salsas. This spring, he added three vinaigrettes — olive and lemon, Asian ginger, and cracked pepper.
Bottled dressings are a big part of the lives of working couples, affluent empty nesters and single men, market researcher Mintel International says in a 2006 report about bagged salads and dressings. They feed consumers' desire for convenience. And experts also note that today clever labels and presentations, and usage on more than just salads, fuel the popularity of dressings.
But not every Austin-area salad dressing maker is into manufactured foods in a big way. A number of local brands are single products: Oka's Miso Dressing, Mr. Tieu's InspirAsian Dressing, Texas Sassy Vinaigrette, Rose's Fresh Sicilian Dressing, Isabella Rae's Roasted Garlic Ranch. Some are outgrowths of restaurants: Mother's Cafe's Cashew Tamari Dressing; Eastside Cafe's raspberry and dijon vinaigrettes and feta cheese; Monica's five dressings, born at Main Street Grill in Round Rock.
The Association for Dressings and Sauces keeps track of many salad dressing trends, but it does not monitor the number of dressing makers per city. Neither does Mintel International, which studies bagged salads and dressings. However, Perry Abbenante, national grocery coordinator/buyer at Whole Foods Market, looked at his inventory lists and says there are definitely more salad dressings makers in the Austin area than just about anywhere. He thinks it reflects the area's eating patterns and weather.
"I have not seen anything quite like this," says Abbenante, who has been buying dressings, both conventional and natural, for six or seven years.
In Chicago, where he used to work, the stores stocked a plethora of local pasta sauces but only a few salad dressings.
"I also worked in Whole Foods in Seattle and there were a few salad dressings coming out of Portland, but they are probably 15 behind us here." Also trailing, he says, are San Francisco, Southern California and Florida.
Raymond suggests reasons for our Best Dressed bonanza: Austin is a salad city. People are interested in health and nutrition. This is an entrepreneurial city with several hometown groceries open to selling quality local products with good followings. Dressings are not rocket science.
"It is easy to make a good dressing and a lot of people make good dressings. But getting into business and getting shelf space is much harder," she adds.
Al Wagner, a food technology specialist with Texas Co-Operative Extension, who advises manufacturers in the state, agrees. "You need a lot of hustle to get into stores. It is not like there is a big shortage out there. You need something unique, different, that tastes good for the store buyers to put it on their shelves.
Marketing is a big issue that budding manufacturers often fail to consider, he says. "Just because the neighbors love it, people think their product will jump off the shelves into baskets."
"I don't care how good a product is, it is no guarantee of success unless they have a marketing plan going."
In addition to that plan, a food manufacturer also has to have enough capital to lease a commercial kitchen or pay a co-packer to make it, to have a label designed, to have a minimum of $1 million in liability insurance, to hand out thousands of free samples at stores, festivals and flea markets.
There is also the matter of a UPC code and dozens of other details, such as will the dressing be fresh, as in perishable and require refrigeration, or will it be shelf-stable.
A number of Austin dressings fall into the fresh category.
"That is an expensive proposition — going to the back of the grocery and delivering something fresh," says Fischer, whose company sticks to nonrefrigerated goods. Dealing with perishable dressings is proof that high-quality salad dressings work in Austin, he adds.
Whole Foods buyer Abbenante says that refrigerated salad dressings are many times the same product as a shelf-stable one. Some companies, not necessarily local ones, label them fresh to get store placement proximity to salad greens. And refrigerated products usually demand bigger prices.
A downside to refrigerated products, however, is transportation, whether in hot Austin weather or cross-country. For that reason, refrigerated dressings often are more regional in distribution.
Local salad dressings are not limited to Austin-area shelves. Some are sold from California to Connecticut through either Whole Foods Market, Web sites, individual stores, even club warehouses.
Nationally, Abbenante says, salad season starts in late spring and extends to Labor Day. But, because of warm weather, salad season runs longer in Texas and some other states. Plus, salad dressing sales get another big bump from Thanksgiving through January, during holiday consumption and New Year's repentance.
The thing about salad dressings, he adds, is that people don't buy just one. The average number in someone's fridge is four, he says. Usually there is ranch dressing; it is still a big seller. But other basic flavors might include a balsamic vinegar, a tamari blend, Caesar, Asian, French, Italian. Raspberry vinaigrettes may be popular in restaurants, he says, but in store sales he finds that they run second tier.
Consumers are not using the dressings just for salad, local manufacturers say. When Harriet Montero demos Harriet's Original Zesty Cilantro Dressing in stores, she sautés chicken tenders in it or raves about how well it sauces salmon.
Petty of Cookwell & Co. says consumers are sautéing mushrooms in his cracked pepper dressing and marinating tuna steak or dipping potstickers in the Asian ginger vinaigrette.
Raymond of SASS says that the label is now an acronym for Season All Stuff Sauce. Since early on, fans have poured the Sesame Garlic SASS on pasta and added Parmesan cheese and veggies for pasta primavera. And they use other varieties to stir-fry veggies or sauce a chicken breast.
Austin can claim the Best Dressed City title, but it is about more than just salad.
Here are 61 local salad dressings found at Randalls, H-E-B, Wheatsville Co-op, Whole Foods Market, Central Market and Austinuts. Many of the dressings are stocked at multiple stores, in grocery or refrigerated cases. The Four Star Provisions line is only at Austinuts.
Cookwell & Co.
Olive and Lemon Vinaigrette
Asian Ginger Vinaigrette
Cracked Pepper Vinaigrette
Eastside Cafe
Raspberry Vinaigrette
Dijon Vinaigrette
Feta Cheese
Fischer & Wieser (Fredericksburg)
Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Vinaigrette
Creamy Garlic & Chile
Sweet Corn & Shallot
Southwestern Herb & Tomato Vinaigrette
Spicy Lime & Coriander
Citrus, Herb & Truffle Oil Vinaigrette
Four Star Provisions (Fredericksburg)
Greek Olive & Caper
Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette
Asian Chile Lime Basil
Santa Fe Ancho Caesar
Harriet's Dressings
Italian Gourmet
Texas Ranch
Zesty Cilantro
Honey Mustard
Italian Low-Fat
Red Wine Vinaigrette
Caesar
Monica's Dressings (Round Rock and Georgetown)
Creamy Cilantro Pumpkin Seed
Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
Tomato Basil Vinaigrette
Southwestern Caesar
Sweet Chipotle
SASS Dressings (includes Martin Brothers)
Sesame Garlic
Lemon Song
Wasabi Ginger
Tomato Basil
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Creamy Miso
Bleu Cheese
Classic Caesar
Smoky Ranch
Tamari Vinaigrette
Terra Sol Dressings
Poblano Pumpkin Seed
Ranch Adobo
Chipotle Pecan
Ancho Orange Tarragon
TexaFrance
Basil Lime Vinaigrette
Classic French Vinaigrette
Garlic Essence
Raspberry Vinaigrette
Fat-Free Apple-Ginger Vinaigrette
Fat-Free Balsamic Vinaigrette
Fat-Free Basil-Lime Vinaigrette
Fat-Freed Honey Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette
Fat-Free Oriental
Texas on the Plate (Fredericksburg)
Ridin' High Rosemary
Texas Twang Garlic & Basil
Dry County Tequila & Lime
Single dressings:
Isabella Rae's Roasted Garlic Ranch
Mother's Cafe and Garden Cashew Tamari
Mr. Tieu's InspirAsian
Oasis Specialty Foods of Austin Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Vinaigrette
Oka's Miso
Rose's Fresh Sicilian
Texas Sassy Vinaigrette
