Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Calvert.
Hi Amanda, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
The story of Clean Plate Pantry began with our Mole sauce. Mole is a wonderfully complex, labor-intensive, traditional sauce in Mexico. A good mole will have over 30 ingredients, many containing chocolate. Five years ago, Brian Pelletier, the owner of Kakao Chocolate, was about to celebrate his 10th year in business and wanted to sell a jarred mole sauce to mark the occasion with something a little different (for a chocolate shop). We went to some food shows and tasted some products on the market, but we were not overwhelmed. We talked it over and decided that we could make small batches of the mole to sell in the shop for the anniversary. I took it upon myself to develop the recipe by preparing and taste-testing 10 different mole recipes and comparing their qualities against their various ingredients and proportions using a spreadsheet! The outcome was the mole we sell today, winning a national Good Food award in 2021.
The development of Clean Plate Pantry, a division of the parent company Kakao Chocolate, was different from our vision at the thought. Once we had a solid recipe for the mole, we wanted to sell it in shelf-stable jars. We were admittedly naive about the process and regulations required to manufacture and sell such products. I had to take a course; the sauce had to be tested in an outside laboratory. I had to register the testing results with the FDA, etc. This level of effort and documentation was demanding for one product. That is when I created the brand Clean Plate Pantry and rolled out four additional sauces and four more in the next year. We are always working on new recipes and seasonal offerings.
Clean Plate sauces are all made by hand in small batches (there is no factory, there is me with some big pots!). I only use the best, all-natural ingredients, which means DOP-certified San Marzano tomatoes, fresh vegetables from the farmer’s market when in season, and a lot of slicing onions and peeling garlic. The sauces contain nothing artificial. They are made how you would feel at home if you had the time and energy! They are fully cooked and ready for the home cook to create a delicious, easy meal.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It is always challenging to create a small business, and anything with food is known for having such small margins. But I have been fortunate to develop this business in a food-loving community. From the customers at the farmer’s markets to the owners of local specialty food shops and small businesses, all have welcomed Clean Plate’s products. The highlight of my week is talking to customers and the markets and hearing their stories of using the sauces at home! That said, the pandemic was difficult to navigate in nearly every facet of the business. The business that sold my sauces shuttered or closed temporarily. The farmer’s markets shut down. Jars were suddenly completely unavailable, as were many of the ingredients. This list goes on. I am very relieved to be on the other side now.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might need to become more familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I did not come into food as a profession directly. I was a Ph.D. student in psychology, finishing up my thesis. I realized that I would spend my days at a computer daydreaming about my evening when I would get to cook some elaborate meal at home for my family. It was not a sustainable career path. I switched gears and worked for several local small businesses creating desserts and chocolate and selling at farmer’s markets and discovered my passion. Clean Plate has been something I have always dreamed of doing, even if I didn’t fully recognize that for a while!
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
In graduate school, I studied the similarities and differences in how humans and non-humans process delayed or probabilistic rewards. So essentially, is spent my time in graduate school figuring out how to set up a rat lottery system!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://cleanplatepantry.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cleanplatepantry
