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Bred from the Heart
The History of Judy's Breadsticks
They call it "serendipity". It was a mystical moment in time when a savvy woman with classic California beauty and God-given brains to boot, left her home in San Francisco for a weekend in bucolic Mendocino back in September of 1993. Intending to return home after her weekend with a newly charged battery, Lynda Najarian instead discovered her exciting and prosperous future on the rise in the form of a totally unique, whole-wheat baguette that sent her taste buds reeling and her entrepreneurial instincts into overdrive. Immediately, she knew that she had to search out and find the source of the mystical breadstick. She was inspired.
Much like King Arthur and his Holy Grail, Lynda's quest led her to the steps of Judy Griswold, who as an executive chef and baker for over thirty years was tenderly hand-making each foot-long stick of bread, a task that she had been performing for several years while cooking at The Little River Inn in Mendocino. Little did she suspect that when Lynda came a-calling, so did her future, much to the joy of bread connoisseurs around the Bay Area. They have since become loyal devotees of Lovesticks.
Lynda and Judy seized the moment, and in a surge of brilliant clarity, crystallized a partnership, named the product Judy's Breadsticks of Mendocino and found an industrial kitchen in Marin County to service the Bay Area where Lynda is from. She told Judy, "You bake 'em, I'll sell 'em!" and sell she did - like nobody has sold bread before.
Never one to loaf, Lynda went from store to store, beginning in San Francisco and Marin, entrancing each one's owner or manager with her Excalibur of Dough. They tried it, they liked it, and word of Judy's Breadsticks spread like wildfire throughout the kingdom. Using the firm's catchy, "This isn't bread, it's therapy" slogan (coined by a zealous New York psychotherapist quoted in Focus Magazine), Lovesticks are now sold in over 100 stores in Northern California.
Setting up shop in Marin County, they bought a brand new van in January of '94, and decorated it with the company logo Lynda designed around a local Mendocino artist's watercolor of the fabulous hillside church seen as you enter town. Then she turned her unique vision to the Judy's Breadsticks packaging - a brown wax paper bag with panache.
The crowning moment was when Lynda turned to her golden loaves and said, "I dub thee, Lovesticks". Always being two steps ahead, she playfully thought to place an email address lovesticks@aol.com on the bread bag (becoming the first food company, ever, to have an email address on their package), and boy, did they get mail...
New loyal subjects and fans from all over the Bay Area and kingdoms beyond have taken the time, thought and effort to send cyberspace love letters. They appreciate Judy's handmade, wonderful, chewy, rich textured breadsticks. Judy has been nothing short of thrilled by all of the enthusiatic responses.
We feel that as the staff of life, bread has always been the one constant element of a meal. Throughout history families have gathered around the hearth to share a repast, bask in the glow of a warm fire, and share love and gratitude for all they have. Bread is the constant. It's an integral part of the meal, of the human experience, of sharing, of communion.
Lynda says, "These breadsticks are a natural reflection of love and warmth. Their very texture and feel is loving and sensual, and what I most like to do is put out positive thoughts and feelings to other people." She grins, "Don't tell anyone, but we would have been thrilled with just that. The rest is gravy."
