Lynda's Page

Lynda Najarian comes from a line of entrepreneurs and artists, and both traits are clearly evident in her. And then there’s the influence of food. Her Swedish mother was an exchange student at University of California at Berkeley when she met Lynda’s Armenian father, a football star. “When they would go on dates, he would fill the back seat of his car with fruit, and they would drive around snacking on the fruit. He was different from anyone she’d ever met!”

“My mother was an excellent cook, very international in her tastes. Many in her family had been painters and food became an additional outlet for her creativity."

Lynda’s father’s career as a football and boxing coach initally took the family to a US Naval Base in Japan, where Lynda was born and raised. “We all loved Japan,” she recalls. “I was immersed in Japanese culture and loved the food. I still am a vegetarian and live my life by natural holistic Eastern principles.”

As a commercial designer of a diverse nature, Lynda’s personal artistic indulgences have taken many forms including neon, optical wear, color therapy, sea shell jewels, mixed media paintings and the list continues... but she knew that someday she wanted to go into the natural food business. Her brother owns a chain of fabulous restaurants in Los Angeles, but Lynda was looking for something even more basic, a life staple, and something vegan.

In 1993 Lynda discovered a loaf of extraordinary bread on a joy trip to Mendocino and went looking for the baker. Her instincts went into overdrive as she imagined the possibilites of creating a product from that loaf. “I wanted to find a food like a grandma would make, and naming it ‘Judy’s Breadsticks’ just felt like an all-American name,” she laughs. “To express how I feel about the product, I call the loaves Lovesticks."

She soon saw ways in which the business could expand, and she designed the Country Crackers in 1998, then the wholegrain flavored Twigs in 1999, and now the Somewhat Seedy Garlicky Toasted Bites in 2010.” My attraction to the business is the opportunity to express originality and bring elements of my personality into it.”

The business grew methodically throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and Lynda took on new retail accounts as customer demand grew. From the beginning, the company has distributed their own products, but now that there is interest from all over California and the United States, they are seeking a company to distribute outside of the Bay Area.

“I love the product,” Lynda states. “If it’s not a passion for me, it’s boring. When I’m inspired by someone I meet, I think, ‘Wow! There’s something out there for me to learn.’ It’s all about growth.”

— Jane St. Claire
written for
www.SavorCalifornia.com