May 30, 2008...MARE-O-LIN's on the Jim Reith show!! John was on the air "live" on 570/WSYR to talk to Jim about our chili sauce venture. His show, among other local radio stations, is the most listened to in the 3-6 time slot. The interview covered a lot of ground including how the name MARE-O-LIN's came about, what's involved in coming up with a new blend, where it's available, what it goes with etc. For Jim's "Snack of the Day" program the Hawaiian wrap recipe (check "Recipe" section of our web site) was presented and he told me both off air and on air how much he loved it. The time spent was extremely high quality and even allowed the charity side of our business to be discussed.


April, 2008 MARE-O-LIN's at the SavorSyracuse for fourth year in a row It's an easy decision for us to participate in this each year because the proceeds go to the Food Bank of CNY, who also was our Charity of the Year in 2007. This year was even busier than normal, and normal has been pretty busy!! While we can't sell any product we usually get some good leads and this year was no exception. Laci's Cafe is now a MARE-O-LIN's customer as a result in our being in Savor. We met a lot of real good people including a young couple that tried our sauces and came back a second time to say they were the best sauces they've ever had. Not only that but the sauces were the best tasting sample they had all evening!! John Michael was able to talk about his scrambled egg recipe and we had copies to give out to people. This year Savor was held at the Hotel Syracuse, a change in venue from the Landmark of previous years. We will look forward to participating again next year.


February, 2008 MARE-O-LIN's now has a 4th blend...Onion Blend!! Similar to original, spicy and garlic the onion blend is good as a dipping sauce, as a condiment and in recipes. One new and awesome use for onion (that we've never used the other three blends on) is as a sauce when making home made pizza. Our garlic blend has been well received and we've gotten a lot of feedback on how much garlic is in each jar...it's very pleasing to the eye!! For the onion lovers out there you may not be able to see the onion as easily as the garlic put one opening of a jar and the aromatics will tell you it's definitely onion!! For all our chili sauce customers/users/fans out there e-mail us your recipes/serving suggestions for the onion blend...we'd love to hear from you. In the meantime...ENJOY!!


October, 2007...MARE-O-LIN's lands in Albany!!
Ann & John are both SUNY Oswego alum's and last month the alumni magazine featured an article on our chili sauce business. The owner of Harmony House Market Place is also an Oswego alum and upon seeing the article contacted us!! Harmony will carry original, spicy and garlic blends and this represents our first landing in the Albany market place!!


September, 2007... MARE-O-LIN's on the shelf in Buffalo!!
A couple of years ago CityMade in Buffalo began buying our original blend in making the "Best of Syracuse" gift boxes for Wegmans. So technically the sauce came home to where it all began. Well now I can say MARE-O-LIN's officially is home. Premier Gourmet agreed to take on all three blends and how ironic that two days ago was my Mom's birthday. They will have original, spicy and garlic on the shelf for all Buffalonian's (and all Western New Yorker's) to buy & I'm pretty sure you'll also be able to buy it off their web site. The plan is for us to do about 3-4 demos a year there the first of which will be September 29th!!


MARE-O-LIN's part of Turning Stone Pro-am MARE-O-LIN's chili sauce was donated to the September 16th pro-am golf tournament. The main beneficiary of the tournament was the Carol M Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund. We have been steady supporters of fund raisers for Carol's foundation over the past three years. For more information go to www.findacure.org


MARE-O-LIN's hits the air waves!! John made his official radio debut talking about our chili sauce and its uses along with having Kathy Rowe and Marnie Mason try all three blends. Kathy has started a new segment on the morning show featuring locally made products. The interview went quite well and they absolutely loved the sauces!! Colored brochures, front & back recipe cards and business cards were left with them along with some sauce to give away to listeners. For more information on Y94 and its programs go to www.y94fm.com


September, 2007...some non-chili sauce related news This is a first but since it involves family it's not much of a stretch!! John Michael recently competed in the national finals of the Golf Channel's Drive, Chip and Putt competition. He was 1 of 21 finalists in his age group. There were four age groups and 84 finalists altogether. He did extremely well, finishing in 6th place and narrowly missing a putt that would have landed him in 3rd place. In total, nearly 9700 kids started the journey earlier this year trying for 1 of the 84 finalists positions and John Michael was one of them. We (obviously) are very proud of his accomplishment. Results can be seen by going to www.golfchannel.com Scroll down until you see Drive, Chip & Putt.


MARE-O-LIN's supports Mental Health Association of Onondaga County April 27, 2007. A one case donation was made for the "Men who Cook" event taking place at the Hotel Syracuse. All proceeds go to the Mental Health Association which helps over 6000 consumers annually through various programs and services.


MARE-O-LIN's participates in the SavorSyracuse 2007 Similar to last year's event, the SavorSyracuse 2007 event was held at the Landmark Theatre. This year's event was held on April 19th and again was well attended. It should raise at least as much as last year, if not more. Our kids were with us again this year handing out samples of original and garlic blend sauces. We enjoyed all the conversation with people and will more than likely be at the 2008 SavorSyracuse.


MARE-O-LIN's supports high school fund raiser February, 2007. For the second year in a row a one case donation was made to John's high school alma mater St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Kenmore, NY. The money raised will once again be put towards special projects and student financial aid.


Mare-o-lin's at the fair! August, 2006...NY State Fair. Once again MARE-O-LIN's will be displayed at the Pride of NY room and will be sold at the Nelson Farm booth. In addition, Chef Danny will have 3 cooking demo's at this years Fair and all will feature our chili sauces, especially the new Garlic (which Danny developed for us). Both our sauces and Danny's newly released cook book will be sold after each demo and there will be a special combo price involving a jar of sauce and his cookbook. We are extra excited this year because Amanda will be making her cooking demo debut on the September 2nd demo. She and Danny will be doing some kid-friendly recipes using MARE-O-LIN's, including Danny's favorite Spam-o-getti!!


New display boxes August, 2006...cardboard display boxes. We are working with a couple of companies on a 3 pack and 4 pack display box. The back, top and bottom of the box are solid, the side is open and the front has slits of cardboard so the sauce blends can easily be seen. We hope to have something ready for the holiday gift giving season. These display boxes are also important in our pursuit of clients like Sam's Club.


Garlic blend now available! July, 2006...the official release of our 3rd blend which is the garlic blend. We had what we thought was a garlic blend earlier this year but upon further review and tasting, it was more onion tasting than garlic. What I'll call the onion/garlic blend has been very well received and we're getting a lot of feedback from folks that it's great as a pizza sauce. Hopefully before the end of 2006 it will be re-named onion blend and will officially be released.


MARE-O-LIN's attends a book signing!! July 28, 2006...MARE-O-LIN's attends a book signing!! I know that sounds strange but it's true. Art Smith, Oprah Winfrey's personal chef, was at a Syracuse Wegman's store (Taft Road location) for a cooking demo and book signing. We were on our way to Cape Cod but our friend Chef Danny Ho attended. In an envelope was a typed letter from me to Oprah, a colored brochure and our business card. MARE-O-LIN's original, spicy and new garlic blend sauces were in a cardboard display box. Danny was able to talk to Art's wife and then Art and he seemed quite happy and excited to get the chili sauce. You never know...


MARE-O-LIN's supports breast cancer fund raiser July 22, 2006...MARE-O-LIN's supports breast cancer fund raiser. For the second consecutive year, MARE-O-LIN's chili sauce was donated to the Carol M Baldwin foundation for their annual fund raiser. The event actually had to be rescheduled to August 19th because of a driving rain on July 22nd. The event was held at Gillie Lake in Camillus, another reason we like to support it. Organizer Beth Baldwin will take some of the chili sauce and also use it for a golf tournament fund raiser.


MARE-O-LIN's joins forces with Tozinello June, 2006...MARE-O-LIN's joins forces with Tozinello Sales and Distribution Company. Todd Dupell (VP of Marketing) approached us in May of this year about joining their "Made in NY" concept. It's a multi-layered display concept that they're rolling out to convenience stores which is a strong niche market of Tozinello's. In 2 short months we have sold them over 500 jars (15 cases of each of the 3 blends). We're extremely excited about the long term prospects with Tozinello's.


MARE-O-LIN's participates in the SavorSyracuse 2006 SavorSyracuse was held at the historic Landmark Theatre in downtown Syracuse. Attendees spent $60 on an admission ticket and for that were able to sample food and drink over a three hour period of time. This year the event raised over $35,000 for the Food Bank of Central New Your, which was an increase over last year. That will provide approximately 20,000 meals to needy people in Central New York.

The event was especially enriching because Ann, John and the kids were able to participate. Many a compliment was showered on the kids for their efforts and knowledge of the product!! It's also enriching because part of our mission involves giving a portion of proceeds of every jar sold to a charity of the year. Giving of our time for an event like this adds to that.



MARE-O-LIN's supports high school fund raiser A one case donation was made for the February 11, 2006 "Hawaiian Paradise" themed fund raiser held at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Kenmore, NY. St. Joe's is John's alma mater. Fours jars each of original, spicy and garlic blend were donated. They were divided up into four sets of one jar each and had a value/bid price put on them. All four sets sold for more than the asking price!! The event raised a lot of money for the high school and will be put towards special projects and student financial aid.


Best of Syracuse MARE-O-LIN's debuts in the "Best of Syracuse" gift box. CityMade, based in Buffalo, has been developing theme gift baskets for Wegmans and other clients. Their "Best of Buffalo" gift box debuted 4 years ago and has gone from 200 units sold to 4000!! The theme boxes feature home grown products from a certain region.
The "Best of Syracuse" box will eventually be visible from the CityMade web site which is citymade.com. In the meantime, you can view the "Best of Syracuse" box by going to wegmans.com and clicking on gift boxes.


Come home to Syracuse MARE-O-LIN's is part of the "Come home to Syracuse" gift basket. The MDA (Metropolitan Developmental Association) teamed up with Syracuse Gift Basket Company to offer gift baskets full of food from Central New York. The baskets are for sale, ranging from $28.50 to $50. The baskets can be ordered at www.syracusegiftbasket.com A portion of the revenue goes to pay for the association's "Come Home to Syracuse" program.
It has been reported that, between 2000-2004, more than 3000 people came back to CNY than left, reversing a trend that has stretched more than a decade.


MARE-O-LIN's lands in Union Square Cafe John and his brother in law Tom Cawley typically go out for dinner before a Syracuse Crunch hockey game. For the longest time the place of choice was the Arena Grill which is across from the War Memorial where the Crunch play. Much to their dismay, Arena Grill closed at the end of last season. Restoring their spirits was the Union Square Cafe opening in the place of Arena.
John and Tommy noticed a $4.99 appetizer that featured tostito chips and a salsa. They looked at each other and said the same thing...MARE-O-LIN's!! Tommy approached Matt when at dinner with the Crunch booster club. Matt seemed very interested and shortly after that John dropped off a sample. December 20th John stopped in on his way to the Crunch Christmas party and Matt delivered the good news he wanted to bring the sauce on!!
Next time you go to the Union Square Cafe make sure to order that $4.99 appetizer, and make sure it comes with MARE-O-LIN's!!


MARE-O-LIN's supports the March of Dimes A donation of original blend MARE-O-LIN's was made to the March of Dimes for their upcoming Signature Chefs Auction to be held on November 14, 2005. The sauce will be assembled into gift baskets and sold throughout the evening. Funds raised during this event will support the March of Dimes programs in research, education and prenatal care. For more information on the March of Dimes, visit their web site at www.marchofdimes.com/upstatenewyork/


MARE-O-LIN's makes its television debut!! John appeared on WYSR Channel 9's "Bridge Street" show. Bridge Street features Rick Gary & Julie Abbott, although on October 19th Marie Kulikowsky (the show's producer) filled in for Julie. Rick & Marie asked a lot of very appropriate questions, none of which John was exposed to before the show. Things like where did the name MARE-O-LIN's come from, where can one buy it, what is it good with etc. All the while the questions were being asked (and being answered!!), John was mixing up a meat loaf recipe using MARE-O-LIN's.
In the near future, footage of the show will be found in the "Media" section of our web site. Suffice to say, the meat loaf was a big hit with the entire production crew of Bridge Street. John was invited to come back on the show as soon as their 3rd sauce (Garlic Blend) is released. That will hopefully happen before Thanksgiving 2005. For more information on Channel 9, please visit their web site at 9wsyr.com