Behind The Scenes: The Dill Pickle Naming Debate

I'm confident that most of our customers know that running a small cafe has its' fun moments because that's what keeps us going.  Behind the scenes there are all sorts of challenges.  Really challenging things like how much bread to bake, did we remember to order lids for the soup cups, where is the paper tape for the cash register, why is there no carbonation in the Cherry Coke, where did we put that case of hot salsa, what are we having for soup and sandwich specials today and on and on.  Two people (Linda & Anne) are there most of the time and John is there not very often which is probably too much.  It's a short list of people who are responsible or who might be at fault.  Now that Marianne's Kitchen is in it's fourth year we know a lot about working with each other more or less seven days a week.

Today was a good example of decision-making, "branding," quality control, etc.  A new batch of dill pickles has been completed.  They are beautiful and remarkably tasty.  Unfortunately it was clear to be challenging day when it started with "What should we call the dill pickles?"  My first thought was "Aren't we calling the dill pickles 'Dill Pickles.'"  That seemed pretty obvious...I thought, but then considered "This might be a trick question.  Maybe we already decided to call the dill pickles 'dill pickles' or we've decided to call the dill pickles something else and I've forgotten."  Dill pickle naming is part of our normal conversation because most commercial pickles do not have any dill, simply chemicals that taste like dill.

It was clear that labeling the dill pickles "Dill Pickles" was not adequate.  Brainstorming started and there were some marginal ideas.  My first suggestion was "Ed & Ed Dill Pickles" after Linda's two uncles (they are brothers).   We all remember the Bob Newhart show with "my brother Daryl and my other brother Daryl."   I thought that suggestion would lead to an argument...I mean discussion about each of our relatives and their contribution to the world or lack thereof.  "OMG Dill Pickles," "Classic Dills,"  "Real Dills,"  "Real Deal Dills," "America's Most Wanted Dills," "24x7 Dill Pickles," "One-A-Day Dill Pickles," "Brenna's Dill Pickles" (after our namesake's grand daughter) were all in the brainstorming effort. "Tasty Dills" came up a couple of times since we were not recording this highly creative work.

After an hour or two of discussing the potential name for the dill pickles we concluded that for the first labeling effort the dill pickles would be labelled "Dill Pickles."  On Saturday we are having a one-day special on the "Dill Pickles."  If you purchase a jar of "Dill Pickles" at  the sale price of $5.95 you can purchase a 12 oz. jar of the British Pub Pickles for $1.00.

Personally, I'd appreciate it if everyone purchasing this deal for dill pickles would also compliment us on naming the dill pickles "Dill Pickles."

One of a Kind is Often Special

Shoreview Dining

Marianne's Kitchen
1 location

• fewer employees than you can count on one hand
• new creations all the time
• we eat what we make, and we're fussy
• we try to learn your name
• we care about you and your family
• it's entirely possible that we offer something different than our competition

Other Shoreview Dining Options

Five Guys 1500 stores and 1000 more in development.

LeeAnn Chin 50 locations

Wendy's 6,650 locations

Dairy Queen 6000 locations

Red Robin 450 locations

Green Mill 27 locations