The Gracious Gourmet's Growth Driven by Retail, Food Industry Vets

Nancy Wekselbaum is no stranger to the world of consumer products. For years, Wekselbaum and her late husband, Natan, owned and operated Gracious Home, an iconic home goods retailer located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. 

For years, the Wekselbaum’s store carried a bevy of products ranging from hardware items and decorative accessories to a plethora of housewares products.

Today, Wekselbaum and her business partner, Kazim Gurel, own The Gracious Gourmet. With Wekselbaum’s love of food the motivating factor that led her to start the company in 2006, The Gracious Gourmet offers retailers a broad product selection for sale under private brands that include jams, jellies, pestos, spreads and tapenades. 

The business was hatched after a friend tasted Wekselbaum’s homemade chutney and suggested she start a business. 

“I knew nothing about the food business, but took a shot and developed six products,” she said. “I worked with a co-packer to produce the initial assortment and went all over Connecticut and used my contacts in New York to sell the products. We initially sold 50% of the original production run.”

The Gracious Gourmet’s growth in the years that followed was expedited when Wekselbaum partnered with Gurel.

“Nancy offered me half her business and we have been together as business partners for more than a year,” Gurel said. “I have a lot of history in the food business and have connections in Turkey, which is one of the world’s largest suppliers of herbs. Our different experiences work well as we continue to create new products.”

As the company continues to expand its assortment, the goal Gurel said is to offer a broad range of products that are suitable as cheese accompaniments for use on charcuterie boards or as spreads.

“We want to have jarred products that allow the home chef to make a delicious meal that’s easy and not too time consuming,” he added. 

Additionally, The Gracious Gourmet’s on-going new product development efforts now includes a new member of the team, Gurel’s daughter Bella, along with others the company works with to tap new ideas and draw inspiration. And, as Wekselbaum noted, the company is also open to working with retailers to develop proprietary products.

On the horizon, The Gracious Gourmet is working to refresh existing products while also launching a new line, Hot Squeeze, which features a sauce that Wekselbaum said “can be used on anything.”

“We want to tailor some of our new products to younger consumers,” she said. “And we’re also focused on developing products that are healthy alternatives and don’t include sugar and other ingredients. This is a direction that we are looking to go.”