GROW Nebraska® Foundation and Buy Nebraska Blog

I had the nicest chat with a long-time acquaintance and colleague in the food and gift industry recently and it was a delightful trip down memory lane! I first met Susan Zink from Heartland Gourmet in the previous millennium when we were both young and “wet-behind-the-ears” Nebraska women in business. She and I served on the original Nebraska Home Based Business Advisory Board way back in about 1992 when the sleeping giant of marketing Nebraska-made products first began to wake up. It was an exciting time. Susan has been a prominent voice promoting Nebraska products for many years. Back in the “big hair and shoulder pad” year of 1994, Susan and her husband Mark bought the company. It was called Raising Dough back then, a clever name for a company that sold mixes and food products for fund raising activities. In 1996, the Zinks began manufacturing and over the years, the business has evolved into large scale operation which supplies products for both wholesale distribution and pr...

There’s a certain display in the GROW Nebraska stores that never fails to attract attention and produce giggles. I can’t help but chuckle to myself every time I see people reading the signs out loud to each other and laughing. (I mean, don’t the others with them know how to read?) What are they looking at? The delightful signs, angels and snowmen from Im’s Countryside Painting . Many of her sayings are sassy and slightly snarky. For example, “Grandchildren are God’s Reward for Not Killing Your Kids”! Each and every piece is skillfully hand made by an amazing lady, Ima Gene Mason from Tecumseh, Nebraska . Well, she admits, lately she has someone cut her boards for her but only after her third band saw gave up the ghost! Clearly, that seems reasonable. After all, she’s been painting for over 30 years now! Ima Gene knocks my socks off. She is quick witted, incredibly prolific and a super savvy business woman. Ima Gene had a wholesale company for years and before that, she had bu...