Interview by Andre Rios
Interview with Andrea Wasko
Photography by Quick Pickle Kit

Andrea Wasko, owner and founder of the Quick Pickle Kit, shares how her company strives to make pickling fun and simple for everyone.

What inspired you to start your company?

After spending years in the medical device industry, I saw that many diseases could be prevented if people ate better and exercised. I wanted to help people eat healthier by creating tasty food products they could enjoy. After receiving my MBA in 1996, I decided to leave the corporate world to focus on prevention rather than treatment and started Connoisseur Creations Inc. The Quick Pickle Kit was our first product.

What is the Quick Pickle Kit?

It’s a DIY pickling kit. I grew up canning with my mother in the traditional, laborious way and wanted to develop a kit that provided a safe, quick, simple, and natural way to pickle any vegetable in a fraction of the time and with minimal effort. The Quick Pickle Kit includes a forty-four-page cookbook, a quick-start quick pickle kit guide, a two-liter reusable Italian glass jar, a reusable food-safe rubber gasket, three spice packets, and access to our pickling hotline.

How does your businessgive back to others?

We’re on a mission to utilize our business and products as tools to create a healthier and more caring world, one Quick Pickle Kit at a time. We empower women and celebrate diversity, provide jobs for adults with disabilities, and volunteer to teach future generations of entrepreneurs. We are passionate about supporting social causes that align with our values to make the world a kinder place, where all people are empowered to lead their best lives. We also offer our products as healthy fundraising tools for schools and nonprofits, and they keep up to 100 percent of the profits. Some of the ways we’ve provided support throughout the years include offering free delivery, giving fresh fruits and vegetables to neighbors, providing hotel rooms to first responders across the nation during COVID-19 so they would not risk infecting their families, offering scholarships and protective equipment for fire cadets, and rescuing animals from wildfires.

What’s been the most fulfilling part of creating the Quick Pickle Kit?

Working shoulder to shoulder with adults with disabilities has always been one of the most rewarding parts of our business, which is why we have continued to do it for over twenty-six years.

For more info, visit quickpicklekit.com