The Business of Food with Steve Alexander

In 1978, the Illinois State Legislature proclaimed St. Charles, Illinois, “Pickle Capital of the World.” It didn’t matter that not one pickle is produced in the city on the Fox River. The designation was solely because Pickle Packers International, a non-profit focused on educating consumers about the benefits of pickles, was located there until it disbanded in 2004. However, just 35 miles north in Woodstock, Illinois, is the Claussen pickle factory, where more than 300 people produce every pickle that Claussen’s sells, and it sells a lot.

In the audio clip below, Bill Durbin, the head of North America logistics and planning at Kraft Heinz, which owns the Claussen’s brand, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander about the history of Claussen’s — started 150 years ago in Chicago by German immigrant Claus Claussen when he had a load of cucumbers he couldn’t sell, so he turned them into pickles. (When life gives you cucumbers, make pickles?) The Woodstock plant processes approximately 60 million pounds of cucumbers annually to make roughly 42 million jars of Claussen, the country’s top-selling refrigerated pickle brand.

The thing about cukes is they aren’t all the same size and shape. Sorting had been human job, but artificial intelligence is now lending a hand. Durbin says a series of cameras feeds information into the plant’s A.I. system which has been trained to detect different types of defects and different types of sizes. He says makes the process of turning cucumbers into pickles–and, by the way, it’s a fast process; only 10 days on average between the cucumber being picked to the pickle being packed. Durbin says since A.I. has been implemented, the Woodstock factory has seen a 12% increase in efficiency.

But what about the fear that A.I. will replace humans and jobs? Durbin tells Alexander that just the opposite has happened, with increased efficiency in sorting the cukes leading to more pickles being made and packed.

In the audio clip below, Farm Action co-founder Joe Maxwell tells WGN’s Steve Alexander he believes the Department of Justice’s launch of an investigation into egg prices on March 6 was due to Farm Action’s letter to the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission urging the departments to investigate and take action to restore competition and lower egg prices. “The Avian Flu is real,” says Maxwell, “but they (the large egg producing companies) have taken advantage of that to make excessive profits.” News of the investigation was first reported by The Capitol Forum, an anti-trust trade publication, which cites people familiar with the matter.

Here’s the text of my phone interview with Wallace:

Joe Maxwell: First, we applaud DOJ for taking action. Consumers have been ripped off at the grocery store for far too long as it relates to the price of eggs, so hats off to them for taking a deep dive into these dominant firms and their pricing structure, looking for anti-trust violations. We are confident that the actions being taken by DOJ are a result of our analysis of this market and then the letter and the factual details we sent to them and the Federal Trade Commission.

Steve Alexander: What happens now?

JM: In that a formal investigation has been opened by the Department of Justice, everything will be quiet from them for a while. It is possibilities of criminal action and, clearly, civil actions, DOJ will approach this as any other regulator or law enforcement office, and do a detailed investigation. We expect they will be gathering data from individuals in the industry, from individual consumers, from grocery stores, retail grocers, on what they had seen and how they had been treated in this market. Following that they will make a determination whether laws were broken, and second, even though were broken, can they make a case? Can they bring that case against the power of these big firms and bring them to justice. And, if so, they’ll file a complaint against them.

SA: And how long will all this take?

JM: From our experience in other cases in working through these types of actions of market abuse, it can take up to a year. It depends on the complexity and how willing the dominant firms are willing to respond. They can drag their feet, slow it down. But we trust that DOJ will be very diligent, like a dog with a bone, until they unravel the abuses that have been created and the gouging the consumer has felt at the grocery store when it comes to egg prices.

SA: The DOJ is under a new administration now. Is there any indication their fervor will be different?

JM: The Biden Administration was very aggressive on anti-trust cases. They passed and adopted new rules for reviewing acquisitions and mergers to try to stop continued concentration of monopoly power in the market. Right out of the gate, the Trump administration and the DOJ and FTC acknowledged they are going to keep those rules. So we feel very good that the DOJ in the Trump administration will be very diligent in this review, and we wish them well.

SA: Is it possible we’ll see a drop in egg prices as a result of the DOJ just launching the investigation?

JM: What we have seen is that often times these firms, when regulators, government agencies like the Department of Justice or the FTC begin to take action, suddenly they reverse that behavior in order to lower the price so that everybody kind of breathes a sigh of relief and goes away. That is not an uncommon response by an industry that’s been abusing the market, and so we really hope DOJ and the people stay at it and get to the bottom of what happened, what is happening, since the outbreak of the Avian Flu in 2022.

NOTE: Although not named in this report, Cal-Maine Foods, has been among the targets of Farm Action’s efforts. Farm Action says Cal-Maine Foods, which controls 20% of the egg market, increased its gross profits by 237% between FY21 and FY24, and between FY21 and FY23, its gross profits shot up by 646%. A call to Cal-Maine for comment has not been returned.

With many homeowners deciding to hang on to their 3% mortgages and stay put, remodeling the kitchen is gaining popularity. A lot has changed in kitchen styles (if you still have avocado-green appliances, seek help), and in the audio clip below, Sarah Leonard, owner of Legacy Properties tells WGN’s Steve Alexander things to do to get the most bang for your buck when investing in cabinets, floors, appliances, and more. Before you start swinging the sledgehammer, consider this from Sarah: “If you’re doing it for yourself, spend whatever amount of money you want. But if you’re doing it and keeping in mind re-sale, don’t over-improve the kitchen for things you don’t need. For example, sometimes people will take down all the cabinets and put in the new taller cabinets and do all kinds of things that will cost them two or three times as much as doing a simple re-face or doing a simple paint job, which can accomplish the same goal.”

One of the reasons people switched from cow’s milk to fake milk made with things like almonds, oats, and soy, was calories. Milk, even skim milk, had more calories than the fake ones. Now, though, the Dairy Farmers of America, a co-op made up of nearly 5,500 family dairy farms, has produced Milk 50, real milk with fewer calories–only 50, as the name suggests. In the audio clip below, Rachel Kyllo, Chief Marketing Officer of the dairy brands business for Dairy Farmers of America, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that Milk 50 delivers what DFA research says consumers want: protein. Its surveys showed more than 50% of consumers are actively looking for protein, something lacking in the plant-based drinks, so DFA thought the market was ripe for a new kind of real milk, a 50-calorie-per-serving beverage that is an excellent source of calcium and a good source of vitamin D with nine grams of protein, plus it’s lactose free. Unlike skim milk, Kyllo says Milk 50 has a very milky taste, thanks to it being ultra filtered. That means the sugars that contribute to calories are filtered out, but natural non-nutritive sweeteners, allulose, are added back in with just a fraction of the sugar in the fake milks. She says potential buyers of Milk 50 are those who switched to plant-based drinks, and those just looking for more protein and taste with fewer calories. Milk 50 is now at select Walmart, Albertsons and Stater Bros. Markets stores in the western United States, and at Target stores nationwide.

One would expect Jones Dairy Farm, a seventh-generation farm in America’s Dairyland, Wisconsin, to be all about milk and other dairy products. It isn’t, and hasn’t had cows on its farm since the 1980s. But it’s big in bacon and other pork products and is one of the vendors passing out samples of bacon at Milwaukee’s BaconFest (February 23, 2025).

In the audio clip below, Mariah Hadler, Jones Dairy Farm company store and customer engagement manager, tells WGN Radio’s Steve Alexander that the farm in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, goes back to 1832, before Wisconsin was even a state. Milo Jones and his family made their living with a dairy farm, but in 1889, Milo’s son, Milo C. Jones, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and could no longer operate the farm, but he still needed to support his family. So, he made breakfast sausage using his mother’s recipe—just pork, salt and spices—and started selling it to friends and family. Soon enough, he was shipping it by rail to customers near and far. And that’s how Jones Dairy Farm got into the pork business. The tipping point came In the 1980s when the farm sold off its dairy herd to focus on its meat processing business. It specialized in pork that is found in retail stores nationwide, and by mail order, where the number one product is scrapple. In the clip, Mariah explains what’s in scrapple, and if you’re among the uninitiated, you may find its description is not as appetizing sounding as its many fans say it is.

But why is it still Jones Dairy Farm? Hadler says the brand is so strong that when the 137-year-old company considered a change, customers surveyed made it clear that they liked it as it is. 

We’re all feeling the pain of egg-flation but it’s one thing to wince when we buy a dozen every week or two. The House of Cakes Bakery in NW Chicago buys 90 dozen a week in order to make the fresh, made-from-scratch pastries, donuts, pizza bread, coffee cakes, their famous cheese sticks, cookies, and more that have delighted customers for the past 37 years. In the audio clip below, House of Cakes manager Christina Nigro tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that her dad started the small bakery on the border of Chicago and Park Ridge in 1986. The rising cost of eggs has put a strain on its ability to continue serving their customers without raising prices. Instead, she says the family decided to try a GoFundMe to help stabilize costs while they, and all of us, weather the egg price storm.

Stefania Marzelia has these words of advice for kitchen creators who want to turn their creations into a business: “Just go for it.” She went for it, working as a barista in Chicago coffee shops, starting at age 16 at Starbucks, and later at Cafe Umbria, where she learned about making coffee syrups. When the pandemic and lockdown hit, she started making her own syrups at home and posted stories and videos where she developed a huge following on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. That led to her creating her coffee company, Sips, and in the audio clip below, Stefania tells WGN’s Steve Alexander how she moved the business out of her home and into a commercial kitchen at East Garfield Park’s The Hatchery, where many Chicago businesses have gotten their start. And her coffee syrups, which she says are all natural, include several flavors from Madagascar Vanilla Bean, Warm Brown Sugar, and Hazelnut to a new collection called the Dessert Table, featuring tiramisu, mint chocolate chip and chocolate covered strawberry. The syrups have attracted a big following both online, and in the Gold Coast at Chicago Health Foods. And she says customers aren’t using them for their coffee, pouring them over ice cream and pastries, in cocktails, and even using them for baking. Stefania has added some coffee roasts: Gold Coast, and for Black History Month, Bronzeville Dark Roast.

GloBowl founder and CEO Erica Bethe Levin flipped the equation: Instead of necessity being the mother of invention, she’s a mother who invented something–a new type of baby food–out of necessity. Levin shares some dos and don’ts for people hoping to turn a product dreamt up in a home kitchen (or spare bedroom, or closet, or dining table, or car) into a brand that’s sold nationwide. Among the tips: Make sure your idea hasn’t already been done; make sure there’s a demand for what you’re making; make sure you have adequate funding–you don’t want to quit your day job to pursue your passion and then run out of money before you can get it to market. She shares other tips in the audio clip below with WGN’s Steve Alexander.

One of the most famous graduates of Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn is pitching in to help raise money for the Glen House Food Pantry in that town. In the audio clip below, Hayes relates a touching story about how hard his mother worked as a single mother of five and a staff member at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. With rising prices at the grocery store and declining support from government programs, the need for local food pantries is greater than ever.  Glen House Food Pantry Executive Director Laura Glaza tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that even in DuPage County, one of the wealthiest in Illinois, demand for food at the pantry is skyrocketing. And it comes at a time when the pantry is spending more than ever for fresh produce, dairy, eggs, and canned goods. The number of neighbors visiting the pantry last year increased to 8,500, up nearly 20 percent over 2023. Glaza points out that every dollar saved by visiting a food pantry can be used by low-income neighbors for essentials they cannot get for free such as rent, utilities gasoline, day-car, and doctor visits.

So, Hayes is helping raise money with a video publicizing a raffle for Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon, which is described in the audio clip by the donor, Glen House board member Jim Burket, as hard to find because of its unique shape, featuring brass horses atop each bottle which fans of the brand like to collect.

To participate in the raffle, visit www.GlenHouseFoodPantry.org, click on the “Donate Now” button in the upper right corner of the page, type in the $10 increment corresponding to how many tickets you’d like, and choose “Bourbon Raffle” in the 2025 Pantry Support drop down. Once you receive your emailed confirmation receipt from the Pantry, forward it to Pantry board member and raffle organizer, Jim  Burket, at [email protected]. He will make your tickets and send you your number. 

Participants must be 21 years of age or older. Chances of winning are determined by the number of entries. Winner will be chosen in a random drawing of all entries and a video showing Sean pulling the ticket will be posted on the Pantry’s website and Facebook page by mid-March. 

The Glen House Food Pantry provides essential groceries and support to people at risk of hunger through a collaboration of local churches and the broader community. The Pantry’s services are available to neighbors who live, work, or attend school in DuPage County. In 2024, the Pantry distributed  nearly 870,000 pounds of groceries to more than 8,500 neighbors, including 764 families who visited for the first time. Located at 55 N. Park Blvd., Glen Ellyn, the Pantry was founded in 1979 and is a registered 501(c)(3) organization, privately funded through grants and donations. For more information visit www.GlenHousePantry.org or call 630-469-8668.

20-year-old Nathan Spangler doesn’t wear a cape and leap tall buildings with a single bound, or shoot spider webs out of his palms. No, he’s just a western Illinois farm boy who grew up on the family farm between Macomb and Canton raising corn, soybeans, and beef cattle. And he has proven you don’t need to be a superhero to save someone’s life.

After high school, he went to the University of Illinois to study agriculture and “learn a couple of things to bring back to the farm and continue to grow and improve our operation.” As a freshman, he joined the FarmHouse agricultural fraternity, where one of the programs sponsored was Be the Match.org, a stem cell donor registry which is now known as NMDP.org. After signing up and getting his cheeks and gums swabbed — which he says took all of about two minutes — he was in the donor base. About a year later, Nathan’s phone pinged. He was a match for a 24-year old woman with a rare auto-immune disease. In the audio clip below, Nathan tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that after a bit more vetting, he and his mom, Prairie Farmer agriculture reporter Holly Spangler, were on a plane to West Palm Beach, Florida. Over a period of about 7 hours, Nathan’s blood left his body via an IV in his left arm, passed through a machine where the stem cells were harvested, and then the blood went back into his body via an IV in his right arm. Uncomfortable? “No, not really,” says Nathan. He said his left arm had to remain immobile for most of the day, but he had pretty much full movement with his right arm. “I was able to eat with it and do a little schoolwork with it.”

Nathan is an enthusiastic supporter of the NMDP.org program and urges anyone who’s eligible (18-40 years of age and in good health) to sign up and get on the registry. “It’s wild it all started with taking two minutes out of my day to sign up for the registry. It’s unbelievable the amount of good you can do through it and you never know whose life you’ll be able to save.”

As mentioned, Nathan’s mother is a journalist with Prairie Farmer Magazine, where she wrote about the experience.