February 2001>> Source: KVIE
California Heartland - KVIE

She’s only 13 years old but she already fronts one of the most successful kitchens in all of California.  Amy Berliner is the namesake behind Amy’s Kitchen, a $90 million a year frozen foods empire based in Santa Rosa. So how does she feel about all this success?

“She likes it.  She’s proud of it.  She likes what she does.  She likes telling people about the food,” said her mother and co-founder of the company, Rachel Berliner. 

“When she was in 2nd grade she wanted to be captain of Amy’s Kitchen,” adds her father and co-founder, Andy Berliner. 

And for this captain it has been smooth sailing.  Amy and her products have made a name for themselves by carving a niche in two growing retail markets: organic and vegetarian.  Within 6 months of the company’s creation, their products could be found in natural and health food stores nationwide. 

The company was founded around the time of Amy’s birth.  As her parents worried about not having time to prepare healthy meals with a newborn in the house, they decided to remedy the situation by creating their own line of convenient comfort foods.  Their frozen pizzas, lasagnas, enchiladas and pot pies provide nutritious, frozen meals for busy people. 

Along with convenience, another goal of the company is to support organic farmers, many of them from California.  100% of the broccoli, celery, carrots, dried corn and apples used in Amy’s products come from the Golden State.  This use of local produce and hands-on attention to detail contribute to the quality of their meals.  Today Amy’s Kitchen dominates 70% of the organic frozen-food market. 

It also dominates much of this family’s time and efforts.  But so far, the dividends have been both financial and relational. 

“We have so much fun together,” said Andy, of the family enterprise. 

“We enjoy working together,” agreed Rachel. 
It’s a labor of love from their family to yours. 

“We just want it to taste good.  We want people to enjoy it.  We want them to know there’s somebody out there who cares about them making this food,” concluded Rachel. 

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“The new ravioli bowl has everything I love about the old raviolis, plus more. The spices and sauce perfectly compliment the delicious ricotta filled raviolis.” - Amy Berliner

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