Olivia's Crouton Company, Inc Review and Giveaway

We eat a lot of salads around here and when I make my salads I like to add all the works, which includes different types of cheeses, sunflower seeds, bacon bits and of course the most important salad topper of all croutons! I love croutons not only in my salad but I use them a lot of different ways such as snacking on them between meals and I like to mix them with sliced turkey and gravy to spice it up a bit so when I happened to come across Olivia’s Croutons I just had to try them out!

About Olivia's Crouton Company, Inc (Taken From Website):

Olivia’s History

I started Olivia’s Croutons in April of 1991. Our son David was almost two and daughter Olivia was three. We started in our own kitchen with the Butter & Garlic flavor, sold in brown bags, hand stamped with rubber stamps. Twenty bags was a big order and it took quite a long time to hand cut each loaf and bake the croutons in our conventional oven.
By August of that year we were dealing with about six stores, and had just signed on our first “really big store”. We did a demo and sold 200 bags or croutons in three days. This was a monumental step. We installed our first Blodgett convection oven in our kitchen and we rigged up a semi automatic cutter to help on the cutting end. Now we could really make croutons!

Since that point we have grown steadily. We started adding out of town UPS ship orders and we realized that we really had no limitations. In April of 1993 we moved out of our kitchen and into a larger commercial kitchen that we had built in our basement. In the spring on 1997 we added a new packaging machine. With our new longer shelf life, we were now able to sell our products through distributors, a whole new market for us. The new growth forced a move in July of 1999, when we purchased a perfect little building in the next town. We added a Certified Organic crouton to our line and have recently added two flavors of Stuffing.

By the end of 2005 it was clear that we again needed to find new production space. We looked and looked but couldn’t find a place that felt right. Then it happened. David was out on a back country road and he found our new home, for both the croutons and our family. After a purchase in March and extensive renovations to a 1912 dairy barn, Olivia’s has it’s new home. We live on the 50 acre homestead, are growing wheat for the croutons and producing our products in our brand new space, cleverly concealed inside the historic barn. The property is now listed on the National Historic Register. The kitchen has doubled our production capacity and we have added a new bagging line for increased packaging options and an expanded product line.

We are continuing to have fun, meeting new vendors and exploring new markets. I really enjoy what I do. I like making a product that people really love to eat and one that is unique to the market place. This product brought me into the food and grocery business. It has proven to be an education! I pride myself on being an honest, hard working, uncomplicated person. It is only logical that we would produce a wholesome, all natural, uncomplicated product. As a family, we enjoy these tasty treats and we hope you will be fond of them too.

Enjoy!

Francie (Olivia's Mom)


Our Thoughts:

We were sent a sampling of Olivia’s Croutons to review that included a package of their Organic Garlic & Herb, Butter & Garlic, Parmesan Pepper, Vermont Cheddar & Dill and Multi Grain w/Garlic.

I have to admit that Chad and I were both pretty excited to be able to give these croutons a try, because we both love to eat croutons on our salads and well we just love salads in general so this would give us an excuse to eat them more often! We have been eating on these croutons for a while now and we are absolutely in love with them all. My favorite by far is the Vermont Cheddar & Dill but my husband is quite fond of the Parmesan Pepper. I have tried all of the varieties on my salads and I’ve also used them to grab a quick and satisfying snack to hold me over until lunch or dinner and I’m am very pleased with them all!

I must say we have tried a lot of croutons in the past and I’ve even had handmade croutons from local restaurants and I have to say Olivia’s is the absolute best croutons I have every eaten! “Bug” also likes to snack on these croutons and he also likes them soaked with Italian dressing before putting them on his salad to soften them up so he can eat them better. I love, love, love to use the Multi Grain w/Garlic with my turkey and gravy meals to give it a dressing type flavor and if you want to find more delicious ways to eat Olivia’s Croutons check out the recipes on their website.

Bottom Line:

After trying out all the varieties of croutons Olivia’s has to offer we are all very impressed with the flavor and are totally in love with the croutons, of course we each have our overall favorite but all the varieties are very delicious and you can’t go wrong topping your salad with one of them!

If you are looking for a great tasting addition to top off your special salads head on over and pick up a package of Olivia’s Croutons!

Buy It:
To purchase Olivia’s Croutons visit their website!

Win It:
Olivia’s Croutons has offered one of my readers an assorted 6 pack of croutons so you can try them out yourself!

Mandatory Entry: Visit Olivia’s Croutons and tell me what recipe you would like to try or how you like to eat your croutons! Please remember to leave your e-mail address if it’s not visible in your profile.

Want or need extra entries? Check out how to grab em’ below! (Mandatory Entry must be complete for these to count)

1. Become a public follower of my blog (current follower count too)

2. Follow me on twitter @sgrant2005 and tweet this giveaway (can be done daily)

3. Subscribe to my feed via a reader

4. Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post and to Olivia’s Croutons be sure to leave me a link (5 extra)

5. Follow Olivia’s Croutons on Twitter

6. “Like” Olivia’s Croutons on Facebook

Giveaway ends Oct 28, 2010 @ midnight CST. Winner will be chosen at random, using random.org and contacted by e-mail and has 48 hrs to respond before a new winner is chosen.

This review is based strictly my opinion. Others may have a different opinion with the product listed above. I did receive the croutons mentioned above complementary for this review. No monetary compensation was received.