Our Story

 

It All Started With Molly

I wasn't born with gumbo in my genes, but I did marry someone who did. I think if it weren’t for my mother-in-law, Molly, I would not have fallen in love with the dish. One day, oh, I’d say in the mid-90’s, Molly cooked some gumbo for us during a visit. Back then, I was not much of a homemaker and even less of a cook so she was probably just trying to feed her poor son. But when I tasted that dark, smooth stew I was hooked. And knowing how much my husband loved it, I had to learn how to make it. Molly mercifully taught her naïve daughter-in-law how to prepare her version of the sacred meal. Her specialty was chicken and sausage gumbo and, to this day, that’s my go-to recipe.  

Well, through the years, I started tinkering with how to make the roux, and replacing this with that, and that with this. Pretty soon, I had a fool-proof system of making a no fuss, healthy, consistently delicious gumbo.

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This mission is fueled by our passion to provide the food and food products that make it easy to gather and connect.

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Flash forward to 2014 when four friends started getting together one Saturday a month to work on projects. Some of us sewed, cooked, did woodworking, painted, …you name it, we were making something with it. It was common for us to spend 10 straight hours sharing stories, laughing, and creating. Of course, in the midst of it all was a lot of food! One of my frequent contributions to our potlucks was…you guessed it, gumbo! Someone suggested I bottle my personal recipe and give them out as Christmas gifts. I did that and people loved it! Well, that response triggered a fantasy of sharing this product with the world.

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Good things do, indeed, happen around the table.

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As I struggled with the “how” of sharing my beloved gumbo with the masses, it led me to the question of "why". Why would anyone want it? It made me think of all those moments when this special dish was being served...holidays, potlucks, when friends were over. I thought about the stories, laughter and togetherness that happened around a pot of gumbo, people lifting that lid to see if it was done yet. I realized that, as delicious as the gumbo is, it's truly the gathering of people around it that makes it special. That's when Tayo was born.

Tayo means “us” or “we” in my native language of Tagalog. It perfectly captures the flash point of why our company exists. This mission is fueled by our passion to provide the food and food products that make it easy to gather and connect. Gumbo is our flagship product and it is such a great representation of what we’re all about. At Tayo we believe that good things do, indeed, happen around the table, and we want to be part of that.