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Andrea Wasko & Meaghan Gilbert, Connoisseur Creations

Thanks to MCSC Women’s Business Center for sharing Andrea and Meaghan’s story!

Andrea Wasko and Meaghan Gilbert of Los Osos, California launched their flagship product, the Quick Pickle Kit after starting Connoisseur Creations in 1996. After struggling with weight issues, Andrea wanted to develop a healthy alternative snack that would help people in similar situations. The Quick Pickle Kit is a safe, quick, simple, and natural way to make delicious pickles in the comfort of your own home.

Using 100-year-old family recipes, Andrea and Megan were able to create a healthy, low-sodium, low- calorie, hunger satisfying and delicious snack. Connoisseur Creations values their local community by providing jobs to developmentally challenged adults and by donating 10% of its proceeds to nonprofit agencies.

Andrea first sought out help from MCSC Women’s Business center back in 2007. The WBC was able to assist Connoisseur Connections by helping them settle into their new headquarters in the Central Coast and connecting them with proper production facilities. With Andrea’s small business expertise, she was quickly recruited to be a consultant for MCSC Women’s business center. For 6 years, Andrea helped local entrepreneurs kick-start their businesses, providing her small business expertise to Central Coast small business owners and entrepreneurs.

For over 30 years now, Andrea Wasko and Meaghan Gilbert have been developing and launching new products. During this year’s Small Business Week, Andrea and Meaghan received the SBA’s 2019 Small Business Persons of the Year award on May 6th, 2019. “We are grateful to the SBA and MCSC’s Women’s Business Center for their support of Quick Pickle Kit,” they said.