Golden Fig Fine Foods brings a taste of the Hamptons to Minnesota.
Laurie Crowell’s story starts in the Hamptons, circa 1990, when she was visiting a friend who worked as a nanny. It was happenstance that Crowell would walk by Barefoot Contessa, a specialty food store where she proceeded to work for a few years. “I loved how the food was so beautiful and delicious,” Crowell recalls.
Crowell, originally from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, worked in a local grocery store as a teenager and has always loved the environment. She moved back to the Midwest in 1994 (She has lived in Woodbury for the past 15 years.) and continued her passion in the food industry by creating her own spice blends, vinegars and more—specialty items that she would gift to friends and family during the holidays.
When she decided to start her own business, she was instantly brought back to the Hamptons. “There was The Golden Pear … It was right across the alley from Barefoot Contessa,” Crowell says. “I would go there on my day off.” When thinking about a perfect business name, she kept recalling her favorite little café in the Hamptons. “What did I like that was golden? Well, figs,” she says. “I had been introduced to figs when I worked at Barefoot Contessa because [Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis] had ordered six flats of fresh figs for a table display for one of her parties. I happened to be there that day when they came in, and I was like, ‘What are these?’ I had never seen figs before.”…