Couple expands New England Cranberry Co. in Lynn

LYNN – The husband and wife duo behind New England Cranberry Company has recently developed a hunger for diversifying its business of all-natural cranberry sauces, jellies, chutneys and other cranberry products.Within the past two years, the Lynn business has acquired a dry soup mix brand, Sudbury Soup, started to sell its own organic drink mixes and been preparing to soon launch a candy distribution company, Sala Dolce.Ted Stux, 47, said he and his wife, 45-year-old Allison Goldberg, co-owners, went forward in product expansion to fill up the time outside of June through January when the manufacturing and sales of the cranberry goods are in full swing.?We?re trying to bring up the sales in the dead months,” he said.Goldberg, a Swampscott native, said they also wanted to evolve beyond cranberry products and not just be known to their customers for one thing.?How do we get a larger share of a customer?s dollar with a different company that?s still in-house?” she said.Stux and Goldberg moved from Chicago to Lynn in 2003 because they were looking to start the company, but also to be close to family because Goldberg had just had the couple?s first child. The couple purchased New England Cranberry Company, which was founded in 1994, from a Framingham man who was getting older and did not want the responsibility of a business, Goldberg said.For their first year as owners, the couple did not make any changes to the company, Goldberg said, keeping consistent the line of six jarred products, dried fruits and chocolate. The following year, they changed the packaging, and, in the year after that, began adding more jarred varieties, like cranberry mango chutney and cranberry onion pepper jelly. New England Cranberry Company has since come out with condiments, syrups and honeys as well.?Customers expect you to have new stuff. You can?t go back to them year after year with the same list of things,” Stux said.Goldberg said she and Stux work well as a business pair because they have complimentary expertise. Stux?s background is in finance and company operations, and Golberg, a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, said she has a passion for food.?I come to him with an idea, and he says, ?Find it, source it, see if it?s a cost-effective activity,?” Goldberg said.None of New England Cranberry Company?s products are made at the business? warehouse space at 82 Sanderson Ave., but the jarred goods are made in Massachusetts and the other products and services, such as graphics and printing, are completed either locally or in the New England area. Goldberg said that she has developed most of the recipes for the jarred goods that were not inherited from the previous owner.The company relies partly on the local cranberry crop, but Goldberg said the crop has not been plentiful enough to exclusively meet the company?s needs.?There?s a very large company on the South Shore, it?s called Decas, and they are a huge supplier. I remember last year, we called them a couple times and they were out,” she said. “So we do as much as we can, but it?s not possible to meet all the demand.”Goldberg said that the New England Cranberry Company?s products are mostly sold wholesale to restaurants, prepared food companies, caterers and cafes. However, the products are available for retail sale on the company?s website, newenglandcranberry.com, as well as in grocery stores and specialty shops across the country.As for Stux and Goldberg?s new venture, Sudbury Soup, Goldberg said the takeover followed a familiar theme. The previous owner of the company, a Somerville woman who had run the company for 15 years, was getting older and wanted to take the business off her plate, Goldberg said. The couple bought Sudbury Soup in November 2010, and Goldberg said she has been working on tweaking the recipes and working on updating the label.Sala Dolce is a few months away from launching, Stux said, and the operations will take also take place at 82 Sanderso