Having worked as a chef for 25 years, Donald Paleno created his own recipe for his first batch of pickles in his food truck - Chef Don’s Gourmet Snack Wagon.

“I sold mostly cold sandwiches and wraps,” Paleno said. “My chef brain helped me make up my own pickle recipe to garnish them.”

Paleno said he wanted bright and fresh bread and butter flavors, and people started commenting that his pickles were the best they had ever had. He said people kept coming back and asking for extra pickles, and he started selling them as a side item. Patrons also suggested he jar and sell them, but he said he didn’t think much about that at the time.

A friend of Paleno’s, Justin Dewalder, asked if he could use the pickle recipe several years later after Paleno closed the food truck. He said he had to dig to find it, and it was on a piece of paper with vague ingredient amounts like “a handful of fresh dill.” The friends hosted a cookout for friends and family, shared pickles with them, and sent them home with extra pickles. 

“They kept asking for more, and things kind of snowballed from there,” Paleno said.

Taking a leap of faith by leaving a full time job in 2020, Paleno drew up business plans with Dewalder and used pandemic stimulus money to officially start DJ’s Pickles.

The friends and roommates began making refrigerator-style pickles in their own kitchen. Traveling to tailgate markets, Paleno said he sold pickles literally from the tailgate of his truck and would often sell out.

They grew out of the home kitchen, and while working part time at Colorful Palate, Paleno was able to use a quarter of their kitchen space for a while. It became quickly apparent that he needed his own space, and he was able to find his current location at the WNC Farmers Market in Asheville. 

“We’ve grown exponentially since we moved into the Farmers Market in September of 2022,” Paleno said. “We have a huge audience there, and we are still doing tailgate markets too.”

With his pickles and pickled products in three food trucks and about 20 stores around the region, he said he could develop more products like pickled fruits, salad dressings, and more if he had the people and the means to do so.

Currently running the business mostly by himself as Dewalder is no longer a partner, Paleno said he has to be mindful about the speed of his business’s growth. He said it’s hard to regulate that speed because the demand is growing, yet there is not enough capital to hire a team. Paleno hopes after getting through his third year, investors will see the validity of his business and he may be able to hire employees to help scale DJ’s Pickles.

“We’re basically on a week-to-week cash flow,” Paleno said. “It’s hard to pay someone $20 an hour when we’re selling $10 jars of pickles. Some of the friends and family currently helping me at tailgate markets are working for pickles and tips simply because they really want to be there.

“It’s hard to say at what point we’ll be able to do more,” Paleno said. “I’d love to start buying in bulk, and though that can cut costs per unit, it’s expensive at first. I also need more space to store all those ingredients and jars, so right now, I’m still having to pay retail prices for some of my ingredients.”

Paleno said his retail space in the market is the best place he could be in and it has been the ultimate learning experience. He has also attended seminars with Venture Asheville and is blending with other entrepreneurs as much as he can to engage with and learn from them. 

“I’m really lucky to be in Asheville — the region is really setting the standard for growing food businesses. There are so many people making things here and working together, and there are lots of entrepreneur support organizations as well as lots of opportunities to attend and vend from a variety of events. That’s the part that is the most fun. It is really a great place to be doing what I am doing.”