Fort Worth celebrates 100 years of ‘salt and grit’ at Best Maid Pickles
Best Maid Pickles, the 100-year-old family brand that evolved from a pie making business to a pickle empire, was recognized Tuesday by the city of Fort Worth.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker along with District 8 City Council member Chris Nettles, and a representative for District 9 City Council member Elizabeth Beck were on hand to present official proclamations from the city at an event at an event commemorating the company’s centennial.
It’s not often the city gets to celebrate a company that’s been in business for 100 years, Parker said at an event commemorating the company’s centennial.
Everyone has a Best Maid Pickle story, Parker said, adding that her favorite flavor is sweet pickle.
District 9 City Council member Elizabeth Beck, who wasn’t able to make Tuesday’s event, said in a text message to the Star-Telegram that companies like Best Maid are what make Fort Worth a thriving city.
“Best Made pickles are made by the best right here in Fort Worth,” she said.
The company got its start in 1926 with family members selling Matriarch Mildred Dalton’s pies first door-to-door then out of the family grocery store on Magonlia and Eighth avenues. Mildred used the leftover egg yolks from her merengue to make mayonnaise, which soon caught on as a bestseller.
The company expanded to make a sandwich spread that required a pickle relish. When Best Maid’s relish supplier raised its prices, the Daltons opted to plant a cucumber patch in the backyard of their home in Mansfield. The initial harvest was so abundant that the family started selling pickles.
The company opened a factory at 1400 S. Riverside Dr. in 1946, and it’s one of two locations in Fort Worth where you can smell what’s going on inside as you pass by, said Nettles.
Nettles commended the company on its investment in southeast Fort Worth, and thanked it for donating land near the factory to be developed into a city park.
“Our young people will be able to play and ride slides and smell warm pickles,” he said, as chuckles bubbled up from the crowd.
Brian Dalton, Best Maid’s CEO and the fourth generation to run the company, thanked the city for the recognition.
Dalton said his great-grandparents could have never imagined the company they started out of a small grocery store would still be running 100 -years later.
The company has become one of the iconic brands of Texas along with Whataburger, Blue Bell, Shiner Bock, Buc-ee’s, Dr Pepper, Mrs. Renfro’s and H-E-B, Dalton said.
Dalton thanked the company’s employees and the consumers who’ve kept the company going all these years.
He ended his remarks with a champagne toast.
“Here’s to 100 years of Best Maid Pickles. Proof the little salt, grit and Texas Pride can stand the test of time,” he said.
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