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[piano, guitar, 
and marimba arrangement]

2
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(woman) 
It's my husband's favorite, 
and I love it on wings.

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We love it on our burgers, 
but I love it mostly--

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(narrator) 
Meet Kissie Stroup 
from Davidson County

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by way of High Point, 
here busily sampling

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her line of all-natural 
refrigerated salad dressings

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in a Wake Forest 
grocery store.

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Kissie loves her work 
and her products,

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which have names 
like "Far East Flair,"

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"Honey, It's Dijon Dill!," 
and "It Takes Three to Tango,"

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which combines ranch 
and Thousand Island

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with blue cheese crumbles.

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Oh, and by the way, 
her name really is "Kissie."

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(Kissie, voice-over) 
My real name is Christine.

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They called me Chrissy.

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My cousin, he couldn't say 
"Chrissy," said "Kissie."

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They thought it was cute.

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When you're two, 
it's really cute.

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When you're 50, 
it's not cute anymore,

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especially 
when you're in business.

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That does not 
say a lot for me,

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when I walk 
into a corporate board meeting

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and I'm five feet tall 
and my name's Kissie.

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I really 
have to assert myself.

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[piano leads 
string orchestration]

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(narrator) 
Kissie created the Little 
Black Dressing line herself

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in her kitchen.

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The first one, 
Dreamy Creamy Vinaigrette,

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was based 
on her grandmother's recipe.

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(Kissie) 
She was 
the salad-dressing maker.

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She had an organic garden.

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My brother and I 
worked it, um.

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We never ate anything 
in a bottle.

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We do everything 
to this dressing

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that my grandmother did 
50 years ago.

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Mix it and put it 
in the refrigerator.

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That's it.

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(narrator) 
Like many kitchen-table 
entrepreneurs,

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the timing 
was right for Kissie,

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and people encouraged her.

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[violins lead 
busy arrangement]

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(Kissie) 
The economic turndown in 2008

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prompted me to realize

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that as an able, working body 
in the household--

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the kids were older, 
so it was a lot easier.

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I started from doin' 
salad dressing at home

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for friends, 
and they liked it so much,

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and then it just 
turned into a business.

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I thought, well, 
I'll just do that.

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(narrator) 
In case you hadn't noticed,

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Kissie has 
the wonderful ability

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to talk and smile 
at the same time,

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which she can turn on 
like a light switch

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when people approach 
her sampling table.

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♪

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Of course, 
she also has a great product.

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"Catchy on the outside 
and yummy on the inside,"

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she says, and clearly got

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some important things right 
from the get-go,

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her brand 
and her package design.

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But there were a few 
business-development issues

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along the way.

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Nothing-- 
I knew nothing.

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I graduated 
from Meredith in 1988

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with a degree in fine arts

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and a concentration 
in graphic design.

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So the design part was easy.

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I liked doin' the name.

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I like a play on words.

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As far as doing a wholesale 
manufacturing business,

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I thought it was supposed 
to go into a cute package.

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I would drop it off 
at the grocery store.

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They would think it was 
awesome and buy it.

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That was 
the end of the story.

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I was gonna be 
successful after that.

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Well, that's not 
the way it works.

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(narrator) 
Starting and growing 
a small business

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can seem unreal.

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You ask yourself, 
is it really happening?

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Can I make it?

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And then 
something unexpected happens

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to boost your confidence,

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like what happened 
to Kissie in 2014

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in the form of an inquiry

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from a caterer 
serving the US Open.

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(Kissie) 
Actually, they sent me 
an e-mail,

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and I thought that the family 
was prankin' me, uh.

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We're a big golfing family, 
so when I got the--the...

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summons to send samples, 
I went around

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to everyone in the family 
and said, "That's not funny.

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"You guys 
have got to quit this

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'cause you're gonna 
get me excited for nothin'."

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Finally my husband said,

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"Kissie, we did not 
send that e-mail.

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You've got to call 
these people."

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I didn't buy it 
for a whole month.

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So I sent samples 
not expecting anything,

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and they loved it.

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The first order was OK.

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I knocked it out 
in three days.

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I thought, yeah, 
I've got this.

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The second order I think was-- 
it was like 2,000 bottles,

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and I had to have it done 
in less than a week,

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so we called in the troops.

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My--thank goodness my family 
and friends helped me

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'cause that was the only way 
I was gonna make it.

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(narrator) 
Kissie has been fortunate 
to find help along the way

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not only from her family

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but the North Carolina 
Department of Agriculture

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and a group in Greensboro

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where entrepreneurs 
share their experience.

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She found 
food-safety regulations

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particularly daunting.

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(Kissie) 
There's a lotta paperwork 
that goes into it.

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Everything is noted 
from the time

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it walks in the door 
until the time it leaves.

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That way, 
if we ever had a recall,

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I would know where 
those ingredients came from,

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when they came in, 
when they left,

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what bottle they were in,

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and it all 
has to be written down.

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So it--75% of my time 
is spent doin' paperwork,

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and 25% is spent 
actually making the dressing.

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(narrator) 
Unless you can get advice 
from somebody who's done it,

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the idea of pitching 
your product

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to a grocery store

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and having them greet you 
like you're the next big thing

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seems to make sense, 
but that's not how it works.

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(Kissie) 
They have to make sure

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that you're in it 
for a long time--

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you're not gonna be 
fly-by-night,

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and two months from now 
you decide,

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really I don't wanna do this; 
it's too hard.

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(narrator) 
A big plus 
is that Kissie's products

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are locally made during a time 
when grocery stores

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want to offer more local 
products to their customers.

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But perseverance helps too, 
as Richard McKellogg,

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a senior produce executive

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with North Carolina-based 
Lowes Foods confirmed

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during a store reopening event 
in the town of Wake Forest.

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(Richard) 
When someone like Kissie 
gets in front of you,

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it's hard to say no.

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And you can just 
see her passion

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and just her willingness

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to go about things 
the right way.

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She comes 
to every one of these events.

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She's out in the community.

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She talks to our guests, uh.

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She educates them 
and really educates us.

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We have a lot of people 
that bang down our door

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and would like to get in,

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but not quite as many 
as a Kissie,

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who literally is so committed 
to just saying,

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I wanna learn.

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I got a great product,

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and I wanna deliver it 
to your guests.

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So it's been pretty exciting 
to work with her.

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(narrator) 
What's a typical day like 
for Kissie Stroup?

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First off, she faces 
the task she likes least.

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(Kissie) 
I do my terrible accounting 
in the mornings.

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Yes, I get that over with, 
and then I either--

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I'm at 
a grocery store sampling.

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We're--we really, if-- 
to be successful

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and to just talk to people

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and get it in people's mouths 
one bottle at a time.

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Settin' up a table 
and talking,

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settin' up a table 
and talking.

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That's all I do, 
which obviously, I'm good at.

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I like that better 
than the accounting part.

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But it's long days.

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It's hard work, 
but when you produce it also,

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you have to make sure 
that you're there

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and it gets made 'cause you 
don't have anything to sell.

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So, um, typical day,

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I'm either in the car drivin' 
or, um, at the office mixin'.

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My father-in-law 
does all the bottling now,

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so he's taken some 
of the pressure off of me.

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We don't have weekends.

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I don't know 
what day it is sometimes.

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(narrator) 
But all the hard work,

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even the occasional 
70-hour week,

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appears to have been 
well worth it

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to this 
high-energy country girl

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with the full-speed-ahead 
attitude.

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Besides, 
how can you go wrong

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with an award-winning dressing 
for every occasion,

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each one 
straight from the heart,

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handcrafted with pride 
and presented with love,

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plus a great line of chatter.

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Truth tell, your salad 
never had it so good!

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♪