By MICHELLE GRISALES
SUNY Stony Brook
Denise Weale never planned to build an English muffin empire, and certainly not
with her daughter Olivia.
It all started with a dinner party, a sourdough starter and a tossed container of
Thomas’ English Muffins on the sidewalk.
Eight years later, Dam Good English Muffins — a nod to Croton Dam — has gone
from farmers market favorite to freezer aisle staple one square-shaped, sourdough
muffin at a time.
The Peekskill-based company reimagines the traditional English muffin with a
cleaner, heartier and unmistakably “dam good” twist.
At a dinner party, Denise and her husband, Ross, were talking about sourdough
with friends when someone brought over a batch of homemade English muffins.
They were unlike anything the Weales had tasted.
“We toasted them up and decided we could never go back to the store brand,”
Denise said.
With her culinary background studying at Johnson and Wales University’s culinary program and a longing to return to the food world, Denise began experimenting with her own sourdough English muffin recipe.
At the time, she was managing A Maze in Pottery in Briarcliff Manor, but this new
venture brought her back into the kitchen.
Still, the idea of turning it into a business hadn’t quite formed until a walk changed
everything.
While walking and talking about what could be next, Denise spotted a discarded
cardboard container of Thomas’ English Muffins lying on the sidewalk.
“I scooped it up, my husband snapped a photo, and we said, ‘Okay, let’s go for it,’”
Denise said.
With a home processing license in hand, Denise began selling their English muffins at local farmers markets. She began not only selling them just by the pack, but also in creative ways like freshly made egg sandwiches.
When Dam Good first began, Olivia was still in college, studying business
administration at the University of Vermont.
Her involvement in the business started casually by managing the brand’s social
media. But, everything changed during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With staff unable to come in and operations still based out of Denise’s home
kitchen, it became a two-person team.
“It really was Olivia and I holding up the business when our orders were surging,”
Denise shared. “If it wasn’t for Olivia, I don’t know what we would have done.”
As Olivia stepped in to support her mom, she quickly realized this was more than
just a temporary role, it was something she wanted to be a part of.
Since then, the mother-daughter duo have continued to grow their brand side by
side, expanding from humble beginnings to a thriving business.
But balancing a family relationship with a business partnership isn’t always easy.
“There’s many levels of relationships to maintain, and it can be difficult to set
boundaries,” Olivia said.
Yet, this complexity is also what makes their collaboration so powerful. In an
industry where finding reliable help can be tough, Olivia appreciates that they can
always count on each other.
“When push comes to shove, we can rely on each other at the end of the day and lift each other up when the other person’s down,” she said.
Today, Dam Good offers four sourdough muffin varieties. Original white, whole
wheat, multigrain and cinnamon swirl.
What sets them apart isn’t just their tangy sourdough flavor but how they’re made.
Each muffin is plant-based, non-GMO, vegan and completely free of seed oils, dairy, preservatives and artificial ingredients.
“They’re made from simple ingredients you can find in your own kitchen,” Olivia
shared. “The food system has become very complex in ways that it doesn’t need to
be.”
Olivia explained that each batch typically takes three days to prepare before it’s
ready to sell and is sold frozen to preserve freshness.
And then there’s the shape, which is not round like a typical English muffin, but
square.
Their decision for the shape came from a practical solution and desire to reduce
waste, and since become a core part of the brand’s identity.
“When you cut dough into circles, you have waste left over,” Olivia explained. “My
dad was helping us at the time and was like ‘if we cut them in squares, then there’s
no waste left over.’
“We decided to keep that shape because it is unique. It does make us different,”
Olivia said.
At Dam Good English Muffins, the mission goes beyond baking “Dam Good”
English muffins — it’s also about building a better, more inclusive workplace.
“We’re not just trying to make a great product. We’re trying to do some ‘dam good’
in the process,” Denise said.
Their company operates with an open hiring model, which means providing
employment opportunities to individuals who might otherwise face barriers in the
traditional job market.
That includes people who have been formerly incarcerated, don’t speak English as a first language, are in need of part-time or flexible work or who have struggled to
find employment for other personal reasons.
“A job can really put someone in a position to change their life,” Olivia said. “And
we don’t want to be a part of the system that makes that harder.”
The hiring process at Dam Good is intentionally simple and accessible. They
highlighted that if someone is willing to show up and work hard, they’ll be given a
chance.
For Denise, it’s also personal.
“When I was raising my children, the only way I could work was because other
women gave me flexible opportunities,” she shared. “Now that I own a business, I
want to do the same for others.”
What started in Denise’s home kitchen grew into partnerships with independent
grocers, then FreshDirect and eventually retailers like Whole Foods and as of March this year, Wegmans.
The demand outgrew Denise’s home kitchen, and their operation expanded into a
commercial facility in Peekskill which has since doubled in size through two
expansions.
Today, Dam Good English Muffins are sold online and in stores across New York,
New Jersey and Connecticut.
The muffins are also used at restaurants including Grass Roots in Tarrytown,
Phoenicia Diner, Counter Service NYC in Manhattan and the MSG Training Center
in Elmsford.
