Your Stories Q&A: Will Grandma Brown’s ever make baked beans again?

MEXICO, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — You ask, we answer!

Summertime means picnics, and picnics mean several of our viewers emailing the Your Stories Team to ask if Grandma Brown’s Baked Beans in Mexico, NY will ever resume production.

Fans of the popular side dish have been craving for good news surrounding the Oswego County company ever since it stopped production during the pandemic.

The owner of Grandma Brown’s, Sandra Brown, can be as elusive as her beans. Over the years, it’s been hit or miss with her returning the YS Team’s calls. However, we were fortunate enough to have her return our latest call.

Sandra Brown is Grandma Brown’s granddaughter. She’s now in her 80s but still says she wants to get the factory up and running.

She’s still giving the same reason as to why they’re not cranking out the beans – she can’t find the right type of workers.

She told us she needs 14 plant workers, and some of those will need training through Cornell University to learn the thermal processing for canning, so the baked beans keep their shelf life.

Brown said finding the right workforce in a rural area has been a challenge.

While she was pleasant throughout our phone conversation, the more we asked about hiring and getting the factory up and running, the more she wanted to get off the phone. She told us several times she needed to go, to answer more calls and attend to other matters.

The YS Team reported in the past, that both the Village of Mexico and Oswego County have offered their support to get the factory back open.

Operation Oswego County Inc. sent us this statement in the summer of 2023:

Representatives from economic development, workforce development, county government, and community leaders have reached out to the company countless times over the past two years to offer support and assistance to overcome the challenges to get back into production after they shut down during the COVID pandemic. 

While I cannot share any specific discussions, we have offered support from our various areas of expertise as well as our collective business assistance programs with the goal to get Grandma Brown’s Baked Beans back into business.

Mexico Mayor Terry Grimshaw added the ball is in Brown’s court.

When asked about the county’s offer to help, Brown said it wasn’t the right type of help, but didn’t elaborate.

She assured us that it’s her intention to reopen, saying that she gets calls every day from people wondering if the beans will return to store shelves.

Just like our previous updates, Brown is unable to give a timeline on hiring staff and on when the production process might begin.

So for now, the mystery in Mexico continues to keep us hungry for more information.

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