Noki Lam and Jenna Brodkin
Sports Editors
Junior Henry “Hank” Disser began his pickling journey in 2020 when he was in 7th grade, when he set the goal of raising enough money to buy a new bike.
According to Disser, he wanted to sell the pickles in the first place to replace his current bike with an electric bike. Disser’s grandmother would bring homemade pickles to family gatherings and holidays, which were a hit among his relatives.
“My grandma gave me the idea to start selling pickles to raise money for my bike,” Disser said. “She gave me her recipe and taught me her process in pickling, and I worked hard at learning how to create great-tasting pickles.”
According to Disser, he makes the pickles by making brine and filling up jars with cucumber, dill, garlic and jalapeno. After this he pours the brine and puts them in the fridge and leaves them for three-four days.
“My favorite part about the process of making the pickles is putting the Hanks Pickle stickers on the jar,” Disser said. “It means the job is finished and I can sell them because sometimes it is hard to keep up with making them in a quick enough time to sell them to buying customers.”
Disser started off selling his product to his mother’s friends from tennis, who loved his pickles and purchased from him regularly. He would ride around on his old bike selling pickles, waiting for the day when he could sell them on his electric bike. Word spread and reached the owners at Grow, a local market in Manhattan Beach, who asked Disser if he would like to supply them with his pickles.
“It was hard at first to reach customers beyond my mom’s friends from tennis,” Disser said. “I am very grateful that Grow reached out and asked if I could supply them with my pickles.”
Grow began stocking the pickles in 2021, giving Disser the motivation and money he needed to continue expanding his business. Disser recalls the first moments of seeing his pickles on the store’s shelves as inspiring and a testament to his hard work.
“Seeing them in Grow for the first time just felt amazing,” Disser said. “Just them being there on shelves made me feel like all of my hard work and dedication to creating this product had paid off.”
Hank’s Pickles’s sales began to rapidly increase after the pickles were first stocked at Grow. The pickles then began being stocked by other grocers, including The Green Store in Hermosa Beach and Disser delivers the pickles to stores every two-three weeks.
“I began to make so many great connections with people who have helped me out with my business by either stores approaching me or me going and asking them to sell my pickles,” Disser said. “It takes me a few days to make my pickles, but I try to update and restock the storage in the stores as soon as I get a batch done and deliver the pickles whenever an order occurs.”
Disser hopes to expand the brand of Hank’s Pickles. In order to do this he has begun to sell merchandise in collaboration with ME Hats, a fellow startup company by two other Costa juniors, Michael Butler and Eli Cebula.
“Eli and Michael are good friends of mine and I felt that starting by selling hats would be a great way to promote my brand and make additional money,” Disser said. “Working with those two has been an amazing experience, and they create a great quality product. The hats have received such a positive response and I love seeing friends, family, and the community supporting my business and wearing the hats.”
Disser has aspirations for future ventures that involve hiring employees and selling his products on a larger scale.
“I want to get a few workers that can help me in all parts of the process of creating and selling the pickles,” Disser said. “I also aim to get into a commercial kitchen and hope to move into supplying restaurants with pickles.”
Beyond the money, Disser is grateful for the other benefits that have come out of his startup company. Disser feels that his efforts have taught him skills beyond pickling and remains passionate about the pickling hobby that came from his grandmother.
“More than anything, I just love that it is something that I enjoy and that keeps me busy,” Disser said. “I also believe it has taught me a lot of valuable business and communication skills that I will use for the rest of my life.”
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