Lynda Resnick turned pomegranates into gold. She tripped over future success when a piece of property she purchased with her husband in California included 100 acres of the little- known fruit. Despite being urged to plow that area down and replant with something more profitable, they decided to research the ancient fruit and found there were possible medical benefits to the juice. Pom Wonderful was born. Even if you’ve never had any of their fruit juices, you would likely recognize the squatty little bottle. Though the company was only formed in 2002, pomegranates, thanks to Pom, have taken off! Pomegranate martinis, teas, Starbuck’s pomegranate Frappucino’s and more have lead to an increase market for the fruits themselves…and helped with Pom’s visibility. 

The Resnicks own other companies including Teleflora and Fiji water and recently sold interest in the parent company responsible for Franklin Mint. But Pom Wonderful put them on the map…enough to donate $45 million

to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a pavilion named after them. To keep up with sales, the company has planted 6,000 additional acres of pomegranates (which are not easy to juice!) in Central California . Asked how she managed to get a new juice into the refrigerator sections of grocery stores, the feisty Resnick says to the UK Guardian : ‘We went to the very top of every organization and spoke to the CEOs,’ she says. ‘Once they saw the packaging, understood our marketing and tasted the product, they couldn’t say no. If we’d let a bunch of brokers run around, talking to low-level grocery people, they’d have been afraid to take the idea upstairs.’ 

Lynda, who compares pomegranate seeds to rubies, has a new marketing book soon to be released to advance praise called Rubies in the Orchard: How to Uncover the Hidden Gems in Your Business. She also writes an incredibly witty blog for The Huffington Post and has been selected routinely as one of Working Woman’s Top 50 Women Business Owners. Lynda, who is an avid networker, credits her contacts as the reason for Pom’s enormous success. Who knew knowing people could make the difficult little pomegranate so darned popular? Here’s to Lynda and her marketing savvy!