Penny Grey’s inspiration for starting her wholesale company, Grey Gourmet Inc., started with a woodworking tool and a lemon. In the mid ‘90s, she came across a copy of a Lee Valley catalogue, which was geared toward woodworkers interested in buying tools and accessories. “My husband had a copy,” says Penny, “and I was just leafing through it because they had started to add other products that are for the household or even for the kitchen.”
One particular piece caught her eye. “I came across a woodworking tool called a rasp and it had a picture of a lemon beside it,” Penny remembers, “and it said it was very good for grating lemons.” Intrigued, Penny ordered one and found the product worked exactly as advertised. She used it for more than just lemons, and even began buying rasps for her friends to use. But over time, she started to find little bits about the rasp that needed modifying. “It was long and narrow and all stainless steel,” she says. So instead of just buying another product, like most people would do, Penny took a drastically different course of action – she sent away for the patent papers.
