Meet the childhood pals behind Minnesota's Plucky Pickle Dip

What started as a food experiment between two childhood friends has grown into a snack brand sold in thousands of stores across the country.

Sara Doherty and Britt Jungerberg, co-owners of Plucky Pickle Dip, have been friends since ninth grade, when they bonded over food in their school cafeteria.

Years later, the two started experimenting with recipes while hosting get-togethers with family and friends. One recipe quickly became a favorite: pickle dip.

"We were making a pickle dip that everybody loved," Doherty said.

Plucky Pickle Dip was born. The friends started selling their dip at Minneapolis farmers markets in 2017.

The dip's base combines cream cheese and white beans, blended smooth with either kosher dill or bread-and-butter pickles, depending on the flavor.

Today, Plucky Pickle Dip comes in five varieties: Original Dill, Cheddar Mustard, Spicy Pickle, Sweet Pickle and Sweet and Spicy.

"It [pickles] is like a perfect ingredient. It's acidic. It's salty. You can get savory. It's a perfect ingredient for us to use," Jungerberg said.

The dip can be served simply with vegetables or crackers, but the pair said its versatility is part of what makes it popular. The duo share simple, few-ingredient recipes on their website. The dip can also be mixed with tuna or chicken, used as a burger topping or stirred into egg yolks for a quick egg salad.

"We've got a lot of different options and usage occasions for each of them," Jungerberg said.  

The business has grown far beyond those early farmers market days. The snack brand is now sold in about 2,600 stores nationwide, including Target, Lunds & Byerlys and Kowalski's.

For Doherty and Jungerberg, building the company together has been just as important as the product itself.

The friends have gone through major life milestones together, from graduation and jobs to maternity leave and raising families. They've also navigated the challenges of launching a food company while working full-time jobs and raising young children.

For several years, the pair made their product themselves in a rental kitchen, wearing hairnets and working through the production process after their day jobs.

Eventually, they were able to move from the commissary kitchen to a professional manufacturer — a milestone Jungerberg said was one of the best moments of the company's journey.

And through it all, they've had each other.

"We get to bounce things off of each other and always have each other to make the decisions with," Doherty said. "I just couldn't imagine being the only one making the decisions or going through the journey by yourself."

"There's so many Minnesota brands that are killing it right now," she said. "So that's fun, too, to be a part of it."

From a school cafeteria to Minneapolis farmers markets and now supermarket shelves across the country.

"It's her and I playing with it in the kitchen and seeing what makes sense," Doherty said.

The pair said they're excited to keep growing — and they're always interested in hearing how customers are using their dip in new ways.

WCCO is always looking for local businesses to highlight in its Homegrown MN series.

If you know of a Minnesota business that should be featured, email Beret Leone at Beret.Leone@cbs.com.