Meet Lauren McDuffie and Rachel Albers, cousins who launched a salad dressing startup; they made $2,500 in early sales and target $30,000 in revenue

Two cousins used their creativity and launched a business that led them to the path of success. They saw a gap in the food market and started a homemade food dressing mix business called Dressy. They used Kickstarter funding for it. Lauren McDuffie and Rachel Albers co-founded Dressy in June 2026. According to an Entrepreneur report, the cousins sold their limited-edition Sundress flavour very quickly.

How did the idea come up?

Lauren McDuffie and Rachel Albers co-founded Dressy as a side business to earn some extra revenue. McDuffie is a food writer, recipe developer, cookbook author and a photographer. She is based in Portland, Oregon. Meanwhile, Albers studied law and previously worked as a political consultant.

The idea of the business first came up in the mind of McDuffie in autumn 2024. She noticed a gap in the market and turned it into a business opportunity. McDuffie saw that people who enjoyed cooking were still buying ready-made salad dressing. She believed that people did that because it was not an easy task to keep multiple fresh ingredients available all the time.


So, the idea of Dressy came up. It was designed to make homemade dressing quick and convenient.

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What is the product all about?

Dressy sells salad dressing mixes. According to an Entrepreneur report, with it, customers can prepare fresh dressing. It has flavours like Hello, Ranch, Green Goodness and Sundress.

Lauren McDuffie and Rachel Albers initially invested around $30,000 in their business. Most of the money invested was only self-funded. But, around $10,000 investment came from friends and family. They had also raised approximately $12,000 through a Kickstarter campaign.

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After the launch, they reportedly generated $2,500 in sales in the first few weeks. They also projected around $30,000 in revenue during their first six months. The co-founders now are thinking of expanding the business and starting more advertising campaigns.