Where We Begin

Mountain & Marsh didn’t start with a logo.

It started with a decision.

After years working around regional food brands, we kept seeing the same pattern: recipes built with care, loyal followings earned slowly, and products that deserved thoughtful growth — not shortcuts.

Blue Smoke Salsa was one of those brands.

In 1993, in the basement of her Fayette County, West Virginia home, Robin Hildebrand began making salsa with a carefully developed recipe, fresh ingredients, and standards that didn’t bend. The sweetness from Vidalia onions became a signature. The slightly chunky texture held up to chips and recipes equally well. The flavor spoke for itself.

In 2012, Robin sold the brand. Over the next decade, Blue Smoke changed hands a few times — as good regional brands often do — before being purchased by Oliverio Peppers in 2024.

Under Oliverio Peppers, the recipe remained intact, small-batch production in West Virginia continued, and the standards that built the brand were preserved.

There was no crisis and no need for a rescue. The brand was stable and well cared for. What existed was an opportunity to give Blue Smoke Salsa a dedicated platform and a long-term growth strategy built specifically around brands like this.

That opportunity led to the creation of Mountain & Marsh.

We did not step in to change what was working. We stepped in to support the next chapter and to build thoughtfully on the foundation that was already in place.

Mountain & Marsh exists to partner with brands that already have roots — and help them expand carefully, responsibly, and without losing what made them matter in the first place.

Blue Smoke Salsa is the first chapter.

It won’t be the last.

Because across Appalachia and the South, there are brands with stories worth carrying forward.

This is where we begin.