Mike Yurosek was angry.
Year after year, harvest after harvest, he was forced to throw away countless carrots due to imperfection, partial decomposition, and just plain old looking funny. They would never sell and it was heartbreaking because he knew that they were all good carrots inside. Where it counted.
There had to be some way to save them. In 1986, Mike found that way.
The journey started with the purchase of an industrial green bean cutter and an industrial potato peeler. He set the cutter’s blades at two inches and threw in his unloved carrots. Then he tossed the two inch carrot segments into the peeler, which not only peeled them, but rounded their ends.
When they were finished, he put them in a bag and called them “Baby.”
At that moment, he had no idea what would happen next.
No one would ever look at a bowl of hummus the same way again. Carrot sticks would forever disappear from the crudité circuit, not to mention school lunches. People in grocery stores everywhere would start to think to themselves: “Oh, I don’t even need to peel these? I’ve been meaning to get in shape anyway. This is a good idea.” Then they’d take home a bag and eat the entire thing on the couch and feel just as sick as if they’d eaten a whole bag of chips, but with a new sense of self satisfaction.
The world of snacking truly changed when Mike Yurosek delivered his “Baby-Cut” carrots.
Sadly, Mike passed away in 2005, but we offer him this posthumous salute.
He is truly an SQ Legend.