Snap, Crackle and Pop, the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Doughboy and Mustard Girl.

Can’t recall the food icon Mustard Girl? With her bright smile, too cute dress and amazing mustard, you soon will.

While attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jennifer Connor would often eat at Stillwaters Restaurant because she loved the Rendall’s Mustard that always sat on the tables.

When she heard Rendall’s was for sale, she decided she couldn’t let her beloved mustard become a forgotten condiment.

After her business partner bailed, Jennifer retreated to her parent’s Northern Wisconsin cabin looking for career enlightenment.

On her last day, she decided to go to a nearby church, and if the pastor said “yellow,” that would be her sign to continue painting the world yellow.

“When I got there, he opened with ‘Many of us experience times of doubt,’ and, boy, did I feel that,” Connor said. “Then he said, ‘If any of you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will move mountains,’ and I just about died!”

Connor, a Wausau, Wis., native, soon found herself in Wood Dale because her dad’s best friend, a lawyer, called to see how her new venture was going, and since he was representing Larry and David Raymond of Sweet Baby Ray’s fame, he set up a meeting.

“I knew I needed to grow, and it’s not like I could call Mr. Heinz for advice, so I jumped at the chance,” Connor said. “Sweet Baby Ray said he saw the same enthusiasm in me that he had 30 years ago, and while he wasn’t sure about partnering because he had just sold his sauce business and was getting into restaurants, at the very least, he could help me succeed.”

Connor’s soon-to-be mustard empire got another fine spread when her friend Matt Glicken, who had just left his marketing job at Pepsi, joined her team. Glicken also knew Sweet Baby Ray and Mustard Girl was born.

Launched in January 2007, the goal was to sell 10,000 cases. By the end of the year, 15,000 were sold.

“That’s a lot of yellow,” Connor said. “We made a lot of hot dogs happy.”

Hot dogs are being made happy with four Mustard Girl varieties: Stone-Ground Deli, Sweet n’ Fancy Yellow, American Dijon and Sweet n’ Spicy Honey. There’s also Dusty Horseradish available in the St. Louis-area.

“Once people try it, they love it,” Connor said. “I eat some every day to keep me happy.”

Mustard Girl is sold in five states at numerous chains, including stores near us like: Edmar Foods, Caputo’s, Butera, Mr. Z’s, Ultra Foods and all downtown Whole Foods locations. It’s also available at the online supermarket giant Peapod.com. And of course, it’s sold at both Sweet Baby Ray’s Restaurants, where he even uses it in his dishes.

Mustard Girl products are all-natural with no preservatives, no fat and gluten-free. They’re also kosher.

Early on, Sweet Baby Ray referred to Connor as “Mustard Girl” so when they redesigned the brand, calling it Mustard Girl was obvious.

“He said we should have a picture of me on the bottle,” Connor said. “I was shy about it, I didn’t want to take all the credit, but then they wouldn’t look as cute in the dress.”

That cute dress is a dirndl, a traditional European dress for women in food service, that Connor not only wears on the label, but at appearances as well.

While her mustard seed is already growing like a weed, she’s tending her field for not only success in mustard, but the community.

Last summer she squeezed her way around Chicago by offering hugs to raise money for the Northern Illinois Food Bank and Greater Chicago Food Depository. This year she’s been working with inner-city Girl Scouts.

Her dream is to start a nonprofit organization, the Mustard Seed Foundation, to support the dreams of today’s youth.

“Someday when Mustard Girl becomes an icon, she’s a real person,” Connor said. “It’s not like I can hang out with the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Here there’s a person, a message, a great product. I’m setting an example, following the American dream and making a difference in the world. I hope to inspire others to do the same.”

Besides a great product and desire to help the community, Connor is extremely thankful to those who have helped her pave her yellow brick road in mustard.

“Sweet Baby Ray is my mentor, he’s amazing, and I can’t say enough for what he’s done,” Connor said.

Learn more about Mustard Girl at www.mustardgirl.com.

Border Bounding is a weekly column appearing on Thursdays. Ideas and items for the column can be sent to Lifestyle, Press Publications, 800 Roosevelt Road, Suite D107, Glen Ellyn, IL, 60137, or e-mailed to hipychk73@yahoo.com.