For more than 100 years , Willow Tree has withstood economic shifts , environmental change and more . Not even a worldwide pandemic can bring this business to the ground and that may be due to its family-run origins dating to 1956 . That ’ s when Chet and Eileen Cekala purchased what was then a small egg and poultry farm with fifteen chicken coops . The Cekalas wanted to raise poultry , but the economy and landscape had different plans . As more people moved into the area to enjoy country living , none of them wanted to smell the reality of living in the country . Knowing that neighbors were encroaching , Chet made another change , shifting to an egg and boiler producing farm . He built a thriving neighborhood door-to-door egg delivery service with 5,000 hens in rotation . But as chicken feed became costly , Chet shifted the model yet again . The chickens were brought in from elsewhere and cooked for food products . Alongside the door-to-door service , the egg producing business was cracked open and discarded in 1958 when the onsite retail store debuted . With that , Willow Tree ’ s chicken pies were cooked like a bun in the oven and were born .
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For quite a while , Chet cooked the chickens and made pies for the retail store . Then Fernande ’ s Supermarket began to sell them , followed by Almacs , with Chet making direct hand deliveries . When he developed the recipe for Willow Tree chicken salad in 1972 , it was sold in the storefront only and was an instant hit . It really took off around 1988 when Chet ’ s son , Walter , persuaded the family to sell it wholesale to local independent delis .
“ I had the epiphany that we weren ’ t as busy in the summer months because people didn ’ t want heat up their house to cook a
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RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l NOVEMBER 2020 69