What?! Big News!
It has been way too long since a post…things have been, well, nuts.
One of the things I love most about having a nut company is the response I get when I tell people what I do. And I do meet the most diverse group of people. You never know who you are going to meet just by talking to people in random places.
A while ago I met this guy with his girlfriend…and he told me it was his girlfriend’s birthday. So I say “It’s your birthday! You need nuts!”…as I happened to have some of my Rosewater Candied Cashews on me. I gave them some to try and he looks at me and says “these are the most incredible nuts!” He hands me his business card and it turns out he is the founder of Tcho Chocolate (tcho.com) and wants to pair the nuts with his chocolate and carry them in his store under my name…so I dropped off some samples that week…and I have not heard anything since…(note to self: contact them again).
And more recently I was at the jewelry shop where I work on weekends, and a customer who was being helped by my coworker was telling my fellow employee that she owned a candy shop in the Marina…so of course I chimed in “you have a candy shop?! I make candied and spiced nuts.” Come to find out she had just had a meeting with her business partners and the one thing they realized they were missing at the shop was nuts…what?! As I have been looking for production and working on packaging and developing new flavors I was waiting to contact her…but she returned to the jewelry store when I was not there and asked about me so I figured that could be a good impetus to get things going. So I set up an appointment with one of her business partners…met on Monday at the shop…told her the whole nut story…showed her the current packaging and brought samples. She looks over the line and tells me she’d like to try them, so I say “go ahead” and she says “no, I’d like to place an order”…ok! But she had yet to even try them. So she did, and was even more excited about her decision to place an order! Yeah! So, soon, I will be carried at the Sweet Dish (thesweetdish.com) on Chestnut Street just east of Divisadero…will keep you posted.
Meanwhile, I met today with a woman who owns a rad bakeshop called Indiecakes in Berkeley, (check out indiecakes.com) she makes the most beautiful cakes for all occasions and also delightful baked goods that she currently sells at the Orinda and Walnut Creek farmer’s markets. And she is going to help me make the nuts in her commercial kitchen! Impetus is a powerful driving force!
So, I met with Anastasia from Indiecakes today at a coffee shop in Rockridge and there was a lady sitting next to us and at the end of our meeting I turn to the lady and ask if she’d like to try some nuts. She had actually been eavesdropping and was going to ask for my card. We end up talking for a while…she is in the process of changing careers, and was most interested in the path I have been taking…and the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. It was so interesting how many people are trying to figure things out right now, for whatever reason are making huge changes in their lives. I was in Los Angeles recently spending time with my grandfather, who had been a butcher…and he told me how a fellow butcher suggested they open their own butcher shop and he had no interest. Grandpa had a wife and a small child and he needed the security that working for someone else afforded him. Boy how times have changed.
Anyway…I will soon be carried at the Sweet Dish! I will soon have secured production! I now also have a Spicy Pepita and a Cardamom Orange Blossom Pistachio! And I will soon have completed watercolors of these aforementioned new nuts!
1 person commented »
etsy…etc.
A lot has been going on…but more importantly, you can now buy Laura’s Nuts on Etsy!
Last week, Laura’s Nuts was selected as a vendor at the Renaissance Center Gala Market Place which was held at Bimbos 365 Club. Apparently the club has a swim tank in the basement where a mermaid show used to happen in the 40’s…what a fabulous venue. If you ever go there you must check out the deco bathrooms. The nuts were really well received at the event! Got to meet a lot of people and get a positive public reaction.
Getting into the event really forced me to take some major steps towards the future of the company…making the nuts in a commercial kitchen, getting a nut broker…yes, I have a nut broker…who I was referred to by the man who took over my grandfather’s company. The broker knew my grandfather and does business with the same farms with whom he used to work.
Leave a comment »
Welcome to my nutty life.
So, I had one of those days… I had just gotten back from Los Angeles late the night before so was a bit travel fatigued and was on my way to work and received a call. I had scheduled an appointment for that morning and completely spaced…so I rescheduled and went on to work. Where I work there is no set parking and on the block behind my office building there is only two hour parking…so I set my alarm and move my car every two hours (we’ll get to that later). When I am on my way to lunch I am crossing a street and see a car coming to a stop so I proceed and the car does not actually stop and hits me…more like a bump and I slap the hood of the car and they stop…but still…I get hit by a car. As I proceed to the restaurant I trip and almost eat pavement. The rest of lunch, albeit shaken, goes smoothly. So I get back to work and eventually have to move my car…and as I am walking back into the parking lot, which is walled and has a gate that closes at night…the street where the entrance to the parking lot is is pretty ghetto…so I am entering the walled parking lot and I hear a commotion going on to my right just inside the wall…so I look and there is a prostitute taking it from behind from some guy over a trashcan…and she and I make eye contact and I quickly look away…and she starts screaming at me “JANET JACKSON!” What?! And I quickly head into the building. (so that is now called Janet Jackson style in my circle of friends) So 2 hours later I go to move my car and have a parking ticket…even though I moved my car 2 hours earlier…so I am bummed…and I thought if only I had not missed my appointment my entire day would have been so different…and I have been meaning to do a blog to start my nut company and if one simple event can change your whole experience why not start today differently. So I have started my blog. Today.
4 Nutty Comments »