By Terri Spilman
It has been said that Texans are known for their love of sweet and spicy foods, big flavors as some may say.
And big flavors are exactly what Frenchie’s Fabulous Nut Company, owned by transplant and Carmel High School graduate (class of 1982), Janie Tuttle French, and her husband Michael, are doing.
The couple’s Original Frenchie’s Fabulous gourmet nut mix recently made the top 25 list in The Quest for Texas Best locally made food competition sponsored by H-E-B, a San Antonio-based independently owned food retailer with more than 350 stores located throughout the southwest.
Frenchie’s Fabulous made it through 600 contest submissions and two qualifying rounds in the competition in which H-E-B Business Development Managers chose the 25 finalists for their taste and flavor, customer appeal, value, uniqueness, market potential and differentiation from current goods at most H-E-B stores.
Michael devised the recipe for the gourmet nut mix which is hand-tossed and roasted with a combination of cayenne pepper, brown sugar and molasses after watching a story about famous chef Giada de Laurentiis’ favorite nut mix on the Food Network’s show, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.”
“Michael was inspired by the nut mix, however, having been a chef for over 25 years, he knew he could improve on the recipe,” Janie said. “So he set about gathering the very best ingredients and created batch after batch of nuts until he could deem the final batch perfect.”
With no store front, the couple has rented commercial kitchen space and has sold their product primarily online through the company’s website. Now with the exposure gained through the competition, they are in negotiations to appear on H-E-B grocery shelves and are hopeful their products expand beyond the southwest.
“We are in the process of finding capital to finance our own commercial kitchen and to purchase large amounts of jars, labels and ingredients for our first big H-E-B order. From there, we might consider creating a second product, but we’re trying to take it one step at a time,” Janie said.
While Janie has lived in Texas for 28 years now, there are no plans to permanently shake her Hoosier roots.
“I love it here, but when people ask me where I’m from, Indiana will always be my answer. Always,” she said.
For more information on Frenchie’s Fabulous Nut Company or to place an order, visit www.frenchiesfabulous.com or call 214-762-2561.
