by Melissa Reiss, Purchasing Assistant
In May, the pecan purveyors on Atwood Avenue known as Nutkrack announced they were expanding and changing their name. I reached out to Sam McDaniel, Chief Executive Officer for the scoop.
Melissa: Thanks, Sam, for taking some time to chat with us! Take us back to where it all began.
Sam: “Fortune Favors began as a mistake. Chef Eric Rupert, a 40-year culinary veteran of amazing kitchens at L’Etoile Restaurant, Sub Zero-Wolf, and Epic Systems, was hard at work in the kitchen, the stovetop crowded with pots and pans, when he accidentally dropped some pecan halves into the wrong pot. When he saw them again later, he stopped and looked more closely. They had a perfect, shiny glaze as though they had been intentionally and carefully prepared. He tasted one, and was surprised at how crunchy and delicious it was. Over the next hour, he ate them all. He added salt to a second batch, and shared them with family and friends. They were a unanimous hit, and a tradition was born: Eric would prepare these accidental treats as holiday gifts, and he did so for years.
“In a leap of faith, Eric started Fortune Favors as a side hustle in 2018, with co-founder and current Fortune Favors COO Jess Benish, and left Epic as executive chef in 2021 to pursue the business full time. The pair opened a neighborhood pecan shop on Madison’s east side, which quickly gained a cult following as people tasted the candied pecans.
“Today, Eric and a small team of food-lovers are making and sharing Fortune Favors candied pecans at a new production facility in Cottage Grove, WI, still operating the retail shop in Madison, and sharing the nuts with wholesale partners across the nation.”
M: Where did the new name come from and why the change?
S: “We partnered with Planet Propaganda, an amazing local agency, and spent almost two years working on every aspect of our new brand, from the name to the packaging design, to the website, to the marketing and experiential universe that we have and will continue to create around these amazing nuts. Fortune Favors as a name is a gateway to this universe, and it opens the door to the whimsical, magical, irreverent, weird, and joyful place we take our customers when they enjoy our pecans and other treats.
“Nutkrack was a shortened version of the name Nutcracker, the insider name Eric’s friends and family had for the nuts before they became a business. Our decision to change the name was a multi-faceted one: The shortest answer as to why is that we are growing up as a brand. The quality of our product is best in class, and it was time for our branding, packaging, and our name to live up to that same quality standard. Fortune Favors gives us the chance to open up a whole new array of products and stories and partnerships, and to keep all of the fun and whimsy and nostalgia and cheeky humor and visuals that we have been known for. As business people, it also removes a potential risk factor that has come up with many of our wholesale and direct customers: the perception of our name as a drug reference. That was not the intent, but it is not an unreasonable read on the name, and we are not comfortable with people viewing us that way.”
M: How have you grown over the years?
S: “We have been incredibly well-supported by the Madison community, and people all over the country as well. Our sales doubled each year from 2018-2021, and we have gone from producing about 3,000 pounds of pecans in 2018 to over 100,000 pounds in 2023. We are available in more than 500 retail locations around the United States, and our goal is to produce 1 million pounds of our pecans by 2027!”
M: Where do you source the nuts from?
S: “It varies from year to year; we work to find pecan farms that produce the species of pecans that we prefer (there are more than 500) in the sizes we like, with the flavor profile we want. The past few years, our pecans have come from one family growing operation near Las Cruces, New Mexico, and in 2023/24, we will feature a lot more pecans from several farms in the state of Georgia.”
M: Where's the farthest you've shipped nuts to?
S: “We have shipped to all 50 states, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, and our pecans have been shared with friends, family, and customers as far away as Russia, China, Australia and South Africa!”
M: Are there other flavors or products in the works?
S: “We are always working on new products and flavors, and love to hear what our customers are interested in seeing us do next! In the next year, we will launch one or two more flavors of pecans, bring back a special holiday favorite from last year in a new package, and add another pecan and chocolate mix to pair with our Up North Mix, the hit of last holiday season!”
M: Any funny or interesting stories to share?
S: “In our new branding, you will notice that squirrels play a big role in our lives. At our shop on Atwood Avenue in Madison, we have a collection of squirrel neighbors who have proven to be the biggest fans of Fortune Favors on the planet. We don’t directly feed them, but they have chewed through countless trash cans to get at the nuts that aren’t good enough to make it into our products for sale, and the most adventurous ones have accidentally come along on delivery runs more than once! It is quite a shock to look into the rearview mirror of the delivery van, and see a giant, pecan-fed squirrel staring back at you!”
M: Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?
S: “We want to say a huge thank you to all of the Co-op Owners, staff, and shoppers, and to all of the residents of Dane County and southern Wisconsin. We are incredibly grateful for the chance to bring joy to all of you through our pecans and other snacks and treats, and we look forward to doing it for many more years to come!