(pssst if you need to bring something to the family event, gift exchange, or have any nut-butter loving family and friends you can gift Americano here.)
Because food is so integrated into our everyday and our mental, physical and gut health, we find it important to know who makes what you consume and even what they value. After all, what you eat everyday has long-term health outcomes.
About 80% of of the groceries you buy are owned by these 12 companies:
Think of these companies like the "Apple" of phones. However, you may not see “Unilever” under a brand label. These large conglomerates operate under different brand names.
Due to the substantial footprint these large food industry organizations have on our world they have an impact on working conditions, environment, and even our own diets! We'll continue to discuss these food-industry related topics on our blog, but for now, we're focusing on the pros and cons of industry leaders owning the market.
Justin’s nut butter (who started at farmers markets just like us) was a pioneer in the natural nut butter space (thanks Justin!) and in 2013 they sold to Hormel, the same company that owns Skippy. Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (shoutout to Jerry who has been a mentor of ours!!), is owned by Unilever, the same company that owns Breyers Ice Cream. Kellog’s who owns Froot Loops and Pringles, also owns more health-oriented brands like Kashi, Bear Naked Granola and RXBar. RXBar started with $10,000 and sold to Kellog for $600 million! If you’re a small biz, isn’t that a dream come true? Let’s take a closer look.
The grocery/food retail space is competitive due to shelf space, cost of entry, limited materials and cost commodities. You can read more about what it takes to grow in the food industry here. Where there is competition, there is also high demand. In fact with an 11.9% share, food ranked 3rd—behind housing (34.9%) and transportation (16%)—among the expenditures of the average U.S. household in 2020. Because of the highly competitive, and high demand factors, scaling nationally requires thousands, often millions of dollars in capital.
Small food businesses often start off small or hope to stay local, or regional, but with a clear and working business model, vision and funding, grow nationally. It’s pretty rare to “make it” in this sense. In fact, most small companies don’t but if they do, does “selling out” mean compromising quality? On one hand it’s a great thing that start-ups make it big! It means product innovation and diversifying the food landscape: a bonus for consumers. Many of the great products we enjoy now had to be bought by bigger companies in order for us to have access to them.
On the other hand, the question is, can the quality of the food and the integrity of its mission and values remain as it grows? Without the smaller company controlling the supply-chain, can we ensure that ingredients, sourcing, and its branding are still upheld?
Ben & Jerry’s, who are infamous not only for their ice cream but for taking a stand on social justice issues, is a great example of this. While they started off in one store in Vermont growing eventually to regional distributors then caught the eye of Unilever. Part of the deal is that Unilever owns the brand, but Ben & Jerry are still the representation of it. This means that when Ben & Jerry want to pull out of a region due to political conflict, they can. The social mission and vision of Ben & Jerry’s has remained despite their ownership changing. For example, Ben and Jerry’s took a strong stance against racial inequity and LBGTQ+ rights in light of political events. They even took a sales hit in 2021 when they decided to pull out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip; boldly stating "we believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)."
On the other hand, Justin’s Nut Butters, with Hormel's acquisition, was quick to change their recipe in order to mass produce. This meant adding palm oil, a common household and food-industry additive that acts as a natural emulsifier: keeps the oils from separating in natural nut butter spreads but has also been a leading cause of deforestation. Palm oil, coming from the fruit of palm oil trees found in rainforest climates, is also home to to numerous plants and animals, such as orangutans, Sumatran tigers and Bornean rhinos. The destruction of these natural habitats endangers plants and animals, causing loss of biological diversity.
Companies who manage to grow through their own funding, marketing and sales, can gain enough traction to be acquired and added to their “family” of brands under the original small business label.
While sacrificing product quality and brand mission/vision can be a downside to growth, accessibility to products not otherwise made possible and even product innovation can make joining the top 12 worth it.
The best way to contribute to innovation within the food industry? Reading this blog, of course ;) And buying from values-aligned brands. Thank you for being here, Americano!
We're not anti-corporation, we are pro-transparency. How food affects your long-term health, where food is coming from and even how your values align with the organizations that manufacture what nourishes you should be as clear as day. That’s in part why we started “Thoughts from the Peanut Gallery.” psst...In another article we discuss the evolution of a startup business in the food industry, in this article we talk about the existing food industry.
References and Resources:
Photo: https://www.wideopeneats.com/biggest-food-companies/
The many health risks of Processed Foods. LHSFNA. (2022, February 1). Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.lhsfna.org/the-many-health-risks-of-processed-foods/#:~:text=Heavily%20processed%20foods%20often%20include,high%20blood%20pressure%20and%20diabetes.
Gartner_Inc. (n.d.). Ben & Jerry's serves up Social Justice. Gartner. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/insights/daily-insights/ben-jerrys-serves-up-social-justice
Mattison, L. (2021, July 6). The 10 food companies that own almost every food brand. Wide Open Eats. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.wideopeneats.com/biggest-food-companies/
KevinWilliamB. (2017, October 11). Rxbar CEO after $600 million buyout: 'I have financial freedom'. CNBC. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/11/rxbar-ceo-after-600-million-buyout-i-have-financial-freedom.html
Mari Fletcher Mari Fletcher Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow, Meagan Leigh Meagan Leigh Community Member Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.boredpanda.com/grocery-store-american-food-section/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
These 11 companies control everything you buy - capital one shopping. capitaloneshopping.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://capitaloneshopping.com/blog/11-companies-that-own-everything-904b28425120
Rainforest Rescue. Questions and answers about palm oil. Retrieved September 1, 2022 https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/topics/palm-oil/questions-and-answers
]]>What if we told you that you owned 80% of the hotel properties on a monopoly board? Everything from Baltic Avenue to Park Place. With majority ownership, you would set the market standard, price floor and ceilings, and industry innovation. People often think of Amazon as owning the online market, but food distribution into grocery stores (dare we say..?) is worse?
Big conglomerates such as: Nestle, Pepsi Co, Unilever, and Kraft have “ownership” of hundreds of different brands that fall underneath the company. Now try winning that game of monopoly with one hotel against the big guys!
We want to discuss HOW these large companies can get hundreds of their products on shelves with little brand diversification, just as if you were buying out all monopoly’s hotel properties.
Think of a distributor as the middleman between the manufacturer and the retailer. You have a delicious product, but now need it stocked in store shelves. In addition to connecting manufacturers to retailers, distributors can manage inventory, returns and deliver your products. Sounds great right? It is, but it comes with a cost. Distributors typically work on a 15–30% margin on the wholesale price of your product. With that being said, you either eat your profit margin, or increase the price to which you sell to the distributor (wholesale price) at the risk of them not picking you up.
Brokers are similar to distributors in the sense that they connect consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers to retailers, acting as the olive branch between the two. Brokers have established relationships with retailers in which they discuss product lines and promotions to the retailers interested in your product. Brokers do a great job of knowing where your product is most likely to sell within retail stores given demographics. Due to brokers' well established retailer relationships, they typically charge a 5-10% net invoiced price of what is sold to retailers. This doesn’t even include logistics!
Free Fill, also known as “slotting” is when the food manufacturer provides free, yes FREE product to retailers to promote distribution and future sales with specific retail stores. The idea behind this is that retail can entice customers to purchase the product with a high discount and measure your product’s sales success. The risk with free fill programs is that you may not see positive cash flow, and can wait months (if not years) for sales to generate or even break even.
Don’t you love a BOGO, or a 50% item while grocery shopping? These promotions from a food manufacturer's end can be enticing as they reduce the barrier of trial between both consumers and retail groups through a variety of sales channels. There are multiple “funnels” of promotions offered to retailers.
Given the challenges from product distribution, relationships within the consumer packaged goods industry (with a cost associated with them), and retail expectations it is very difficult to come out on top.
High costs associated with these elements can make it difficult to see a positive financial impact. A lot of the time small businesses, such as ours, risk supplying products without having a long-lasting shelf space to gain consumer exposure and increase sales.
Is there a "get out of jail free" card? There are many small businesses that can beat the game. We have seen the positive impacts of working with great distributors and gaining new customers given promotional offers and free fill products.
Love your Americano nut butter? Tell your local grocery store! Word by mouth is the most influential tool that can help get us into more stores near you!
Comment below your go-to monopoly piece! Our personal favorite was the dog! 🐕
Citations:
Guardian News and Media. (n.d.). Revealed: The true extent of America's food monopolies, and who pays the price. The Guardian. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/jul/14/food-monopoly-meals-profits-data-investigation
What do CPG distributors do? Buffalo Market. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.buffalomarket.com/blogs/food-distributor-cpg/what-are-cpg-distributors-responsible-for#:~:text=Distributors%20typically%20work%20on%20a,wholesale%20price%20of%20your%20CPGs.&text=Once%20your%20CPGs%20are%20bought,re%20looked%20after%20in%2Dstore.
In-store promotions explained. Rodeo CPG. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.rodeocpg.com/knowledge-share/in-store-promotions-explained
]]>On March 1st peanut butter lover’s rejoice! Why? National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day became a recognized holiday in 1990 as a centennial celebration of peanut butter's national commercial debut. We can thank both the Adult Peanut Butter Lovers Club and the National Peanut Board for National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day (yes, these are actual organizations, if you would like to visit, here is the link)
It’s time to celebrate the effortlessly delicious taste of the popular spread! From kids, to adults peanut butter is a beloved household essential that not only tastes great, but is equally as healthy. Crunchy or creamy, paired with savory or sweet.. peanut butter can do no wrong! Whether straight from the jar, on your breakfast toast , or midnight ice cream treat peanut butter is the perfect pairing.
Ok, now that we know when National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day is, how do you celebrate?
Check out our recipe blog for peanut butter dishes you can make to celebrate! Why do you LOVE peanut butter? Comment below!
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80% of startups within the food industry fail, and most of them fail within the production stage (read more about reasons why here). Within the food space, big companies dominate shelf space, distribution channels and pricing. Companies like Nestle, Hormel, PepsiCo and Sysco have control over the commodity market. When it comes to the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, companies that have access to supply-chain, distribution channels and a strong manufacturing capacity reign supreme, making it hard (but not impossible!) for smaller startups to penetrate the market.
First off, let's be sure to set the record straight. For the sake of this article, failure is defined as a business that does not continue selling products or providing services after their initial market launch. Just because a (or your!) business failed according to this definition, it does not mean it didn’t provide value (phew!). Now let's begin.
We know, we know, it sounds cliché but running a business is like being married. You fall in love and then you just have to remember the commitment when beeswax hits the fan (as long as your relationship with your business is healthy... that’s a note for another day). One of the surest ways to have a healthy relationship with your startup is to make sure your values align with your business. We value family, we value health, and we value giving back. All 3 of these are present and when passion flounders, values are the surest foundation to keep us going.
Because we chose to grow slowly and organically, we didn’t do a lot of this at the beginning, we’re doing it more now. For us, we sought out a legal, tax & accounting experts and mentors that have a strategic-minded lens of business. I (hi, it's me, Denise!) love connecting with people and developing partnerships but that relationship-oriented strength doesn’t necessarily help with other key small business functions. Once you know this, it makes it 10x easier to recognize that you, alone, don’t have what it takes to level up in the industry. Do what you need to do to build a strong network: mentors, advisory board, educate yourself on what you need to learn to hire out effectively.
If you don't already. Numbers don't lie, they mirror behavior. And it's the surest way to stay clear-headed, unattached to outcome. In this way you become a social scientist of sorts, conducting tiny little experiments on a low-risk level, read the data objectively, then make informed decisions. There's also amazing research on how objectivity improves resiliency in entrepreneurs. Take that data and determine where it’s best to spend your energy and money. You might determine that “hey, this isn’t adding to the bottom line, but it’s creating emotional wealth and making me feel fulfilled.” There is value in that - be sure to factor that in for the long-term and do try other little experiments for the short-term.
Nothing sustainable happens in a rush (especially if you decide to grow organically) - know the direction you want to go and understand, as best as you can, the demand for it. This will help determine if the investment of time, energy and money going to eventually add value and pay off.
Think:
Be patient - don’t fall for those get rich quick schemes or gimmicks.
What other questions do you have? Drop them here. You might just see them turn into another Thought from the Peanut Gallery..]]>A small business has been traditionally defined in the United States as one with 500 employees or less. In 2020, small businesses made up 99.9% of all of the businesses in the United States (YES!!). But that .01% is usually what we see. Think big companies like Target, Amazon, Nike, Apple, etc. So why? Why this disproportionate amount across the United States, but particularly, why the disproportionate amount in food?
For the sake of this article, failure is defined as the business that does not continue selling products or providing services after their initial market launch. Let us say this for clarity, just because a (or your!) business failed according to this definition, it doesn’t mean it didn’t provide value or that you are a failure. Now that we’ve got that self-worth check-in cleared up, let’s dive in:
It takes money to make a commodity. Food is absolutely essential, yes. Valued, needed and fulfilling, yes. Inexpensive to make, ESPECIALLY when you make a high quality food item that doesn’t cut corners? Not as much. This is opposed to other industries like non-alcoholic beverages (50+% gross profit) (Segal, "Profit Margins for the Beverage Sector") , tech (57+% gross) (CSIMarket, "Technology Sector Profitability") or even candy (sugar is cheap! We'd rather not talk about it but if you’d like to see this multi-billion dollar industry here is the link). With raw ingredients, packaging, labeling, labor, logistics and certifications etc. the initial investment in a natural, good for you product can range from 5k-35k before you even go to market, so before you decide to invest thousands in the launch of a product, it’s best to test it small scale (shoutout to the farmers markets that gave us our footing!).
When was the last time you walked through HEB, Target, Sprouts and thought “how in the world did all of these products get here?” For each major retailer they have a handful of go-to distributers. Distributors are the companies that transport the product from the warehouse to the various retail locations.
This factor does leave a lot up to who you know and what they need. Certain distributors are contracted with certain retailers so you sometimes have to decide which distributor you want to work with before deciding “I’d like to be in XYZ store.” And the agreements, not always, but often tend to move slowly.
Simply put, it’s not always the retailer that decides if you are on the shelf, it’s the distributor who determines if they will carry your product on their trucks. With this, comes costs: stalking fees (fee to be placed on the shelf), free-fill (providing a case pack or two of free product . . per store…per variety), and investment in their in-store promotions and marketing. That’s tens of thousands of dollars of investment before you see a return… perhaps years later.
The product simply wasn’t mean not scale, it's hard to go from home-kitchen to retail shelves. Ingredients may not behave in the same way once produced in bigger batches. Things crumble, can’t sustain heat/cold, there is yield loss, shelf life changes. Another issue with scalability is sourcing issues: simply not a reliable supply-chain. Fluctuations in commodity pricing (think peanuts: every year the crop changes, the demand changes, the price changes), add in a reliable FDA-approved facility and machinery/equipment needed to produce and package...
It's a long-term partnership. Differences in vision and strategy can tear teams apart, especially when communicated poorly. Lucky for us there is nuttin' but love here!
We all have entrepreneurial experiences: create as we go, constantly remind ourselves to never give up, evaluate risk, have all maybe become a little *too* accustomed to uncertainly 😅. In those ways saying “I am an entrepreneur” is true for all of us. Entrepreneurship can look different depending on funding, personal, and timing circumstances.
So what’s the hype about? What is it about choosing entrepreneurship as a career that seems alluring? Why does it often fill us with wonder? A few thoughts, and then, we'd love to hear yours.
Entrepreneurs are not a different breed, they have just chosen to befriend the unknown. It reminds us of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and entrepreneurs do take the road less travelled. But if the past taught us anything it’s that the future really is uncertain (cue every theatrical musical song about taking leaps and embracing fear). Can you imagine throwing all of your energy and time into a pursuit and then falling flat on your face? Oooof, it hurts! But can we hardwire ourselves to recognize this pattern and thrive despite the fall?! Can we assume that just living is risky and that everything we desire exists on the other side of comfort?
It's not the entrepreneurial pursuit we desire - it’s freedom and creativity. The possibility to own our days. To have power over our own destiny. It’s also the thought that we can innovate, improve systems, solve problems and create a legacy. All of these are meaningful experiences that make us feel alive on the inside! There are a lot of valid reasons not to jump into a venture, there are also a lot of valid reasons to “just start.”
Unlike a “traditional” career, entrepreneur financially worth is hard to pin down, profit is elusive. Our brains aren’t great at working in continuums, we like schemas (cognitive frameworks that helps us organize the world around us). And beyond our cognitive mind scratching of limitlessness, let’s be frank, even talking about money is a bit taboo still. So while we are viewing financial wealth less as a status symbol, and we know that our life satisfaction is dependent on it so much as we create meaningful experiences, we still like concrete figures, and certainly at first, entrepreneurship doesn't guarantee a specific number. So, the mind wanders...
Owning a business is a sign of freedom, still yet many people across the world, let alone women, have access to the opportunity to create, to sell and to connect so freely.
We're so grateful we do, and for you, for being a part of this. Now tell us, what do you want to know about this journey? We’ve got 8 years of goodness doing this - the small triumphs, the never giving up, roller coaster ride. Share your stories with us, let us know what you’d like us to share - we would love to hear it.
What other questions do you have? Drop them here. You might just see them turn into another Thought from the Peanut Gallery..]]>The truth is that gut health and mental health are inextricably connected. The gut has nerves and sends communications to the body! This means that happiness very literally begins with what we digest. In our 8+ years of business, learning that mental health is strongly correlated with gut health added fuel to our pursuit. It drives us not to profit off of poor-health inputs because we know they lead to poor outcomes. Functional Medicine brings us this science, and as Dr. Hyman M.D. discusses, "persistent inflammation can be linked to everything from Alzheimer's and dementia to ADD, ALS, depression, and even schizophrenia" (for more on this source, listen here.)
Natural food isn’t always sexy, it’s traditional but we’re proud to offer a product that we all depend on. At its best food can contribute to people living their best and healthiest lives but at its worst it can be absolutely detrimental to those very same lives. We wish that our industry could be characterized as one that is beneficial. It’s critical, but not necessarily beneficial. It is a spectrum that is tragically wide and ranges from good-for-you products to products that can barely be considered food as they fill people up but don’t nourish their bodies and actually work against often unsuspecting consumers.
We see big brands cutting products with other things like hydrogenated oils, palm oil and the elusive "natural flavors" (more on that later!). It feels gimmicking and wrong. What you see in our minimal ingredient products is what you get. It’s especially priceless to us when you taste our nut butters and feel like a food company cares about your overall wellbeing.
In a food & beverage space of many deceiving ingredient labels, packaging hacks, and unethical food practices to be heart-centered and committed to growing organically and ethically often feels more daring than it should. This is most represented in our refusal to be lured in by pervasive “bad marketing” or greenwashing as a way to generate sales. It's also prevalent in continually choosing quality products over higher-margin ingredients (sugar is 10x cheaper than peanuts). Compare Nutella with our lower-sugar spread (satisfy the sweet-tooth craving but toss the excess sugar!)
Food production is a difficult space (many food companies don't last, many sell or fold). We offer this human-centric approach as a challenge to traditional understanding of how to run a food business. Especially to women in our industry, this is an example of how to not only survive during turbulent times (made it through pandemic times, wahoo!) but create “business insurance” that pays off for years.
We envision a world where access to healthful, nutrient dense whole foods is the standard for everyone regardless of economic circumstance. Where sugar isn’t used as a substitute for flavor and where societal well-being and the well-being of body and mind are the focus of the food system.
]]>Sounds like a dream right?! Early last year we attended our first Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. It was the last major event held for our industry until now, and it's like a networking, research gathering, extravaganza. There are a few industry shows, this is one of the most attended. Each state is represented.
A food show is like walking into a grocery store except every product has its own booth ... national food manufacturers, retailers, brokers, distributors, packagers, amazing brands... (and lots of samples ). Most of these products fall within the CPG industry. Consumer Packaged Goods are relatively low-priced items that we use (or consume) routinely. Imagine a conference that you would usually attend within your respective field and think the same except the center here is specialty food and a community of people who are the backbone of supply chain. We met some of the industry's leading manufacturers from Bob's Red Mill, the Clif Bar team, to even smaller family run businesses like us (heyo!)🙋♀️
The Food Show has a host of events including workshops and live speakers. Innovators shaping the future of food. Here is who you can find at the booths of each of these food shows:
Nick began cooking, and watching the Food Network at age six. Throughout his childhood cooking was always something that fascinated him and when he started off with helping his parents in the kitchen, he even conducted cooking experiments of his own. He was sure to let us know that not every experiment was successful, but that the experience was valuable experience and eventually, he honed his cooking skills to become the main cook of his family.
After graduating high school, he attended the Culinary Arts program at MATC, Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin and graduated with an Associates in Culinary Arts in 2016. He simultaneously worked for a local catering company which introduced him to the restaurant business. After moving to Arizona, he spent a year and half working for a local chain restaurant and saw an even deeper insight behind the scenes of food. Though he doesn’t work for restaurants anymore, he says “my passion for food has not waivered one bit.”
If you have been to the Gilbert Farmers Market in Downtown Gilbert, you have seen Nick repping Americano! We asked Nick to share a little bit about his experience, he explains:
“What you may not know is that I have Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD for short. Although Symptoms can vary greatly, some of the most common include difficulty in communication and social interactions. By working at the Gilbert Farmers Market, I have been able to greatly improve in both of those areas, while selling lots of product”
“After selling Americano Nut Butters, I wanted to show how versatile it could be in cooking as well. To that end, I began developing recipes utilizing the various Americano Foods Nut Butters, and several of them are now available on the company’s website. Out of all the recipes I have developed, my favorite is the African Peanut Soup, using the Classic Peanut Butter. Even though Peanut Butter is used in quite a few savory applications, I don’t think many people expected to be able to use it in a soup. I also hope to create more recipes that use peanut butter in a way that people don’t expect.”
Making it onto the front page of Walmart Marketplace search terms like "natural peanut butter" after months of work is only the second thing we're proud of. The first is realizing you're the only independently owned option available to Walmart customers on the page. Our food system is rich in the illusion of "choice."
You may see a dozen brands on a page like this. The truth is, in our space, they're almost all owned by 2 conglomerates*: Hormel (Skippy, Justins and more) and Smuckers (Jif, Laura Scudder's, Adams, Bettern, Santa Cruz, etc etc.) who saturate these marketplaces to create the illusion of choice while blocking out any actual choice.
March 25, 2021
In an extraordinary year on our planet, Americanos did something extraordinary: We sent $8,500 in lifesaving healthcare treatments and over 30,000 PBJs worth of nut butter to those who needed it most.
This year was challenging, and maybe that's what brought us some new friends:
🏪Americano joined 100 Fry's locations across Arizona (Hello, Kroger!)
📦Launched Cinnamon Honey Peanut on Amazon Prime with our other 4 flavors joining shortly (ehem, April 2021, we're looking at you!).
📬 Joined home-delivery platforms including: Uptown Marketplace, Downtown Phoenix Marketplace, Danzeisen Dairy, Karma Bay and GoPuff
🌐Launched a new website and officially became "Americano Foods" (what do you think is next....?!?!)
Americano's giving mission specifically targets domestic hunger relief partners working directly in our community: well established domestic partners like St. Vincent de Paul, Jewish Family and Children's Service and the Andre House Soup Kitchen. Since the pandemic hit the community groups we were able to tailor our giving towards included these domestic hunger relief partners but also expanded to include groups like a hard hit orphanage in Rio de Janeiro and a St. Jude children's cancer center in Beirut, Lebanon struggling to take in vulnerable children after a large explosion.
You stepped up to turn our world's most challenging year into our company's most giving on record by investing in products that give back. We couldn't be more proud of that.
Are you hyperactive, experiencing increased thirst or having blurred vision after eating? That's a sugar rush! 😁
When it comes to healthy food options, a common perception is that healthy doesn’t always taste good. After spending time in South America, we found inspiration to enter an untapped market and a mission to create all-natural spreads to cater to the health conscious while satisfying a sweet tooth. If you want to hear more about the origins of the peanut, listen to us chat about it on The Urban Farm Podcast here.
When creating this line of nut butter we knew one thing that we absolutely wanted to avoid: substituting sugar for flavor. We see too many food companies succumb to the allure. Our body needs healthy sugars but it doesn't need it in everything we eat. This leading chocolate spread contains 21g of sugar and only 3g of protein. That's nearly eating 5 teaspoons of sugar PER SERVING. Toss it!
Peanuts and Almonds, as its main ingredient, provide the vitamins and proteins we need. We've created our products with the specific target of low sugar and low net carbs...nutritious + delicious.
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Does my peanut butter or almond butter need to be refrigerated?
Our products are best stored in a cool, dry, place and there is a recommended "best by" date placed on the bottom of each jar. If you're hoping they have less separation everytime you open it, you may store them in the fridge, but it is not necessary if you don't mind giving them a stir or if you eat them fast enough
Why is there oil on top when I open up a jar of peanut or almond butter?
We do not use emulsifiers, hydrogenated oils or preservatives ( the stuff that keeps the oils from separating from the nut after it's ground). Because Americano nut butters are all-natural, the oils naturally rise, so be sure to give it a good stir for ultimate tastiness! We recommend using a fork to stir and if you're hoping for more you can pour the whole jar into another bowl and stir.
Are the peanut and almond butters gluten free?
Though we are not certified gluten-free, we do not add any gluten ingredients into our nut butters. We list all of our ingredients in the description of the product, you can check those out here. We know how important that is to people especially with allergies!
Is peanut butter keto?
KETO friends rejoice! With 3g net carbs and ZERO added sugar you can still enjoy our peanut butter.
FUN FACT: The typical serving of peanut butter has 6g net carbs. Ours has 3g net carbs.
Are Americano nut butters smooth or crunchy?
Our peanut butters have a smooth consistency! The chunkiest option that we offer is our almond butters since almonds have a little less naturally occurring oil they tend to be the chunkier grind! You can check out all of our flavors here.
Can dogs have peanut butter?
Yes! Our peanut butter is an energy boost for your pooches! 🐾
It is with pride that we say yes because of our no added sugars or preservatives. PB is safe for furry friends so long as it is xylitol free and fed in moderation.
Make sure to check labels because some peanut butter brands may be disguised as safe but include Xylitol, a sugar-replacement sweetener. An ingredient which is also present in chocolates. This is poisonous for our canine besties!
I saw that you're based out of Arizona, where can I find your PB locally?
You may find Americano Foods products with the "local" tab in the nut butter section of all Arizona Sprouts (they carry our peanut butters, but not the almond (yet!)). You can also find us in Arizona Fry's and Aj's Fine Food locations!
How do I get discounts on your products?
If you'd like to stay in the loop about any other stores, upcoming news and product discounts, join our Americano Fam by clicking here.
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We often get asked "have you been on Shark Tank?" Though we admire the brave souls who put their ideas and hearts on the line for criticism and the chance for funding, we've chosen to be careful observers of the show.
We have, however, "dipped our toes" as you would say and participated in the "Paypal Duel" ... a Shark Tank Style contest in which we were selected along with 6 other startups from across the country to compete for a chance to spend a day with Daymond John at SXSW! WE WON (with the support of your votes and many others across the country who loved our concept)!
Paypal sent us off to Austin and the rest is history! And Daymond John, well let us tell you.... he is just as wise in person as he is on Shark Tank. Even though we didn't win the monetary prize, it was prize enough to be there amongst so many other inspiring groups (and for our mom who ADORES Daymond to get to participate as well).
Watch the entire pitch to see Americano Foods, then "Peanut Butter Americano" circa 2015!
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We are health "nuts," as you would say. We care about your health too! 70% of the calories Americans eat comes from highly processed foods (No, don't do it!!).
The average American child consumes 150 mg of artificial food coloring every day, an increase of 5x since the 1950s.
We really like clean ingredients here and nuts are known as an excellent dietary food containing balanced amounts of protein, fiber and healthy fats. Also, researchers from Loma Linda University studied how kids who eat nuts tend to have good memory... (better start them young. 😃)
]]>Hello Americanos! Denise here. Jeff and I are often reflective here at Americano. We hope to make the world just a little bit better so giving being a part of our mission was a no brainer.
Being third generation Lebanese Americans gives us a sense of disconnected ache to the explosions that occurred in August of 2020 amidst a global pandemic. To have this feeling at all, I think, is a testament to the richness of the culture and the Lebanese’s initiatives in preserving it. We grew up with first generation families whose parents left Lebanon during their Civil War …we were surrounded always by a strong pride for the Lebanon where Beirut was considered the Paris of the Middle East. Every other Sunday we attended Maronite Catholic mass, Lebanese hymns still ring through my mind and Cedar tree chips floated about my house.
Lebanon had a mystical feel; pictures of rolling hills resembling that of the central coast of California where you could ski in the mountains in the morning and be on the beach in the evening. I don’t speak Arabic but Lebanese songs are still music to my ears. In college we both participated in collegiate network conventions where despite never setting foot in Lebanon, our peers welcomed me with wide arms.
Our parents and grandparents met through the intimacy of the American Lebanese community and I had always talked of visiting. Finally in 2014 my dad and I flew into the country’s capital and began retracing my great grandparents journey, driving through the mountain towns my ancestors immigrated from, the downtown streets of Beirut, to the historic ruins of Baalbek older than that of the Colosseum. For a country 2/3rds the size of Connecticut it’s astonishing how much natural beauty it contains, but most significant of these was the hospitality extended by families I had never met; invitations into living rooms... hour long chats..a dinner table full of food and talks of current events. No matter the geographic location, it seemed, the Lebanese culture feels welcoming, strong, and best shared over a meal ️
For the whole month of September 100% of proceeds and direct donations from eatamericano.com were doubled by First Bank and contributed to The Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon. This Saint Jude affiliated hospital provided free care to all children displaced by the Beirut explosion.
In total we gave $8,125. View full video and press on our giving campaign here.
]]>While I was volunteering in South America, I noticed a bizarre phenomenon that unbeknownst to me at the time would spark the creation of Americano Foods.
Many children in these developing communities were heading off to school with "Dulce De Leche," a delicious caramel spread in their lunch bags. The story might have stopped there but nearly at the same time I happened to notice that peanuts, the base of another type of spread we know and love here in the United States were being grown in the same communities. Of course being the modern age and knowing next to nothing about peanuts (yet) I took to the internet.
I discovered not only that peanuts grow abundantly outside of Georgia (funny but seriously I had no clue!) but that the peanut itself was first cultivated in the very grounds of South America I was standing on.
What was going on!? Where was the disconnect? Now searching (and frankly frenzying) to solve this mystery I started popping into local grocery stores only to realize: NO peanut butter at all OR where it did exist, the very plain very emulsified very big brand U.S. stuff we know.
And then the answer appeared: Our own country, being the peanut capital of the world that it became in the 20th century was buying up the Latin Crop and making something that while popular in the States, didn't satisfy the tastes of our international neighbors. Skippy & Jif are not popular next to the sugar blasted local and Italian (you know who I'm talking about) spreads.
I returned home to Phoenix with this question: How can we make a nutritionally valuable, planet conscious alternative that appeals to the tastes of those craving a spread that isn't bland as hell. I spent a year with the help of my family working on an answer to that question before launching at Phoenix Public Market in 2013, the day pictured. We sold out and have been invited to attend over 3000 markets since.
Today Americanos like you have contributed more than 30,000 PBJ sandwiches worth of PB to those in need.
🙏🏼 Thank you for being part of our journey to spread happiness and give back. --Jeff
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