So why peanut butter? Our story

It started with a volunteer trip

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. 

Where the peanut originated

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.

The U.S. exports PB all of over the world, but this plain spread just doesn't satisfy all taste buds.  

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.

Is it possible to have a nutritious, delicious AND socially beneficial spread?

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