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Bon Bon Bon
Detroit, MI Established 2014 The Founder: Alexandra Clark, 28 The Concept: Gourmet chocolates made from local ingredients that come in flavors like “Killer Cereal,” “Gin & Juice,” and “Blueberry Pancakes.” “We’re like a bunch of beer drinking artists that happen to make really good chocolate,” Clark says. After paying her dues at chocolate shops in Boston, the Detroit native returned home to strike out on her own. “For me it was like manufacturing Cadillac; of course I was going to do that in Detroit, there was no other place to do it.”
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The Herbivorous Butcher
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EssieSpice
Englewood, NJ Established 2013 The Founder: Essie Bartels, 31 The Concept: Vegan sauces and spices that incorporate the flavors and ingredients of Bartels’ native Ghana, like African Nutmeg and Grains of Salim. “I have a unique voice, and that’s what translates into the sauces,” Bartels says. “I grew up in West Africa, and therefore I have very traditional Ghanaian cooking methods and ingredients. But I’ve also been to 26 countries, which have shaped my tastes and senses.” 03
PB&Jams
Philadelphia, PA Established 2013 The Founder: Megan Gibson, 38 The Concept: Preservative-free, all-natural nut butters, which the West Philly native (who still works
full-time as a high school health and PE teacher) also uses on the PB&J sandwiches she sells from her food truck. “My cousin’s wife is Haitian, and she had me try Haitian peanut butter which I’ve never had before. It was a lightbulb moment because I’ve never tasted anything like it,” says Gibson, of the Caribbean island’s spicy iteration of the spread. “That was the moment where I was like that’s what I’ll do, because what is more classic than PB&J?”
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Food Makers Under 40 From craft peanut butter and solar-popped popcorn to vegan BBQ ribs and gourmet gefilte fish, American millennials have launched a new artisinal food movement—and it’s absolutely #delicious By Lauren Vespoli • Photography by Stacey Lamb 50
Minneapolis, MN Established 2012 The Founders: Aubry, 35, and Kale Walch, 23 The Concept: Vegan versions of carnivore favorites, from Italian sausage to Smoky House BBQ Ribs, conceived by a sibling duo. “There wasn’t a lot of good stuff on the market in the way of meat and cheese alternatives, so we started making our own,” says Kale, who gave up animal products at age 16. “Not dancing around the names of products and what we’re trying to do makes the transition easier,” Aubry adds. “They’re not frozen hockey pucks.” 05
Castle & Key
Frankfort, KY Established 2016 The Founder: Marianne Barnes, 29 The Concept: Pre-Prohibition style bourbon (in addition to gin and vodka, which will be available this spring), in production at Kentucky’s iconic Old Taylor Distillery. Barnes, who’s Kentucky’s first
female master distiller since Prohibition, is basing the bourbon flavor on a 1917 sample, using a historical variety of white corn and strands of wild yeast from the distillery grounds to create a similar flavor profile. “I have such a love of the history of bourbon because it tied so much into the history of Kentucky,” she says. ”I kind of felt a responsibility to help resurrect this bourbon icon.” 06
BjornQorn
Brooklyn, NY Established 2012 The Founders: Bjorn Quenemoen and Jamie O’Shea, both 36 The Concept: GMO-free corn— sourced from Quenemoen’s Minnesota family farm and partners in upstate New York—popped with solar power. Nutritional yeast provides what Quenemoen describes as “an umami flavoring of a cheesiness.” “It’s really unprocessed; we have just a couple ingredients and the plant comes out of the field almost ready to be popped,” he adds. “Simplicity is a beautiful thing about popcorn.” 07
DRAM Apothecary
Silver Plume, CO Established 2011 The Founder: Shae Whitney, 30 The Concept: Non-alcoholic bitters made without dyes or flavoring from all-organic herbs, many of which are foraged locally in Colorado. Whitney was bartending in college when she noticed that most of the bitters she was using were synthetic, and started making and selling her own to her bartender
friends. “Historically bitters were used as medicine,” Whitney explains. “The method we use is 100 percent raw.”
both 32 The Concept: Ashkenazi-Jewish classics reinvented for the millennial generation, like artisanal gefilte fish, handmade with fresh catch from the Great Lakes. “[Gefilte fish] was the butt of most jokes about Jewish food,” Yoskowitz explains. “[We thought] if we can make gefilte fish relevant again, if we can make it something that’s appreciated and celebrated, then we can do anything.”
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Two Hives Honey
Austin, TX Established 2015 The Founder: Tara Chapman, 35 The Concept: Two Hives Honey sells hyperlocal comb honey—the taste varies depending on which Austin neighborhood the bees are raised in—and offers hive tours, beekeeping, and honey tasting classes. “I thought, ‘Man, it’d be so cool if every neighborhood in Austin had its own honey,’” Chapman says. “I just let whatever forage was available in that neighborhood dictate the consistency, flavor, and color of the honey.”
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Gordy’s Pickle Jar
Washington, D.C. Established 2011 The Founders: Sarah Gordon and Sheila Fain, both 35 The Concept: Locally sourced, preservative-free handcrafted pickles made in D.C. “We were eating great pickles from San Francisco, Portland, and nobody was even really manufacturing in D.C. at the time,” Gordon recalls. “I think everyone thinks that D.C. is this political town with lobby groups and the federal government, and it’s so much more than any of that.”
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Simply Seoul
Atlanta, GA Established 2013 The Founder: Hannah Chung, 35 The Concept: Simply Seoul makes authentic kimchi from all-natural, vegan ingredients. “All these other hippie kinds of brands that sell quote-unquote kimchi—if you put that in front of a Korean person it would be incredibly insulting,” Chung says, noting that at Korean markets, authentic-tasting kimchi is often filled with MSG and preservatives. “I’m one of the very few brands where Koreans from Korea try my kimchi and tell me it tastes just like their mom’s.”
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Downeast Cider
Boston, MA Established 2011 The Founders: Tyler Mosher, 28, Ross Brockman, 28, Matt Brockman, 30 The Concept: These college buddies make handcrafted, unfiltered hard cider from local ingredients, adding tannins and ale yeast to achieve the taste of fresh-pressed apple cider. “We weren’t really huge cider fans in college, we were drinking cheap beer,” Mosher says. “So we had a
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The Gefilteria
Brooklyn, NY Established 2012 The Founders: Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz,
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less formal approach to making hard cider; we wanted it to basically be something that we would be cool with drinking.” 13
Lawless Jerky
Phoenix, AZ Established 2013 The Founder: Matt Tolnick, 33 The Concept: Small-batch jerky handmade from 100 percent grass-fed beef that comes in unique flavors like pho and mango habanero. “My goal was to bring a better jerky—a more transparently sourced jerky—to more people,” Tolnick says. 14
Cannonborough Beverage Co
Charleston, SC Established 2011 The Founders: Matt Fendley 31,Mick Matricciano, 31,and Brandon Wogamon, 29 The Concept: All-natural sodas made from freshpressed juices, herbs, and local produce by childhood friends with backgrounds in bartending. “There’s really not much to drink if you aren’t drinking, you know?” Matricciano says of how the trio decided to focus their energy on soft drinks. “Soda is this uniquely American beverage that is now enjoyed all over the planet, but has been dumbed down over the years to the point where it’s now almost stigmatized.” Flavors change seasonally, and riff on unique ingredients like citrumelos and bay laurel.