Bruce had been working for Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) as a project manager, but when his team finished their contract that fall (just after the dot com bubble burst), there were no contracts available and CSC let everyone go. Jobs were few and far between in the tech field, and so Bruce was looking for something else to help pay the bills. He and Beth were both cast members at the Colorado Renaissance Festival at the time, and it turned out that the person who ran the cinnamon almonds booth at the festival was the distributor for the almonds roasters for the U.S. at that time.
After a lot of conversations and looking at the pros and cons, they bought their first almond roaster, started a business, and they’ve been roasting almonds ever since. The first name of the business, “Nuts to You,” was ultimately changed to “Sweet Almande”.
In the 18 years that they’ve been operating their business, they have developed their own flavors (and tweaked the traditional cinnamon recipe a bit as well). “We now have 30 different flavors and mixes, just to make it more difficult for their customers to make up their mind,” says Bruce. “Of course, we do offer an indecision discount for those who have a difficulty deciding!”
They love seeing their return customers at their farmer’s markets and other events and have made many loyal customers over the last 18 years. “We sometimes feel like we have an extended family, and always love seeing them all in person,” says Beth. “We hope the future growth of our business will always include those loyal customers.”
