Edmond Sanctis and Josh Schroeter

Website
Store Finder
Online Retailers

“Snack Better” is their motto. And Sahale Snacks lives up to it with a line of premium Nut Blends and Glazed Nuts. The newest flavors include Barbeque Almonds with Mild Chipotle + Ranch to Southwest Cashews with Chile + Cheddar.

The idea for Sahale Snacks was hatched when Edmond Sanctis and Josh Schroeter were on a climb up Mt. Rainier in 2003. On reaching the summit, they had only stale granola bars to satiate their hunger. It was then the friends decided to create great-tasting snacks that could travel anywhere.

Comprising premium nuts, dried fruits and exotic spices, each flavor reflects a beautiful location, culture or culinary tradition somewhere in the world. Sahale Snacks recently added a line of lightly glazed nuts with great fruits like raspberry, strawberry, cranberry and pomegranate. To elevate the taste profile, high-end ingredients complement the blends, such as organic orange blossom honey, lemongrass, balsamic vinegar, Moroccan harissa or pure ground Madagascar vanilla beans.

Sanctis and Schroeter named the company after Sahale Peak, near the Cascade Pass in the North Cascades National Park in northern Washington. Today they live with their families in the Seattle area and still find time to mountain climb.

“We spend a lot of time outdoors,” says Schroeter, “climbing and hiking in the summer, skiing in the winter. Our latest pleasure is backcountry skiing. We also enjoy a lot of these trips and activities with our kids."—Denise Shoukas

Josh Schroeter shared more of their story with us:

---

Was it a difficult transition from your high-powered jobs in business and media to running your own specialty food venture?

There are certainly perks to the corporate life, but it was an easy decision to create a business based on products that we’re passionate about. Most days, it’s incredibly satisfying to be building a business around products we’ve created and love.

Do you find your previous experience plays a big role in running your business today?

Absolutely. Early in our careers, working as reporters, you learn new industries every day by asking lots of questions. We apply those skills all the time. But all sorts of business-building skills translate, including business management, marketing and communications.

What is the most challenging or satisfying part of your job?

Finding great people to work here and developing their skills is always the most challenging and the most satisfying part of building any business. Coming up with new products, from inception through development to a successful launch when people can enjoy our latest creations, is a lot of hard work, but fun.

If someone could shadow you for one day at your job, what would surprise that person most?

Probably how many nuts we eat every day. We’ve been doing this for eight years and, between product development, quality control and snacking, we still eat at least a pound of nuts every week.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Edmond wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to be a drummer.

Aside from your products, what three items can you always find in your kitchen?

Cheese, wine and chocolate.

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the
author of foodspring’s food forager blog.

0 comments