The Untold Truth Of Justin's Nut Butter
Nut butter is one of those things that can be extremely beneficial to the body (via Time). It is a great source of fiber, healthy fat, protein, and lacks carbohydrates, making it the perfect oatmeal topping or spread. But finding the right nut butter can be a bit of a task. Like all other food products, you have to make sure that what you are getting is a quality product made with things you can actually pronounce.
This ideal is something that propelled Justin Gold to create his company, Justin's. According to The Kitchn, Gold wanted to create a product that packed protein (since he is a vegetarian) and actually tasted good. He was always munching on almond butter and peanut butter but always wondered why there were never more options that really catered to the consumer. So, Gold did the one thing every regular person would do – he created the options himself.
How Justin's nut butter got its start
According to The Kitchn, Gold hadn't always been in the nut butter market, that the idea to start his own company came from his roommates. After college, he had decided to move to scenic Boulder, Colorado, a college town, as he was planning to do some post-graduate schooling. So after the idea to begin creating his own nut butters sparked, he began experimenting with ingredients like cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate, and bananas.
As he was working his way through a plethora of ingredient combinations, Justin's website states that his roommates began eating the nut butters themselves. His at-home focus group then suggested that he launch a company and begin selling his product, leading him to start selling his nut butters on the local farmer's market circuit. But Gold knew that in order to make his company truly successful, he would need to know the basics of creating one and draft up a business plan, so he spent countless hours contacting local companies and researching at the University Of Colorado Leeds School of Business library.
It took some time for Justin's to make it big
Unfortunately, it wasn't all almond blossoms and roses for the first few years of his young company. In June 2004, Gold was still working his full-time job as a server and doing all of his nutty business during his spare time at night and during the weekends (via Justin's). The official website states that Gold would shack up in a local salsa company's kitchen in Denver in order to make large batches of his nut butters at a facility that was FDA compliant. Gold tells The Kitchn that it wasn't until he created his squeeze packs, an idea that came to him on a mountain bike ride, that the nut butter tides began to turn for his little company.
Gold shared that the brilliance of the squeeze packs was that people could now test his product without making the large commitment of buying the jar. As sales for the packs went up, so did sales for the jars of nut butter. Now packed with a proven product, he could begin to pitch national chains. Followed by a bit of rebranding in September of 2009, Justin's became the first premium, culinary nut butter.
What makes Justin's nut butter so special
According to the website, Gold wanted to create a company that was not only passionate about its product, but passionate and conscious about those around it. Gold grew up in a small mountain town in Pennsylvania with an appreciation for food that's sustainable, natural, and doesn't skimp on the quality (via Justin's). With that idea in mind, Gold built up a company that does exactly that and it shows. Built Lean reports that all of the nuts used to make the nut butters are domestically sourced. This not only helps them see firsthand what is going into their product but also helps out local farmers (Old McDonald is somewhere smiling at us).
Justin's also actively works to reduce their carbon footprint by using jars that are made with 100 percent post-consumer-recycled plastic and running a solar-powered HQ. On their website, they also list all the different sustainability initiatives that they have taken on as a company, like supporting pollinator conservation, sourcing Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa and using sustainably sourced palm oil. So rest assured that Gold wouldn't be giving you something he wouldn't genuinely eat himself.
What folks are really saying about Justin's nut butter
When you have A-listers like John Mayer tweeting about your nut butter, you know you've got a winner on your hands (via Buzzfeed). Not only did Mayer challenge Justin's to create a cookie dough-flavored nut butter, but Justin's delivered. Mayer states that the idea came to him as he was enjoying one of their maple almond butter single-serve packs and decided to tweet the company about making a cookie dough one, which Justin's took to heart. Mayer described it as "nirvana on a spoon."
And he's not the only one giving the nut butter rave reviews. LuckyVitamin states that the almond butter is good enough to just eat by the spoonful straight out of the jar. The Food Network gave Justin's Almond Butter an overall score of 4.5 stars and 5 stars on its texture echoing Mayer's sentiments about the spread being a spoonful of nirvana. Spoon University goes as far as saying that "all of the products were delicious." With all those glowing reviews, it's safe to say that you probably won't go wrong with any of Justin's nut butter products.