We don’t mean to brag, but Colorado is kind of brilliant when it comes to innovating in food. Maybe it’s because after all the skiing, biking, and climbing we do, we’re just so dang hungry. Colorado has birthed beer giants like Coors and hundreds of craft breweries alike. Fast casual restaurant chains like Chipotle, Smashburger, and Noodles & Company. Higher end restaurants like The Kitchen, Punch Bowl Social, and Snooze, an A.M. eatery. And too many food brands to count.
Here are 10 (of many) food products that started in Colorado and are now national (and even international!) hits.
Noosa Founder Koel Thomae
1. Noosa Yoghurt (Fort Collins)
When Colorado resident Koel Thomae was visiting home in Queensland, Australia in 2005, she happened upon a little yoghurt shop that was like nothing she’d ever taste. “That first taste was revolutionary and from that point forward, I was obsessed,” Thomae recalls. A couple years later, she stumbled upon a flyer in a coffee shop for a family-owned dairy farm. She cold-called farmer Rob Graves and convinced him to be her business partner. Noosa, which is known for its ultra-creamy texture and inventive flavors (the newest: Blackberry Serrano), landed in Whole Foods immediately, and also gained a local following at farmers’ markets. Soon after, a deal with King Soopers and a big break with Target unleashed Noosa nationally.
2. Hammond’s Candies (Denver)
Did you know that Colorado’s dry climate is prime for candy-making? That’s in part what Hammond’s Candies credits for its success. In 1920, Carl Hammond’s mother told him he could leave school if he started a trade. So he found a gig apprenticing for a candy maker and then opened his own shop. It wasn’t until some 70 years later when Williams-Sonoma asked to sell Hammond’s toffee that it morphed from a candy corner shop to a manufacturing operation. In 2007, Andrew Schuman bought the business and scaled up even more into a 93-percent wholesale operation. Today, Hammond’s, which still sources many ingredients locally, is the largest handmade manufacturer of confections in the U.S. You can go see Hammond’s make candy the same way Carl did back in 1920 with a free tour.
Phil Anson, founder of EVOL
3. EVOL (Boulder)
Climbers, car campers, and other recreationalists all know the importance of a big, fat burrito to sate the hunger worked up by a long day playing outdoors. Simple to prepare, super hearty, and nutritious, burritos began as a mere hobby for Phil Anson (see our interview with him here). But soon, he realized his burritos were good enough to sell. His earliest outlets were gas station markets and coffee shops. But demand skyrocketed and soon he had one of the fastest growing companies in the natural foods industry under his belt. Now, EVOL has gone beyond burritos to offer bowls, cups, and other frozen entrées, but there’s still nothing quite like a classic EVOL bean and cheese to banish a case of hangry.
4. Boulder Organic Ice Cream (Boulder)
Guess who makes the only pints of organic gelato in the country? Boulder Organic Ice Cream, that’s who! While the brand got its start as a small-time scoop shop on Pearl Street, it now sells its organic ice cream pints regionally (Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, and Nebraska) and its figo! Organic Gelato across the country. Soon after Whole Foods began carrying the pints, the scoop shop transitioned to a 100-percent manufacturing operation to sell its pints to other ice cream shops and in stores. If you want it fresh in a cone, you can still find it locally at Larkburger, Eats and Sweets, Golden Sweets, Cart Driver, and many other local restaurants and scoop shops. Don’t miss signature flavors like Green Tea, Famous Sweet Cream, and Coconut Crunch.
5. L. R. Rice Honey (Greeley)
Not many companies lay claim to five generations of family ownership. Since L.R. Rice started his honey company in 1924, the sweet stuff has been managed by either himself or his descendants. While the company stopped raising its own bees to accommodate expansion, it’s now resuming the management of some hives. Due to the fact that this family-owned company sells its product as far as South Korea and Japan, the White House invited L. R. Rice rep Ronna Rice to attend the State of the Union as an honored guest this year. Find out more about L.R. Rice Honey in our interview with Ronna.
Bhakti Founder Brook Eddy (Photo by Marc Piscotty)
6. Bhakti Chai (Boulder)
It’s safe to say that in this millennium, Americans have fallen hard for two Eastern practices: yoga and drinking chai. And Colorado has its fair share of responsibility for the popularization of both. Corepower Yoga saw its start in Denver, and both Boulder, Denver, and the greater state are home to many studios. And Bhakti—one of the biggest brands in chai—was founded by a Boulderite. It all started when Brook Eddy took a trip to India and discovered the amazing ritual of drinking chai tea. To recreate the experience at home, she began brewing her own chai back in Boulder, to the delight of friends and family. A single mother of twins, Eddy decided to quit her job to launch Bhakti with a commitment to social and environmental change.
7. Chocolove (Boulder)
Since creating Chocolove 22 years ago in Boulder, Founder/President/CEO Timothy Moley has eaten two bars of his chocolate a day, every day. Chocolove was one of the first high-end American-made chocolate bars on the market, and continues to woo chocolate lovers with love poems tucked inside wrappers, high-quality bars, and simple yet brilliant ingredient combinations like chiles and cherries or toffee and almonds. Moley had been in food tasting for years, but was inspired to establish Chocolove on a trip to Indonesia, where he encountered a field of cacao and fell in love with the beans. While he originally outsourced production, he put the finishing touches on his custom-designed chocolate factory in Boulder in 2003 and has been producing it there ever since.
A vintage shot of the Celestial Seasonings production line back in the day
8. Celestial Seasonings (Boulder)
The Mint Room. It’s kind of legendary amongst Colorado locals, and it’s something every tea (and mint lover) should experience once in a lifetime. This is the room where peppermint and spearmint tea leaves are stored at the Celestial Seasonings factory on Sleepytime Drive (no, we’re not kidding) in Boulder. You can experience the intensity of it for yourself on the free tour, where you’ll also learn about how Boulder free spirit Mo Siegel established the company by wandering the local hills to pick herbs for his very first blend back in 1969. While the company started small, selling to a natural food store, it’s now a behemoth with sales of Sleepytime, Red Zinger, and other signature blends across the globe.
9. Boulder Canyon Authentic Foods (Boulder)
Jalapeño Cheddar. Hickory Barbeque. Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper. This is the brilliance of Boulder Canyon Kettle Chips, the flagship product of the Boulder Canyon Authentic Foods company. No doubt, many a hiker and climber recreating within the canyon’s walls has enjoyed these chips, but now the crunchy reach extends nationwide. It all started in Boulder back in ’94 as a healthier alternative to mainstream snacks. Two decades later, the company stays true to its roots with ingredients free of GMOs, trans fats, and MSG and a commitment to sustainability that includes renewable energy credits and sustainable cardboard packaging.
(Photo by Jo Naylor)
10. Jolly Rancher (Golden)
If you’ve ever actually pictured a happy-go-lucky cattle rancher while sucking on one of these sour apple candies, you’re right on point. Originally, Jolly Rancher was sweets company, not just a hard candy producer. Established by husband-and-wife Billy and Dorothy Harmsen in 1897, The Jolly Rancher Company was named to evoke the image of a warm Westerner. Originally, the company made ice cream, chocolate, and hard candy. The Jolly Ranchers you know today—in original flavors grape, apple, watermelon, and Fire Stix—didn’t hit the Golden scene until the year 1949 to subsidize poor ice cream sales in the winter months. In 1966, the Harmsens sold the company, which was eventually bought by Hershey in 1996.
By Maya Silver | Editor
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