Some businesses begin with a carefully mapped-out commercial plan. Texas Salt Co. began with a Christmas gift.
Founders Andrew and Daniel Almand originally created their smoked salt by hand for friends and family. When people began asking for more, what had started as a personal project gradually revealed its commercial potential. The pair used the disruption of the pandemic to experiment, refine their smoking process and begin building what would become a distinctive artisan food brand rooted in Bandera, Texas — the Cowboy Capital of the World.
Today, Texas Salt Co. produces artisan smoked salts, peppercorns, paprika, crushed red pepper and bread dips. Its signature products are smoked for days over more than 12 varieties of real wood, before being hand-packed in small batches in Bandera. The focus remains on craftsmanship, clean ingredients and preserving the authenticity that gave people a reason to notice the brand in the first place.
For this edition of Trade Talks Tuesday, we spoke with Texas Salt Co. about turning a homemade product into a commercial brand, the power of a strong sense of place, what retail buyers expect from suppliers and why growth shouldn't mean leaving craftsmanship behind.
About Texas Salt Co.
Founded by Andrew and Daniel Almand, Texas Salt Co. is an artisan specialty food company based in Bandera, Texas.
The company specialises in small-batch smoked salts, peppercorns, paprika, crushed red pepper and bread dips, with smoked products made using more than 12 varieties of real wood rather than artificial smoke flavouring. Products are handcrafted and hand-packed in Bandera using simple ingredients without unnecessary additives, preservatives or anti-caking agents.
What began as a homemade Christmas gift is now a growing brand stocked by retailers and enjoyed by customers well beyond its Texas roots, while remaining grounded in the same principle: make it well, keep it authentic and never lose sight of where it came from.
Website: https://texassaltco.com/
Texas Salt Co. started with a homemade smoked salt created as a Christmas gift. At what point did you realise that something made for friends and family had the potential to become a commercial brand?
It really wasn't supposed to become a business. We originally created our smoked salt as a Christmas gift for friends and family. It was personal, made by hand and simply something we were proud and excited to share with the people closest to us.
Then people started asking for more. Friends shared it with friends and word began to spread, which made us realise that what we'd created might be more special than we originally thought.
Then COVID happened. Like so many people, our world slowed down and suddenly there was time to consider what could come next. We could easily have let the idea remain a great Christmas gift and moved on. Instead, we decided to take a chance on it.
We spent that time experimenting, refining the smoking process and figuring out how to turn something homemade into something we could genuinely build a business around.
There wasn't a massive operation behind us or a roadmap showing exactly where it would lead. There was a unique product, an idea we believed in and a willingness to keep working at it.
In many ways, it's still being built around the same idea:
"Make something you're proud enough to give to someone else."
andrew & Daniel, Texas Salt Co.
Every Texas Salt Co. product is handcrafted in Bandera. How important is that sense of place and the "Made in Texas" identity to what makes the brand stand out?
Bandera isn't simply where we chose to operate Texas Salt Co. It's become part of the identity we've cultivated from the beginning.
Our products are handcrafted and hand-packed right here in Bandera, Texas — the Cowboy Capital of the World.
As the company has grown, there have certainly been opportunities to make things easier, faster or more automated. But preserving the craftsmanship behind the product has remained incredibly important to us.
Our smoked salts spend days over real Texas woods and are produced in small batches rather than being mass-produced or simply flavoured to imitate smoke. There are real people and a real process behind every jar.
That's why "Made in Texas" carries more weight for us than simply being a line on the packaging. It's a reflection of how we chose to build the company and how we continue to operate it today.
No matter how far the brand reaches, Bandera will always be home.
You've grown beyond direct-to-consumer sales and now work with gift shops, specialty food stores, boutiques and other retailers. What have you learned about what buyers are looking for from a new supplier?
One of the biggest lessons has been that
"buyers aren't necessarily looking for another product to fill a space on a shelf. They're looking for something that gives their customers a reason to stop."
andrew & Daniel, Texas Salt Co.
That's one of the advantages we created without necessarily setting out to do so. Texas Salt Co. has a story that's easy to understand and a product that's difficult to compare to everything else sitting beside it.
When someone hears that the salt is actually smoked for days over real Texas woods in Bandera, there's often a moment of,
"Wait — you actually smoke the salt?"
That's exactly the kind of reaction that can turn a product into a conversation.
But wholesale has also taught us that the product itself is only part of the relationship. Buyers need suppliers they can depend on — people who communicate, deliver consistently, support their products and care about what happens after that first order.
Every retailer that chooses to put Texas Salt Co. on their shelves is putting a little bit of their own reputation behind our brand as well. That's something we've always taken seriously.
Food gifting is an incredibly competitive category. Beyond taste, what do you think turns a food product into something customers genuinely want to give as a gift?
A great gift should have a story behind it, but it should also be something you can genuinely feel good about giving to someone.
Texas Salt Co. products aren't built around long ingredient lists or things that simply don't need to be there. They're made with clean, simple ingredients, without the unnecessary additives, preservatives or anti-caking agents commonly found in many products sitting on grocery store shelves.
People are turning packages around. They're reading ingredient labels. They want to understand what they're putting on their own table and, increasingly, what they're giving to the people they care about.
There's a much more ingredient-conscious consumer today, and people appreciate products where what you see on the label is straightforward and easy to understand.
For us, those two sides of gifting come together: there's the story and experience of giving someone something handcrafted in Bandera, Texas, but there's also the confidence of knowing what's actually inside the jar.
It comes back beautifully to how we started the company. The first smoked salt wasn't created for a retail shelf. It was something we made ourselves to give to our own friends and family.
Years later, that same standard still means something: if you're going to give someone something special, you should feel good about what's in it.
"if you're going to give someone something special, you should feel good about what's in it."
andrew & Daniel, Texas Salt Co.
As you look to reach new retailers and expand into new markets, what role do trade shows — both physical and online — play in helping a brand like Texas Salt Co. get discovered by new buyers?
For a small brand, sometimes the hardest part isn't creating something worth buying. It's getting that product in front of the person who needs to see it. Trade shows help close that gap.
We built Texas Salt Co. in Bandera, Texas. It's a small town, and that's a huge part of the company's identity — but
"being from a small town shouldn't mean having a small reach."
andrew & Daniel, Texas Salt Co.
Physical trade shows give buyers the opportunity to experience the product in a way that's difficult to recreate anywhere else. They can pick it up, taste it, ask how it's made and hear the story behind it. For a product as distinctive as smoked salt, that interaction can make all the difference.
Online trade shows expand that opportunity even further. They allow a handcrafted Texas brand to sit in front of buyers across the country — and potentially well beyond it.
The reach may be getting bigger, but the story behind what's being discovered hasn't changed.
If you could give one piece of advice to another small US brand hoping to turn a locally made product into a successful wholesale business, what would it be?
"Never trade authenticity for scalability."
andrew & Daniel, Texas Salt Co.
In the beginning, we were doing what most small-business owners do: experimenting, learning, making things by hand and figuring things out as we went. There wasn't an enormous operation behind us. There was simply something we'd created that people genuinely loved.
As a company grows, there will always be opportunities to make things faster, cheaper and easier. Some of that is necessary. But
"growth shouldn't come at the expense of the very thing that gave people a reason to care in the first place."
andrew & Daniel, Texas Salt Co.
Texas Salt Co. has grown considerably from those first homemade Christmas gifts, but the products are still made in Bandera. They're still produced in small batches. They're still hand-packed. And there's still an enormous amount of pride attached to putting the Texas Salt Co. name on every jar that leaves the building.
Being small, local and hands-on isn't necessarily something a company needs to grow out of.
"Sometimes that's exactly what gives you the ability to grow in the first place."
andrew & Daniel, Texas Salt Co.
Key Takeaways
Strong brands can begin with very simple ideas. Texas Salt Co. grew because people genuinely wanted more of a product originally created as a gift.
Place can become part of the product story. Bandera isn't simply the company's manufacturing location; its Texas identity and craftsmanship help differentiate the brand.
Retailers need products that create a reason to stop. Distinctiveness and an easily understood story can help a product start conversations on the shelf.
Wholesale success extends beyond the first order. Communication, consistent delivery and ongoing support are essential to building retailer trust.
Food gifting increasingly combines story with ingredients. Customers want distinctive products but are also paying closer attention to what those products contain.
Physical and online trade shows solve different discovery challenges. One enables tasting and direct interaction; the other can dramatically extend a small brand's geographic reach.
Scaling doesn't have to mean abandoning craftsmanship. Protecting the qualities that made a brand distinctive can itself become a source of long-term growth.
Texas Salt Co.'s journey is a reminder that growth doesn't always require a small business to leave its beginnings behind. In this case, those beginnings — handmade production, real ingredients, Bandera and a product good enough to give to friends — have become some of the brand's strongest commercial assets.
For other independent brands looking towards wholesale growth, the lesson is clear: scale what you do, but protect the reason people cared about it in the first place.
Want to Reach More Retail Buyers?
Looking to put your brand in front of independent retailers like the ones featured in Trade Talks Tuesday?
Email events@xpofairs.com to book a demo and discover how The Gift Fair USA helps brands connect with qualified buyers all year round.
