Last fall, a Philadelphia nut-based snack brand made its debut and after testing the market, this spring it launched e-commerce sales, relocated its space and is readying to broaden its retail market with the hopes of redefining an often-overlooked food.
Evie’s Snacks was founded in 2022 by Eve Ackerley. The brand makes better-for-you snacks with a focus on pecans. The goal is to showcase the nut in a somewhat different way than consumers have come to expect.
“I felt like there was just a big opportunity and a lot of fun that could be had doing that,” said Ackerley, who wanted to put a modern spin on pecans.
Evie’s Snacks offers its own take on sweet varieties with what Ackerley says is less sugar than other brands. Evie’s currently has five flavors including some unique ones like Sweet Anise Pecans, Smoked Chili Pecans and Banana Bread Pecans. “It's like eating banana bread, but in a nut,” she said of the latter. “It's just been a fun one. It's kind of unexpected, so we love that.”
In addition, Evie’s sells bags of raw pecans.
Roasted, flavored pecans come in 4-ounce bags and sell for $9.95. Consumers can also buy 1- and 3-pound bags of raw pecans for $15 and $40, respectively.
The choice to focus on pecans was natural for Ackerley. A Houston native, her father gained an interest in farming when she was growing up and went on to have his own operation. His combined farm holdings in Texas consists of some 3,000 acres and roughly 33,000 pecan trees. While his farming operations largely provide wholesale for grocery stores and commercial bakeries, Ackerley thought it would be interesting to create a brand that more closely linked customers to the source of their food.
Evie’s Snacks isn’t her first startup, but it is Ackerley’s first foray into the food industry. Ackerley co-founded Philadelphia tech startup Jenzy, which allowed consumers to take a fit quiz to help determine what size shoe they should buy their children across a number of brands and then purchase them. Jenzy is what brought Ackerley to Philadelphia, giving the city a shot alongside her friend and Jenzy co-founder Carolyn Horner. The Covid-19 pandemic and the shift in many business models dealt a blow to Jenzy and they ultimately decided to wind down business in late 2021.
As they did so, Ackerley started to think of what new endeavors she could pursue and her attention turned toward snack foods and pecans in particular.
“People are snacking more than ever and also looking for snacks that kind of help nourish you, keep you satiated, give you energy,” she said. “And so from that stand point, just taking a pecan and roasting it, lightly seasoning it, creates a really yummy snack.”
While many still associate pecans with sweets, that wasn’t the case for Ackerley. Growing up, the nut was always around and her mom used it in creative ways that went well beyond pies. Sometimes that meant a rosemary pecan mix, other times spiced pecans and sometimes lightly candied ones served on salads.
That variety, Ackerley said, was something missing in the industry.
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“You just dress them up slightly and they're really delicious and that's all you need,” she said.
Ackerley and her partner Colin Balickie spent about three months developing their recipes. They worked alongside a pair of family friends, one a professional chef, the other a professional baker, before refining them for production.
Evie’s began selling product last fall at area farmer’s markets. There, they were able to get customer feedback ahead of a bigger push into the market, which they’re just now starting to undertake.
Evie’s Snacks can be found in two local shops – specialty grocery store Salt & Vinegar and Herman’s Coffee, both in Philadelphia. This year, their focus is on ramping up to bigger retailers in and around the region, particularly co-ops like Weavers Way.
Once established locally, Ackerley would like to see the brand expand to New Jersey and New York before pursuing bigger retail outlets.
As they build up the brand, Ackerley is also eyeing collaborations and other retail segments like hotel mini bars and e-commerce. Evie’s launched its own e-commerce channel in March but Ackerley expects marketplaces like Amazon and Thrive will be drivers down the line.
In the next year, Ackerley estimates about 80% of business will be retail and 20% e-commerce. “I think retail will just be very helpful for us to have a physical place we can direct people to and have a place where you're already having marketing and awareness,” she said.
Ackerley also expects to refine product offerings this spring, dropping some of the more savory flavors for sweeter ones. “People have a lot of sweet associations, thinking about dessert, pecan pie, so we're going to kind of lean into that association even more…,” she said.
In time, she’s also thinking of ways to expand offerings to other approachable, pecan-forward snacks. That might include “some other beloved pecan recipes out there that can be modernized” like mini pecan pies or tartlets in “a version that you could eat on the day to day.”
Evie’s Snacks remains headquartered in Philadelphia but recently moved its operations from the city – they started working out of the commissary kitchen at Liberty Kitchen in Fishtown – to West Chester. There, they have dedicated space within the Artisan Exchange where they roast and package the nuts.
The move, Ackerley said is helping them “make the nuts efficiently” and sets them up to be “focused on retail expansion.”
For now, the pecans are exclusively sourced from Ackerley’s father’s farm in Texas and they project going through about 5,400 pounds in 2023.
