John Roderick has always had a craving for peanut butter, but due to a lifelong allergy to both peanuts and tree nuts and a lack of nut-free options, he could never satisfy his palate.
Now, thanks to his own ingenuity, Roderick and millions like him can get the next best thing.
The Rhode Island College alumnus has founded the company Alternutive, which makes nut-free food products using sunflower seed butter.
“All my life I’ve searched through stores for products made using a nut-free alternative to peanut butter to experience the closest possible taste, but never had much luck finding products like this," Roderick told Rhode Island Inno. "People with nut allergies never get to experience a major staple of the American diet. Our aim with every product is to replicate the taste of peanut butter using sunflower seed butter as a nut-free alternative.”
As a kid, Roderick would make snacks with sunflower seed butter. Although people always told him his snacks tasted similar to peanut butter, it was only when Roderick started taking business classes in college that he realized he could be the one to start the company.
The idea picked up steam after Roderick teamed up with his friend Jay Gotra, who is the head of Providence-based Alliance Security, where Roderick worked in college.
"Our aim with every product is to replicate the taste of peanut butter using sunflower seed butter as a nut-free alternative.”
The duo began pursuing the idea right away and formally launched in June.
Alternutive is kicking off its product line with sunflower seed butter granola bars, with original and chocolate chip flavors. Other products are currently in development. In addition to being nut-free, the granola bars are gluten-free and dairy-free.
The company began selling at food incubator Hope & Main's Schoolyard Market in order to solicit feedback and is now actively seeking a co-packer to work with.
“We knew there would be tweaks that would need to be made to our products, packaging and labels so we didn’t start out by wholesaling right away on the day we launched,” said Roderick.
Now, Roderick said the company will turn its attention to wholesale by getting into as many grocery stores, school systems and retail outlets as possible. As it gains traction, Alternutive also expects to sell directly to the consumer and through e-commerce platforms.
There is plenty of potential in the nut-free market.
In 2008, roughly 3.3 million Americans were allergic to nuts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, the number of people being born with nut allergies has increased by 50 percent since 2008, and now one out of every 13 children is born with a nut allergy, according to Food Allergy Research and Education.
Roderick points out that nut-free policies in schools are becoming more widespread than ever before and recently, Southwest Airlines stopped serving peanuts on flights, despite peanuts being part of their brand as an airline.
“The shift towards nut-free is becoming bigger because the threat of anaphylaxis is becoming bigger,” he said. “Sunflower seed butter is what we consider to be the No. 1 peanut butter substitute being used in schools or organizations with nut-free policies as sunflower seed allergies are very rare.”
