Bouchées: Little Bites Make A Big Difference

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By Greg Gonzales

Food is a way to nurture, care for and connect with others, says Rebecca Salmonson, Founder of Becca’s Petites. Though she learned that philosophy cooking for her mother as a young girl, she carried it into the food she makes today, snack mixes called Bouchées, which was originally a creation for her workout partner and friend, Kevin.

Three years ago, Kevin was diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer. On chemotherapy, foods he used to like became too bitter for him. He told Salmonson he’d been looking at granola bars as something sweeter to mask bitter flavors, and she set out to make him something sweet and wholesome that he could enjoy instead of the typical sugary granola snacks.

What she created, after some trial and error, was a mix of nuts, seeds, coconut and maple syrup, among other simple ingredients, which would become Bouchées, a pet name her mother gave her that translated into “little bites” from French.
Eventually, Kevin couldn’t keep up with the class anymore and took private lessons instead. Salmonson set a jar of her mix outside the door for his post-workout snack, and others took notice.

She didn’t start selling them right away, but when she went to have a kidney stone removed in the hospital, she told her husband she was going to turn her Bouchées into a business ― and use the proceeds to send Kevin’s son, Li’l KK, to college.
“My mother always told me: if you have a gift, you have to use it for others, and if you have more than others you have to give to others,” said Salmonson. “This is my way of using my gift. I grew up with a mother who was disabled, she had multiple sclerosis, she was in a wheelchair, so I learned to cook at a very young age. The gift she gave me was the gift of nurturing people, the gift of learning how to use food to connect with people.”

She grew up in a small Alabama town, outside NASA’s Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, where the shuttles are made. Her original plan was to design airplanes, but she was shut out by a program rampant with sexism, and went on to design clothing. “I went from designing airplanes to designing clothing to designing food,” she said.

Now, Salmonson run’s Becca’s Petites as a one-woman team. She has a copacker, but her days are still long, mixing her duties as a mom with her duties as a business owner, she said. Becca’s Petites is available in grocers around where she works, in San Rafael, California, along with yogurt shops and yoga studios nearby. But it’s growing, with an airport, Portland salad bar chain, New Orleans coffee shop chain and Chicago grocer.

“It’s not out of control yet,” she said, laughing. “I’ll definitely need another person, but I’m doing everything myself right now ― and I can get it done, but it’s going to get to the point when I’m gonna need help.”

As Becca’s grows, Salmonson sees a future in healthier convenience options.

“I see myself branching more toward the convenience side, because what I make is such an easy grab-and-go snack, and that’s where I see the industry heading,” she said. “It’s easy and readily available, so why not something that’s good for you?”

Her snack mixes are geared toward health-conscious consumers and allergen-conscious consumers, and have a wide appeal but perform especially well with women ages 25–48. Part of the appeal, she said, was that her customers don’t have to give up on foods they already enjoy, and her Bouchées ease the transition into healthier eating.

“You don’t ask someone to go cold turkey on the less-healthy things, you just start bringing in more healthy options,” she said. “Then their body responds, and they feel really good eating those healthy options. Pretty soon, you’ve crowded out the bad stuff and you have all good stuff!”

Becca’s makes the good stuff in four different flavors of snack mixes: Original, Chocolat Noir, Savoureux and Flambeaux. The variety of flavors makes the Bouchées great mix-ins for sweet and savory dishes and desserts ― soups, salads, cereal, sundaes, cottage cheese, yogurt and more.

Becca’s Petites Bouchées come in resealable bags, and the size depends on flavors, as some of the mixes are denser than others, and Salmonson said she doesn’t want to sell packages full of air. The suggested retail price is $4.50.
Becca’s Petites is working to be verified vegan, and also moving toward kosher in the near future. The packaging is transparent about ingredients, too.

“You don’t say you use natural flavors,” Salmonson said. “Some people do, and it’s perfectly legal to say that, but the consumer who’s getting wiser and sharper will ask what natural flavors means. They want to make sure it’s on the up-and-up. Natural spices? Well, what are natural spices? Mine’s not a secret. What if you don’t like cardamom, or what if you’re allergic to black pepper? You need to know ― not everyone has the major seven to eight food allergies, and someone might be seriously allergic to cinnamon so you need to put that on your packaging.”

Salmonson added that she’s on a personal mission. “If I get one person to turn from their processed, GMO-evil ways, then I’ve done my job!” she said. “As a nation, we have to provide better options for our consumer. Our consumer is getting smarter, wiser and healthier. The trend is there ― it’s a grab-and-go, plant-based nation. We have to get better at giving the consumer that grab-and-go healthy option.”