Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian and Beth Quinn.
Q’s Nuts is a family business started in 2000 by husband and wife, Brian and Beth Quinn. Our business started as a third income as we both worked full time jobs and we were raising two children at the time. We had the idea that we wanted to have a small side business doing event roasting that would be flexible and could also involve our children in order to teach them the value of work and earning money and we used it as supplemental income for our family. A few years into doing events, my husband was laid off from his job and we realized that we could create a more substantial living for him by pursuing this full time and starting to package the different flavors we were working on at the time. We now have two stores, a few hundred wholesale accounts in several states, and a growing online business.
Has it been a smooth road?
No growth is ever smooth, and there are many personal sacrifices you have to make as well as needing to put a lot of effort into what you produce, but overall we feel that we have been fortunate to tap into the growing local food movement in Boston and connect with some really great businesses. There are so many small business owners that are incredibly generous with support and advice, and we have been lucky to meet great people who helped us along the way. A few years ago, we took a wonderful business class by Interise, which was difficult on top of running the business full time, but this helped us clarify our goals and set the course for the future.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Q’s Nuts story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a small batch nut roasting company that produces over 20 flavors of nuts in different varieties that are vegan as well as gluten, soy and dairy free. 99% of our recipes are original and I have yet to see another nut company that has quite the selection of unique flavor profiles as Q’s. We use really high quality ingredients and like to partner with local business as much as possible to source our ingredients. I think the thing we are most known for, and we are most proud of, is bringing to market a really high quality product with outstanding ingredients and unique flavor combinations. We have a great selection to choose from.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We are already well into a movement of small local food being appreciated and sought out by the consumer. I think there has been a lot of discussion about mass produced food and how over processed the food coming out of that industry is, as well as the environmental concerns that go along with this level of production. Local food tends to be made with better ingredients and not warehoused for months on end so you get a much fresher, healthier product. We see the consumer continuing to become much more educated about what they are buying and that is better in the long run for everyone. We also see a shift away from sugar in our diet – so we better start working on even more savory flavors 🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: 349 Highland Avenue Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
and 100 Hanover street at the Boston Public Market
Boston, Massachusetts 02108 - Website: www.qsnuts.com
- Phone: 617 764 3741
- Email: qsnuts@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/qsnuts
- Facebook: facebook.com/qsnuts
- Twitter: twitter.com/qsnuts
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