Are they nuts?
Nope.
Are they soy nuggets?
Yup.
And they are selling like hotcakes.
When Phillip and Mavis Erikson of Monroe discovered there was a need for healthy, organic snacks, they came up with a way to make organic soy nuts, roasting the soy beans.
They started small, selling at farmers markets. To their surprise and relief, the product was a hit.
Mavis Erikson was born in 1955 in Evanston, Wyo. She graduated from Cal Poly San Louis Obispo with a degree in psychology.
“I put myself through college via the United States Coast Guard Reserve,” she said. “I was stationed in Moral Bay, Calif., assigned to a search and rescue team.”
Her heart was always about marketing. When she was a little girl, she melted down all her crayons to make candles and sold them door to door.
“Once I poured all my Mom’s perfumes into single containers, redistributed them into different bottles, and sold this awful smelling mess to my neighbors,” Erikson said. “Needless to say, my mom was not very happy.”
She sold Shaklee products when she was 12 years old.
Erikson moved to Washington in 1978 and worked as a real estate agent while attending beauty school. Her first beauty salon was at Bothell Landing, opened in 1985, called First Impressions.
She sold three salons in 2002 and incorporated Truson Organics in 2004.
They are still learning the food business, Erikson said.
“We learn something new every day,” she said. “One of our goals is to be the first solar-powered food facility in Monroe.”
Customer Erika Andahl, who lives in Mill Creek, said she likes the crunch of the chili and lime flavor.
“I have a bag in my car, at my desk, on my kitchen counter; I’m telling you I can’t get enough,” Andahl said. “When our friends come over for dinner or to watch the Seahawks, I have a bowl of soy nuts out, (no more greasy chips) and they go great with beer.”
Philip Erikson is from Washington. He worked as a telecommunications manager for 10 years and in retail and warehouse management for 14 years.
“I sold soy nuts from the back of our family Suburban at four farmers markets for the first two years in the business,” he said. “I found this product benefited many people, especially vegans, dieters and those with midlife health issues.”
He hires and trains Monroe High School students as employees.
“I teach them the many aspects of running an entrepreneurial business,” Philip Erikson said. “Several of our employees now desire to open their own small businesses in the future.”
The couple buy raw soy beans from the Midwest and dry-roast them until they get a nutlike shape and crunch.
“We roast every little organic bean by hand in our Monroe plant,” they said. “We have a secret way we roast our nuts so they are not hard and dried out. Then we add our organic spices per our secret recipes. Next we package the soy nuts with loving care by hand and ship them off to their destinations.”
When Mavis Erikson was in high school, her senior project was about natural, homemade cosmetics. She may create an organic beauty line.
She said she loves the book called “Mr. and Mrs. Stupid Start a Business.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
Beans to nuts
Truson Organics soy nuts are available at most QFC stores and Central Market.
For more information, go to http://trusonorganics.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
