COTTAGE GROVE, Wis. — Leadership of a Madison-area company is traveling to Washington D.C. this month.
The company in the running for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s “Small Business Persons of the Year Award” after winning the title in Wisconsin.
Fortune Favors got its start at a small shop on Atwood Avenue in Madison in 2018. All of its candied pecans were made in a small kitchen in the back.
Fast forward five years and it now has larger headquarters in Cottage Grove. CEO Sam McDaniel said he never imagined this kind of growth.
“Everybody had dreams, sort of,” he said. “But I think the reality of it was not something that we really thought would happen this quickly.”
The company employs less than 20 people. It moved production to the nearly 19,000 square-foot space less than two years ago. Through the pandemic, it pivoted to online sales and grew its footprint beyond Wisconsin.
“We’re gonna make about 200,000 pounds of candied pecans here this year,” McDaniel said. “We have customers all over the country.”
Now, it makes all three flavors of Fortune Favors pecans at their headquarters, including classic, everything and spicy, as well as the company’s signature “Eric’s Up North Trail Mix” and “Magic Bars.”
McDaniel said that offering will expand.
“Other flavors that are in the works, we won’t tell any of them now,” he said. “But our super fans know, because they’ve been part of the testing we have.”
Whole Foods took notice and now sells Fortune Favors in some of its stores nationwide. McDaniel said the most loyal fan base is right here in the Midwest.
“Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota and the big metros that are close to us,” he said. “That’s where most of our people are. We’re very happy and proud to say that.”
McDaniel said without that loyalty and support, Fortune Favors would not be in the running for a national Small Business Persons of the Year Award.
“There’s a lot of hard work, there’s a lot of anxiety that goes into it and to get recognition from people who really know what it is that we’re doing is really wonderful,” he said. “The other stuff is great, too. Anytime somebody says something nice about our pecans, we are very happy.”
He said the goal is to keep growing and become a fully national brand, while never forgetting where it started.
“We don’t want to leave that behind at all,” McDaniel said. “It’s equally as important to us, if not more in the long run, because that’s more of the legacy that we will leave is the impact that we have locally and with our people who work here.”