This Thanksgiving week, Sascha Stanger, the owner of Longmont-based Sascha’s Seasonings, small scale, craft spice reseller, has a lot to be grateful for. He’ll be marking the fourth anniversary of his company.
The spice retailer was founded in 2016 when Stanger wanted to turn his experience and contacts in the culinary industry into a business. He worked with friend and business partner David Tenenbaum at Rocky Mountain Spice Company to create the blends and then package and sell them.
Stanger first brought his product to mountain resort towns like Vail. “I know the week of Thanksgiving is shopping time up there, so I got placement there first,” he said. “I was in Village Market Edwards, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge. Then I started working Boulder and Longmont.”
Since then, the company has grown to be featured at more than 20 Colorado retail shops. It’s area stores like Alfalfas, Ace Hardware, and Your Butcher Franks, his first Longmont retailer.
Ron Lamb, who co-owns the butcher shop, appreciates having the product. “The spices do well here,” he said. “It’s a local product, and we love selling local.There’s also a different flavor to match everything.”
Sascha’s Seasonings offers a range of blends. These include a salt-free product and Lime Pepper Blend, a substitute for lemon pepper. In addition, there are two kinds of rubs — a creole seasoning and a southwest seasoning.
While he’s not a trained chef, Stanger said that his love of food was firmly in place by junior high school. “When all of my other guy friends were in shop class, I was taking home economics.”
Now, when talking to Stanger, his love of food is unmistakable. His words come faster, and there’s a clear, compelling momentum in his speech.
Stanger’s business is a good fit. “I like the freedom of selling in the restaurants but not being there 20 hours a day,” he shared. In addition, he’s been able to work with Aspen chefs Rob Zack of the Hotel Jerome and Matt Zubrod of Little Nell. Closer to Longmont, he’s also worked with Rob Corey of Seasoned in Estes Park.
This Thanksgiving, as in others past, Stanger is likely to put his products to work in his own kitchen, using his Rocky Mountain Herb Seasonings on roast turkey. “After washing the bird, I oil it inside and out. Then I dash it with the Rocky Mountain Herb Blend and salt. When the turkey comes out, it’s pretty speckled, but it’s delicious.”
In addition to his passion for food, Stenger loves to meet his customers. Before COVID-19, he was doing in store demos each weekend. Customers would recognize him and share stories of how the spices worked for them.
“I miss those demos,” he said. “I love it when customers come up to me in demos and say, ‘I had nothing to cook but I had a bottle of lime pepper and made a great chicken out of it.’ I love interacting with the customers. There will be a day when I can do it again.”
