Life is buttery for pecan-producing Goodson family

ALBANY — Although the family has a rich tradition of growing and selling high quality pecans and pecan products as Goodson Pecans, David Goodson and his wife, Melody, recently ventured into new and exciting territory with the release of their latest product — all-natural pecan butter.

The pecan butter, which the family put into large-scale production roughly a month ago, is a spreadable pecan paste made from grinding the toasted nuts, something the family first started making in small quantities a few years ago.

They began sharing the pecan butter they were making at home with close friends while also selling small amounts of it at food shows. Before long, they realized there was growing demand, which really got the couple thinking about expanding the pecan butter’s presence within the company’s line of products.

Their thinking was validated earlier this year when industry advisers challenged the company to evaluate how it could distinguish itself within a crowded marketplace.

“A couple of years ago, we had some leftover pieces and were thinking, ‘What do we do with this?’ And that’s when we started with the pecan butter,” said David Goodson. “We had been under-the-radar selling it at some shows and we would sell out in a heartbeat. At the food workshop, they challenged us and asked, ‘If you could do one thing well, what would it be?’ So, that’s when we were like, ‘Well, nut butter is a good possibility.’”

RENEWED FOCUS

After returning from the workshop with renewed focus and excitement, the Goodsons began working in earnest to develop a full line of pecan butter and make it a major focus for the company.

As the family delved further into the idea, they realized that in addition to just adding a new pecan product to their inventory, they would be adding a pecan product that would appeal to a growing customer base heavily focused on healthy eating.

Since studies have indicated that the minerals, vitamins and nutrients contained in pecans have numerous health benefits, including being heart healthy and being high in antioxidants, the nut itself was already gaining a positive reputation within the health food community.

“There’s still a lot of research being done on pecans versus other nuts, but I know a couple of thing they have found,” Goodson said. “Of all the nuts, pecans have the highest levels of antioxidants, so that’s one benefit that you can find.

“The other thing that they’re finding is pecans are very high in Vitamin E, which helps develop cell structure. They’re (also) high in protein and high in fiber. Pecans are just an all around very good nut.”

Those positive benefits of pecans, and by extension pecan butter, make it an ideal product to market to a growing consumer base that is much more concerned with the health benefits — or lack thereof — of the food they eat.

Foods labeled organic, non-GMO (genetically modified organism), “clean,” or “natural,” are gaining increasing popularity and taking up more and more space on grocery store aisles nationwide, and the Goodson’s feel their pecan butter would be especially appealing to that audience.

“I want to stay in the all-natural niche,” said David Goodson. “That’s the market we really want to tap into. Our ingredients are very, very simple. We don’t add emulsifiers. It’s an all natural product. We do it three different flavors, original, sweetened and chocolate and they’re either creamy or crunchy, so you can have your pick.”

HEALTHY PRODUCTS

Indeed the company’s original pecan butter contains only toasted pecans and sea salt. The company also makes a sweetened version and a chocolate version, both of which are also all natural and have simple ingredients.

The sweetened pecan butter is given its added sweetness through the addition of honey and cane sugar granules while a small amount of cocoa is added to create the chocolate pecan butter.

Knowing the family had a solid product with a good potential customer base the family then focused on market research to find the best way to price, promote and sell the pecan butter.

Although he had some concerns early on about the cost of the pecan butter impacting consumer demand, the feedback Goodson has received thus far has been positive, which he attributes to people’s willingness to pay a little more for a natural product that is of high quality.

“A 10-ounce jar is $15.99, so it is a little pricey,” said Goodson. “We also do a 4 ounce and a 2 ounce. The 4 ounce is $7.99 then the 2 ounce is $4.25. It’s been interesting though. We’ve not heard a lot of people say anything about the price and I think maybe it’s that people think, ‘Well, it’s pecans.’ They know there’s a little bit of price on them.

“And I do know that people who are into healthy foods, they don’t mind paying a premium price for a good product. And that’s the thing about our pecan butter.”

From a marketing standpoint Goodson said he and Melody are also encouraged about the potential of the pecan butter due to the fact that despite the rising popularity of natural peanut butter and other types of nut butters like cashew butter and almond butter, the market isn’t flooded with companies selling pecan butter.

“There’s nobody out in the Southeast region pushing pecan butter, based on the research I’ve done,” Goodson said. “(But) we’ve been looking and pecan butter will be coming whether we do it or not. I already know that it’s out there. We have (even) heard rumblings that one of the larger pecan companies in the south is already trying to formulate their own pecan butter.”

MOMENTUM BUILDING

Part of the reason Goodson feels that other pecan butters will be coming into the market at some point is also one of the reasons he is excited to be in the pecan business right now.

Over the past few years there has been considerable momentum building for the pecan industry as a whole as the nuts have become more and more popular among consumers.

In fact, various pecan industry insiders, the American Pecan Board, and the Georgia Pecan Commission have all given their support to the idea of a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) federal marketing order (FMO) that would greatly boost the profile of pecans, the way similar FMOs have positively impacted the sale and promotion of almonds and pistachios in recent years.

“There’s been a really big push with pecans in general,” said Goodson. “All of a sudden there’s been a massive amount of pecan trees planted so people know it’s coming.”

That overall boost to the industry should bode well for the Goodson family, which has been in the pecan business since the early 1970s when David’s father Ray bought his first grove in Thomas County.

David Goodson said his father, who came from a family of small farmers, branched out into the pecan business in 1972 and that while serving as county extension director in Leesburg for over 30 years, built a strong reputation for growing high quality pecans with Goodson Farms.

Over the years, Ray Goodson increased his acreage which provided for his growing family. Despite that increase though, it was David Goodson who expanded things into a true retail market.

“For years people had always just bought pecans from my dad sort of out the back door,” said Goodson. “Well probably six or seven years ago I was riding with my dad and my brother and said, ‘We need to start a website.’ Because people really loved the quality of dad’s pecans. I talked like this for two years and finally I said I just needed to stop talking about it and just do it. And that’s when Melody and I started the Goodson Pecans website.”

ONLINE SALES

When the couple started that website in 2009 they kept things relatively simple in terms of product selection, before ultimately expanding their inventory.

“We sold just the shelled pecan halves and pieces the first year,” said Goodson. “The next year we added some flavored ones. It’s just slowly grown.”

Today customers visiting goodsonpecans.com will find a variety of different items including the original shelled halves and pieces as well specialty flavored choices like chocolate covered pecans, amaretto pecans, natural praline pecans, sugar pecans, cinnamon sugar pecans, spicy ranch pecans, and roasted salted pecans. The site also carries gourmet pecan rolls and pecan brittle, as well as the new pecan butter.

And while selling their products over the Internet and on a small retail basis at food shows, special events and through secondary retailers like Livy and Company in Lee County has proved successful, the addition of the pecan butter has prompted the company to open its own storefront.

Goodson said the the family realized very quickly that it needed a larger, dedicated space in order to manufacture their products on a larger scale, which led to the Goodsons to open a space in Leesburg.

Now that they have both the online business and the retail storefront up and running the Goodsons feel better prepared to take care of their growing customer base just in time for the holiday season when they know their gift baskets and other items will be in high demand.

“They can buy here, they can buy online, they can email us or call us and we’ll get it to them,” said Goodson. “We’ll sample all of our products including our nut butter and we’ll do gift packing during the holidays.”

As exciting is it is to expand the business the Goodsons say one of the best things about it has been the fact that it truly is a family operation.

Melody handles the lion’s share of the preparation of the products while David, along with help from his dad who is now mostly-retired, still handles a large portion of the farming aspects of things. Even the couple’s children have gotten involved.

“It’s very hard juggling it having a family,” said Goodson. “But I think one of the benefits is this is a family venture. Our kids are usually up here in the evenings. They help us on some levels with things they can do like helping put labels on bags or tying up things after we’ve filled them, so they’re very involved in things too. I think I am working a lot, we’re working a lot but it kind of gives me some hope when I’m up at the farm that I’m still with family. And on a family scale it’s not just my immediate family. The entire family has been supportive of this, my dad, my brother and my sister.”

Goodson Pecan is located at 227-D Walnut Ave. in Leesburg. The store’s current retail hours are 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays throughFridays and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. Goodson said the family will expand those hours once they get deeper into the holiday season.

For information about the company, visit goodsonpecans.com and on the company’s Goodson Pecans Facebook page.