A lifelong peanut butter lover, co-founder Mark first tried making his own in 1999 while living in a rural farming community in Zimbabwe, where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. In the fall of 2010, Mark was inspired to recreate his unforgettable peanut butter experiences he had in Africa, so he started roasting nuts and milling them into fresh nut butters in his home kitchen. Excited to share these foods with others and turn these passions into a business, Mark and his wife, Megan, started Big Spoon Roasters in January 2011. Big Spoon’s philosophy about food is based on the belief that food matters. It matters to our health, our happiness, and the well being of our planet. Food should be delicious, nutritious, and good for all those involved in producing it. For us, cooking and sharing food with others is a great joy. That’s why Big Spoon make all of their nut butters and bars in-house, pay their team a living wage, and offer robust employee benefits including subsidized health insurance, a monthly wellness stipend, and CSA reimbursement. Big Spoon Roasters sources ingredients from only trusted, transparent farms and producers that share their philosophy. Big Spoon is honored to work with a number of like-minded organic growers and food producers, and they all help each other by collectively growing the demand for higher quality, sustainable agriculture. They also proudly work with Bee Friendly Certified almond growers in California; pecan farmers in Georgia; ginger farmers in Fiji; sorghum farmers in Tennessee; and many more talented food producers they consider partners in a mission to set new standards for ingredient integrity, flavor, and freshness.