Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Nelson.
Steven, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Our business came to be in an extremely organic fashion. About 8 years ago, my wife Andrea decided to go on an anti-inflammatory diet, which, among other things, required cutting grains and refined sugar from her diet. I had been a chef for many years, and food is and always has been a very important aspect of our life. One of our philosophies is that every meal can and should be both healthy and delicious. So, we set out to create new recipes that fit this new diet. Two of our standout creations were a healthy, not-too-sweet Marzipan and a smooth, moist, dark chocolate concoction. We shared these with our friends and family, and they all encouraged us to make it and sell it as a product. We weren’t so sure; we both had other careers, and we knew how difficult food businesses can be, but a series of incidents happened (including a life-changing relationship with a local squirrel (who developed an addiction to our Marzipan) which put us on the path to creating Rawesome Morsels.
The buyers at many of the top Los Angeles Health food stores loved our products, and we developed quite a following at many Los Angeles Farmers Markets. One of our early customers was a researcher studying CBD. He was very enthusiastic about how well-suited our product would be as a CBD chocolate. He said that the high-quality Organic Cacao and the healthy oils from the nuts that we make our morsels from were a perfect delivery system for the therapeutic benefits of CBD, and the fact that our treats were dehydrated rather than baked meant the CBD would not be damaged by the high heat involved in the preparation of most desserts. We followed up on his suggestions on how to source and use a super high-quality CBD oil in our production, and the result was the creation of one of our best-selling products, our Healing Hemp CBD Chocolate.
People liked them so much they wanted to buy our CBD oil. We often hear, “Your CBD Chocolate works better than the expensive CBD oil that I buy. Can we buy your CBD Oil?” So, we started packaging and selling CBD products as well as our delicious Rawesome Morsels. Now, this is where the story completes a circle. That Anti-inflammatory diet was inspired by sports-related injuries, and while diet had helped, we both were still looking for help in reducing pain and inflammation so that we could continue our active lifestyle. We tried a lot of topical creams, salves, and balms and found some that we liked, but we had an inkling that the key to a better pain relief balm was combining multiple herbal remedies that had been used over the ages to relieve pain, promote healing and reduce inflammation. So once again, we channeled our inner mad scientists, and through research and a lot of trial and error, we created our best-selling product, Bliss Balm.
Starting this business not too long before Covid hit has been challenging, but through word of mouth and a passion for creating great products, we have developed a loyal following, and those other careers fell by the wayside quite a while ago.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We love our products and our customers, and we are passionate about making the best therapeutic products and most delicious, healthy treats possible. We feel very fortunate that, in many ways, each next step just presented itself to us in the most natural of ways, but a lot of hard work and persistence, and simple stubbornness has been required to make it work. And, of course, surviving as a business through the Pandemic was a major challenge.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Rawesome Morsels and Rawesome Remedies?
We are a fixture at some of the local Farmers Markets and at retail stores such as the Erewhon markets (10 stores presently,, the Santa Monica Co-op, Follow Your Heart, Rainbow Acres, and the Culver City Co-Opportunity Market, and we have a website to serve our many customers outside the Los Angeles Area. The most rewarding part of our business is sharing the rave reviews of our clients. So many of them have told us that our products have made a significant difference in their lives and well-being.
How do you define success?
At this point, I think that being able to thrive and survive doing something we love and having a positive, beneficial effect on our customers’ lives is a great success.
Pricing:
- Rawesome Morsels range from $8 to $25
- Bliss Balm ranges from $35 to $99
- CBD oils Rane from $25 to $99
- Ecuadorian Alpaca products range from $54 to $160
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rawesomemorsels.com
- Instagram: rawesomemorsels
- Facebook: Rawesome Morsels
Image Credits
Andrea and Steve Nelson
