Hansen: Salt sellers find a niche through farmers markets

It may be unlucky to spill salt, but it’s good luck to sell it.

Jolie and Larry Mesmer of San Clemente are celebrating one year as owners of Laguna Salt Co., which has been operating out of local farmers markets. Every Saturday in Laguna Beach, they offer dozens of their fancy, unique salts.

“It’s been very interesting, a lot of growing pains — overcame most of them,” said Larry. “A lot of shifts in our business model.”

For some time, the Mesmers considered opening a storefront in Laguna but chose not to. There were many reasons, but it finally came down to the hard facts of their business. Plus, they have more ambitious plans than just salt.

“Interestingly enough, we’re not seeing the growth from the farmers markets that we are seeing on the retail end,” Larry said. “We are very well-received, retail-wise.”

Laguna Salt is now in more than two dozen stores, from Catalina to New York. The company sells the salts wholesale to various specialty stores, wineries and small gourmet markets.

“We determined that having a retail store wasn’t right,” Larry said. “Our product is not a daily or weekly buy; it’s maybe a monthly buy.”

Jolie also started networking at industry trade shows, where she compared notes with other artisanal vendors who opened a retail space.

“Unfortunately, there was not one positive comment that came out of it,” she said. “It was all negative and they wished they hadn’t done it. And it wasn’t necessary.

“There wouldn’t be enough product to hold a storefront, meaning I wasn’t going to bring in candles and T-shirts. I didn’t want to get into the business of selling other products that weren’t directly related to the store.”

In order to minimize the risk, the Mesmers decided to let established merchants make the commitment to sell the salts.

“We found very quickly that a lot of the local merchants wanted our product,” Larry said. “So we asked ourselves, why have a retail location when we could theoretically have a dozen or more local merchants selling our products for us?”

This grassroots business model took time to develop. Initially, they didn’t know what would sell. They used the local farmers market as a testing ground.

“We came out with 30-plus different varieties of salts, and through the use of the markets, we were able to determine what really sold,” he said. “We have the finest things to say about the farmers markets. If it wasn’t for those markets, we wouldn’t be where we are today. The people, the comments, they helped us hone our product.”

Once they ruled out the storefront, they still wanted to take the business to the next level, so they started researching how to expand their brand.

Right now, they are thinking about a restaurant space in Laguna where they can use the salt to accent their overall business. The details are still in the works, but in the meantime, they plan on continuing at the farmers markets but limit the number of locations as their retail outlets grow.

They are excited about the opportunities because salt is such an interesting, versatile product, used in everything from essential cooking to exotic cocktails. They like to give the example of Jurassic salts.

“Jurassic salts have been trapped in the mountains for hundreds of millions of years,” Larry said. “So they are from dried oceans from way back when, and they are mined.”

Other types of sea salt they sell include black truffle sea salt, Tuscan rosemary, ghost pepper, wild ginger and the “caviar” of sea salt, the Fleur de sel. More information is on their website, https://www.lagunasalt.com.

So why salt? What made them think of opening such a specialty business? In some ways, it had more to do with what they did not want to do.

“I didn’t want to carry ice around the farmers markets,” Jolie said, laughing. “So I wanted something with a long shelf life.”

The two had a long list of requirements that finally pointed to salt. With two young boys and busy day jobs, they didn’t want the small business to consume their lives.

“It’s been fun,” she said. “It’s gotten me energized. It’s gotten me into the other world besides just raising these boys.”

And don’t forget, she said, “it’s the most fun you can have playing with your food.”

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at [email protected].