Business known for its salsa is opening store, commercial kitchen in southwestern IL town

Near the O’Fallon Station downtown is where Nitro Family Foods will soon open a retail space and commercial kitchen. In these uncertain pandemic times, it’s one of the success stories of a homegrown business that has triumphed despite the challenges.

“We are excited to open a business right now. The pandemic quadrupled our business from 2019 into 2020. Right now, we are on pace to be at 150% of our 2020 numbers in 2021. Consumers started shopping local and turned to farmer’s markets as an alternative to going to the big box grocery stores,” said owner Nathan Parchman.

Spending habits have changed, he noted.

“Additional money has been pumped into the economy by the government, allowing for many who were fortunate enough to keep their jobs, to have extra money to spend. People haven’t been traveling or going out, so splurging on fresh local food was where they turned,” he said.

What began a few years ago as a way to use the produce from their organic garden at home, Nicole and Nathan Parchman created Nitro Salsa, which took off after they gave it as gifts to friends and family, who clamored for more.

Then, they became a mainstay at the Vine Street Market farmers’ market downtown. Through social media and word of mouth, demand grew. They used the VFW commercial kitchen to keep up with orders and requests that were beyond their home kitchen capabilities.

The new store is at 231 E. State St., which was previously All Feeds Grooming. In addition to the retail space, there will be a commercial kitchen. They plan to follow a “cloud kitchen” model of renting space to other food vendors and in turn, selling their items at the store.

“We’ll rent the space when we are not there for others to utilize to start their businesses like we did,” Parchman said.

They had wanted to be open in early fall, but that couldn’t happen.

“Due to shipping delays — as every industry is having — we are behind about six weeks at this point. We can’t get our kitchen equipment in for various reasons. Once the kitchen equipment is delivered and installed, we’ll be ready to start getting all the approvals from the health departments and the state of Illinois,” he said. “Gibbons Construction — Ryan Gibbons and team — have been great to work with and they’ve done everything possible to keep us on track.”

While frustrated over the unavoidable delays, Parchman said they are eager to open their doors — but the opening date has remained fluid because of supply issues not uncommon right now.

Temporarily, Parchman said they plan to be open for retail sales from 6-9 or 10 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays until they can establish regular times and dates.

They will also have “pop up” openings, he said.

“Keep an eye on our Facebook page or if you drive by and see an ‘open’ sign,” he said.

However, customers can order at their website, and holiday gift sets are available: www.nitrosalsa. They will also have a booth at the Marching Panthers Craft Fair on Saturday, Nov. 6, and Sunday, Nov. 7, at O’Fallon Township High School.

Right now, they are looking at December-January before the kitchen supplies will be in to make the commercial kitchen fully functional, he said.

But they hope to establish regular hours for the store as soon as they can.

“This store is going to be an addition to our markets.”

The products can be found at Creative Landscapes in Fairview Heights, Patoogins in Highland, Downtown Delights in Wood River, Edison’s in Edwardsville, and in O’Fallon — Boarding House Bistro and MotoMart (where Dandy Inn was).

Their product line includes four different kinds of homemade salsa from mild to extra hot available in pint jars: Young Buck, sweet and mild with a slight hint of spice; Doe N’ Heat, medium heat with a sweet and sassy flavor; 10-Point Shooter, a sweet and steady draw with a smooth shot of heat for the kill; and Buck ‘n Rut, “a sweet start with a finish so hot it will knock your pants off.” A sampler pack of all four — in half-pint jars — is also available.

The pickles are known as Sweet Jenny (mild), The Jake (medium) and Struttin’ Tom (hot), and bread and butter pickles with various degrees of spice are sold in 16 oz. and 32 oz. jars.

More about expanded space

The retail space won’t only be for their products, though.

“We’re going also sell other food and unique products in the retail area. We want to make it different and a place to go when you need a gift or item that is something you wouldn’t see in a normal chain store,” he said.

With expanded space, the Parchmans hope to enlarge their product line beyond salsa and pickles to include barbecue sauces and queso cheese blend, and others — just not right away.

“With food, you have to be super-careful to make sure it is safe,” he said. “We are looking to get other products in the testing process so we can generate nutritional facts and meet all health codes per the state of Illinois guidelines for retail sales.”

They have begun making tortilla chips because they were always providing samples of the salsa.

“It was trial and error. They are made with fresh tortillas and Nicole packs them,” he said.

Part of O’Fallon Community

The Parchmans both work in other businesses and have been cooking after hours at home.

“We both will keep our day jobs and still call this a full-time second job/hobby,” he said.

Parchman also represents Ward 7 as an alderman on the O’Fallon City Council and is a banker with Farmers and Merchants Bank in Lebanon — a branch is soon to be in O’Fallon, near the McKendree Rec Plex, and he will be branch manager. Nicole, who grew up in O’Fallon and was Miss O’Fallon in 2002, works at the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown St. Louis. They met while students at Murray State University in Kentucky.

Now in O’Fallon for 15 years, the Parchmans have two daughters — Brooklyn and Carlee Jo — who are very much a part of the business.

“Everything is kid-tested,” Nathan said. “We want them to know how a business is run.”

He had grown up with a big garden in Kentucky and did the same here.

‘We love O’Fallon’

“We love O’Fallon and want to ensure the heart of the city stays strong. If the downtown is thriving, all the surrounding areas will do great due to the interstate, Scott Air Force Base and proximity to St. Louis,” he said.

They wanted to be part of the downtown district, and the building, once a log cabin, seemed to be the right place.

“It’s super unique. It goes right along with our outdoors theme of our products,” he said.

“This was originally a building we just wanted for a commercial kitchen. We discovered there was space where we could do retails as well, so we ran with it. We thought we are going to be there cooking, so we might as well open the doors to make more sales at the same time,” he said.

Because they started their adventure at the Vine Street Market, this proximity makes it special, too.

“We walk out our back door and O’Fallon Station is right there. So, I guess the history of our start as a business made it attractive,” he said. “We wanted to help be a part of the growth we’ve enjoyed watching others create over the past several years.”

Location, location, location

The location is helpful to maintaining family life, too.

“It’s very close to our house and the dance studio where our daughters are several nights a week, making it a very convenient location since it’s on our way there or back,” he said.

So, where did that name come from? Nathan said he is a deer hunter, so the salsa names came from his hobby. The name “Nitro” came from the nickname of Nicole’s Zumba teacher. Nathan joked he, as a banker, couldn’t have such a cool nickname. Somehow, it stuck, and he became known as Nitro in the neighborhood. And voila, several years later, Nitro Family Foods is a reality and a recognizable brand.

For more information, visit their Facebook page and website.

This story was originally published October 24, 2021 at 6:00 AM.