CARSON CITY, NV — In the world of food production, loyalty is everything. Not just the run-of-the-mill kind of loyalty, but that steadfast, unwavering, passionate loyalty that builds brands and keeps customers coming back for more.
No one knows this better than Elisabeth Galvin, the passionate founder of Carson City, NV-based Stellar Snacks, the only pretzel manufacturer west of the Mississippi.
The French immigrant launched Stellar Snacks in addition to her flagship company, Delyse, a copacker specializing in snack mixes and nuts including Delyse’s original signature product, French pralines.
Long before she introduced American consumers to her beloved pralines, Galvin grew up a foodie in the south of France. In addition to helping her grandparents sell produce and traditional windmill-produced olive oil, she worked in a bakery before earning degrees in economy and pre-law.
But despite her prestigious education, Galvin’s heart belonged to food.
“I absolutely love food,” she said. “On one hand, food is not hard to love. But I also think that, growing up with a family of farmers, manufacturers and bakers, I learned that you have to be passionate about what you do because it’s probably the hardest work out there.”
Food manufacturing, like entrepreneurialism, is not just a passion; it’s also a calling.
“It requires consistency and dedication, and it’s your life,” she said. “It’s in your DNA.”
In the early ’90s, when she was just a 20-something following her dream of coming to America, Galvin discovered, rather unconventionally, that she had what it takes to be an entrepreneur. She arrived at a party bearing small bags of French pralines she’d prepared in a kettle in her apartment kitchen, and she left with a business offer from the owner of Reno Air.
Soon after, Galvin found herself in a 15,000-sq.-ft. kitchen with two small copper kettles where she launched Delyse, a name inspired by délicieuse, the French word for “delicious.” Galvin began selling her French pralines to Reno Air and at football games in Reno, NV by the thousands. Within two years, she was in full production mode with packaging equipment and a full staff, some of whom still work for Galvin today.
As the Reno Air business picked up, Galvin maintained that her snacks were for all passengers, though some contended that such decadent treats should be reserved for first-class passengers only. It was a pivotal moment for her, one that would become her motto and a pillar of what Stellar Snacks was destined to become.
“Food should never be a luxury,” Galvin said. “It should be for everyone.”
When she was ready to grow the business, Galvin developed a bold — but highly risky — strategy to get her snacks into the hands of more passengers: She gave them away for free.
Offering free snacks made them quite attractive, and she hatched a plan to cover costs by attaching advertising to the product. The concept worked … in spades.
Delyse landed coverage in publications including Forbes, the Los Angeles Times and Adweek, all telling the story about the woman who was putting ads on airplane snacks.
It also led to contracts with the country’s top commercial airlines, including American, United, Northwest, SkyWay and more. In-flight packs included pralines packaged with CD-rom promotions for AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy, along with ads for Motorola, American Express, General Motors, AT&T and more.
For two years in the mid-’90s, it was a multi-million-dollar concept that changed Galvin’s course.
“I became accepted as a manufacturer who was capable of delivering quality snacks by the truckload to the airlines,” Galvin said. “It put me on the map. No longer were there questions of, ‘How is she going to do that?’”
Delyse grew into a 30,000-sq.-ft. facility in Reno, where the company became the marquee co-packer for some of the largest snack brands and known in the transportation industry as the manufacturer who could get a finished product delivered within a week.
“That can’t be done by many people,” Galvin attested. “It’s because of my team and my suppliers.” In fact, Delyse relies on many of the same suppliers it used when those first kettles fired up 30 years ago.
When she broke into manufacturing, Galvin had no brand or contracts, but she had something that lives inside every entrepreneur.
“I believed,” she said. “The universe brings you opportunities, and you have to take them when they come. I had faith I could do it. When you have some type of epiphany, when you believe in something, the only ingredient for success is bracing yourself and knowing it will follow. If it’s what you’re meant to do, never be afraid of the unknown.”
That fire and faith is not only what has kept Delyse going for 30 years, but it’s also what prompted Galvin to parlay into the pretzel business … and sustain her through the biggest challenge yet.
This story has been adapted from the August | Q3 2022 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
