Peterborough duo turning cashews into ‘cheese’ and looking for investors | Dining & Food
PETERBOROUGH — A funny, nutty thing happened when Josh Velasquez and Adam Hamilton tried to open a restaurant in Keene. They became the first manufacturers in New England of a 100% plant-based cheese instead.
The three cheeses and three spreads made by Clean Simple Foods Inc. under the Nuttin’ Ordinary brand are “lactose intolerant friendly, vegan friendly, earth friendly, and tastebud friendly,” according to the company. They are available at Market Basket and Whole Foods stores, as well as scores of independent grocers from New York north.
The cheeses and spreads — the company also makes an all-natural ravioli — contain no oils, thickeners or soy, and are the result of four years of self-taught fermentation experimentation in the basement of Velasquez’s parents’ home in Harrisville.
Velasquez and Hamilton are in fundraising mode, trying to attract $750,000 worth of investments to better market their products. Both are lactose-intolerant — as is about a third of the U.S. population, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.
The men recently held meet-and-greets in Peterborough, Keene and Littleton, and from those efforts raised $180,000 as of Dec. 12, when they sat down for an interview in their company’s 8,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse space within the Vose Farm Business Center.
Velasquez, 41, said he was raised vegan for health reasons. The New York City native’s family relocated to New Hampshire when he was a child. After graduating from a faith-based high school, Velasquez went to Arizona but missed home and returned to the Granite State.
He and Hamilton, who is 39 and hails from Charlestown, Rhode Island, first met in 2010. Both wanted to promote a balanced diet that eschewed highly processed foods.
“We were on the same page,” Velasquez said.
‘Funky’ first batch
The duo contemplated opening a…
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