Hummus, You So Sexy
Baby Zach's takes a Texan approach to a historical appetizer
By Meghan Ruth Speakerman, 4:03PM, Fri. Jul. 6, 2012
Get over it, pita chips. Cry those salty tears into your crinkly bag; this hummus is way out of your league.
It was love at first sight for online grocer Greenling and soon to follow (among other impressive vendors) were respectable suitors Whole Foods and HEB.
Meet Baby Zach's Smoked Hummus- an Austin innovation that can contribute its success to quality ingredients and unique, trade-secret techniques.
This local love affair is more than just a dip. It's a fun, versatile 'Tex-Med' condiment that can mixed and molded into a variety of recipes.
The young guns at Baby Zach's didn't flinch when Whole Foods (one of the most meticulous health food shelf-stockers around) pursued their sexy dips. The two-year-old company has exactly what it takes to impress the leader in quality foods, not at all having to alter their all-natural recipes to meet the store's high standards.
The ingenuity of this hummus is that it's a great introduction for meat-lovers into the sometimes elusive tasty possibilities of vegetarian food. Simply put, it tastes like it has meat in it … or belongs on meat … or is some kind of meat avatar. It hints to an illusion of another protein other than that of the chickpeas and beans.
More simply put, it's f***ing delicious.
Zachary Gultz was a college student who decided to be productive with the extra time he had on his hands after suffering a serious back injury in a car accident. With help from his brothers Michael and George, he started to dabble in food vending and barbequing, and out of a yearn for a vegetarian alternative, Baby Zach's Smoked Hummus was born.
After winning a local recipe competition, Greenling was the first vendor to come knocking at Gultz's door.
“Zach came to me for backing. I was doing really good with poker at the time. Then online poker came to an end and I got more involved,” co-owner Dustin Dorrance-Bowman said.
Baby Zach's is owned by two 26-year-olds; one a UT grad, the other a professional poker player. The two inspiring quirky-dip trailblazers became friends while living together at 21st Street Co-op. Gultz took a break from school once the initial hummus buzz began and started focusing on his baby full-time. He finished his degree this last May.
“We picked up HEB in April and they're already our biggest vendor,” Dorrance-Bowman said.
The young entrepreneurs are as savvy with business as they are with flavor pairings. They know the best success comes from quality product spread through word of mouth.
“We demo like crazy. Our main goal is to get people to taste it. It sells itself,” Dorrance-Bowman said.
Flavors range from smoked Thai curry to Cajun red bean and all variations are fabulous complements to chicken dishes, as sauce bases, and even on the ol' boring pita chip.
“We're always trying to get people to think outside the chip,” Dorrance-Bowman said.
He suggested the spicy smoked black bean (their most popular flavor by far) on Tex-Mex dishes, as well as one of his personal favorite concoctions, Thai curry deviled eggs.
In addition to their larger vendors, you can try Back Zach's at People's Pharmacy or on sandwiches at Purple Bean Coffee Shop.
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