Seasoned for Success
Chef Bob Fleener Crafts Acme Salt Company…
As the owner and culinary director of Acme Salt Company, Bob Fleener knows more about salt than most people. “The spirit of our (Superior) salt mix is that it does a great job on anything it touches. Of course, you don’t have to put it on your ice cream or cookies, but if it’s in the savory realm, it goes great.” Known by the moniker “Chef Bob,” he also shares cooking tips and recipes on his company website, many of which are hard-earned from his years of working in commercial kitchens. “I am a chef by trade. And when I first became the chef at JH Ranch in Scott Valley, the people there are very proper, so it was always Chef Bob, never just Bob. So, Chef Bob has stuck with me for the last 20-plus years of doing this, and now it’s become something of a signature.”
Fleener’s path to chefhood started with fond moments from his childhood. “My grandmother loved to cook. My most distinct memory is going around at Christmas time and making cookies. Then, after high school, when nothing else really stuck with me, I started to think about what I really loved to do, and it became clear that cooking was the answer to that question.”
After community college in Oregon, a diploma from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, and years of working his way through country clubs and high-end restaurants, Fleener realized something was missing. “One of my mentors mentioned that to make my mark, I had to find something that was unique to me, like a seasoning line or something.” The idea stuck with Fleener. “Around 1992, I decided I was going to just start plinkin’ around to see what made sense with salts. So I kept messing around, trying it this way and that way, for more than a decade. And, it was through iteration after iteration that the Acme Superior Salt Mix was born.”
Fleener first launched Acme in Siskiyou County’s Scott Valley, without investors or a lot of buzz, just a few thousand dollars in self-financing and a small group of talented family and friends. He believed that the true test of his product would come in the form of neighborly approval—many of those neighbors being ranchers who knew their way around a barbecue and a smoker. “I decided, if I can’t sell in my own backyard, then it doesn’t matter, and I should just move on.” But the community showed up. Farmers markets. Holiday fairs. Local butchers. “I honestly cut my teeth with the people in Scott Valley, and they’re the ones that truly helped launch this thing.”
Today, Acme Salt Company offers seven product lines, with more in development. The “big three” remain the backbone: the original Acme Superior Salt Mix, the Smoky Maple BBQ blend, and the STK (steak) Blend. “The Superior mix does a great job of being multi-purpose. The Smoky Maple blend is smoky and slightly sweet with a great compilation of mesquite powder, granulated brown sugar, sweet chipotle, smoked paprika and celery seed,” Fleener explains. “It’s tough enough for red meat but smart enough for vegetables. In fact, the steak blend itself is a vegetarian mix, but compliments rich red, fatty meats super well.”
Acme is a family operation, with Fleener’s wife, Halli, a central player in its success. “She is my beautiful bride and my wife of 38 years, and part of the brains of the operation. It’s the honor of my life to be attached to this young lady,” he says. Their daughter Allison has also helped shape the brand, with one of her marketing friends from college also having designed the product labels from the beginning. “It’s cool to keep everything in the family, with friends and family helping friends and family.”
Even as Acme continues to grow and the base of its production shifts to new headquarters in Tennessee, Fleener keeps strong ties to Northern California, ever mindful of where it all began. “I want to honor them as much as possible. This is their business as much as ours.” Fleener likewise keeps his philosophy rooted in its origins: start small, trust your palate, and never stop plinking. •
Acme Salt Company
www.Acmesaltco.com
