Golden ticket to a silver jubilee: Vermont Nut Free Chocolates celebrates 25 years

Staff at the Vermont Nut Free Chocolates factory producing chocolate covered pretzels.

COLCHESTER — Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, based out of 146 Brentwood Dr. in Colchester, is celebrating 25 years of making life safer for people with peanut and tree nut allergies.

Vermont Nut Free Chocolates was the first-ever business in the country to hit the market specializing in trustworthy chocolates and other sweets for those with nut allergies, said Mark Elvidge, president and CEO Vermont Nut Free Chocolates.

The company filled a market gap for those with allergies before any meaningful allergen food labeling laws were in effect. It was a leader in the nut-free food allergy movement prior to the laws that later went into place to protect people with allergies.

In the company’s early days, Boston Children's Hospital’s allergy department started telling its patients about Vermont Nut Free Chocolates as a resource, providing information on the business to newly-diagnosed patients in their take home packets.

Six years after Vermont Nut Free Chocolates was incorporated, the Food and Drug Administration passed the Food Allergen labeling and Consumer Protection Act in 2004.

Vermont Nut Free Chocolates employee fills a mold with chocolate.

The business came onto the scene in 1998, as one of the earliest companies to do e-commerce — just two years after the first recorded legitimate internet sale took place in 1994. It was also a “momtrepreneur” company long before the trend took off on modern-day social media.

Founded by Gail Elvidge, Vermont Nut Free Chocolates came about following an alarming discovery that her son, Tanner, had a potentially life-threatening peanut allergy.

At the time, it was challenging to find options for him, given that most chocolate manufacturers then had no warnings for nut-based cross contaminants on factory floors that could pose a problem to those with allergies, even in chocolate products that didn’t explicitly contain nuts.

Wanting her child and others like him to be able to experience the little special treats that most other children do, she started making safe, uncontaminated chocolate and confectionery goods right out of her own home — both for Tanner and for online sale to people with allergies like his.

“She didn't want him to miss out on those little indulgences growing up,” Mark Elvidge, her husband, said. “One morning came down and said, ‘You know, we should start a nut free chocolate company, there's got to be a lot of families in our same situation.’ And I kind of challenged her to do it.”

At the time, peanut and tree nut allergies were far more rare and the need for nut-free chocolates was far more niche than it is today. Tanner Elvidge was the first known child with a peanut allergy in his school system.

Vermont Nut Free Chocolates employees collecting chocolate covered pretzels from the factory conveyor belt.

However, as these allergies became much more prevalent, the need, the company and the sector as a whole only continued to expand.

Now that Vermont Nut Free Chocolates has hit its silver jubilee, the company can safely say its been there at each milestone with some clients since the beginnings of their lives — from initially celebrating childhood birthdays and bar mitzvahs, to exam cramming treats and college graduations, even to being a part of loyal, longtime customers’ weddings and baby showers.

Vermont Nut Free Chocolates still sells directly to consumers online as it did from the beginning, but it also now distributes products to retailers in every state nationwide, with lots of stores carrying its products particularly in the northeast.

The Elvidges never initially intended to sell to other retailers or engage in wholesale channels, but the growth happened naturally.

“We didn't spend any money on Google ads, and I don't think that existed — there weren't Google ads and there wasn't SEO,” Elvidge said. “It was word of mouth and then just coming up organically in search engines just because of the relevance and preciseness of what we did.”

Still, they’ve been discovered by many distributors and are in about 1,000 stores now. Even though there are now competitors on the market, the business’ growth remains steady.

“We do still have a very loyal following and we're getting discovered every day,” Elvidge said.

An employee fills bottles of molten chocolate on the factory floor.

For example, Whole Foods’ North Atlantic regional stores began carrying Vermont Nut Free Chocolate sunblossoms — like peanut butter cups but made with sunflower seed butter — in April, and so far, Elvidge said, they’ve been doing very well.

The company prides itself on breaking barriers, with flexible, parent-supportive schedules for employees since opening its first real factory with staff in 2000.

Vermont Nut Free Chocolates staff is predominantly female, with 88% of employees being women and is also substantially ethnically diverse, Elvidge said.

“We've always been proud of the fact that we have had a lot of female employment since day one,” Elvidge said. “My wife founded the company in our home, and we kind of switched roles about 12 years ago when the company started to kind of grow.”

Mark now handles most day-to-day operations while Gail does work behind the scenes — such as some of the ordering and packaging — from her home office.

Not only did it start out as a family business, but it’s continued on with a sort of “all in the family” legacy — lots of Vermont Nut Free Chocolates staff members have also brought their mothers, daughters, sisters and other family members to work alongside them at the chocolate factory.

“It's worked out I think very well for us and, and for our employees as well,” Elvidge said. “We have a family of four that comes to work every day for us, a mom and two daughters and her son, and the son's girlfriend — so it's really five I guess.”

Pretzels get coated in peanut and tree nut free chocolate in the Vermont Nut Free factory in Colchester.

The company also employs another family of three, and several mother-daughter duos as well, three sets of which are originally from the Philippines.

From operating out of a single-family home in the early days to operating out of a location with two factory floors and an onsite storefront now, the business has long since outgrown all of its first three factories, all of which were operated locally in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.

“It feels good,” Elvidge said. “A lot of businesses don't last a year and a lot more don't last five years. Many don't last 10. So 25 is good. It's a really good milestone and it gives some pretty serious credibility to our brand and our ability to actually provide safe products to people.”

In spite of expansion, the factory maintains a traditional, artisan ethos of producing high-quality goods on a small scale, with many processes conducted largely by hand, the old fashioned way.

Focuses for the company shift with different holidays and events. This busy back-to-school season means Vermont Nut Free Chocolates is churning out Halloween and Christmas treats. The company’s no. 1, year-round, best-selling item is its chocolate-covered pretzels.

“Our products are gourmet quality, they stand head-to-head with any of the brands out there, the mass market brands and also any of the premium brands,” Elvidge said. “The taste and quality is as good or better.”

Those interested in experiencing the childlike sense of wonder of being a kid in a candy store can do so by visiting the shop at 146 Brentwood Dr. — or in the spirit of e-commerce, the way that the business originated, folks can also check out the company’s offerings online.

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