Susan and I met at a restaurant in Los Angeles 35 years ago and were married a few weeks later.  She was a well respected and demanding language high school teacher and I was a French immigrant, born and raised in Algeria when the country was French.  Yes, I have been homeless, shared red wine with hobos and slept under bridges during one of the coldest winter of the century in France but as I always say to our employees: "You came to this country to succeed so, never feel poor and always be grateful."  Susan's strength of character and solid mid-western values have helped me a great deal.  My skills as a survivor and born entrepreneur added to hers. 

Susan won the 4-H championship for her baking entries in county and state fair in Indiana at age 14. As for me, I had many different businesses, including a renowned restaurant and a disco during my 13 years in Spain.  Anyhow, after many vicissitudes to long to tell here, I had to once more to have to start from scratch but this time Susan was here.

St. Amour cookies begun in 1993 as a tiny venture.  After 2 years selling at open air markets we landed a large retailer which for the next few years represented 90% of our business.  In those days Whole Foods had only 3 stores in Los Angeles.  Life being what it is, we learned a painful and devastating lesson when 5 years later that large client demanded to private label our product line which we recalcitrantly did.  From a steady growth, sales went down to nothing in less than a year with their own label.  Back to square one and for the next 3 years we were renting a table at a local bakery simply to keep our 2 lines of products in Whole Foods and Bristol Farms' shelves plus another handful of natural food stores here and there.  Susan, with fortitude and exemplary courage was keeping us alive on her hard work and teachers' salary.  By the end of 2002 we finally had dusted off the pains off of our backs and started from zero again.  I was driving from town to town selling cookies to coffee shops before Starbucks that is. In my old Mitsubishi crisscrossed the US, sleeping in it, eating only if I could sell a few bags of cookies, determined to get Susan and I out of this situation.

In 2002 we finally incorporated our company, St. Amour Inc on maxed out credit cards.  We were no longer spring chicken though.  Susan had just retired from her 34 year teaching position so I got on the phone and started again selling.  Needless to say it was worth than pulling teeth as the rejection rate was extremely painful as not many had even heard the word 'Vegan'. But determination is the name of 'our' game. 

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Could we have done things differently to succeed earlier?  Perhaps but today our company is strong and boasts products with enormous proven longevity.

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Have we succeeded?   Yes. Because our bond is ever stronger.