Kelly Zegalia, a co-owner at Horne Pecan Company, talked about the new store they are opening downtown. While the date is still unofficial, they are hoping to be up and running by mid-October.
“I don’t want to focus too much on the coffee, but that seems to be the biggest interest right now. Our goal is to make our pecans more accessible by bringing them into town and away from the farm.”
She talked about the advantages of a downtown store compared to their current venue.
“It’s just out of the way, and so people can’t really get here during their work hours. We need to be more accessible to the people who are looking for something to do in Americus downtown.”
She also mentioned the coffee was getting a lot of buzz.
“The coffee option is always great because there’s not an early morning coffee option downtown right now. We’ll be open at 7 a.m. and go to 6 p.m.”
She gave directions to the new location.
“We’re right next to the Wolf Creek Winery and we are next to the Jackson Street Entrance to The Windsor. It used to be the fitness center under the old ownership, so there is access into the store from the Windsor lobby. So we’ll be offering gift shop-type things for the Windsor and coffee for the Windsor patrons as well.”
I asked about what kinds of products Horne Pecan company sells.
“We have all things pecans. We got pecan pie in a jar, we have chocolate covered, our new product is dark chocolate pecan bark. That’s new this year. We haven’t got it on the shelves yet, we just got it in today.
We’ve got the shelled pecans, in shell pecans, we’ve got bulk chopped pecans to bake with. Pecan coffee is the most recent thing that’s so exciting. We’ve got it in whole bean, ground, and K-cups, and you can do a bourbon pecan, butter pecan, Southern pecan.”
Ms. Zegalia also talked about the unique aspects of another product they sell, pecan oil.
“It actually has lower saturated fat than olive oil and higher antioxidants. It also has a higher burn point so it can get up to 140 degrees and not scorch. Great for stir fry, and it also has a very mild flavor, so you can just dip your bread in it with your herbs and it’s not overpowering.”
“You’ve got a smoke point of 470 compared to 320 on the olive oil. It’s a little pricy to be baking with, but just for your cooking and stuff and adding to your fish and your vegetables it’s fantastic.”
She talked about how her family ran the business.
Kim and I do the retail side, my brother Michael and my Dad, they do the farming part. They supply us with our products, and then we sell them. We’ve been doing this since 1975 in the wholesale. We’ve gone in and out of the retail just depending on where the family is at the time.”
Ms. Zegalia talked about how many generations were involved.
“Right now we’re on two. Three does it in the Summer, our third generation helps out when they are not in school.”