By Carla J. Zambelli,

When it came time to make holiday gifts for teachers, Meredith Haab always “got stuck” making Christmas ornaments. Her younger brother got the fun job of helping their mother make her  signature savory pecans.  Life just wasn’t fair.

Decades later, Haab needed a treat for her work colleagues. Gaby, Haab’s mother, had an idea:  Why not try the savory holiday pecans?

Haab remembered her mother’s recipe. How would the nuts hold up after all these years? Would her colleagues even like them?

They loved them, Haab recalled. She knew she had something special.

But it wasn’t until Haab’s mother lost her battle with cancer in 2012 that Haab resolved to turn the savory pecans into a business. She could donate a portion of the proceeds to the Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation- GSH Skin Care Institute in Gaby’s memory. Her mother would have liked that.

By 2014, Haab was set up in a commercial kitchen at the Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises. She took classes. While studying up on how to attract investors, she was given a piece of advice: Walk around the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City and look for your product.  If you find anything similar, walk away and find another business.

“I was secretly hoping I would find a similar product because I was scared,” said Haab.

As luck would have it there wasn’t anything like her family’s nuts at the show. So Haab hit the ground running.

“The day after the show, I went to the Cape May Winery in New Jersey with samples of my nuts, and the owner placed an order on the spot.”

Two years later Mert’s Nuts continues to grow. Now she bakes her nuts at the Artisan Exchange in West Chester. They’re sold at the exchange’s indoor market and a couple specialty shops in other states. The Union League in Philly serves Mert’s Nuts at their 1862 restaurant.

“I’m a little tired, but I love this business. It is so fun making people happy,” Meredith said with a smile.

You can purchase her products at the Artisan Exchange Indoor Market in West Chester or by going to her website www.mertsnuts.com.