Akayla Curtis, who has worked for Gneiss Spice since 2017, prepares to package a spice. Bethel Citizen photo by Samuel Wheeler.
REGION — Cluttered kitchen cabinets are a hassle for many people who cook and Bethel resident Beth Weisberger was no exception when she was living in Brooklyn, N.Y. in her late 20s.
She had recently gotten into cooking and enjoyed having an array of spices to use. What she did not enjoy was having an avalanche of spices fall out each time she went to grab one from the cabinet. She wondered how could this process be more organized — then came a visit to her friend’s house. It was there Weisberger discovered these magnetic tins that her friend was using to save space in her kitchen. She wanted something similar.
Weisberger began researching and happen to come upon a website some hexagon shaped glass jars. A vision of the jars piecing together like a puzzle formed in her head. This was going to be her project.
“That was the “a-ha” moment of how cool the spices could look displayed in a honeycomb design,” she said.
“The reality was that I was just trying to save space at the time and having the spices out meant I used them a lot more,” Weisberger added.
The magnetic jars made life in the kitchen more organized for Weisberger and soon friends began to inquire about them. With business trending upward, she decided to sell her jars on Etsy, an online site where people can buy and sell handmade/vintage crafts and products. This is where the name “Gneiss Spice” was born.
As a geologist, she explained that they like to use the word Gneiss (pronounced nice) as a play on words to be humorous. Since gneiss rhymed with spice, Weisberger thought it would make a good name for a business, even though most people can’t spell or say it correctly.
Weisberger would go on to sell an item on Etsy on her first day.
The first major breakthrough came in 2012, when she received her largest order to date from another online website, Fab.com. The order was three times larger than her sales in 2011. Her side business was becoming a lot more than just a hobby at this point. Having needed to hire employees, including her husband, to help complete the order, Weisberger realized she was at a crossroads.
“That was the point where I had to make the decision to continue teaching or to make this into a real business,” she said.
Weisberger, who had been teaching environmental science for 10 years, opted to stick with her business.
By 2013, Weisberger returned to Maine again, living in Bethel, an hour or so away from Winthrop, where she grew up.
The business has progressed each year since, expanding on the amount of spices they produce on nearly a month basis, Weisberger said.
In January of this year they shipped 400 orders. In December, which is their busiest month, they sold 800 orders directly from the website; and another 1,800 orders on Amazon’s marketplace.
Beth Weisberger holds one of her spices. Singapore, New Zealand and South Africa are few of the many countries Gneiss Spice has shipped products to. Bethel Citizen photo by Samuel Wheeler.
They have shipped products to six continents, and overall have reached forty different countries. The most frequent recipients of their products are the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
They make and ship all of their spices out of their studio in Albany, using the United States Postal Service for smaller shipments and the United Parcel Service for bigger ones.
As of now, Gneiss Spice has 215 organic spices for sale, ranging from the basics like parsley, garlic and red pepper to lesser known spices, many of which are still popular among customers. Ninety-five percent of them are certified organic, kosher, fair trade and sustainably harvested.
If you stop in at The Gem Theater, owned by Weisberger and her husband, Wade, you will find more of their spices there, used to season popcorn. Their buffalo chicken spice is a favorite of movie-goers.
Despite the wide variety of spices Weisberger’s business has, the magnetic hexagon shaped glass jars remain the hot selling item.
“We’re definitely more of a jar company than a spice company,” Weisberger said.
Jars come in two sizes, one that holds a quarter cup of spices and one that holds half a cup. Unless people plan to cook a lot, Weisberger said choosing the smaller jar is better because spices start to lose their flavor with six months to a year.
The jars can be placed on the refrigerator or on a back splash, depending on preference. Jars also come with labels for people to stick on the bottom if they want to. Weisberger said some people prefer not using the labels, though.
One of the many spice rack set ups one can do. Courtesy of Gneiss Spice
Another benefit of the jars is that they are reusable. If people run out, a local option for refilling is ordering through Gneiss Spice or going to the Good Food Store, where they sell spices in bulk.
At the Gneiss Spice website, people can pick and choose what spices they want. Weisberger said they sell spices in packs of 24 on the website, but that people can order “a la carte” if they wish.
The 100 percent women-owned and operated is open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Anyone interested can go to https://gneissspice.com. Locals can always get 20 percent off by using the code “LOCAL20.”
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