Sugar Mountain

Kurt Dammeier of Sugar Mountain admits he has the best job in the world. Of course, he created it. Sugar Mountain includes Pasta & Co., Beecher's Cheese, Bennett's Pure Food Bistro and Beecher's Flagship Foundation.

From the early age of 8, Kurt considered himself an aggressive home chef. In college, he cooked for his fraternity. After college, he went into the family printing business. They had nearly 750 employees, $90 million in sales and operations in Fife, San Jose, Boston and Dortmund, Germany. Kurt was 32 when he became CEO and 38 when they sold the company. "It was wonderful for me. I got to reinvent myself. I had lots of experience, some money and the opportunity to do whatever I wanted, which was to follow my passions," he recalls.

Kurt Dammeier with collaborator Lura Smith in Sugar Mountain's test kitchen

He named his new company Sugar Mountain after a Neil Young song about an amusement park. "My feeling is that if you invest in fun, you'll stay young," he says. In 1998-99, he bought a chunk of Pyramid Brewing (now sold) and followed that with the purchase of Pasta & Co. in 1999-2000. "When Marcella Rosene started the company, it was innovative. After I bought it, the world grew up around it and it wasn't as unique. We opened stores in a few locations we shouldn't have. I got drawn in about three years into it. That was when I entered the food business," Kurt explains.

There was a period where he doubted his culinary abilities. "I wasn't confident that I knew what I was talking about. Now I'm way over-confident," he laughs. He published the Pure Flavor cookbook in 2007 and spends each Wednesday at Bennett's creating a weekly dinner special.

Beecher's was created in November of 2003. "Our company mission is to change the way America eats. I wanted to make cheese where people could see it and eat it. In December of 2002, we leased the space. I did the whole thing backwards. Most cheese makers start with cows. I started with a lease, then took a class in cheese making at WSU. I learned that I was not going to make cheese. You have to be really detailed; it's almost more science than art, although you need both. I found a cheese maker, Brad Sinko, and then researched whether we could legally make cheese at that location." Brad makes cheese traditionally, in an open vat, and Kurt believes they are still the only company making cheese in a major metropolitan area.

Beecher's Pike Place Market store, courtesy of Sugar Mountain

In 2006, Bennett's Pure Food Bistro was born. Continuing their mission, they serve pure, natural food with no artificial preservatives, colors, sweeteners, flavor enhancers, hydrogenated oils or processed foods. The Bistro appeals equally to families, couples and groups.

A Bennett's salmon offering courtesy of Sugar Mountain

In 2008, their plan to open a Beecher's in Manhattan was derailed due to the economy. They wanted to do something and Kurt had been making pulled pork sandwiches in the Sugar Mountain test kitchen. "We looked for a street counter, something gritty, like an urban Dick's," laughs Kurt. "We wanted it near the office so we could eat there. I knew the owner of the empty parking lot at 2^nd and Pike, so we decided to do a truck. My son Max had just turned 13 and I'd been referring to him as a warrior and calling him Maximus. Somehow those two things came together in my head. ‘Maximus/Minimus' worked with the yin/yang of how people order at the truck. We turned the truck into a pig. The food has to be great—it has to live up to the pig-ness. But I get my dollar's worth from watching people find that moment of whimsy when they see the truck!"

They're now back to opening a Beecher's in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, in April-May 2011, and have created a washed-rind cheese called Flatiron for the store. "It's an amazing cheese that came about very serendipitally," says Kurt. "I asked Kelly Estrella of Estrella Farm about her washed rind cheese. She takes one of her other recipes and pulls some out just when she can feel the curd bumping her fingers. I took this very little bit of knowledge to Brad and he created this great cheese the first time through."

The Flagship Foundation started at the same time as Beecher's with the creation of The Pure Food Kids Workshop, a 2-1/2 hour curriculum for 4^th and 5^th graders, teaching them how to figure out what is in their packaged food and giving them information on why additives are not good. "They get to make chili from whole foods, things they probably wouldn't touch at home, and just love it. We've been in 330 classrooms in Puget Sound and Portland and have taught 14, 256 kids (as of August 2010). One percent of sales from all our businesses goes to the Foundation. To date, that's half a million dollars," says Kurt proudly. "Parents tell me how profoundly it affects their kids. We're just starting to track the effect over multiple years to see if they stay with it. We've realized that it doesn't work to legislate what companies make. It does work to legislate education and make sure companies tell the truth. Once people know the truth, they'll change themselves. In the absence of additives, we believe the body regulates itself and you eat what you need."

Maximus/Minimus with shades at Second & Pike in Seattle

As part of the Foundation's beginning, the entire staff went to work revising all 170 Pasta & Co. recipes, cleaning out all nitrates, food coloring, hydrogenated oil. "It was a big project," says Kurt.

Kurt is a man with a mission who loves his work, feels he is surrounded by "an enormously talented, collaborative and hard working group," and continues to spend time coaching kids' sport teams. You can count on more good feeling and tasting ideas from Sugar Mountain.

Connie Adams/October 2010