Texas Salt Company opens first storefront in Bandera on Main
BULLETIN PHOTO/ Tracy Thayer Texas Salt Company Owners Drew and Daniel Almand pose in front of their inventory shelf and show off their products. The store at 206 Main Street is open Monday through Sunday.
The Texas Salt Company is a new and unique addition to the Bandera retail scene by offering salts and gourmet peppers for culinary enjoyment.
Owners Daniel and Drew Almand have opened their first store front next door to Maggie May and Nellie Rae’s on Main Street. The store features at least 45 different kinds of salts for culinary and cocktail use. They also stock a limited number of gourmet peppers.
This new business has already grabbed a foothold in Bandera by offering its salt at the iconic 11th Street Bar Steak Night. The store provides salts for cooking, smoked salts, salt flavored with spicy heat and cocktail salts. One of the most popular offerings is the trademarked Cowboy Salt.
When opening the jar, the smell of an oak campfire wafts up. The smell is indescribable. It is a perfect accompaniment to steak or baked potatoes. The salts are designed so that a small amount seasons food perfectly.
All the products Texas Salt Company carries are made by hand, not refined. They are allergen free and have no chemical additives. The salt used is a fine-flaked Kosher sea salt from the Pacific Ocean.
Daniel and Drew spent days testing salts to find the perfect salt to best hold their smoked flavors.
The salt is cold-smoked for three to eight days. Each recipe is handmade and tested for the perfect flavor. No silicon dioxide is used to keep the salt from clumping. The salt also contains no iodine.
Starting out, Daniel and Drew began making handcrafted gifts for friends and family at Christmas. They value quality and distinctiveness when they produce their salts.
After gifting the salts, they found the popularity of their salts and the compliments they received warranted pursuing salt as a business. After studying the gourmet foods market, they knew their product would be successful. Less than five companies sell culinary salts in the US. Their background selling at craft fairs showed them gourmet salt was an idea whose time had come.
Starting just before COVID, they spent a year perfecting their methods, recipes, and brand. The company launched in late 2021.
They currently sell the salt in Boerne at the Shoppes at 222 on the Hill Country Mile, Belle and Union in San Antonio, and at the Beef and Bones Meat Market in Kingsville. Their first company storefront is in Bandera.
The Almands lived in North Texas but bought their current home in Bandera on English Crossing from Daniel’s father. While he moved across the river, Daniel and Drew moved into the house they purchased from him. Bandera was a natural spot to locate their first store front. Their Cowboy Salt is the epitome of Bandera food culture.
Both Daniel and Drew credited their inspiration to each other. Daniel has the creative streak necessary to craft and design award-winning salts, while Drew is the business powerhouse behind the company. They pull from each other’s strengths to make the business work. Daniel enjoys the whole process of making the salts from stamping the cork stoppers to attaching the labels to producing the product. He proudly states that he is involved in every process.
“Almost everything is hand done,” he remarked.
The Texas Salt Company is located at 206 Main Street in Bandera. They are open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
For more information or to learn more about their products go to their web site at TexasSaltCo.com.