When Craig Grossman began selling gourmet and specialty foods and gifts in 1987, he intended it to be a short-term way to make money. Some 32 years later, he’s built Evergreen Fancy Foods Inc. into a successful business spanning from Seattle to western Montana, and including Oregon and southern Idaho.

Now Grossman, who is president and owner of the specialty food wholesale business, is ready to let someone else take the reins.

Evergreen Fancy Foods is a broker of items such as sauces, olive oils, jerkies, soaps, and candies. The company acts as the sales arm of manufacturers, Grossman says, representing more than 65 companies, about half of which are based in the Northwest.

Grossman and one employee handle the business, including coordinating with the company’s six sales representatives. The company is headquartered at Grossman’s home office on the South Hill at 923 E. 34th. Grossman says his own sales account for about 60 percent of Evergreen’s total sales. His territory extends from the Cascades to western Montana, including parts of southern Idaho. Two sales representatives handle western Washington sales, while four representatives cover the Oregon market.

“They’re all independent reps. They don’t just sell Evergreen’s products; they have others too,” Grossman says. “We also have access to a showroom in Seattle, where a lot of our products are permanently on display. It’s called the Seattle Mart. It’s not Evergreen’s showroom, but three of my reps own it and run it.”

The company has about $3 million in gross annual sales, he says, and around $200,000 in annual net income. The majority of Evergreen’s income comes from commissions, which Grossman says usually range from 12 percent to 15 percent of sales.

Grossman says Evergreen’s best-selling products come from Jacksonville, Texas-based Gourmet Gardens Specialty Foods Inc., which specializes in creating private-label products such as salsa, pickles, and sauces.

Evergreen sells products to a handful of retailers in the Spokane area, including Main Market Co-op, Latah Creek Winery, and several small retailers in Green Bluff.

However, most of his sales occur outside of the Spokane area; Grossman says he spends about a fifth of the year travelling for overnight sales trips.

Born and raised here, Grossman says he grew up in a business atmosphere. His family owned Spokane-based United Paint & Coatings Inc., where he frequently worked throughout high school and college. He planned to take over the company, which, at its peak, had more than 100 employees.

“Then, about a year after I joined the business full time in the early ‘80s, there was a big recession, especially in construction,” Grossman says. “They had to close and do a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.”

The company was bought by its largest distributor, he says. Grossman and a few family members remained with the company for a while, but Grossman says he left after it became clear that his relationship with the new owners was becoming rocky due to personal disagreements.

Grossman moved to California and began searching for a new career. Shortly thereafter, he discovered that a friend made and sold handmade chocolate roses. 

“I had never seen anything like it — it looked just like a rose, only made of chocolate,” Grossman recalls. “He said ‘Craig, I know you like to travel and ski, and I just bought the rights to sell these in the state of Colorado. How’d you like to go up there, do a couple of trips, and see if you could sell them to the gift shops and stuff like that?’ I was successful with that.”

Grossman returned to Spokane and decided to continue selling the roses here.

“I didn’t think I was going to do it for a long time,” Grossman says. “It was just kind of while I was figuring out what I was going to do.”

Demand, however, proved to be higher than he had expected. 

“I’d be showing customers like flower shops and gift shops the chocolate roses, and they’d say, ‘Okay, those are good, we’ll buy some, but what else do you have?” 

Grossman began selling liqueur-filled chocolates, and the company, then called C. Grossman Enterprises Inc., took off.

After 32 years in the gourmet food business, Grossman knows the ins and outs of the industry—and he’s ready to let someone else take the helm of Evergreen Fine Foods. He says he’s had the company up for sale for about a year and a half, and is now considering selling it to one of two serious potential buyers.

“After you do something for so many years, it’s probably time to move on and do something else,” Grossman says.