written by Hayden Seder

 

Whether you’re new to Ketchum or have been here for years, chances are you’ve come across an iconic glass jar of Sun Valley Mustard. One of the longest running local brands in the area, Sun Valley Mustard (SVM) has been operating for over forty years, switching hands five times in the brand’s lifetime. Its latest trio of owners have invigorated new life into SVM, while simultaneously tapping into the brand’s original ethos, creating a blend of old-school Ketchum vibes with new marketing, products, and innovation.

Sun Valley Mustard’s History

SVM started as a hobby for local Lois Allison, who had a delicious multigenerational family recipe that friends and family couldn’t get enough of. They encouraged her to jar her mustard, which she did, originally simply calling it “Lois’s Mustard.” Eventually demand required her to ramp up her production of mustard, and in 1984, she opened her first mustard “factory” in a small room in the Colonnade Building in Ketchum and changed the name to Sun Valley Mustard, turning her hobby into a true entrepreneurial endeavor and changing the face of condiments in Sun Valley forever.

Over the years, and throughout several different ownerships, SVM gained a loyal local following and earned numerous accolades, from consistently being voted Valley’s Best Locally Made Product to winning the gold medal at the Napa Valley Mustard Festival worldwide competition to first place at Food Distribution magazine’s 1996 Mustard Mania.

Sun Valley Mustard Today

By the time current SVM owners Alex Langerman, Ryan Rosmarin, and Patricia Florescu started talks with former owner Josh Wells about taking over the company, SVM was floundering a bit. Ryan had learned that Josh was planning to shut the company down: Production had ceased, there was limited products on shelves, and the website was shutting down. Ryan, who moved to the Valley over a decade ago and has worked jobs from ski patroller to cross-country coach, acted fast, bringing his friends Alex and Patricia on board. The two had moved from New York in 2019 and Alex, the COO of Cold Summit Development, and his wife, Patricia, a renewable energy finance consultant, decided they couldn’t let this legacy brand die. They acted fast, closing on the business in December 2023 and working to stabilize it as quickly as possible.

Making Mustard

When Ryan, Alex, and Patricia took over, they inherited a production space by the airport, mustard-making equipment and mustard flour, and Lois’s proprietary recipe. Their first order of business was to simplify, taking the line of six mustard flavors down to three, which is now just two flavors: spicy-sweet (Lois’s original recipe) and a brand-new whole-grain seeded mustard they’ve recently launched. Though they originally spent time making and jarring the mustard themselves, they quickly realized that this was unsustainable for them. They stumbled upon an old newspaper article, which referred to Lois as the “Mustard Queen of Sun Valley” and referenced the former head of Oregon’s Beaverton Foods, Geno Biggi, as the “Mustard King of the Country.” Once upon a time, Geno had offered to produce Lois’s mustard, an offer that she passed on.

As luck would have it, Beaverton Foods was still operating, and in 2024, SVM’s owners began working with them to produce the flagship of the mustard fleet, spicy-sweet, working with Beaverton to develop their recipe, produce it in their facility, and package it before sending it on to the Hailey office, which the owners still do inventory and distribution out of. SVM has also recently developed a new whole-grain mustard with Beaverton as an alternative to the classic Dijon style.

In addition to getting production and manufacturing streamlined, going back to the humble, mountain-town vision of the SVM brand was also important to the new owners. They have no aspirations for making SVM a household name across the nation or diluting the integrity of this beloved brand. “We are pretty humble in how we think about growth; it’s not a big driver for us. We want to serve our customers and tell our story,” says Alex. This meant going back to the original brand logo firstly and then focusing on forming partnerships within the Wood River Valley and Southern Idaho.

SVM Products and Where to Find Them

While going back to the brand’s roots was important for the three owners, injecting some new life into the brand and finding new ways to bring mustard to the people was also important for the three thirty-somethings. They created swag in the form of mustard-yellow corduroy hats and quickly started working with local companies on R&D to create new products to diversify the business. “People know mustard—some people love it, and some people it’s not for them, but it was about how can we bring mustard flavor and Sun Valley Mustard energy to more people and in different forms,” says Alex.

They began by partnering with Ketchum company The Spice Shack of Sun Valley to create Musty Dust, a dry rub seasoning, launched in 2024. They also collaborated around the same time with City Peanut out of Boise to create Musty Nuts, grab-and-go snack packs of mustard-roasted pecans. The company is constantly playing around with new snacks and collaborations with Southern Idaho’s network of food producers, seeing what grabs people.

In addition to expanding ways people can incorporate mustard into their lives through various foods and snacks, SVM is also constantly innovating ways to bring mustard to new venues. While SVM is carried in plenty of grocery stores, gift stores, country stores, farmers market, and stands, they want it to be everywhere: gas stations, convenience stores, airplanes—you name it. SVM’s products are currently available at over 100 locations across the Wood River Valley and Southern Idaho. You can find it at local grocery stores Albertson’s, Atkinson’s (where it’s also available in the deli on sandwiches), and Village Market; restaurants Johnny G’s, Sushi on Second, Wylde Beet, Salt and Pepper, the Friedman Memorial Airport sandwich kiosk, and Nourish Me; and specialty stores like Café Della, Ketchum Kitchens, and Kraay’s online market.

Though Alex, Ryan, and Patricia are just the latest in a long legacy of mustard maestros, they have certainly put as much love and passion into the mustard as Lois herself once did. “We think Sun Valley Mustard is a cool legacy brand borne out of here and we’re just stewards of this cool piece of history that’s been around for multiple generations,” says Ryan. “It’s a part of this place.”