Minnetonka PoshTarts

Photo: Marshall Franklin Long

Some of PoshTart's best-selling varieties, including (clockwise from top) mushroom, artichoke and fontina; spinach, feta and ricotta; and s'mores.

After a summer of cool treats, make the transition into fall with the perfect appetizer that strikes a fine balance of gourmet flavors: PoshTarts, as made by Carole Garrigos and Keri Sprau.

A spinoff of Pop-Tarts in size and shape, PoshTarts are handmade pastries filled with savory delights. With no artificially-sweetened insides in sight, you'll instead bite into palate-pleasers like mushrooms and artichokes or spinach and feta cheese. And for every warm, golden PoshTart, you'll meet layer upon layer of airy, buttery goodness.

"We just really experimented with the crust for a full month," says Garrigos of Golden Valley, "trying things out and tweaking this wonderful old pie crust recipe."

Tinkering with recipes is familiar territory for the duo, as both completed culinary arts training in the late 1980s. Garrigos went to what is now the Art Institutes International Minnesota, and she's also worked in the catering business for over a decade. Sprau of Minnetonka went to the French Culinary Institute in New York City; she calls it her "adventure" in between her years as an accountant.

Says Sprau, "I thought I could explore something that I felt passionate about, so I went out there and did that. Since then, I've been kind of back and forth between cooking and accounting, and then Carole and I got together and said, 'Let's go for it!'"

By "it," Sprau means how she and Garrigos started Road Kill (Food to Die For). Originally a "hobby business," according to Garrigos, they first sold PoshTarts at last summer's New Hope Farmers Market. Crowds couldn't get enough of the Elvis—stuffed with peanut butter, banana and bacon—and fans were asking for their smoked salmon cream cheese PoshTarts, too.

Garrigos says, "It just really took off from there."

When winter came, the duo sold PoshTarts at the Winter Farmers Market at Local D'Lish in Minneapolis; talks with Kowalski's Markets came next.  Launching under the name Posh Foods LLC last spring, Sprau had quit her job to go full-time for the company and business quickly expanded. By the end of July, PoshTarts, which range in price from $2.99–4.99, were available at all of Kowalski's eight metro locations. About 400 PoshTarts are made a day with help from four part-time employees, and the business recently expanded into sweet versions with S’mores-like and caramel apple fillings.

Fall plans are still in the works, but the PoshTarts fanbase keeps growing. The company's Facebook page is chock full of "Yum!" reviews, and their products were featured on local daytime show Twin Cities Live last May. Garrigos and Sprau frequently do demonstrations at Kowalski's, which allows for grocery shoppers to meet with the ladies who make the PoshTarts at Premier Kitchen, a co-op kitchen in New Hope.

At their Eden Prairie Kowalski's debut, moms, dads and children alike ate up each sample crumble. Talk and laughter quickly followed as little ones learned they actually like this "grown-up version" of Pop-Tarts, like the ones filled with walnut pesto, goat cheese and tomato.  It's easy to bond over good food, as Garrigos and Sprau learned when they first became friends.

"We met through our daughters," says Sprau. "They were friends." Garrigos adds, "And we're both foodies."

On starting a successful business from scratch, stemming from their passion for making tasty and real food, Sprau says, "It's great to show our daughters that two women can do this." Garrigos seconds that: "I guess it's in our blood!"

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