We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrew Fitzgerald a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrew, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

For me (Andrew), the seed for Tahoe Treats was planted decades ago in a suburban driveway. As an 11-year-old kid, I would mow lawns in my neighborhood, saving up every dollar not for video games or toys, but to order “astronaut ice cream” from a catalog. That crunchy, chalky, yet magical block of freeze-dried Neapolitan was the coolest thing I had ever tasted. It wasn’t just a snack; it was an experience.

Fast forward to 2021. My wife, Danielle, and I were looking for a new venture that combined our entrepreneurial spirit with that sense of childhood wonder. We realized that freeze-drying technology had evolved, but the market was still mostly focused on “survival food.” We saw a massive gap: Why not use this science to transform the iconic treats people already love into something entirely new?

We started in the basement of our home in Sparks, Nevada, effectively turning it into a food laboratory. We began experimenting with everything from ice cream sandwiches and cheesecake to popular fruit candies.

The logic behind why this would work was simple but powerful. Freeze-drying removes 99% of the moisture from the food. This does two incredible things: it intensifies the flavor because the water doesn’t dilute the taste, and it creates a completely unique, light, and crunchy texture.

We knew this was a worthwhile endeavor the moment we started sharing samples. We were solving the age-old problem of melting ice cream and sticky fingers. Suddenly, you could take a scoop of ice cream on a hike, keep it in your car for a road trip, or pack it in a carry-on for a flight, and it would remain shelf-stable and mess-free. Watching adults’ eyes light up with the same wonder I had as a kid—realizing they were eating ice cream that crunched—confirmed that we had something special. We weren’t just selling candy; we were selling a fun, surprising experience.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

About You & Your Business / Brand

We are Andrew and Danielle Fitzgerald, a husband-and-wife team based in Sparks, Nevada, and the Co-Founders & Innovators behind Tahoe Treats. We are lifelong entrepreneurs who believe that life is too short for boring snacks.

We got into the food industry because we saw a gap between nostalgia and modern convenience. We loved the concept of “astronaut food” from our childhoods, but we felt the actual products on the market were limited to camping supplies or novelty gift shops. We wanted to bring that technology into the daily snacking world. We started Tahoe Treats in our basement in 2021, experimenting with freeze-drying everything we could get our hands on.

What We Do: We specialize in freeze-dried confections. We take iconic treats that people already love—like ice cream sandwiches, cheesecake bites, and popular fruit candies—and put them through a rigorous 24-hour freeze-drying process. This removes 99% of the moisture, transforming the texture into something light, airy, and crunchy, while intensifying the flavor.

The Problem We Solve: We solve the “messy snack” dilemma. Everyone loves an ice cream sandwich on a road trip or a hike, but nobody loves the melting mess. Our process makes these treats shelf-stable and completely mess-free. You can throw a bag of our Neapolitan ice cream or cheesecake bites into your carry-on bag, your hiking pack, or your glove box, and they won’t melt or spoil. We’ve turned perishable comfort food into the ultimate travel companion.

What Sets Us Apart: What sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to quality—we pride ourselves on being the “Mercedes of Munchies.” While others might view freeze-dried food as just survival rations, we view it as a premium gourmet experience. This starts with using only high-end raw materials; we never cut corners on ingredients because the freeze-drying process amplifies every flavor note. We combine these premium ingredients with high-end packaging and rigorous quality control to ensure that when someone opens a bag of Tahoe Treats, they get that same “wow” factor Andrew had as a kid. We aren’t just engineering food; we are engineering joy.

What We Are Most Proud Of: We are incredibly proud of our explosive growth over the last year. We’ve gone from a basement startup to a regional brand partnering with major players. We recently launched a “sweet partnership” with Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, placing our products in all their locations, and we are currently launching into the travel retail space with partners like Paradies-Lagardère at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. Seeing our “Meet the Artisan” sign next to our products in the airport is a surreal and proud moment for us.

What You Should Know: The main thing we want people to know is that our brand is built on the idea that we should never lose our sense of wonder. Our company motto is, “We’re all just big kids trying to do the best we can at this thing called life.” We put that heart and humor into every bag we seal.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe our reputation was built on one core decision: we refused to treat freeze-dried food as a novelty or a science experiment. From day one, we decided to treat it as a premium gourmet experience.

In the freeze-drying market, there is a lot of inconsistency. You often see crushed product, “dust” at the bottom of bags, or generic packaging that looks like survival rations. We took the opposite approach. We positioned ourselves as the “Mercedes of Munchies.” This means we are uncompromising on two things: raw materials and presentation.

First, we use only high-end raw materials. Freeze-drying intensifies flavor, which means if you use cheap ingredients, you just get an intense cheap taste. We start with the best, so the end result is spectacular. Second, we invested heavily in our packaging and branding. We wanted our bags to look just as at home in a high-end airport boutique or a ski resort gift shop as they do in a local convenience store.

This commitment to quality helped us build trust with major retailers quickly. When partners like Scheels, Jackson’s Food Stores, Golden Gate Petroleum, and Paradies-Lagardère see our product, they see a brand that elevates their shelf, not just a bag of candy.

Finally, our reputation is built on transparency and reliability. Whether it’s a huge purchase order for a chain-wide rollout or a delivery to a local shop, we show up when we say we will, and the product is consistently excellent. In a rapidly growing industry, being the stable, high-quality option has been our biggest competitive advantage.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Honestly, the last three years have felt like one long “close call,” but not for the reasons you might think. Our “near death” moments haven’t come from a lack of sales—they’ve come from too many sales.

We are currently navigating a classic “Working Capital Crisis.” In the manufacturing world, success is expensive. When we land a massive account like Jackson’s Food Stores or Paradies-Lagardère, it’s a cause for celebration, but it’s also a moment of sheer panic. To fulfill those orders, we have to buy thousands of dollars of raw materials, packaging, and labor today. But because of standard Net 30 or Net 45 payment terms, we won’t see a dime of revenue from that order for up to 90 days.

There was a specific week recently where we had just secured a huge purchase order that required us to max out every credit card we had to buy inventory. At the same time, a payment we were expecting from another distributor was delayed. We looked at our bank account and realized we had thousands of dollars in “confirmed sales” on paper, but barely enough cash on hand to keep the lights on that week.

For three years, my wife and I haven’t taken a salary. We have poured every single dollar back into the business and used our personal credit to bridge these gaps. It’s a terrifying high-wire act. We are constantly balancing the excitement of “we’re growing!” with the reality of “how do we pay for this growth?”

We are just now turning the corner on this by professionalizing our finances and seeking proper working capital funding, but living through that “cash flow crunch” is something I will never forget. It taught us that profit is theory, but cash is fact.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tahoetreats.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tahoetreats
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tahoetreats/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-fitzgerald-3a2b2b14
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tahoetreats
• Other: etsy.com/shop/TahoeTreats

  https://www.tiktok.com/@tahoetreats