Alumni Beyond PB&J: Alum’s Company Sells Creatively Flavored Nut Butters Stories You May Like Alum’s Brand Offers Tasty Treats—Safe from Common Allergens Hecho en México: Alum Brings Authentic Flavors to Home Kitchens Hotelie’s Granola Goes from Dorm Delicacy to Grocery Staple Co-founded by Megan Lynam Overbay ’97, Big Spoon Roasters offers varieties like cardamom bun, lemon cookie, and Thai curry By Melissa Newcomb When the craft food movement was exploding a decade and a half ago, Megan Lynam Overbay ’97 would appreciate the variety of new offerings as she walked down grocery store aisles. But when it came to peanut butter, she noticed, the options pretty much stopped at creamy and crunchy. Seeing an opportunity, Overbay and her husband launched Big Spoon Roasters to give nut butter lovers an array of tasty, handcrafted, and sustainably produced options, free of preservatives and artificial flavorings. Using nut butters like peanut, almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, and pecan as a base, their products come in some 20 flavors including cardamom bun, bourbon pecan, lemon cookie, Thai curry, and chocolate sea salt. They’re priced around $11–$17 for a 13-ounce jar, depending on the nut base. “In food, there’s a really hard space where if it’s good for you, it often doesn’t taste good,” says Overbay, who majored in psychology in Arts & Sciences. “We’re lucky, because our nut butters are both really good for you and taste great.” In food, there’s a really hard space where if it’s good for you, it often doesn’t taste good. We’re lucky, because our nut butters are both really good for you and taste great. The company’s nut butters can be enjoyed on their own—in fact, the brand is named after Overbay’s father-in-law, nicknamed “Big Spoon” for his habit of eating PB straight from the jar—or on toast, with fruit, in oatmeal, in a yogurt or acai bowl, swirled into ice cream, and more. Fresh nut butter in production, and Overbay and her co-founder—husband Mark—show off their "spoon" ink. The North Carolina-based brand’s best-seller is pistachio crunch almond butter, made with just a few ingredients: almonds, pistachios, sea salt, and maple syrup. The product won a 2023 Good Food award, which recognizes craft foods that top taste tests while meeting standards for environmental sustainability and social responsibility. The brand has also been featured in major media including Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, the Food Network, and the “Today” show. Overbay (second from right) with friends on the Hill. “The flavor is out of this world,” the foodie website the Kitchn raved about the vanilla latte almond butter. “The espresso is prominent and tastes just like a freshly brewed shot. You can see little flecks of espresso throughout. It’s stunning paired with the vanilla, maple syrup, and hint of sea salt to round it all out. It’s sweet, salty, creamy, and just downright delicious.” The brand's pistachio crunch almond butter won a 2023 Good Food award, which recognizes craft foods that top taste tests while meeting standards for environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Stories You May Like Alum’s Brand Offers Tasty Treats—Safe from Common Allergens Hecho en México: Alum Brings Authentic Flavors to Home Kitchens Big Spoon Roasters also offers peanut butter protein bars in four flavors (apricot pepita, cherry chocolate, cranberry cashew, and figgy chai), priced at about $33 for a 12-bar variety pack. And it sells several flavors of peanut-based “wag butter” for dogs—costing around $11 a jar and resembling human PB, sans salt and sweeteners—along with toys that can be filled with it. In the venture's early days, offering samples at a bike race. The brand’s ingredients are sustainably sourced, Overbay says, including chocolate from a fair-trade farm in Costa Rica and California-grown mission almonds, which require less water than other varieties. “We care deeply about where the food comes from,” says Overbay. “We care that there’s transparency; that the people who are part of making it have been taken care of; that there’s good soil health; and that it’s non-GMO.” We care deeply about where the food comes from. We care that there’s transparency, that the people who are part of making it have been taken care of. Products can be purchased on the company’s website and Amazon storefront or found in coffee shops, independent retailers, and regional grocery stores. In January 2025, the business opted to leave large grocery chains, including Whole Foods—a move so unconventional that Forbes wrote a story about it. The company also makes treats for four-legged friends. The main motivation behind the decision, Overbay explains, was a desire to focus on working with smaller retail outlets rather than within the large chains’ system of high volume and narrow profit margins. “On the seal of our jars it says, ‘flavor, freshness, and integrity,’” Overbay notes. “We don’t have a typical approach to running a business.” (All photos provided.) Published October 29, 2025 Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Alumni Nobelist Explores Women’s Role in the Workplace—And Lives It Campus & Beyond Big Red Berries (and Grapes and Apples and Tomatoes and Cukes …) Quizzes & Puzzles July / August ’25 Trivia Roundup