WSU graduates teamed up to form J&D’s Bacon Salt, creators of the eponymous condiment By Cat Shen Evergreen Staff Inspiration comes in many forms. When E.B. White sought his muse, he found an unlikely pair in a pig and a spider named Charlotte. George Orwell found the best allegory for Soviet Russia to be a farm, with Lenin and Stalin featured as pigs.

But when two WSU graduates went out searching for their dream, it was the tantalizing smell of sizzling bacon that ultimately led them to their creation: Bacon Salt.

It started as a random epiphany with a bunch of friends. They were laughing and joking about the ridiculous – yet conceivable – idea of creating a condiment that consists of salt and bacon, two of the most well-loved flavors among food enthusiasts.

Their idea seemed simple enough.

“The topic of Bacon Salt always seems to float around whenever we are hanging out with friends,” Vice President of Sales for J&D’s Bacon Salt Reilly Devine said. “Since the first day it was mentioned, we all thought it was a phenomenal invention but just never really got to it.” Chief chef Beau Guthrie, also a WSU alumnus, said of all the crazy ideas they’ve had over the years, Bacon Salt seemed to be the most realistic to produce.

There’s nothing quite like fleshing out that random idea into a reality right after college.

“Honestly, if I had not attended WSU, Bacon Salt would not have happened,” co-founder Justin Esch said. “Reilly and I graduated together, we always had the idea in our heads but never thought about it seriously until we eventually landed in the same industry together.” Esch pitched the idea with Devine and the duo eventually started to produce products literally from their garages, growing to an ever-expanding company with a full complement of employees and a warehouse.

Ever since their launch on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, orders have been blossoming from all over the world.

“We had probably around 700 or more orders for Bacon Salt that came from those websites all around the world,” Esch marveled. “Technology is making way for students to start their own businesses and enhance the productivity of these profile sites.” After rounds of taste-testing and almost Iron Chef-creativity-worthy schemes, three flavors finally landed on the scene – original, hickory, and peppered.

“We decided to start off with more standard flavors like pepper and hickory, since these can easily blend with other foods,” Guthrie said.

“Bacon is a weird thing to begin with, so we went through a lot of different flavors and I thought maple was the worst,” Esch said. “We wanted to combine savory and salty but it didn’t work out very well. In fact, it was gross.” Despite a failing flavor, this improbable bacon-flavored story had become a pop phenomenon.

“We knew we liked this product, we knew people liked bacon, but we didn’t realize how positive this product can be, to the point it is almost cult-ish,” Devine said.

Bacon Salt has zero calories, zero fat and is vegetarian and kosher certified. The ultimate edible American dream, a dream that can be sprinkled over any food one can imagine: Mashed potatoes, grilled meats, cream-based soups and salads are among the most popular items.

“I like mine in tuna salad,” Guthrie said. “It adds that extra flavor.” “Ice cream is definitely a no-go,” Devine said. ”Yes, we’ve tried that, I’m sure some people would think it’s amazing but I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone.” So what would be a good recommendation?

“I quit my job at 27 to start J&D’s Bacon Salt,” Esch said. “If there is one thing I can tell students is to not be overwhelmed by life and just go with the flow. We went from working in a garage to having an amazing company selling more than 100,000 products all over the world. You just can’t doubt yourself.” Bacon Salt will be available soon at Dissmore’s.