Nuts4Nuts
Nuts4Nuts in New York City packages and roasts nearly 300,000 pounds of nuts every year. Here's how one pushcart expanded into a fleet with over 1,000 employees and became one of the city's most iconic street vendors.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Street vendors is being part of the culture of New York.
00:05 The icons could be hot dogs, cheese kebab, pretzels.
00:09 But of course, I think that one of the most recognized products right now in the city is nuts for nuts.
00:14 In my country it's more well known as a garrapiñada.
00:17 Right now we're doing about 250 to 300 thousand pounds of nuts a year.
00:23 I've been over 30 years and still when I see the nuts, I always get to eat some of it.
00:29 Trust me, once you try one of those, it's almost automatically become part of your life.
00:34 And I feel like I'm officially nuts for nuts.
00:38 We're here in Astoria in our warehouse.
00:45 This is how we receive the peanuts.
00:47 This is a big tote of peanuts, 2200 pounds of jumbo Red Runner peanuts that is coming directly from Georgia.
00:56 You can swim on it out of the quantity.
00:59 And this is the area where we're packaging the nuts for the street vendors.
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02:02 Nuts for Nuts has provided jobs for over a thousand people on the streets.
02:21 Usually we are somewhere between 60 and 70.
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02:55 Being a vendor in New York is a fantastic experience.
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03:03 Usually you arrive in the morning, in the mid-morning when things are slightly quiet.
03:08 Excuse me, watch out.
03:11 Suddenly you see the rush of the people, your office becomes the entire city.
03:16 How are you my friend?
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03:38 People don't go out in the morning thinking,
03:42 "Oh, I'm going to be hungry, I'm going to eat honey roasted nuts."
03:46 And when you smell, then suddenly you crave a desire that you want to have it.
03:51 So you want to mix?
03:53 Alright.
03:55 Smells amazing.
03:57 I have the small size and the large size.
04:00 The large size?
04:02 You don't need to close it.
04:04 Alright.
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04:15 The city rule is first come, first serve.
04:17 But vendors, we have another code, which is respecting each other's space.
04:21 Listen, there have been fights.
04:24 In the beginning it was very rough and I was involved in a lot of fights.
04:27 But after a while, it just becomes a balance between each other.
04:31 So vendors pretty much respect each other.
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05:40 Our fleet got diminished a little bit during the pandemic, but we are growing online.
05:46 From here we distribute directly whatever has to do with the online and doing the special events.
05:51 We are now based in Astoria.
05:53 We are going to go with this ronat, we are going to transport them into the roasting machine.
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06:16 In Argentina it is a classic, say garrapeñada, and especially when there is a parade of soccer games.
06:22 My father, when we used to go out, he says, "Okay, you can have one item."
06:26 So usually I would always go for garrapeñada. It ties to my childhood, no question about it.
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07:43 So I established myself basically in the late 1992.
07:47 So in the beginning I just bought one cart, then I bought a second one.
07:51 By 1996 when I joined forces with my business partner,
07:56 he was doing some other classical item, iconic item back in the day,
07:59 which was called frosé.
08:01 So we joined forces, we expand all over the city,
08:04 and that's how it became the iconic product in New York.
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08:27 [Sizzling]
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08:33 So these are the hoppers that we put the product in.
08:38 [Music]
08:40 Peanuts is our staple, our main thing.
08:44 Cashews is second place, almonds third.
08:47 This is actually our 30th birthday.
08:50 We made our name on the streets.
08:53 It kind of likened us to the aroma of New York City,
08:56 which is high praise, that's music to our ears.
08:59 We have a large variety of nuts.
09:02 This is a gift box, so we have chocolate-covered peanuts,
09:06 honey-roasted peanuts, cashews, pecans, and hazelnuts.
09:11 We do all the online, but we also have retail stuff.
09:14 Everything is made by hand, you know,
09:17 so that's what I feel is very unique about this.
09:21 This is my Bible here.
09:23 This is where I write down all the orders,
09:26 and then I check everything that I have,
09:28 everything perfect for the final destination.
09:32 The whole idea of creating this facility in the first place
09:35 was to be able to take our product
09:38 on a more regional and national scale.
09:42 We now wholesale our product to stores in the area,
09:46 to supermarkets such as Stu Leonard's and Zabar's
09:50 and Grace's Marketplace, JFK Airport.
09:53 Hopefully you'll see us coast to coast in not too long.
09:57 Usually I say that when I see somebody misbehaving
10:05 or being spoiled, I say that person needs to be
10:09 a few years behind the cutting edge.
10:11 So it teaches you a lot about how to live in community,
10:15 also being very constant in your job,
10:19 and also being able to protect the corner where you are,
10:21 because you really learn a lot of lessons
10:24 from being on the streets of New York.
10:26 The first corner I built myself was 52nd and 3rd,
10:29 back in the day.
10:31 And when I arrived as a student in 1990,
10:34 it took me about two weeks to learn back then,
10:36 and then of course the practice into the pushcuts every day.
10:39 So now, without the liquid,
10:42 the heat has nowhere to perform but inside the cashew itself.
10:48 It's very crispy and easy to eat.
10:49 When you hear that noise,
10:52 it's because the process is on the right track.
10:54 It's a wonderful energy to see people coming to you
10:58 with a level of happiness,
11:00 knowing that they're going to have a great time.
11:02 So you get that energy and you smile back as a vendor.
11:05 You want the cashews or you want the peanuts?
11:08 You get to see so many people that you become a master
11:12 in eye contact.
11:14 Sometimes when you look at people,
11:17 you wonder about why they look happy or why they look worried.
11:19 So you are somehow part of their daily life.
11:23 Vendors that have been there for 20, 25 years,
11:26 they feel like the street is their family.
11:29 The tourist comes to us to ask about the subway stations,
11:34 where is Rockefeller, where is Line 1.
11:37 We feel like we're part of this city because we guide people,
11:40 we take them to different places.
11:42 If the mayor sees us,
11:45 he will say we're doing a great job for his city of New York.
11:47 Winter is coming, snow is coming,
11:50 we'll see if we can be on our knees with the snow,
11:53 but the NAPO NAT carts will keep working,
11:55 no matter what happens.
11:57 You can tell the energy, the vibration of the city.
12:03 Everyone is becoming to be part of that stage.
12:07 And you are just another actor in the stage.
12:10 You see the rush of the people and the desperation
12:12 to get to one place or the other.
12:14 And sometimes you just are there,
12:16 singing in quietness, you are in the idol store.
12:19 I see NAPO NAT being part of the city forever.
12:25 [Music]
12:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]