Small Biz: Shuptrines in Chattanooga expanding into artisan relish

photo Alan and Bonny Shuptrine, owners of Shuptrine's Gold Leaf Designs on Broad Street in Chattanooga, stand in the atrium of their gallery. The husband and wife business owners run the gallery and gold leaf business, and they recently launched a line of artisan relish.

• Name: Shuptrine's

• Owner: Bonny and Alan Shuptrine

• Location: 2646 Broad Street, Chattanooga

• Service: Fine American art, gold leaf gilding and artisan relish

• How it got started: Alan Shuptrine launched his gold leaf and framing business in 1985 and bought a building on the Southside in 1996. He quickly branched out from gilding into restoration and eventually launched an art gallery that now features between 35 and 42 pieces of mid-19th century to modern fine American art.

Now the Shuptrines are expanding again, this time into a completely unexpected arena: relish. Artisan relish, to be exact. Shuptrine's Twisted Products includes flavorful, gluten-free, natural varieties of relish and marinade.

The Shuptrines drew from a lifetime of relish-making and family recipes to create the products. After years of giving jars of relish away as gifts -- and receiving calls asking for refills -- the Shuptrines officially launched the business in mid-2013. The line of artisan relish is currently sold in about 10 local stores.

• Initial investment: $20,000

• Five-year goal: The Shuptrines hope to first expand throughout the Southeast, and eventually sell Shuptrine's Twisted Products nationwide. "Building niche businesses is what we like," said Bonny Shuptrine. "And we're also building the brand of Shuptrine's."

• Web site: shuptrinestwisted.com

• Phone number: 423-266-4453

Compiled by Shelly Bradbury, who may be reached at 757-6525 or at sbradbury@timesfreepress.com.

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