Fortune Favors

Fortune Favors began with a happy accident: veteran Madison chef Eric Rupert, after decades at spots like L'Etoile and the Madison Club, mistakenly dropped pecans into the wrong pot and discovered a perfectly toasted, glazed nut that became a proprietary process. He later met Jess Benish while running the culinary program at Epic Systems, and after years of joking about starting a "pecan business," they launched Fortune Favors in 2018 with Eric's son Kellen. CEO Sam McDaniel joined in 2019 to scale the brand, which now sells in 3,000+ retail locations nationwide. Their Public Market location is a homecoming to the community that started it all, and they're excited to collaborate with fellow merchants and help drive traffic and discovery across the Market.