Nick Loeb is a modern-day Renaissance man of sorts.
The New Yorker has worked in Hollywood as an actor and a producer, ran for the Florida Senate, went through the Police Academy and has Lehman Brothers on his resume. His current day job is chief marketing officer for the condiment company he founded, Onion Crunch.
Loeb also boasts an impressive pedigree. Born into the Loeb family, his father John Langeloth Loeb Jr. was the former United States Ambassador to Denmark; his grandmother Frances Lehman was a direct descendant of one of the founders of Lehman Brothers; and his uncle happens to be billionaire Edgar Bronfman Sr.
Loeb sat down with me at his Upper East Side terrace, with a Vitaminwater in hand, to talk onions, Theodore Roosevelt and maintaining the integrity of his family name.
Q: How did you get into condiments?
A: I’m an American, and I wanted to create something great and tasty. … In 2011, I founded Crunchy Condiment Company, which develops and launches new crunchy toppings.
Q: You made $1.2 million in revenues in a year and a half. How did you do that?
A: We sell to 11,000 stores. Who doesn’t like a crunchy topping?
Q: You’ve also worked as a cop. Why did you decide to be a police officer?
A After 9/11, I wanted to give back, and so I went to the Police Academy and became a cop. I then started to volunteer on several political campaigns and decided to run as a Republican for the Senate in Florida. I didn’t win, but I encouraged people to think about issues in a different way.
Q: Did producing movies help you with your marketing strategy for Onion Crunch?
A: I put Onion Crunch signage on hot dog vendors’ umbrellas in New York City. And we have amazing chefs from STK using it, and it was also used at the Burger Bash in Miami.
Q: Was it hard being raised by your powerful dad?
A He gave me an incredible education in New York at Collegiate, at boarding school, at Loomis Chaffee and at Tulane University. He taught me etiquette, right from wrong, respect and to be a gentleman.
Q: Are you a modern-day Renaissance man?
A: Definitely not. I’m an entrepreneur.
Q: What’s with your obsession with Teddy Roosevelt?
A: I admire that he was a Republican and a naturalist. Typically that doesn’t go hand in hand. My favorite quote from him starts: “[It is] not the critic who counts ?” I admire this for its important to go for it regardless of criticism.
Q: Where do you shop?
A: For clothes? [Laughs.] Filene’s Basement or Nordstrom Rack. I’m not a big shopper, though I did buy some clothes at Blue & Cream in East Hampton the other weekend. One of my great friends, who was posing as my stylist, told me I needed new clothes. We had a laugh buying stuff. I’m not a fashion guy at all.
Q: Where do you work out?
A: Equinox.
Q: Any advice?
A: Work hard and never give up.
