Meet Evan Summers | The “Sultan of Schmears” and Founder of Now Schmear This

Evan Summers
Sep 25
6 min read

Evan Summers in the kitchen packaging product for sale — Evan Summers giving out samples at the Flavor of Georgia event

We had the good fortune of connecting with Evan Summers of Now Schmear This! and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Evan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

I grew up in an entrepreneurial household. I watched my parents create their own businesses from the ground up. As a child, I witnessed my father build out a tropical fish business from scratch. He rented an empty warehouse and filled it with fish tanks, a filtration system, and even developed an innovative solar heating system long before these things were considered common in the industry. All of this was done with zero knowledge or prior experience.

Ted and Sharon Summers enjoying a dinner out — Ted and Sharon Summers (Evan's Parents)

Even though I was too young to understand what was happening around me, I witnessed how an entrepreneur has to pivot when a business is sidelined with seemingly insurmountable challenges. They struggled with a business partner who tried to undermine the operation and steal the business. Navigating this hardship led to both personal and business bankruptcy. Not long after closing the fish business, these incredible parents of mine developed a new business in a completely different industry and became the “go-to” business in their field with many copycats who came along to try to copy their model. Despite all of these challenges, they kept the household stable without arguments or fights. I could not have asked nor paid for a better mentorship in life or business.

As a child, I washed cars. I mowed lawns. I even bought candy and chips at the grocery store and sold them, in school, for a profit. In fact, One of my earliest memories, I could not have been older than 10 years old, was setting up a BBQ grill at a local public beach (under the guidance of my grandfather), selling hot dogs and sodas to the masses every weekend during the Summer.

Because of this deeply engrained experience embedded in my DNA, I always found it challenging to work for others. It always felt “wrong” to be told what do or how to operate a business by people who never spent time engaging with customers in my area or by people who buried their head in spreadsheets to determine the success of an operation.

chive and onion cream cheese packaged for sale

This new business, Now Schmear This, was literally born out of a dream. I awoke from a sound sleep with a business idea, a few key flavor combinations, and a strong urge to make it all come together. The wisdom I gained from watching my parents build businesses, fail, pivot, and start anew, coupled with my own personal experience provided me with the desire to create a business that disrupts the status quo and inspires creativity in my customers. Starting a business, especially a niche in the food industry, comes with a lot of challenges, what-ifs, fears, and risk. All of that being said, there was a strange confidence that kept me moving forward. At the core, I knew that if I developed flavors that surprise and delight, with a customer-first focus, we could not fail.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

Now Schmear This! was literally born from a dream. While recovering from major surgery and working what I considered a temporary job that I was rapidly losing motivation for, I woke up in the middle of the night with a business idea and our first “unusual” flavor combination. That flavor, Honey Garlic Jalapeno, has been our flagship flavor since the inception of this company. During the six months following that epiphany, my wife, Jennifer, and I developed/tested flavors, researched commercial kitchens and licensing, and fleshed out our business plan.

Honey garlic jalapeno cream cheese on a table with honey and garlic — Honey Garlic Jalapeno cream cheese / photo credit to Karen Images, Atlanta, GA

Officially, we launched this business at a chili cook off event on 11/11/2023, our wedding anniversary. At that event, we introduced ourselves to the community with 16 flavors or butter and 16 flavors of cream cheese.

It was important to us that we create something new, different, unusual, and surprising. After all, you can get butter and cream cheese seemingly everywhere. How does one set themselves apart in a long-standing industry? How does one build a successful business on such a niche product? For Now Schmear This, the answer was multi-faceted:

Create flavor combinations no-one has ever experienced before. Be innovative. Be unique. Be a little “crazy”. Blow people’s mind!
Develop relationships with our customers that will inspire a love not only for our product, but for experimenting with flavor in their kitchen.
Customer feedback must be honored and of paramount importance so we pivot as necessary when customer demand presents a need (This is why we now sell bagels too!).
Demanding quality- We will not sell a substandard product. If we wouldn’t buy it, we won’t sell it. It simply isn’t worth it for us to compromise integrity for potential profit. This extends to the ingredients we use as well.

Customers lining up at the Now Schmear This tent at a farmers market — A line of eager (and patient) customers is not an unusual sight at our booth

Locally, we do business solely at local farmers markets and festivals. Because we fall somewhere between “online” and “brick & mortar”, we created a new industry term for our style of business. We call ourselves a “tent & table” operation. As such, we are able to keep overhead controlled and develop deep, personal relationships with our customers across the entire metro Atlanta area. In addition, we also partner with local businesses to provide our customers a static pick-up location if they are unable to visit us at the farmer’s market (or during the off-season).

In the short time we have been in business, we have celebrated a number of unexpected milestones:

In August, 2024, we were featured on Atlanta News First where we showcased our Loaded Baked Potato cream cheese.
In October, 2024, little more than a year after the idea for this business was created, we won an Honorable Mention award in the Best of Georgia competition presented by the Georgia Business Journal. This was a feat in and of itself since we were nominated in the very crowded “bagel” category, especially for a business that doesn’t make nor sell bagels.
In April, 2025, our flagship flavor, Honey Garlic Jalapeño was a runner-up in the UGA/Georgia Grown Flavor of Georgia contest. This flavor was also featured in a column in the AJC in July, 2025. This has been our best selling flavor almost every single month since the launch of the company.
In August, 2025, The Big Green Egg company selected our Mexican Street Corn butter to be featured to cook the corn on the cob for their annual flavor event at their headquarters.

Mexican Street Corn butter packaged for sale — Mexican Street Corn butter

It has been quite a ride so far and we have no plans to slow this baby down. Flavor inspiration can come from anywhere. We create new flavor combinations all the time. We also feature limited edition flavors each month. To date, we have developed more than 50 unique flavors (kimchi, cranberry orange jalapeno, carrot cake, and more.) and mastered our version of the classics (chive & onion, veggie, herb). Most of our flavors, even our monthly features, are available as a special order on our website. As if our flavor combinations weren’t enough, we also give our customers the option to create their own personal flavors from an ever-growing list of available ingredients.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

The Atlanta area is rich with culture and experiences. It is always challenging to come up with a tried and true list that covers all interests. While I’m not personally a huge fan of a lot of the tourist spots, a trip to Atlanta is not complete without visiting the Georgia Aquarium. For football fans, how can you avoid a trip to the College Football Hall of Fame? Exploring Little 5 Points (and eating at the Vortex) has to be on the list as well.

Evan Summers at a local networking event giving out samples to the attendees — January 2025- Greater Atlanta Business Expo

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

Beyond the aforementioned dedication to the incredible mentorship I received from my parents, I have to express huge appreciation for the relationships I have formed in our local business associations. Marietta Business Association, Kennesaw Business Association, Acworth Business Association, and the West Cobb Business Association all have incredible members who have mentored, supported, and inspired me to levels of success I never expected. These local business owners have tasted our products and offered honest feedback. They have offered suggestions for growing the business. They seek us out at local events to support us and introduce us to their family & friends. Most importantly, these associations truly embody a “collaboration over competition” mindset. I will cherish these relationships forever.