“Chief Marshmallow Agents” Jenn and Nathan Clark tell Urban Agenda why Wondermade marshmallows are more than candy - they're an extension of their ideals

By Sarah Emily Gilbert

Images courtesy of Wondermade 

Husband and wife team Nathan and Jenn Clark don’t mess around when it comes to marshmallows – that is unless they’re in the kitchen whipping up a new flavor for their handcrafted ‘mallow company, Wondermade. Over the past four years, the Clark’s artisan marshmallows have gone from a novel Christmas gift idea to a booming business. Their square-shaped puffs of goodness can be found in shops across the United States including Wondermade’s official storefront in the Clark’s hometown of Sanford, Florida. Additionally, Wondermade marshmallows can be ordered and shipped directly from their website both nationally and internationally. Offering everything from Sriracha and Bourbon marshmallows to seasonal flavors like Chai and Apple Spice, Wondermade takes this childhood treat to the next level.

Even sweeter than their marshmallows is the Clarks passion for their craft and their ability to capture the “wonder” in everything they do. Below, Nate takes Urban Agenda through the wonderful world of Wondermade marshmallows.

What did you and Jenn do prior to founding Wondermade?  Was it hard to drop everything and dive right into the candy making business?

We’ve never been people who just did one thing. I think that helped us make the shift from hobby to business, which wasn’t that hard or scary. Instead, we just saw it as an opportunity to see where things could go. Along the way, we’ve had many people count off all the ways things could go wrong and we could fail, but it turns out there are also a lot of ways things can go right. So we’ve always been people who choose to operate out of a sense of abundance and not out of fear. 

What made you want to make candy? 

It’s a funny story. For Christmas one year I gave Jenn a candy thermometer and the recipe for marshmallows. There wasn’t any great design other than my hope to give her a gift she’d really love. [Making candy] seemed like a good idea because we’ve always loved food, and we’ve always been hands-on people - whether it’s food, websites, companies, or crafts. So making things - that art of creation - that’s really been one of the foundations of our relationship.

Why marshmallows? 

 Marshmallows are awesome! I think that’s probably enough of a reason right there. As a bonus, they’re a perfect candy to deliver a wide range of flavors [to people], even if most of us have only experienced vanilla mallows. It’s cool that just about everyone has a great affection for marshmallows. Campfires and s’mores and hot chocolates - we’ve all got these great visceral connections to them. We love being the people who take a candy people like and try to offer an even better experience.

 How did you come up with your name? 

 There’s a Psalm that says, ‘We are fearfully and wonderfully made by God.’ I always found that to be such an inspiring call to life: to think that every person was made with the fullness of God’s wonder. For years before Wondermade came into being, I used that phrase as a self-reference in other work and profiles online. When we started the company, there just wasn’t a better name to focus us both on how we create and on how we treat the people around us…We want to be people who craft with that same care and passion in everything we do, starting with our marshmallows. We don’t want to lose track of the idea that every person we come into contact with is also made with that same sort of wonder. So our aim personally and for our entire team is to treat every person we come into contact with as if they really are wonderfully made. It’s not about their transactional value - instead we want to approach every person like they’re worth the world.

You mention in your blog that “we’ve grown up with low-quality candy.”  What do you mean by that? 

For most of us the candy we encountered growing up wasn’t the best, it was just the cheapest. Think of Halloween - the candy in my bag at the end of the night was bought by a bunch of adults looking to get the most candy for the least money. That’s not exactly a recipe for great taste. So growing up I liked candy well enough – I was a kid after all – but I didn’t really think it was anything special. The moment we tasted that first batch of our own marshmallows was when we realized candy could be something more. Don’t get me wrong - marshmallows have always been fun. But suddenly, here was this candy loaded with flavor and with this incredible texture completely unlike anything we’d ever eaten.

 How do you come up with your flavors? 

 Every week we ship a new flavor as a part of our Taste Adventure Club subscription. That’s our weekly delivery service where we’ve shipped flavors like Sriracha and Peanut Butter and Jelly. So we’ve gotten pretty good at quickly locking in on the perfect way to get the flavor we want. 

 What’s your fan favorite or best selling marshmallow?  What’s your personal favorite?

 My favorite flavor is whichever I’m currently eating! I’d say based on sales, our most popular flavor is our Bourbon Marshmallows. We use Maker’s Mark in the mallows and I think part of their enduring popularity comes from how popular they are as gifts.

 Jenn’s favorite is the s’mores, which are half vanilla, half chocolate and rolled in crushed graham cracker. We’ve got some seasonal flavors like the Candy Cane during the holidays that get our staff really excited. Our Gold Champagne Marshmallows, which are champagne mallows topped with 24k gold are pretty amazing too.

Expert ‘mallow tip from Nate Clark:

 You’ve never known coworker envy until you drop one or two of our mallows in your morning coffee, tea or even hot chocolate.