Steve Haas’s mushrooms have been a hit at local farmers markets. (Photos by David Larter)
The sweet, earthy smell of mushrooms roasting permeates the air in the living room as Steve Haas walks into the air-conditioned space after a hot, early afternoon adventure in the surrounding woods.
“God, it smells great in here,” Haas says, looking around. “Life is good at Haashrooms, brother. I can tell you that.”
Red mushrooms in the Virginia woods.
Haas’s product became such a hit at the farmers markets that chefs started lining up to get his mushrooms on their menus. They have been featured at Pescados China Street, the Yellow Umbrella, the Continental and Mezzanine.
With such demand, the business has turned into a full-time job. Haas, who left his career as a massage therapist, has been able to forge a comfortable living walking in the woods.
“At the height of the season, I can make $5,000 a month,” Haas said.
To supplement his mushroom sales, Haas has begun giving guided tours in the woods to teach others how to hunt for mushrooms. He charges $200 to take out groups of two to six people.
Standing in the kitchen, sprinkling salt over a bowl of fresh white mushrooms, is the key to Haas’s expansion plan.
Craig Perkinson, who until recently was the executive chef at popular Pescados, is taking Haas’s mushrooms and converting them into a line of salad dressings and pestos.
“I had wanted to start developing products we could get into grocery stores,” Haas said. “So when I heard Craig was leaving Pescados, I called him up and said, ‘Dude, you’ve got to come and work with me.’”
For Perkinson, it was an easy career choice.
“It was a no-brainer,” he said. “I obviously knew Steve and knew the product from working with him at the restaurant. So when he called, I didn’t need to really think about it.”
Perkinson is perfecting a recipe for roasted mushroom vinaigrette and several pestos that Haas is aiming to have on grocery shelves by the holiday season.
The goal of the products, Perkinson said, is to bring out the freshness of mushrooms.
Haas plans to charge $9 for the pesto and $10 for the salad dressing, price points he said was reasonable because of the value of the mushrooms in the products.
The morel mushrooms used in the vinaigrette, for example, retail for well over $100 a pound.
The family business
Haas has been hunting mushrooms for as long as he can remember.
His earliest memories of his father include tramping through the West Virginia woods, looking for criminis, golden chanterelles and morels. For the Haas clan, who emigrated from Germany to Virginia at the end of the 18th century, hunting mushrooms has always been a way of life.
“I learned from my father, he learned from my grandfather, and my grandfather learned from my great-grandfather,” said Haas, a father of three. “Now my son is getting into it. He’s really smart — smarter than I was at his age.”
Haas family is tied to the Mead (now MeadWestvaco) paper company but corporate life never appealed to him.
“Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be in the woods,” Haas said. “And if there was a creek, that’s where you could find me.”
Haas grew up and pursued massage therapy but never gave up the mushroom hunts. After he married, he began working the farmers market scene and growing his reputation and his business.
“Chefs would come up and see I had wild mushrooms and would go crazy,” he said. “They would say I should make a full-time job of it, because, you know, nobody else was really doing what I was doing.”
A turning point
Then last year, Haas was jolted when his marriage ended in divorce.
“It was a dark time for me,” he said. “I was living out of my car and my daughter’s garage.”
Haas knew the owners of a house on Tuckahoe Plantation and persuaded them to let him live there.
“It is really special living out here,” he said. “I feel really lucky. I mean, I get to hunt mushrooms on the plantations where Thomas Jefferson grew up. How could it get much better?”
Soon after, life took another funny turn when a new flame flickered up. He reconnected with a childhood friend named Liz Broughton, who was also going through a divorce.
“I’ve known Liz since I was 15,” Haas said. “We’re real comfortable around each other.”
Broughton is now an active part of the Haas Mushrooms operation, helping with everything from mushroom hunts to running the stands at the farmers markets to getting the new line of products together.
With a growing crew of friends and family, Haas hopes to have his dressings and pestos on the shelf by the start of the holiday season.
“I think we’re going to be in Ellwood’s,” he said, referring to Ellwood Thompson’s. “I know Libbie Market has expressed some interest, and we’re working on getting into Martin’s as well.”
Haas hopes his family mushroom business will take him to a comfortable retirement in the Pacific.
“I’m just an old hippie who’s raised three kids, and now I’m trying to run a business,” Haas said. “I’m pushing 50, and I want these next 50 years to be about making myself and my family comfortable. And hopefully I can retire and move to Malibu Maui.”
Steve Haas’s mushrooms have been a hit at local farmers markets. (Photos by David Larter)
The sweet, earthy smell of mushrooms roasting permeates the air in the living room as Steve Haas walks into the air-conditioned space after a hot, early afternoon adventure in the surrounding woods.
“God, it smells great in here,” Haas says, looking around. “Life is good at Haashrooms, brother. I can tell you that.”
Red mushrooms in the Virginia woods.
Haas’s product became such a hit at the farmers markets that chefs started lining up to get his mushrooms on their menus. They have been featured at Pescados China Street, the Yellow Umbrella, the Continental and Mezzanine.
With such demand, the business has turned into a full-time job. Haas, who left his career as a massage therapist, has been able to forge a comfortable living walking in the woods.
“At the height of the season, I can make $5,000 a month,” Haas said.
To supplement his mushroom sales, Haas has begun giving guided tours in the woods to teach others how to hunt for mushrooms. He charges $200 to take out groups of two to six people.
Standing in the kitchen, sprinkling salt over a bowl of fresh white mushrooms, is the key to Haas’s expansion plan.
Craig Perkinson, who until recently was the executive chef at popular Pescados, is taking Haas’s mushrooms and converting them into a line of salad dressings and pestos.
“I had wanted to start developing products we could get into grocery stores,” Haas said. “So when I heard Craig was leaving Pescados, I called him up and said, ‘Dude, you’ve got to come and work with me.’”
For Perkinson, it was an easy career choice.
“It was a no-brainer,” he said. “I obviously knew Steve and knew the product from working with him at the restaurant. So when he called, I didn’t need to really think about it.”
Perkinson is perfecting a recipe for roasted mushroom vinaigrette and several pestos that Haas is aiming to have on grocery shelves by the holiday season.
The goal of the products, Perkinson said, is to bring out the freshness of mushrooms.
Haas plans to charge $9 for the pesto and $10 for the salad dressing, price points he said was reasonable because of the value of the mushrooms in the products.
The morel mushrooms used in the vinaigrette, for example, retail for well over $100 a pound.
The family business
Haas has been hunting mushrooms for as long as he can remember.
His earliest memories of his father include tramping through the West Virginia woods, looking for criminis, golden chanterelles and morels. For the Haas clan, who emigrated from Germany to Virginia at the end of the 18th century, hunting mushrooms has always been a way of life.
“I learned from my father, he learned from my grandfather, and my grandfather learned from my great-grandfather,” said Haas, a father of three. “Now my son is getting into it. He’s really smart — smarter than I was at his age.”
Haas family is tied to the Mead (now MeadWestvaco) paper company but corporate life never appealed to him.
“Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be in the woods,” Haas said. “And if there was a creek, that’s where you could find me.”
Haas grew up and pursued massage therapy but never gave up the mushroom hunts. After he married, he began working the farmers market scene and growing his reputation and his business.
“Chefs would come up and see I had wild mushrooms and would go crazy,” he said. “They would say I should make a full-time job of it, because, you know, nobody else was really doing what I was doing.”
A turning point
Then last year, Haas was jolted when his marriage ended in divorce.
“It was a dark time for me,” he said. “I was living out of my car and my daughter’s garage.”
Haas knew the owners of a house on Tuckahoe Plantation and persuaded them to let him live there.
“It is really special living out here,” he said. “I feel really lucky. I mean, I get to hunt mushrooms on the plantations where Thomas Jefferson grew up. How could it get much better?”
Soon after, life took another funny turn when a new flame flickered up. He reconnected with a childhood friend named Liz Broughton, who was also going through a divorce.
“I’ve known Liz since I was 15,” Haas said. “We’re real comfortable around each other.”
Broughton is now an active part of the Haas Mushrooms operation, helping with everything from mushroom hunts to running the stands at the farmers markets to getting the new line of products together.
With a growing crew of friends and family, Haas hopes to have his dressings and pestos on the shelf by the start of the holiday season.
“I think we’re going to be in Ellwood’s,” he said, referring to Ellwood Thompson’s. “I know Libbie Market has expressed some interest, and we’re working on getting into Martin’s as well.”
Haas hopes his family mushroom business will take him to a comfortable retirement in the Pacific.
“I’m just an old hippie who’s raised three kids, and now I’m trying to run a business,” Haas said. “I’m pushing 50, and I want these next 50 years to be about making myself and my family comfortable. And hopefully I can retire and move to Malibu Maui.”
Steve, why paper bags I thought a mesh bag allowed spores to spread back into the environment?
Nice article Steve. Good luck with growing the business!
I’m Steve Haas’s son! Our family business is a great experience for me. Most people don’t get to have this experience. I think I’m really lucky to be his son, he and I both love being in the woods together. I hope one day that could be my buisness!
Great article on a great business. I know there are tons of similar business stories hiding all over Virginia. Keep these types of business stories coming BizSense!
What a nice article!
It is wonderful to see such fine folk making a life
by harvesting and reproducing the products of nature
in an appreciative and non-invasive way!
I wish all mankind could commune and cooperate with nature as Steve and Liz do. Right On!
I can attest to the fact that Steve Haas is the one and only true original Mushroom Man. 🙂
I’m Steve’s first cousin, however we grew up more as best friends. When we got together as kid’s, which was often, I’d say we made “Huck Finn” seem like a shut in! A walk in the wood’s with the legendary “Haas-man” continues to be the most effective way for me to clear my mind and re-boot. A source of my favorite memories from childhood to now, I’ve always felt very fortunate to call him friend and family. His constant encouragement kept me on the path to becoming a successful artist. If you want to learn the secret of re connecting… Read more »
I love when local small businesses are highlughted in the Richmond Biz Sense. Steve’s Italian herb mushroom pesto is delicious. Look forward to seeing him again at SOJ Farmers Market.
Congrats to you Steve! Good Luck!
A good friend recently graced us with a gift basket of items from the Haas Farm and we have enjoyed them all! The Roasted Mushroom Salad Dressing is amazing, and we just loved the mushroom pesto. I’m sure these will continue to be staples in our kitchen. Oh, and these make the most wonderful gifts! So unusual and yummy. Keep up the great work, Steve, Liz, and Craig.
do you need a license to sell wild mushrooms at a farmers market or to restaurants. If you do where do you acquire one, how much does it cost etc.