SAMANTHA AULICK & ALEXA LEMLEY
Founders, 240sweet and Artisan Foodworks
When you launch a business with your partner in life, how do you separate work and play? For Sam Aulick and Alexa Lemley, founders of the Indianapolis-area craft food companies 240sweet and Artisan Foodworks, it´s an ongoing process. ″There´s always another email to answer or an opportunity that arises. For us, though, we function better when we take a break to recharge,″ they say. Having met while working at Lemley´s father´s catering firm in their teens, Aulick and Lemley eventually purchased the company and created exotically flavored marshmallows to promote their new business. Martha Stewart Weddings hailed the pillowy candy—while Food & Wine praised Alexa´s bourbon barrel aged sugar—which led to 240sweet, their mail-order confectionery, in 2007. This year has brought big changes: the couple renamed the catering business Artisan Foodworks, got married, and now they´re in the process of opening a distillery. No resting on their laurels here. ″Both of us had parents who cooked professionally. We learned to find satisfaction in hard work and a job well done. And we both love candy,″ says Aulick. Life is sweet!
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