This tasty Epic Systems spinoff has nothing to do with medical software

BARRY ADAMS
Nov 12, 2025
Nov 12, 2025 Updated Dec 17, 2025

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Three years after a big bet and a name change, the payoff continues for a Madison-area company focused on

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Fortune Favors 1 — Fortune Favors co-founders Jessica Benish and Eric Rupert have opened a pop-up retail space in Downtown Madison to sell their flavors of candied pecans. Founded in Madison in 2018 and now in Cottage Grove, the company’s products are now in more than 3,000 retailers across the country.
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

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Fortune Favors 2 — The Tenney Building on East Main Street just off Capitol Square is home to the new Fortune Favors pop-up store for the holidays. The company is also eyeing more permanent retail space elsewhere in the city.
JOHN HART photos, STATE JOURNAL

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Fortune Favors 3 — Fortune Favors co-founder Eric Rupert chats with Lynne Chase, who staffs what she calls the “pecan bar” inside the company’s new pop-up store in Madison’s Downtown. Chase doles out daily samples of pecans, mixes and even a pecan chocolate bar.
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

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Fortune Favors 4 — Snack size packages of Fortune Favors’ candied pecans are displayed in the company’s new pop-up store in the Tenney Building in Downtown Madison.
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

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Fortune Favors 5 — Eric Rupert, a longtime Madison chef who previously worked as the executive chef at Epic Systems in Verona, is seen here in Fortune Favors’ pop-up shop. The company was founded as Nutkrack but changed its name a few years ago as it sought to expand nationally.
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

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Fortune Favors 6 — Lisa Hajek, left, was among the customers recently at Fortune Favors’ new pop-up store just off Capitol Square. After the holidays, the company hopes to find a more permanent retail location for its company store.
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

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