Savoring an Unexpected Calling

Franny Tremmel dreamed of being a chef, not a business owner catering to salt-free needs—but through an unexpected tragedy God had other plans

by Anneliese Rider  /  June 16, 2025

Franny’s dad died of chronic kidney failure when she was 22. “I wasn’t angry at God,” Franny says, “I was just angry at all of the things I would be missing.”

But instead of crippling her, Franny’s grief led her on an unexpected journey: beginning her own business, selling salt-free seasonings to help other people like her dad, and perhaps most importantly, loving and helping other people who are also grieving.

True Love and True Heartbreak

Franny Pauley picked up more than culinary arts skills at Vincennes University. One day while Franny was in a culinary lab, a tall young man—DJ Tremmel, also a student—walked through the kitchen. He immediately caught Franny’s eye.

“My best friend distracted our chef so I could follow him out to the hallway,” says Franny. Laughing, she recounts her first words to him: “Is it true that tall people give really good hugs?”

DJ, 6'4" to Franny’s 5'9", answered, “Well, you can come find out.”

Franny’s pickup line worked. They were married in 2016, but even in the joy of the wedding, tragedy loomed around the corner.

In 2015, Franny’s dad, Bill, had been diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, and Franny and her mom, Becky, would be shocked by how quickly it progressed.

“I had an eye surgery, and I was home, and I knew something was wrong,” Franny says. Kidney failure is measured in functioning percentages, and the lower the percentage, the worse things are. “Daddy’s kidneys went from like twenty-four percent, and then they crashed.”

They rushed Bill to the ER, where he had a fistula put in his arm. He began dialysis and they made plans for Franny, his only child, to donate her kidney to him, but as his condition worsened and the toxins built up in his body, it became clear that he was not going to need Franny’s kidney.

And after a two-year battle, in November 2017, he went to heaven.

“When he died, there was such a profound peace in the room,” Franny remembers, describing his great pain during the last days. “It literally felt like Jesus had stepped in the room, and had my dad by the hands, and just gave all of us this immense peace.”

But losing her dad still rocked 22-year-old Franny’s world, and left a giant hole in their family.

“I wasn’t angry at God, I was just angry at all of the things I would be missing,” Franny says. “My dad would never meet my kids. He’d never see me buy a house, you know, milestone things you imagine your parents are there for.”

The Making of ‘The Spice Lady’

Grieving the loss of her dad, Franny found her calling in the spice cabinet when her grandmother asked her to make a universal seasoning mix. Franny concocted a mixture but left out a major ingredient: salt.

“I’d gotten so used to not using it with my dad,” Franny says, talking about his dietary restrictions. “I just never added it back in.”

The seasoning was a hit, and Franny had a light-bulb moment. She realized that her passion for creating flavorful salt-free seasonings could help other people who were restricted to salt-free diets, like her dad had been.

But there was one problem. She wanted to be a chef, not an entrepreneur.

“I thought I’d work in restaurants or soup kitchens, or be a private chef or something,” Franny says. “I wasn’t running my own business.”

God had different plans, and kept opening doors, and reminding Franny that her gift could help people.

Finally, in January 2020, with her mom’s help, Franny launched the Flavor Imperium—a salt-free seasoning business she runs from Anderson, Indiana. Every spice mixture is bottled, labeled, and sealed by hand, and Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the LORD is good,” is on every bottle.

“I started all of it just because I was trying to heal from losing my dad, and I was getting to help people that were just like how he was,” Franny says. “I could not have a business that honored my dad without God being the absolute center of it.”

As her reputation spread and she created new seasoning mixes, her business took off. Her spices—and her cheerful heart and love for people—consistently draw both new and returning customers, who tell how her salt-free spices are helping them become healthier. She’s even become a main attraction at food festivals.

“People come up and ask at the front gate, ‘Where’s the spice lady?’” Franny recounts, laughing.

After a few years of running Flavor Imperium, Franny began to pursue her bachelor’s in nutrition on the side. And in the fall of 2024, she started planning her first annual food festival, Flavor and Savor, scheduled for June 2025 in Hartford City, Indiana.

As she pursues the next step in her adventure, Franny is confident of one thing: “God’s gonna keep opening doors,” she says. And she’ll keep walking through them.

The People Behind the Voices

In December 2019, Kelli Thompson and Steve Hocker, from Moody Radio’s Mornings with Kelli and Steve, were hosting a Christmas cookie decorating event, and Franny’s mom—a longtime listener—invited Franny to go with her.

“The first time I met Franny, she had shown up at Moody Radio wearing an elf costume, ready to participate in our Christmas cookie decorating event,” Kelli says. “Despite the costume and her outgoing demeanor, there was a discernable sadness about her. I would soon learn that she was grieving the loss of her father.”

Franny, hooked by meeting the people behind the voices on air, became a regular Moody Radio listener.

“When you start your day out listening to someone who encourages your faith, it’s a lot easier to move forward with momentum,” Franny says. And as time has passed, she has developed friendships with Kelli and Steve, and even shared her story on air—a message which, Kelli adds, has been an encouragement to their listeners.

“It has been such a privilege to have a front-row seat to witness this evolution of joy and to hear her give God all the glory,” Kelli says.

As the years have passed, Franny has created a community of other people who have lost loved ones—through her spice business, in her church family, and on the radio—and they grieve and grow together.

“I think since my dad died, the biggest thing I’ve learned is finding the things to be grateful for, because it’s really easy to be bitter about a lot of things,” Franny says, and even though she is still honest about the hard moments when she misses her dad, she’s also found that she can have joy.

“I’ve just gotten a lot better at just praying for a perception of gratitude for anything I can find gratitude in.”