Full Transcript

Sari
Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host Sari Kimbell. I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach. And it's got to be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in, and food founder journey so you can learn what worked and didn't work, and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now, let's jump in! Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited today. I cannot believe it has taken this long to bring Jessica with Fireworks Butters onto the podcast. Welcome, Jessica.

Jessica
Thank you, Sari. I'm happy to be here.

Sari
Oh my gosh. So happy for you to be here. I'll do a little intro, but we're just going to talk. We're going to have some open dialogue conversation. And just, I was thinking about it this morning, as I was getting ready and thinking about getting to talk to you as you're one of my early OGs back to 2019.

Jessica
Yeah. I know. I've been here a long time.

Sari
I remember meeting you at an event and then cultivating relationship and starting to work together one on one, and you've been in all the things and then all those stuff. We'll get into all of that. But it's a relationship that we've become friends and colleagues in coaching.

Jessica
Yeah, it's been wonderful. And yeah, just to be along with you on the journey. And you know, sharing our experiences has been really fun and great. So I appreciate it, too.

Sari
So Jessica, I'll read a little work and change up your intro here. But you started Fireworks Chef Butters in the fall of 2016. The goal is to help busy time starved home chefs create easy flavor packed meals. You are a lifelong foodie and was inspired by the family recipe for steak butter. And then you have started that, you started at farmer's markets originally. Let's see, the line has grown from original 4 recipes to 11 flavors now. And you are partnering with a really great organization called Boulder Bridge House, that's a nonprofit that helps make your butters, I'm sure we can talk a little bit more about that. But they basically provide housing and job training to those experiencing homelessness and joblessness. So it's cool that you have a partnership, that the butters giving back to your community. So we're going to just get into it and talk about your journey to start with. So you just kind of take us, we'll go in the wayback machine, 2016.

Jessica
I really wanted a job, really is what it comes down to. I wanted something that was going to offer flexibility, creativity, and fulfillment. And we have this family recipe and my husband and I like let's just try it because it's generation's old. And the aunts and uncles have always said somebody needs to do something with this recipe. And since I love to tinker around, I just kind of created some other recipes to go along with it. So I could have like a line for these compound butters to launch with. And I'm actually going to do a quick correction. I really did launch at Lucky South Boulder. So it wasn't farmers markets first, because the Commissary Kitchen that I was using was in that same parking lot. So I just brought it to the meat buyer and the grocery buyer. And it's like, do you guys want to take this? Like, what do you think? They're like, sure, we have no idea where we're going to put it. But let's give it a shot and when can you start demoing? I'm like, tomorrow. Those are the days you just hold on there with your table and your samples. And you just go for it. And so, I did and at the time, you know, Lucky's Market was in a bunch of different states. We had five or six locations here around Denver, and so I kind of just made the circuit and now that took, you know, from 2017 to 2019 to get into those different doors and other shops, Alfalfa is another. But I was doing some farmers markets and I did funnily enough, I didn't really do the full time Farmers Market booth until after COVID. Because of my family, like it's just so difficult to manage that all so anyways, yeah, that's how the journey started was at South Boulder Lucky's, and no longer exists. But we are still in North Boulder Lucky's and in Fort Collins. Yeah. So that's kind of the history and how it started. And of course, giving away to friends. You know, and, but it is a high end premium product. And let's be honest, kind of starting a new category. Like it's not a well known part of the grocery store where people are like, oh, yeah, fancy butter, where I pick that out? What do I do with this? Like, I don't know, do I want this? Do I need this? Tell me. And of course, when everybody tries it, they're like, oh, yeah, I need this. This is amazing. This is so good. How did I not know that this existed before?

Sari
So what gave you the courage in your 40s, very early 40s, when you started, but to do this, and juggling a family, we have three kids?

Jessica
You know, you get to those phases in life where you're like, I feel complete in one aspect of my life. But there is another aspect where I know, my full potential is not reached. And I'm not going to feel like fully my own person unless I go after this, unless I start something and I did interview, I was looking in marketing jobs, I was trying to be creative in graphic design, and I just wasn't feeling that fulfillment. So after my daughter was born, and maybe it was having a daughter that I wanted to, you know, really go after this to prove that you can be a mom and have what you want, it's not always going to be pretty, and it's not going to be overnight. It takes a long time. But it can be done. And I just felt like it was important that my sons could see this too. Like, this is a side of mom that is important to her, and she needs to follow her dreams. So that was kind of, you know, that feeling of angst, like I'm not quite complete yet. Like I have more to offer the world. And if this means I'm going to go into a food business, let's test it, and see how that makes me feel. That's how I came about it.

Sari
How do you think that's affected maybe the time that it's taken, or, you know, the trajectory that it's taken? I mean, it sounds like you were hesitant to work farmers markets at the beginning because of like, because of your family. Right? And that just wasn't going to work. So you think back on, I mean, that's a four year journey, basically. Or eight year journey. Sorry.

Jessica
Yeah, this is my 8th year. Like I said, it's not going to be quick. And you have to be patient, obviously. And you have to tell yourself, stay in your lane. Like, back when I started, there was money everywhere. And everybody was talking about hockey stick growth. And I would fall into these pits of despair, like, oh, my God, I can't compare to them. I have no business experience. I don't know anything about the food and beverage industry. I'm an artist, who am I? You know? So yeah, I would say like, it takes time. And it is not for the faint of heart. But if you have that drive, and that motivation to prove to yourself or maybe it's to prove to your kids or your husband or whatever your spouse that this is important to you. It's important to do it. If you have the time I coming at this knowing full well. I'm very privileged, I have this ability to do this. And not everybody does. So I want to make sure that that's clear.

Sari
Yeah, absolutely. And you have you know, your husband supports you and your family. It's almost a little bit of a family business, right?

Jessica
Yeah. Not that the kids want to necessarily be involved in it all the time, but sometimes fold in. Yeah, my son is actually begging me to do farmers markets again this year because he says he's broke and he wants the steady income like okay, be careful what you ask for.

Sari
You just kept putting one foot in front of the other, you figured it out. You launched in 2016. You know, you figured out the licensing, you got the commercial kitchen. You were bold enough to just walk over to Lucky's and say, hey, you kept hustling, you didn't give up. And so you got into those accounts. And you were bold enough to apply for a specialty food award as well. So tell us a little bit about that experience.

Jessica
I am fortunate in that I've had some great friends that have been, you know, paving the way in business. So I've seen them apply for awards, I've seen them do really well and have success. And I thought, well, if I'm going to be a food company, isn't it really worth something to see that it's award winning? Like, doesn't that make a difference if you're purchasing something, or if there's a really crowded category? Like it's meaningful, right? So I found the Specialty Food Association, literally just by Googling National Food awards. How can I get this product in front of a panel and see, you know, what happens? And I was really lucky, the first year that I applied, one of my flavors won. But I understand why, at that moment in time, Specialty Food Association was looking for products with botanicals in it. This was back in 2019. And I have honey lavender sea salt, so they were all over the honey lavender flavor.

Sari
Which is my favorite.

Jessica
It's a top seller. Yeah. It receives a lot of attention. So yeah, I think it was because I, you know, just thought about like, what would be impactful and meaningful for somebody who's bootstrapping. I mean, I'm not personally wealthy, we don't have family money. You know, my husband and I are doing this ourselves. And so if you don't have money to pay for PR, or, you know, huge agency, applying for those things can often help. Now, you also still have to weed out the noise because there's a lot once you get those accolades. Oh, you know, it can be like, too much.

Sari
And so then you decided to go to a Fancy Food Show in 2020 which I was there as well. And so funny the things took a while the thing back, right, because I was January of 2020. And we're all in San Francisco. But you like didn't have a fancy booth or anything like that?

Jessica
No. And again, it was because I went to Expo West in spring of 2016. My friend Willow had a small booth at Expo West, which I can't even imagine how much those those small booths, even back then how much they are. She was sitting there manning it herself. And like having a time of her life, you know, people come and her product is like super specialty niche, or it was at the time. And so it was like, gosh, if Willow can do it. Oh, yeah. To try it out. I'm going to do it. I slept on my cousin's couch in his basement.

Sari
Yes, and you worked it by yourself.

Jessica
I did. I brought the trophy and my carry on suitcase. And I had samples. What was I doing like butter that melts? Like I carried with me. I know. That's yeah, funny memories. Yeah. And then COVID happened.

Sari
And you had some, you know, some interesting leads, and you were in that sale and then COVID happened and everything just like ground.

Jessica
Totally halted everything. And, you know, I had to homeschool three kids, and we had relatives living with us. I mean, it was kind of an insane experience.

Sari
In all of the grocery I mean, all of that, everything.

Jessica
Well, my Commissary Kitchen went away. It was used as a COVID site like where they were putting beds. I mean, I don't know that they actually had patients there. But yeah, that Commissary Kitchen was shut down and unavailable. So and I mean, I could have spent the money and moved into a different one in Denver, but I wasn't willing to do the drive and put that stress on my family during a already really stressful time. So I just halted everything and just waited it out. Yeah, that's going to happen. And luckily, good things did happen.

Sari
Yeah, tell us about what happened as you waited you know, sometimes have to be like, all right.

Jessica
I'm going to sit here and just watch from the sidelines. Around October, November of 2020. My friend came to me he's like, okay, it's time, you need to rebrand and he has an ad agency here in Boulder. Like, okay, what are you thinking? It's like, well, what do you want help with? What do we want to do? And I'm like, well, I kind of want to repackage. Sari, my friend gave me this great idea to change from a jar to a little puck. He's like, okay, we got this. And we did a whole, he calls it a brand hack. We sat in with probably, I don't know, 5, 6, 7 people, and really looked to deep dive into my brand and the values and the pillars. And it was a really fun exercise. But it took a couple weeks. And I got, I don't know, probably four or five different iterations of what the brand could look like, and where it could go. And I chose my favorite. And what it amounted to in the end was four packs and labels, because we didn't really have a budget. And we're bootstrapping, as I mentioned. So we're definitely confined by finances. But he gave me sort of the roadmap to where we could head with a new website. And you know, at the time, I was also switching from Squarespace to Shopify.

Sari
Yeah, I helped you with your website and package design.

Jessica
Right. So from that whole exercise, we did get some new materials that we could move forward with in the market. And then lo and behold, Bridgehouse comes to me and I had been sort of on this waiting list, because I knew another Boulder entrepreneur had been using them, helped to make her brownies. Our kids were on the same swim team. So we would see each other, you know, around athletic events, and we, you know, keep in touch and so she put in a good word for me. And over the years, they had been making salsa, you know, fresh guacamole, things like that for Lucky's market and Alfalfa and other local markets. So because of COVID, everything shut down, and they had room for me or time for me, I should say, and I wasn't quite ready because this was like December of 2020, I wasn't really selling, I had no place to put it. And so I was like, well, let's just be in touch, I would really like to start selling again next year, you know, you let me know when it works best. And so about March 2021, we started talking, and I was applying for farmers markets. And so we started that partnership Spring of 2021 and never looked back. It's been wonderful. And not only because it takes that load off of me having to make all of the product but it really feels like you know, a good fit, because I love helping. It's giving back to the community. I get to know these people, you know, in not just the Executive Chef, but I do get to meet the trainees and you know, joke around and have rapport and I think it's not only beneficial for where they are in their journey, but me too as an entrepreneur, you know, you can actually see the results of you know, this laborer and giving them the confidence to move forward in their life and career.

Sari
One thing I noticed about you over the years is like you do have some reserve intention and worry about making investments but then I think you do a good job of like coming back to your heart and saying, alright, what's right for me and right for my business where I'm at and then you still find a way, right? You go and find the money to make those leaps even if it was like when we started doing your packaging to do Fancy Food. I mean, you still had to pay for that booth. And you know, Danny and I talked about making investments in your business, the last podcast and yes, you are bootstrapping but you do make investments along the way in your business and I would also say you are resourceful and that you are full of resources. And that you are scrappy, and you are willing to be a little bold and do some crazy things that people might not consider doing. You're willing to be uncomfortable and do it anyway. And you made an investment in a who, that you needed in order to grow your business even maybe before you were quite ready for it, like it was still scary, but you did it anyway. Because ultimately you could not scale your business and start doing wholesale unless you got some of your time back from the production.

Jessica
No, you can't. I mean, and it's still a juggle and a stress, because I always want more time to do sales and marketing. And it doesn't always go the way you want it to. But at the same time, we are sort of constrained with how much product and inventory we can have, because it is still all made by hand. It's still very much, you know, made as if it was made by my hands. And so because of that, yeah, we can't go after huge accounts, because I don't have a six month supply.

Sari
And that's the next level we're working on.

Jessica
It keeps me grounded. Yeah, it does for sure. But yeah, I always have my eye on how it would go for the next level.

Sari
You also made investments in some who's. I mean, certainly me and my programs, but also going to shows and you hire, you had an assistant for a while. It was helping you with marketing and some packaging and things. So it's scary, and oh, like it's going to work out. But you do make investments. And I think if you look back over those eight years, you can see I mean, huge jumps along.

Jessica
Yeah. Well, thank you. I mean, it is scary and nerve wracking. And you're right, it's just one foot in front of the next and keep that focus, tunnel vision I mean. Like I said, I'm an artist, so bright, shiny objects. That looks fun. Really have to keep my head and, you know, in the game and be mindful of what is the most important thing to move it forward.

Sari
And then you did farmers markets again, so let's see, it wasn't 21. But 22 is when you did a ton of markets, right?

Jessica
Yes. And that's when I had stop them. And we hired two girls who were best friends from high school. One of them was my intern, who's the assistant that you're talking about. She's going to Metro State and getting her marketing degree. So it was kind of a perfect fit. She could help me with social media and marketing and stuff and also do sales at the farmers markets. It was awesome. But as many founders know, who have to staff, the markets never are as profitable when you're staffing with somebody else besides you, the founder. But it was a great learning experience for me to be the boss, you know, make the model so they could actually earn commissions, we weren't upside down. Because that can easily happen to if you're helping with mileage and their hourly. Yeah, I think I didn't do markets and 2023 because it was a lot of stress. And we kind of just broke even so it was sort of like, do I want all that stress with the family? And you know, I wanted to get off.

Sari
But it did help you. How did that how did the markets help you grow the wholesale piece?

Jessica
It really did immensely. I think I got probably four or five wholesale accounts. One of which is one of my best accounts still to this day. Yeah, nothing compares with the sort of influence that you can gain from being there weekly, and seeing those customers and then because you never know word of mouth is so helpful in this kind of business, too. So yeah, I had people coming up to me saying you need to be in Sam's Meets in Aurora, you need to be in such and such in Lakewood. That's yeah, it works.

It's a great way to go into new markets to go into the like, if you want to get into wholesale to go also go into farmer's markets in those areas, and you branched out of your bubble.

Yes, that was a big deal at the time. I was like, oh my god, I have to drive all the way to Denver, twice a week on the weekends. But that was the best thing I could have ever done for growing and recognition and, you know, awareness. You know, Boulder is kind of a bubble. You know, it's great, but there's a whole big world outside of it.

Sari
So in Master Your Business, a lot of what we do good part of it is creating that 10x goal that really becomes the the North Star and the vision. Do you mind sharing kind of your 10x goal and where we're going?

Jessica
I have a couple. Yeah, I'm joined with a couple but last years was to get into 200 stores and you know it, my wholesale business is now 80% of my business. Okay, so I don't think I made it 200 doors, but I'm now in 17 states, and a majority of that came at the end of last year when I started on the Faire wholesale platform. And every month since October, has been steady increase in the number of orders and order size. Yes, starting on that, I think with that 10x goal of increasing the amount of doors really did help me get to, you know, this point. And I'm going to continue with that growth this year. You know, you can't, it's tricky, because I don't have a product that I'm willing to sit there and sell religiously through ad spend on platforms online. The shipping costs are, you know, exorbitant.

Sari
And you have a frozen product.

Jessica
Yeah, I have a frozen product that needs to get there in two days. So, but I do want to still have a presence and still have that channel open. But yeah, this is another thing, like stay away from the bright shiny objects, wholesale's working, like wholesale's working, right? You keep on that.

Sari
I want to bring up your 1ox goal and you know, as a coach, I would say just extend that, right? That's the vision, right? You don't I always talked about like, it's not a one year thing. We don't say get 10x in one year, that's a lot. But you just extend that, okay, that's, you know, that's a two year vision or a three year vision, in what you just said is that it helps to keep you focused and say what, right. And to make bigger, bolder moves to pull bigger levers, who are my who's, and really stay in your lane, which can be really challenging. I mean, it's all entrepreneurs are like, oh, I got a new strategy over here and shiny squirrel over there. So I love that goal for you because ultimately, and we'll talk about Faire here in just a second too. But ultimately, for you to be in 200 stores, then we need to be measuring it for one. But we also need to be thinking about, oh, if I'm going to be in 200 stores, Bridgehouses awesome. And how can I keep that partnership? But I also need to be thinking about how do I supply 200 stores? How do I create great partnerships and keep the customers coming? And the awareness? Because you do have an education issue too. Right? Where a lot of people are like, what do I need that?

Jessica
And also to go with this, like, you also have to learn that all of those new customers on Faire are not necessarily going to be the best new customers. They're still trying, you know, there's still a trial phase. And to get to the ones that are going to be on constant monthly reorder, takes time, you got it like what? Maybe one in many orders of I don't even know how many have had maybe 1 in 20 are like that, like ready to reorder and ready to write the five star review. And, you know, while yeah, I can say I'm now in 17 states, but how many of those are really the customers that I want to be with? That really helped me move this to the next level by reordering?

Sari
I mean, I appreciate you being honest about that. Because there is that I think people love to say like I'm in seven new stores, or I'm in this many doors or, but like the reality and I talked to all of you the reality of what's going on behind the doors is hard, right? And it's very common for brands at your stage and beyond to still be not be making money overall in their business. You're making a lot of investments, you're making investments in acquiring new customers, through Faire and other sources, right? You're going into distribution, maybe sooner than you should because you know the margins aren't quite there. But you are, you know, I look back from where you were a year ago, and you've made credible, you have good momentum. There's progress there.

Jessica
Thank you. Yeah, there is progress there. And it feels good. But again, we have to always be checking the numbers to make sure that this is really the right fit, because I still don't really know if Faire is the right fit,

Sari
Right. It's an experiment and we're kind of, I love that yeah, we got to put on our science coat and be like, this is an experiment and I'm testing it for a certain amount of time. And we did that in Master Your Business with cash flow and I love that you told me like I did my cash flow and I'm looking ahead and seeing what's coming in because we also have to constantly be grounding ourselves. And if we only look at what just happened, you had a lot of money go out. But then looking ahead and saying, oh, there is money coming in. Reminding ourselves so we don't fall into pits of despair.