215 – Re-Energize Your Brand and Watch Sales Grow with Eric DeLary of Pasta Mamas
Eric DeLary is the General Manager and managing partner at Pasta Mama’s, a small pasta manufacturer in Richland, WA.
The path to where he is today took may turns, from working with Burton Snowboards in Vermont to DC Shoes in California.
Eric’s passion has been with iconic brands in niche industries working on projects with Red Bull and Monster Energy. So when the opportunity arose to take control of a local brand with a lot of room to grow, he took it.
Pasta Mama’s was originally founded in 1986 by the Santillie family. Through some not-so-typical ups and downs the brand has survived over the years.
It’s once again thriving thanks to a refreshed image, revitalized energy and a broader company vision that focuses on their founding principles which are to provide the highest quality gourmet foods possible utilizing only the finest all-natural ingredients.
Business Building Insights
- Context brings everything into alignment.
- As long as you continue making connections, amazing things will happen.
- The trick is to reinvent things. Look at what you have and see how it fits in the marketplace.
- Regularly evaluate what you’re doing. This will help you identify the next steps to take to move forward.
- Listen and communication with your customers.
- Notify customers when things are changing. This will be key to retention.
- Packaging is critical and one of the most important parts of your brand.
- You must figure out how to stand out in the marketplace.
- Create a vision board. Start with asking some questions. What’s the story you want to tell? What’s the imagery you see representing the brand?
- There is great value in existing customers. Don’t forget them!
- Keep exploring. Keep your mind open for opportunities.
Request a Sample of Pasta Mama’s Product
If you run a business who could potentially carry the Pasta Mama’s line, email info@pastamamas.com to request a sample.
Contact Links
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Thanks! Sue
Transcript
This is gift biz unwrapped episode 215 there's just a completely
Speaker:different customer base shopping in different places,
Speaker:so there might be opportunities in places where you didn't even
Speaker:realize that opportunity existed.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters,
Speaker:and makers pursuing your dream can be fun whether you have
Speaker:an established business or looking to start one now you are
Speaker:in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:Get Sue So happy that we're back together again today.
Speaker:If you're a first time listener,
Speaker:welcome. I'm thrilled to have you join in on the fun
Speaker:here too.
Speaker:It's an exciting place to be,
Speaker:particularly right now because my new live masterclass is happening in
Speaker:just a few days.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I've been preparing for this forever and I can't believe it's
Speaker:right around the corner.
Speaker:I get notifications on my phone when someone new registers and
Speaker:I'm thinking pretty quickly,
Speaker:I'm going to need to turn them off because my phone
Speaker:keeps chiming.
Speaker:This masterclass is truly live like I'm really there with you.
Speaker:You know how many times you'll see masterclasses and they're prerecorded,
Speaker:not this one.
Speaker:I'm right there with you live.
Speaker:I'm going to be talking about the five critical elements you
Speaker:need to know when starting a handmade business by meet so
Speaker:many people who dream of making money from their craft,
Speaker:but they just don't take any action.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:It can be scary or they have gotten started and it's
Speaker:not working.
Speaker:For some reason,
Speaker:it's heartbreaking.
Speaker:Perhaps this describes you or if you're just curious about the
Speaker:whole business thing,
Speaker:then I'd love to have you come over and join the
Speaker:masterclass. If you haven't signed up yet,
Speaker:it's not too late.
Speaker:The masterclasses is called how to turn your handmade products into
Speaker:an income producing business and it's totally free to grab your
Speaker:seat. Go to gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash masterclass.
Speaker:Let's turn now and talk about what I have in store
Speaker:for you on the show today.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:most of the time I bring on guests who have started
Speaker:their business from scratch,
Speaker:but what if you come upon an opportunity to buy an
Speaker:existing business?
Speaker:And what if that business isn't living up to its potential,
Speaker:but you see what it could be and you want to
Speaker:take a shot at turning it around?
Speaker:Is it worth the risk?
Speaker:I'll rephrase that.
Speaker:Is it more or less risky than starting from nothing?
Speaker:You can decide for yourself as you hear what Eric has
Speaker:accomplished in bringing a well known brand back into its glory.
Speaker:Along the way,
Speaker:you'll also hear Eric mentioned actions that you too can use
Speaker:to get more business regardless of how you started your company.
Speaker:It's my pleasure now to introduce you to Eric of pasta
Speaker:mamas. Let's roll that interview Today.
Speaker:I am so excited to introduce you to Eric Deleri of
Speaker:pastor mamas.
Speaker:Eric is the general manager and managing partner at pasta mamas,
Speaker:which is a small pasta manufacturer in Richland,
Speaker:Washington. The path to where he is today took many turns
Speaker:from working with Burton snowboards in Vermont to DC shoes in
Speaker:California. Eric's passion has been with iconic brands in niche industries
Speaker:working on projects with red bull and monster energy.
Speaker:When the opportunity arose to take control of a local brand
Speaker:with a lot of room to grow,
Speaker:he took it.
Speaker:Pasta. Mama's was originally founded in 1986 by the Sam Tilley
Speaker:family. There were some not so typical ups and downs.
Speaker:The brand has survived over the years.
Speaker:It is once again thriving.
Speaker:Thanks to a refresher image revised energy and a broader company
Speaker:passion that focuses on their founding principles to provide the highest
Speaker:quality gourmet foods possible,
Speaker:utilizing only the finest,
Speaker:all natural ingredients.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Eric, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker:So glad to be here.
Speaker:I am so excited.
Speaker:It'll be interesting to see if we get into the story
Speaker:about how we know each other,
Speaker:but we'll just see how things progress here.
Speaker:Absolutely. We're going to leave our listeners curious for a minute.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:Perfect. First,
Speaker:I want you to share with all of our listeners who
Speaker:you are by way of a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to give me the color and a
Speaker:quote on a candle that you would create that you would
Speaker:put your name on,
Speaker:what does your candle look like?
Speaker:I think right now my candle is bright orange and it
Speaker:would say context is everything.
Speaker:I think that that's where I'm at and what does that
Speaker:mean? Yeah.
Speaker:The further I get along in this little journey of life,
Speaker:the more that you're able to absorb and experiences and individuals
Speaker:and just as much context as you can put to life
Speaker:in general.
Speaker:I think it helps you understand what's going on around you
Speaker:all the time and just creates this synergy that keeps you
Speaker:going and motivated and everything comes into alignment when there's a
Speaker:context that you can define and see.
Speaker:So it's not just the situation at hand,
Speaker:it's everything around it.
Speaker:That so where that situation links into the whole,
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:there's so much synergy around you all the time.
Speaker:I feel like and there's always things going on.
Speaker:The world is such a small place.
Speaker:Right and I think the more that we network and the
Speaker:more that we meet people,
Speaker:the more we realize just how small that is and so
Speaker:when we can see that context and understand it,
Speaker:it starts to intertwine everything.
Speaker:I like that Way of thinking cause I think it leads
Speaker:to broadening your mind and your thoughts.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right.
Speaker:I am really excited to talk about pasta mamas,
Speaker:Eric, because I know a little back story of pasta mamas
Speaker:and then I also,
Speaker:and I guess we're going to get into our relationship,
Speaker:our relationship,
Speaker:Eric, pretty quickly here,
Speaker:but I got a chance to meet your now new wife,
Speaker:Sarah gift biz listeners.
Speaker:You might remember Sarah Frank from a show boy several months
Speaker:ago. She and Eric have now gotten married and I've been
Speaker:hearing about pasta mamas all the way along and I think
Speaker:this is going to be a really interesting conversation.
Speaker:Let's jump right into how you got into pasta mamas and
Speaker:how you identified the opportunity.
Speaker:Well, originally I met Sarah almost 10 years ago and she
Speaker:was into a lot of freelance marketing things back then.
Speaker:I did a lot of marketing.
Speaker:It was into those things and we actually were just in
Speaker:different places at different times and we cruised around for quite
Speaker:a bit doing our own thing.
Speaker:And then we reconnected back a couple of years ago and
Speaker:it's all history now.
Speaker:And yet we got married on the first of this year
Speaker:and there's just been a lot of different things that she's
Speaker:done that really aligned with the things that I've done.
Speaker:It actually goes right back to what I said before is
Speaker:just there's always this open synergy between people wherever you are.
Speaker:And as long as you continue to make those connections and
Speaker:just go with the flow of things,
Speaker:amazing things happen.
Speaker:So I had been working on a number of different projects
Speaker:and really doing different freelance things and was just busy traveling
Speaker:and doing some of these things and uh,
Speaker:really kind of wanted to settle down and found myself looking
Speaker:for some new opportunities.
Speaker:And she had actually been working with pasta mama's from a
Speaker:marketing standpoint and they were a client of hers and the
Speaker:owner really just needed fresh management there.
Speaker:And he's getting a little bit older.
Speaker:He's actually a fifth generation wheat farmer out of Spokane.
Speaker:He had bought the company from the sand Antilles back in
Speaker:2013. I've been partnered with them for several years before they
Speaker:moved on to other things as well.
Speaker:And I saw an opportunity to ever take a brand that
Speaker:had been around for a long time that needed some love
Speaker:and attention and really put some effort into restructuring how the
Speaker:company not only is doing business day to day internally,
Speaker:but how we see the brand aligned in that industry in
Speaker:general. Because grocery is definitely something that's complex and there's a
Speaker:lot of moving pieces to it.
Speaker:So it was just really interesting from the start.
Speaker:This is interesting because you were looking for opportunities,
Speaker:so you were in a mode where you're thinking,
Speaker:okay, I want to do something new.
Speaker:Sarah had been working with him a little bit and so
Speaker:did she recognize the opportunity and chat with you and you're
Speaker:like, Hey,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:yes, all the stuff that I've been doing is something that
Speaker:they could use.
Speaker:How did that union start coming together?
Speaker:And the reason I ask you is a lot of the
Speaker:people who are listening here are thinking of starting a business
Speaker:for themselves.
Speaker:And that idea of linking up with someone else who might
Speaker:need their area of could be a new concept for people.
Speaker:So I think this can add some new context.
Speaker:Eric. I love that.
Speaker:Good job.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Yeah, so ironically,
Speaker:I mean I'm pretty outspoken with stuff,
Speaker:especially with my wife.
Speaker:I saw so much potential and I kind of just kept
Speaker:speaking up about certain things that maybe she was working on
Speaker:or different ways that the brand could be thinking of things
Speaker:differently. So as an agency essentially with different employees working for
Speaker:her, obviously she's taking instruction from her clients,
Speaker:she's getting feedback and ultimately even with her own recommendations,
Speaker:they're still going to do what they perceive is the best
Speaker:fit for their company.
Speaker:And that's ultimately what I saw going on As well.
Speaker:They should,
Speaker:right. I mean they should take recommendations from a lot of
Speaker:people and then decide,
Speaker:cause we all steer our own ships.
Speaker:Exactly. So what I really saw was sometimes there's just things
Speaker:that needed some changing and when previous management decided to go
Speaker:the other way,
Speaker:I said this is a great opportunity for us to reinvent
Speaker:what's going on here.
Speaker:One of the really cool things,
Speaker:yeah. What about pasta moms in particular is they did actually
Speaker:close down the business and had a hiatus from 1997 until
Speaker:2010 and the volume of business that they were doing leading
Speaker:up to 97 was tremendous.
Speaker:They had done an incredible job with the business.
Speaker:There was tragedy with Paul,
Speaker:the owner at the time,
Speaker:he actually was in an accident and became paralyzed.
Speaker:Oh dear.
Speaker:And that's kind of why they shut it down for a
Speaker:bit. So in 2010 they came back.
Speaker:But if you think about the landscape of let's say mail
Speaker:order catalogs and writing checks and everything that was going on
Speaker:pre 97 and then you think about 2010 and you're now
Speaker:e-commerce and Amazon competition,
Speaker:I mean it's just an entirely different dynamic.
Speaker:So keeping that same business bottle and doing what they had
Speaker:known for so long definitely was a setback and they really
Speaker:needed to start reinventing things.
Speaker:So it was a struggle I think when they reinvented it
Speaker:and trying to bring it back around.
Speaker:And so that's what we looked at it as is just
Speaker:this awesome opportunity to really look at what we had and
Speaker:how it fits in the marketplace and really do something too
Speaker:that was streamline and cost effective because we're a small business
Speaker:and again,
Speaker:working with somebody who's a wheat farmer himself,
Speaker:he's not a huge investor,
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:More conservative business growth.
Speaker:Yeah. So at that time,
Speaker:I'm just curious,
Speaker:how did you go about creating,
Speaker:he didn't just hire you in because like you own a
Speaker:portion of the company,
Speaker:you're invested in the company in that way.
Speaker:How did you do this from a legal standpoint and or
Speaker:investigating whether this was a good idea for you to enter
Speaker:into? We definitely spent a lot of time looking through the
Speaker:financials the last couple of years and what the business had
Speaker:done and where it was headed.
Speaker:It was important for us obviously to look at what the
Speaker:advantages were,
Speaker:but not enter this as something that was going to be
Speaker:an immediate issue for us in terms of financial stability or
Speaker:having to invest a lot of money into it.
Speaker:So clearly a development move.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:So we spent a lot of time going through the numbers
Speaker:and when we finally settled on something,
Speaker:what we said was,
Speaker:we'll make this in the company itself.
Speaker:We'll take the time to do the things that we need
Speaker:to do and invest our own resources into it.
Speaker:As long as the partner that's working with us on this
Speaker:is able to continue funding the month to month minor investments
Speaker:that we need and then we can keep pushing forward with
Speaker:the new development of product lines,
Speaker:point of sale merchandising,
Speaker:just a lot of the assets that we really needed in
Speaker:general and really infrastructure for production as well,
Speaker:so some of the systems and processes in place needed to
Speaker:be updated,
Speaker:so that's how we went into it and really what we
Speaker:said too is we wanted to evaluate quarterly and then we
Speaker:set a deadline to decide how we were going to move
Speaker:forward as a partnership.
Speaker:Once we reached the point where we all felt comfortable that
Speaker:we were in the right position because it wasn't doing great
Speaker:when we took it over.
Speaker:I think we might get into that a little bit when
Speaker:we talk about some of the challenges,
Speaker:but I believe what I heard you just say is as
Speaker:you were looking at it,
Speaker:of course you're looking at the numbers and then you also
Speaker:divvied up responsibilities.
Speaker:These will be things that we're going to bring to the
Speaker:table. There are advantages for the partnership.
Speaker:These are things we're expecting you to do,
Speaker:which enable us to fulfill what we're wanting to do.
Speaker:So you have divided responsibilities before you even made an agreement.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:And we didn't just have that conversation that we drafted everything
Speaker:out so that you can actually see what those roles were,
Speaker:what they look like and what those responsibilities were.
Speaker:And then after a year we did the same thing and
Speaker:reevaluate it again and just looked at what do we need
Speaker:now and what are the next steps forward.
Speaker:Well, I thank you for sharing that because I think for
Speaker:our listeners,
Speaker:anyone who's interested in joining into a partnership that's really important
Speaker:is talking through all of that beforehand.
Speaker:The other thing I really like about what you're talking about,
Speaker:Eric, is points of evaluation.
Speaker:Like at certain points you have it built into the whole
Speaker:structure that you're going to be relooking at it at certain
Speaker:points along the way and making changes,
Speaker:deciding where you go,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Yeah, and you really have to,
Speaker:I think especially now things are always so fluid and constantly
Speaker:changing right now that you really do have to set,
Speaker:I would say at least quarterly.
Speaker:We do monthly meetings internally,
Speaker:but then as far as,
Speaker:well we do monthly meetings as partner meetings as well,
Speaker:but even the staff internally,
Speaker:we're always meeting on these things and then reevaluate our position
Speaker:quarterly and just check everything and make sure that here's what
Speaker:we set as goals and these are what we're aiming to
Speaker:achieve. What's still in line,
Speaker:what makes sense or what have we dove into development wise
Speaker:and then found out that this may not make as much
Speaker:sense as we thought that it did and what's another way
Speaker:of looking at it.
Speaker:So something that's pretty exciting that we'll be making an official
Speaker:announcement about here shortly is that we're going to have an
Speaker:offshoot of a lot of gourmet products that are going to
Speaker:accompany what we've been doing for years and really the recipes
Speaker:that the Santillana family left behind with the legacy of the
Speaker:company. So there's a lot of really cool attributes to the
Speaker:company that maybe some years ago we just weren't focused on.
Speaker:And now with some of the opportunities in the marketplace,
Speaker:that's where we see these new opportunities.
Speaker:Oh, that's exciting.
Speaker:You've piqued my interest there for sure.
Speaker:To finalize this portion.
Speaker:How Long a time did it take from when you identified
Speaker:the opportunity?
Speaker:I know when Sarah was working with them,
Speaker:maybe we're starting to think and build the concept and kind
Speaker:of lay the groundwork,
Speaker:but from the time you guys agreed that this would work,
Speaker:how long did it take to define roles?
Speaker:Do your due diligence,
Speaker:get something legal together and then sign?
Speaker:Really, and I think because it is a small business and
Speaker:without somebody in the proper position,
Speaker:it doesn't take it long to start falling by the wayside.
Speaker:We did this pretty quickly,
Speaker:but we did it in about three months,
Speaker:which may also be why we said after six months,
Speaker:let's really look at this again and revisit everything.
Speaker:And after a year again,
Speaker:so November of 2017 is when I came into this organization
Speaker:and we started revamping everything,
Speaker:so what are we,
Speaker:we're 16 months into this now.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker:and I would say finally with what we're doing now,
Speaker:we feel like we're really at a good place and the
Speaker:entire business has done a complete one 80 we've increased revenue
Speaker:every month over twice of the previous year,
Speaker:so we're really excited about just the changes that we've seen
Speaker:in the last year alone.
Speaker:Very cool.
Speaker:Okay. I'm writing some notes here,
Speaker:a bunch of things I want to talk to you from
Speaker:a baseline.
Speaker:Can you give us a feel for when you walked in?
Speaker:What were some things that you felt that you needed to
Speaker:work on that have changed to give you the numbers and
Speaker:the results that you're getting now?
Speaker:But initially what we had heard was customer service.
Speaker:There were just certain things that the customers seemed like they
Speaker:wanted to see.
Speaker:Our client base is small business owners.
Speaker:The majority of the business for a lot of years.
Speaker:We have a database of a little over 500 gift and
Speaker:gourmet stores around the country.
Speaker:Farm stands,
Speaker:mercantiles country stores,
Speaker:small hometown businesses,
Speaker:and so we pride ourselves on our ability to work one
Speaker:on one with these folks who are doing everything they can
Speaker:to run a small business,
Speaker:so we love that aspect of it,
Speaker:which means we really needed to listen to what was going
Speaker:on with them and so the customer service side was one
Speaker:of the biggest things and coming from a gift and gourmet
Speaker:specialty food item.
Speaker:Yeah. Obviously customers are very specific on what they want and
Speaker:what they expect and when quality changes or packaging changes or
Speaker:somebody makes an abrupt change and doesn't notify customers that these
Speaker:things are going out,
Speaker:you have to communicate with people and so sending some of
Speaker:that stuff out.
Speaker:The previous management did some rebranding,
Speaker:they changed some recipes,
Speaker:they sent stuff out.
Speaker:It didn't notify people and that you immediately start losing customers
Speaker:that way.
Speaker:I'm glad you bring that up because I was involved in
Speaker:the gift basket industry for a while and knew of pasta
Speaker:mamas and knew of them as being a solid reputation,
Speaker:solid product for a while.
Speaker:Then I dropped out of that industry a little bit.
Speaker:But I think that's the time when maybe some of the
Speaker:changes happened and you bring up a really good point that
Speaker:customers come to expect something.
Speaker:And certainly if it's a consumable product,
Speaker:so certain types of ingredients,
Speaker:your product is a certain way cause they're you in that
Speaker:way. And if anything is changing,
Speaker:and this is before you came on the scene,
Speaker:I know Eric,
Speaker:if anything's changing,
Speaker:it's really critical that you communicate that out,
Speaker:which is what sounds like maybe didn't happen here.
Speaker:So when you came on board,
Speaker:you were actually working,
Speaker:I don't want to say from a deficit,
Speaker:I don't mean to say it that way,
Speaker:but it sounds like there was a point when trust had
Speaker:to be reestablished and there was a level of education that
Speaker:needed to be had to say,
Speaker:here, this is what happened in the past and here's how
Speaker:this is going to be different for the future.
Speaker:Yeah, no,
Speaker:that's exactly it.
Speaker:And you said it perfectly,
Speaker:to be honest is we felt a little bit initially like
Speaker:there was a deficit there because so much business had been
Speaker:lost or it really,
Speaker:because these are small town businesses too.
Speaker:What's amazing about it is you do get direct feedback.
Speaker:So if someone had come in and had been buying pasta
Speaker:mamas from a local store for years and then they came
Speaker:in and picked up their typical groceries with it and came
Speaker:home and cooked it and it was completely different,
Speaker:you can bet that that person probably mentioned it to the
Speaker:store owner the next time they went in and that store
Speaker:owner definitely called us and let us know,
Speaker:Hey, you know our customers are coming in and saying this
Speaker:and that,
Speaker:and we heard that constantly,
Speaker:which sounds like a deficit.
Speaker:But what's great about it is we're getting the feedback.
Speaker:So if we're a big company in a big store and
Speaker:somebody goes in and complaints to the manager,
Speaker:they might apologize,
Speaker:wish them the best,
Speaker:but they most certainly aren't going to reach out directly.
Speaker:And that's really what we spent the first at least six
Speaker:months doing is just reaching directly out to people and asking
Speaker:for forgiveness.
Speaker:Hey, can you give us a shot again?
Speaker:Here's what we've done.
Speaker:We've revamped the recipe,
Speaker:we've gone back to the original one,
Speaker:we're using the same flowers,
Speaker:we're using the same ingredients.
Speaker:Give us a shot again.
Speaker:And they did.
Speaker:And that's the great thing honestly,
Speaker:about small businesses is that they're willing to give it a
Speaker:shot if you're willing to work with them,
Speaker:they're willing to give it a shot.
Speaker:I think as small business owners,
Speaker:we want to feel important and we want to know that
Speaker:we're being heard and that we're recognized.
Speaker:Our input is being recognized and to do that goes a
Speaker:long way.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:look at what you overcame and to be fair,
Speaker:I don't think,
Speaker:and I don't know,
Speaker:cause I hadn't tasted it during that transition time,
Speaker:but I mean it wasn't like it wasn't edible.
Speaker:It was just different.
Speaker:Right. I mean it wasn't a bad product necessarily.
Speaker:It just wasn't what was expected anticipated.
Speaker:And now you've taken it to a whole different level.
Speaker:We're going to get to that.
Speaker:We'll definitely get to that.
Speaker:It's interesting.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:So reaching out and talking directly and virtually being honest with
Speaker:what's happened and ask in kind of just asking them to
Speaker:give you another shot is what you're saying.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Yeah. It really is.
Speaker:Just we know we'd love to work with you again and
Speaker:really offering to bring value back to their business as well.
Speaker:And that is one of the things that I saw as
Speaker:such a potential with,
Speaker:this is again,
Speaker:from that 97 to 2010 timeframe,
Speaker:the consolidation and buying up of small craft brands,
Speaker:gourmet brands,
Speaker:food, beverage,
Speaker:whatever it is,
Speaker:any industry really that had been happening so much that it
Speaker:really did become harder for small businesses to buy these products
Speaker:from other small businesses.
Speaker:And that's what many of our customers prided themselves on was
Speaker:these really nice craft products.
Speaker:So there's not many of those out there anymore.
Speaker:It's coming back again.
Speaker:I think there's a lot of new craft businesses and people
Speaker:are doing amazing things,
Speaker:but some of these brands that have been around as long
Speaker:as they have,
Speaker:they've usually been bought up by somebody else at this point,
Speaker:which is eventually what you'd like to do with a lot
Speaker:of your brands and sell it off to and start something
Speaker:else perhaps.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:it was just cool to see something come back to life
Speaker:that would really start supporting these small business owners again.
Speaker:And I think that's why we've done so well in the
Speaker:last year is because we've done everything we possibly can to
Speaker:help them grow their business,
Speaker:which obviously in return grows ours.
Speaker:I think that that's why it's been a good situation over
Speaker:the last year.
Speaker:Yeah. Well the way you just described that as brilliant Eric,
Speaker:because you have a need the you want to get the
Speaker:product out and retell the story that it's now different.
Speaker:Right. But they also had the need of being able to
Speaker:get product that they're not seeing in the large grocery stores,
Speaker:their specialty.
Speaker:So this is a really important point on positioning for everybody
Speaker:to recognize and ways to do things for their businesses too.
Speaker:Because you need to find a need on behalf of who
Speaker:your customers and if you can talk to your product and
Speaker:how it fills an issue that they're having,
Speaker:you're able to jump so much further ahead.
Speaker:It's absolutely of your initial list of people who you were
Speaker:going after to tell the story they used to buy pasta.
Speaker:Mama is they probably they went through,
Speaker:I mean actually those customers went through a little bit cause
Speaker:the business closed.
Speaker:Then it came back up in a tireless different product.
Speaker:There were a couple of little hurdles,
Speaker:big hurdles maybe that you've had to overcome,
Speaker:but what would you say just you might know the number
Speaker:exactly, but like how many customers do you think you retained
Speaker:through the whole process?
Speaker:It's actually,
Speaker:it's kind of hard to judge because there's such a long
Speaker:list of customers from over the years and truthfully all businesses
Speaker:close and some go away.
Speaker:But really I think our list,
Speaker:if I had to say there's about 300 stores in particular
Speaker:that we really wanted to go after,
Speaker:I would say that we've gotten at least two thirds of
Speaker:those back at this point.
Speaker:I am not surprised.
Speaker:Congratulations on that.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So I know that you had to change,
Speaker:I don't know that you had to,
Speaker:but part of the success is that you changed the recipe
Speaker:back to the original recipe.
Speaker:What is that do back of house to you?
Speaker:How do you even do that?
Speaker:Yeah, so I said before I kind of came from some,
Speaker:I always think like a product as a product and as
Speaker:long as you know your product,
Speaker:the general strategy overall for business development and your processes,
Speaker:it should be similar,
Speaker:right? So whether you're selling sneakers or apparel or an energy
Speaker:drink or a bag of pasta,
Speaker:it all has the same type of business cycle and it's
Speaker:just how you look at it.
Speaker:But what I didn't think about with the pasta in particular
Speaker:was really how much science goes into pasta itself.
Speaker:Well, for example,
Speaker:I went to wazoo Washington state university shortly after I started
Speaker:because when I started looking at the flower and trying to
Speaker:figure out why the customers didn't like the product,
Speaker:because the flower did come from the same farm in Spokane.
Speaker:Again, the partner in the business,
Speaker:it was a fifth generation wheat farmer.
Speaker:He decided to harvest all the wheat himself one year.
Speaker:And then instead of using the typical mill that we use
Speaker:with a company called Shepherd's grain,
Speaker:he has a slightly different milling process,
Speaker:same wheat,
Speaker:same type of flour milled slightly differently.
Speaker:And it changed the consistency of it.
Speaker:So when I went to Washington state university,
Speaker:I was woken up very quickly when they told me there's
Speaker:over 15,000
Speaker:different strains of flour right in their lab that they study
Speaker:specifically. And I thought,
Speaker:alright, yeah,
Speaker:there's way more flour variations than I may have thought that
Speaker:there was.
Speaker:Well, yeah,
Speaker:it's crazy.
Speaker:So you start looking at what consistency the flour is to
Speaker:make certain things.
Speaker:And really what we were using was a little bit better
Speaker:for maybe like a pizza crust or bagels,
Speaker:but it was a little bit too firm and whole wheat
Speaker:for the pasta.
Speaker:So actually a semolina wheat flour is still all wheat flour,
Speaker:but the milling process is different.
Speaker:It's a bit more grainy and textured.
Speaker:But a typical semolina is what Italian pasta makers have been
Speaker:using for years.
Speaker:We went back to that.
Speaker:We just refined the recipes.
Speaker:We tested a lot of times and made sure that our
Speaker:hydration was spot on and what we were doing with the
Speaker:ingredients was spot on and we just dialed everything in.
Speaker:We set those standards again and made sure that we had
Speaker:one good handbook for everything production wise and that's where we're
Speaker:at. I could go down so many little rabbit holes here
Speaker:to try and stay.
Speaker:I know I'm going to try and stay on top of
Speaker:things that I think would be interesting and good information for
Speaker:our listeners too.
Speaker:Did you have inventory sitting there?
Speaker:Did you just have to like ditch in?
Speaker:Like was that a financial hit or how did you deal
Speaker:with that?
Speaker:First off,
Speaker:let me start with did you,
Speaker:Yeah, we did.
Speaker:So within the first,
Speaker:basically after the first three months and getting the feedback,
Speaker:I quickly learned that the flour just wasn't going to work.
Speaker:So I reached out to my partner and said,
Speaker:Hey, you know we have flour in storage somewhere.
Speaker:Can you tell me how much we have?
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:well, we have 25 pallets.
Speaker:Those pallets are 2000 pounds a piece.
Speaker:We had 50,000
Speaker:pounds of flour in storage.
Speaker:We go through about a pallet maybe every two weeks depending
Speaker:on some of the orders that come in.
Speaker:And we might go through it in a week,
Speaker:but that is a good supply of flour and a lot
Speaker:of it and it clearly wasn't going to work.
Speaker:So we did donate it to this great place just up
Speaker:the road from us called second harvest.
Speaker:They're an amazing nonprofit.
Speaker:They have this beautiful commercial kitchen and they do and repurpose
Speaker:all of these different food products.
Speaker:So 50,000
Speaker:pounds of flour,
Speaker:they can do a lot with that product.
Speaker:So we did write it off.
Speaker:It was a bit of a loss.
Speaker:But moving forward,
Speaker:you just have to make those decisions too and decide we're
Speaker:either going to continue making poor product and pushing out things
Speaker:that people just aren't into or you got to cut your
Speaker:losses and move on to something else.
Speaker:So that's what we did.
Speaker:Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker:Especially in the situation you're talking about a clear,
Speaker:well I can say that cause I know it's been a
Speaker:choice. So that's an easy statement for me.
Speaker:But in terms of just,
Speaker:even though it was a financial hit,
Speaker:just saying,
Speaker:okay, starting here now line in the sand because that also
Speaker:helps you in communicating with customers.
Speaker:We're serious about this,
Speaker:this is what we're changing as of now it's back to
Speaker:the new recipe.
Speaker:None of this,
Speaker:Oh we're just going to whittle down what we already have.
Speaker:Right, Exactly.
Speaker:None of that.
Speaker:It was just clear and I think that was a really
Speaker:strong solid statement.
Speaker:So with that,
Speaker:let's now describe,
Speaker:and I've had the opportunity,
Speaker:you guys sent me samples of everything.
Speaker:Not just the pasta but the sauce.
Speaker:Is it?
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I'm just going to start with so super yummy.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Without a doubt.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Good. And it's really,
Speaker:really different in a good way than some of the other
Speaker:pastas I've had.
Speaker:So you can definitely tell it's of high quality and flavor.
Speaker:And I guess the audience is saying,
Speaker:well, yeah,
Speaker:because you have Eric on the podcast.
Speaker:Obviously you're going to say that.
Speaker:No, honestly and seriously,
Speaker:it's true.
Speaker:So describe for everybody how you would go in if you
Speaker:were presenting to us for the first time,
Speaker:like we're all business owners and we have the potential to
Speaker:carry your product.
Speaker:How would you describe the line?
Speaker:Your mouth is going to start watering when you hear Eric's
Speaker:description, and that's going to happen right after a word from
Speaker:our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in
Speaker:seconds. Visit the ribbon,
Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:All of the recipes literally are traditional Italian recipes.
Speaker:And so when we say there's an ingredient,
Speaker:and let's say it's a spinach linguine,
Speaker:it is semolina.
Speaker:It has spinach in it as water,
Speaker:and those are the only ingredients that are in it.
Speaker:There's no fillers.
Speaker:We don't put anything extra into it.
Speaker:There's no preservatives.
Speaker:All of our ingredients are sourced locally.
Speaker:So we know where our spinach,
Speaker:shark, cayenne pepper,
Speaker:tomato, Bazell,
Speaker:anything that we have,
Speaker:it's all coming right from the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker:Currently we get everything from Oregon spice.
Speaker:All of our flour comes from Shepherd's grain,
Speaker:which is all non-GMO verified.
Speaker:And we pride ourselves on a product that is small batch
Speaker:and handmade.
Speaker:So we don't use high temperature drying machines.
Speaker:We don't use the $2 million piece of equipment like some
Speaker:of the large pasta companies.
Speaker:I have a great production staff who hand makes everything in
Speaker:small 50 pound batches.
Speaker:It's hand folded.
Speaker:It's long dried for 48 hours at right about room temperature.
Speaker:Typically we're right about 70 degrees.
Speaker:We use fans and a dehumidifier to remove some of the
Speaker:moisture. But other than that,
Speaker:we're not cooking it at 180 degrees for two hours to
Speaker:crank out as much as we possibly can.
Speaker:And what that really does is it leaves all the nutrients,
Speaker:it leaves all the good things that you want in your
Speaker:pasta in there,
Speaker:and it allows it to cook it a lot nicer pace.
Speaker:So it's just a higher quality product in general.
Speaker:And then the sauce is typically,
Speaker:have you spent any time in Italy at?
Speaker:I have.
Speaker:Yeah. It's a beautiful place.
Speaker:I'd like to spend a lot more time over there cause
Speaker:you didn't want to come back.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Yes. Well and it's really hard to compete with their pastas
Speaker:over there.
Speaker:And one of the things they always say is enjoy the
Speaker:pasta and the sauce is just light sauce.
Speaker:So we've always done a traditional dry sauce mix because then
Speaker:you can customize everything to exactly what you want and how
Speaker:much sauce you want.
Speaker:I think in America we tend to put way more sauce
Speaker:and she's done things typically.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:we just,
Speaker:all of our sauces,
Speaker:same thing,
Speaker:all natural ingredients.
Speaker:It's all just the best quality things.
Speaker:There's no binders,
Speaker:no fillers,
Speaker:No preservatives,
Speaker:no additives.
Speaker:It's just a great quality product.
Speaker:Again, all hand mixed,
Speaker:hand packaged and done right here and then the Tri-Cities in
Speaker:Washington. So what I'm hearing is that the real benefits besides
Speaker:the flavor and all of that is the health aspect.
Speaker:All the nutrients aren't cooked out of everything.
Speaker:Yeah. And it's not a high carb product.
Speaker:I know a lot of people think that pasta is just
Speaker:this high carbohydrate product as well.
Speaker:But again,
Speaker:it depends on the quality of ingredients you're using and how
Speaker:you're processing and packaging those ingredients.
Speaker:So I think sometimes we don't think about that in particular.
Speaker:We're not thinking about how our food gets to where it
Speaker:is and the process by which it gets there.
Speaker:We're just thinking about the end result and what we're going
Speaker:to make with it.
Speaker:Yeah. And that it's going to taste good and we're going
Speaker:to really like it.
Speaker:But it's really good if it tastes good and you like
Speaker:it and it also is healthy for you.
Speaker:Uh, yeah.
Speaker:That would be the best benefit I think.
Speaker:Yeah. How about that as a concept?
Speaker:Yeah, crazy concept.
Speaker:Okay. You know,
Speaker:a lot of our listeners as they're building out their own
Speaker:products, question their packaging,
Speaker:how they're going to represent their brand in terms of the
Speaker:visuals and how everything's going to be packaged up.
Speaker:And I know you guys just went through a whole rebranding
Speaker:and that was super fun because Sarah let me in and
Speaker:give some feedback on it.
Speaker:And I know you went through a couple of reiterations and
Speaker:landed on something really super solid share with us how that
Speaker:whole process went.
Speaker:Yeah, so one of the first things that I think,
Speaker:I mean with any product again is you have to draw
Speaker:your customer to it.
Speaker:There's going to be something particularly attractive about whatever it is
Speaker:that you're doing.
Speaker:And then it also has to pertain to your brand and
Speaker:the perceived value of what you're doing.
Speaker:So I think packaging is super critical.
Speaker:And then one of the most important parts of really your
Speaker:brand in general is how you look all the time and
Speaker:how you show up.
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:we really just talked to a lot of people and listen
Speaker:to what they had to say.
Speaker:Folks missed some of the old packaging from before,
Speaker:which some of it is nostalgia or some of it's habit
Speaker:and people get used to certain things.
Speaker:They missed it because of the imagery or the actual materials
Speaker:of the packages or,
Speaker:To be quite honest,
Speaker:they said it looked higher end when it was white with
Speaker:like a gold foil logo on it and they didn't like
Speaker:what we had done over the,
Speaker:I think it was like 2013 that was changed originally and
Speaker:it kind of ran through until we changed it over in
Speaker:2017 but they changed it over to like this black packaging
Speaker:or a black and it was Nice that they updated it
Speaker:and the branding had changed,
Speaker:but they just hired somebody to develop something new and there
Speaker:wasn't a lot of attention to what are the customers going
Speaker:to think and does this fit the food category and is
Speaker:this attractive for this particular product?
Speaker:And realistically,
Speaker:no, the black packaging and the colors that they use and
Speaker:things like that from not being attractive on the shelf to
Speaker:honestly people just saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we used to put all this stuff in gift baskets and
Speaker:it's really hard to match this to other products.
Speaker:It doesn't look good.
Speaker:That's really what the feedback was.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:How do we tie back and keep the original feel of
Speaker:the package,
Speaker:give customers back what they want,
Speaker:but really update something and bring it forward.
Speaker:Because a gold foil on a white label from the eighties
Speaker:isn't also gonna achieve what we need to do now.
Speaker:Right. So I love the fact that you started at once
Speaker:again by listening to customers.
Speaker:Super smart.
Speaker:And it's interesting because the way a package looks,
Speaker:even if it's the same product in the package,
Speaker:the quality can be perceived differently if there's not like if
Speaker:a potential purchaser can't resonate with it.
Speaker:I also know from working and being with Sarah for a
Speaker:while that you guys wanted to make sure that they all
Speaker:looked good on a display because your clients mostly are gourmet
Speaker:stores, so you had to be able to have it.
Speaker:Look, I don't know how to say this right,
Speaker:but in terms of the displays that it wasn't all just
Speaker:one signal package of positive.
Speaker:There were variations and flavors and it had to be attractive
Speaker:and also size wise for the basket people.
Speaker:Yeah, a huge part of that was making sure that it
Speaker:was something that we could merchandise.
Speaker:Well, You went through several iterations,
Speaker:right? Like how do you do that?
Speaker:If you're going to go through and rebrand,
Speaker:what's the process?
Speaker:Can you take us through the steps that you went through?
Speaker:First, it's the idea,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:our customers aren't liking the branding.
Speaker:It's not making sense.
Speaker:We need to change it up.
Speaker:So then what happens from there?
Speaker:Yeah, so I gathered the feedback from them initially and then
Speaker:what you look at is how do we stand out in
Speaker:the marketplace?
Speaker:So then it's one of the best things to do is,
Speaker:yeah, look at all your competitors,
Speaker:what's around you?
Speaker:So I spent a lot of time just cruising out to
Speaker:different grocery stores,
Speaker:small boutique retailers,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:And really just looked at all of our competitors.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:kind of what I said earlier is you have this big
Speaker:landscape of the big companies that do this in boxes and
Speaker:with high priced items or high priced equipment.
Speaker:And then you have smaller companies that actually similar to pasta.
Speaker:Mama's maybe haven't rebranded in years and the packaging is a
Speaker:little older.
Speaker:And then you have to think to the boxes,
Speaker:things like that,
Speaker:automated box packaging,
Speaker:it's so expensive.
Speaker:So how do we continue to do something that is cost
Speaker:effective? It's something that we don't have to make a huge
Speaker:investment in production wise,
Speaker:but then meet all of our objectives.
Speaker:Well, and for you with a consumable product,
Speaker:it has to be packaging that's going to retain the integrity
Speaker:of the product in terms of freshness and all that.
Speaker:Yep, absolutely.
Speaker:Well, and what we kept hearing back from people too,
Speaker:the bag they liked that you could see through a bag.
Speaker:I really was set on the idea that I'd like to
Speaker:have being an all product and health conscious,
Speaker:environmentally conscious too.
Speaker:And I don't love the idea of plastic,
Speaker:but realistically the cost of boxes,
Speaker:the barrier to entry and doing some of those things and
Speaker:the cost of the equipment to do it is just,
Speaker:it's astronomical for a small business.
Speaker:So the feedback was in general that they really liked the
Speaker:bags. Most people wanted the bags that we use right now.
Speaker:So it was kind of a no brainer to just redo
Speaker:the label.
Speaker:And we spent some time with the elements that we knew
Speaker:we wanted.
Speaker:We is obviously a huge factor in pasta.
Speaker:So that became an element and the logo and visually you
Speaker:just play around with it.
Speaker:I would,
Speaker:I always love to do is you look at the brand
Speaker:and where you want to see it and maybe five years,
Speaker:what's the vision,
Speaker:what's the story you want to tell?
Speaker:What is the imagery that you see representing the brand?
Speaker:And I create a vision board for all of that.
Speaker:So rusty pickup trucks in the field next to a farm
Speaker:with the wheat and straw hats and like just all of
Speaker:these different<inaudible> You kind of have to paint that image of
Speaker:what you want the brand to be and then look at
Speaker:how your logo and your packaging represents that brand.
Speaker:And so that's what we continue to do.
Speaker:And I think you're going to see that in the next
Speaker:line that we launch here.
Speaker:Should see it.
Speaker:I think at the beginning of may.
Speaker:So it sounds like it's an evolution to that image that
Speaker:you just set out.
Speaker:For us it is.
Speaker:So then you had some versions of what the logo would
Speaker:look like,
Speaker:you'd send it in,
Speaker:it would include wheat and you already knew it was gonna
Speaker:be plastic with some type of a label on it.
Speaker:Then did you go to customers for feedback on it or
Speaker:how did you decide and narrow down on exactly the one
Speaker:it was going to be?
Speaker:Yeah, you know,
Speaker:I did get some feedback.
Speaker:We reached out to some reps and we have some folks
Speaker:that rep our product as well,
Speaker:and we have a broker that works on some of our
Speaker:other accounts.
Speaker:So we definitely got feedback and really we asked folks like
Speaker:you, I had Sarah vetted through people as well.
Speaker:Yep. I got to give my input.
Speaker:That's what's super helpful is we got a lot of the
Speaker:same feedback on the ones that we were really looking at.
Speaker:So even after having several rounds,
Speaker:let's say we had six different versions of the logo and
Speaker:we really had two that we loved and getting feedback even
Speaker:from a couple of dozen people just reinforce that,
Speaker:yeah, we're headed in the right direction and this is perfect.
Speaker:I'm so glad you did that because you are so close
Speaker:to it and you're probably looking at all different versions of
Speaker:images and colors and like all of that.
Speaker:You get so lost in it sometimes that it's really good
Speaker:to get outside feedback and then for it to land on
Speaker:the one that you liked was perfect.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:Wait, well,
Speaker:and that's what I was just going to say is you
Speaker:get so close to it sometimes at some point you just
Speaker:have to say,
Speaker:yup, love it.
Speaker:Let's go and pull the trigger on it because I mean,
Speaker:yeah, sometimes I get caught up in the weeds on some
Speaker:of those things and you think,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:well we could do it this way or you could do
Speaker:it this way and really just got to pull the trigger
Speaker:and make it happen.
Speaker:I like to always say that a perfectionist paralysis and if
Speaker:you linger too long on something,
Speaker:you may never get it done.
Speaker:So just pull the trigger and go,
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:So true.
Speaker:And many of our listeners including me can be guilty of
Speaker:that cause we're,
Speaker:so we're gonna fumble around with the color of something on
Speaker:the frame of a painting or adding more to those glass
Speaker:beads or the jewelry or like you could go on forever.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:Forever. Yup.
Speaker:Yup. And that totally messes with your profits because you're spending
Speaker:so much time you can't output as much,
Speaker:especially if you're making single things versus you know,
Speaker:the type of thing that you're making.
Speaker:Let's move on to sales a little bit more.
Speaker:Cause this is always a big question with my audience is
Speaker:how do I attract more customers?
Speaker:You've already talked about the gold that was in the existing
Speaker:list. You could have said,
Speaker:Eric, Oh my gosh,
Speaker:all of these other people hate us because of what happened.
Speaker:We changed the recipe.
Speaker:Like I don't want to go and have to have those
Speaker:conversations with people.
Speaker:I'm going to start fresh.
Speaker:But you were really smart cause you saw the value in
Speaker:existing customers and that was a base.
Speaker:You had all the contact information,
Speaker:so you did that first,
Speaker:which is always the best I would say,
Speaker:where you can get more business out of existing customers and
Speaker:this is a good lesson.
Speaker:Maybe even if you have had some issues,
Speaker:it's always best to go back there first.
Speaker:But then how are you now today attracting visibility for your
Speaker:business besides being on a podcast?
Speaker:Yeah, which is awesome.
Speaker:I'm super excited that we even get to do this.
Speaker:Yeah, me too.
Speaker:Yeah. Really reaching out to everybody.
Speaker:Again, what it does is it reminds you of the categories
Speaker:of the businesses that you really need to be looking at.
Speaker:So looking at identifying certain categories where your product can be
Speaker:placed, right?
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And so even just using our own store locator on our
Speaker:website, which again,
Speaker:the little things that have to be updated and you go
Speaker:through it and you say you look at maybe your sales
Speaker:for the last six months and look at who your customers
Speaker:are. And who used to be and start reaching back out
Speaker:and then you start filling on all these other little holes
Speaker:where one of the strategies,
Speaker:honestly it was just we have these three stores and let's
Speaker:say Minnesota,
Speaker:well who else is in this general area and how far
Speaker:do we have to go before we hit another place that
Speaker:carries our products,
Speaker:so I don't want customers to be right on top of
Speaker:each other.
Speaker:I'd like them to have the exclusivity of our products and
Speaker:there's plenty of people out there to do that,
Speaker:so we really just started looking around at other stores.
Speaker:Olive oil and vinegar stores.
Speaker:Huge part of our business always has been,
Speaker:Well that's a complimentary product for you.
Speaker:Exactly. It's always been a big part of the business,
Speaker:so reaching back out to other places that are doing those
Speaker:things. Farmstands other mercantiles things like that that are in that
Speaker:realm. That's really all we started to do is look up
Speaker:those businesses.
Speaker:Was that part of your sales play though also that we
Speaker:don't want,
Speaker:we are reaching out to people who don't have our product
Speaker:already available in their area,
Speaker:which gives more potential.
Speaker:I mean that's another selling point for an owner.
Speaker:Just like I'll,
Speaker:I want to have that product cause kind of honestly,
Speaker:indirectly it's almost saying,
Speaker:but if you're not interested I'll go to someone else in
Speaker:your area.
Speaker:Kind of.
Speaker:Pretty Much,
Speaker:yeah. Kind of.
Speaker:Yeah. Kind of.
Speaker:So what we found too is because there's not that many
Speaker:other small pasta brands like ours,
Speaker:I mean to be honest,
Speaker:if you head on to other folks websites and they have
Speaker:store locators typically too.
Speaker:And so where are our competitors selling?
Speaker:Let's give them a call.
Speaker:I have plenty of the stores.
Speaker:There's one particular pasta company that is in many of the
Speaker:locations that we're in.
Speaker:And I think competition is great.
Speaker:So having them next to us and a lot of these
Speaker:places, it really just creates opportunity for both of the brands.
Speaker:And then we're really just competing in that space and it's
Speaker:just us.
Speaker:And so yeah,
Speaker:reaching out to some of these places that actually wasn't sure
Speaker:that they could get pasta mama's anymore and had been buying
Speaker:some of our competitor's stuff.
Speaker:It was great for them to see that there was another
Speaker:option and maybe it was the pricing was slightly different.
Speaker:Plus we have a couple of other things that that brand
Speaker:doesn't, it really again is just giving people options and so
Speaker:that's really how we reached out.
Speaker:Were you replacing then store space or you were in addition
Speaker:to the other ones?
Speaker:In a couple of situations we're replacing it in a couple
Speaker:of situations.
Speaker:They're adding us to it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I kind of feel we forget that if someone loves your
Speaker:product, they don't necessarily always buy from only one source.
Speaker:Like if you love jewelry,
Speaker:you don't only buy jewelry from one place.
Speaker:Do you like necklaces?
Speaker:Let's say you maybe have necklaces from a whole bunch of
Speaker:places. Same thing could be with pasta or anything else for
Speaker:that matter.
Speaker:If people love pasta,
Speaker:they may love both.
Speaker:You might be loyal,
Speaker:but there's no reason why one has to be exclusive of
Speaker:another. Really for both of you to win.
Speaker:I guess this is what I was going to say.
Speaker:Totally. Well And right here it's interesting because right here in
Speaker:the tri cities we have mean because there's been such a
Speaker:history of the brand here,
Speaker:we have such a variety of customers and we really have,
Speaker:wow, there's probably,
Speaker:I would say at least a dozen larger customers right here
Speaker:that are still smaller,
Speaker:independent businesses,
Speaker:but do a lot of volume with us and I would
Speaker:be willing to say that even though some of them price
Speaker:our products slightly different from location to location,
Speaker:I don't think customer crossover exists as much as you might
Speaker:think that it does.
Speaker:So somebody who might shop out at one of the other
Speaker:specialty stores may not shop at the grocery store down the
Speaker:road who carries the product.
Speaker:So you don't see a lot of,
Speaker:I don't have a customer coming in and saying,
Speaker:Hey, I bought this at this store down the road for
Speaker:$2 more than I bought it for this store.
Speaker:And just giving an example.
Speaker:But that's the general idea.
Speaker:There's just a completely different customer base shopping in different places.
Speaker:So there might be opportunities in places where you didn't even
Speaker:realize that opportunity existed.
Speaker:Interesting. I think you're right and I think nowadays too,
Speaker:we value convenience and habit.
Speaker:Just what's in our regular routine over price.
Speaker:Yeah. I always stop at this place on the way home.
Speaker:I love to grab it.
Speaker:Or you might just be familiar with the store and it's
Speaker:just a lot easier for you to get around.
Speaker:I know just walking into like you walk into a different
Speaker:Safeway or any store for that matter,
Speaker:if it's slightly different,
Speaker:it could be the exact same franchise,
Speaker:but everything isn't in an entirely different place and it takes
Speaker:you an extra 20 minutes to figure out where stuff is.
Speaker:It is so true.
Speaker:Totally. Final question here.
Speaker:Do you create certain promotions or something to gain trial of
Speaker:the product or what do you do from an offering standpoint
Speaker:for people?
Speaker:Let's go with new customers here.
Speaker:Anyone that's a new customer in terms of our wholesale business,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:free samples all day long.
Speaker:We'll send you some stuffs as cheating,
Speaker:check it out.
Speaker:Sometimes we go a little crazy and we may send larger
Speaker:packages than I anticipate,
Speaker:but I really want people to see the colors and the
Speaker:flavors of everything.
Speaker:I got that larger<inaudible> you didn't feel buried in pasta and
Speaker:sauces? Oh no,
Speaker:no, no.
Speaker:I loved it.
Speaker:Yeah, that's our big thing.
Speaker:I love people to try it out because if they do
Speaker:once they're going to love it and that's really it.
Speaker:So just try the product.
Speaker:We'll send it out to whoever we can,
Speaker:but then we do a lot of different promos and things
Speaker:like that too.
Speaker:Would you,
Speaker:if you're a brand new customer,
Speaker:we're going to help you out with your initial order Store
Speaker:displays. I was just going to say store displays.
Speaker:We do recipe cards,
Speaker:we do shelf talkers.
Speaker:We have like a pairing card that is a pairing card
Speaker:on one side so you can see what sauces and pastas
Speaker:go well together.
Speaker:And then on the other side it's kind of a value
Speaker:proposition for both of our product lines and the company overall.
Speaker:Just simple,
Speaker:quick, easy,
Speaker:something that's readable and a good takeaway for customers that are
Speaker:just cruising through the store.
Speaker:Even if they don't buy the product and grab the pairing
Speaker:sheet or something like that or the parent card and you
Speaker:have a little takeaway and maybe they think of it the
Speaker:next time they cruise in there.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that is an excellent idea.
Speaker:So gift biz listeners,
Speaker:any of you guys who are doing craft shows and you're
Speaker:looking at promotional materials,
Speaker:and this doesn't have to be just for a consumable product
Speaker:either, but the cards are a great idea for exactly what
Speaker:you said because you're also then Eric adding on like add
Speaker:on sales because if someone's looking at the positive,
Speaker:they're getting a certain one and they're like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I see three spices that are recommended now I need all
Speaker:three versus the just the pesto that I was going to
Speaker:get or whatever.
Speaker:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:And sometimes it's hard for some of these stores.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:in a grocery store you're maybe going to have just kind
Speaker:of the top three skews or something like that.
Speaker:We have 36 different combinations of flavor and pasta style.
Speaker:We have 16 different sauces.
Speaker:You're probably not going to see it all there at the
Speaker:store. So yeah,
Speaker:you pick up a pairing sheet and see that there's no
Speaker:man there.
Speaker:I didn't know they had all this stuff too.
Speaker:You might go to the website.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:because you're not necessarily going to have everything there.
Speaker:No store might not carry everything they should,
Speaker:but they might not even know why they don't.
Speaker:But we're trying.
Speaker:I know these crazy store buyers,
Speaker:like why isn't the whole store just your product?
Speaker:I know the stock is up.
Speaker:Alright, so given that,
Speaker:let's take a little bit of a peek into your future,
Speaker:and I do this also in a little bit of a
Speaker:different way.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:This is a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future,
Speaker:Eric, or the future of pasta mamas.
Speaker:You get to decide,
Speaker:so this is your goal of almost unreachable Heights that you
Speaker:are looking at within whatever time range you decide is appropriate.
Speaker:So please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What's inside your box?
Speaker:Oh, this I think is the gift of constant exploration.
Speaker:Ooh, talk More.
Speaker:Yeah. If I had any High expectation of myself or anything
Speaker:that I want to do,
Speaker:be it pasta mamas or my personal life or with my
Speaker:wife and kids.
Speaker:Any of those things.
Speaker:Just want to keep exploring and keep my mind open to
Speaker:new opportunities and new things,
Speaker:and I'm in kind of like I said earlier,
Speaker:the more you explore and the more that you open yourself
Speaker:up to new opportunities and just put yourself out there,
Speaker:the more that you see context to the life that you're
Speaker:living in and the synergy between all of the different things
Speaker:that you do.
Speaker:So being able to continue to explore with an open mind
Speaker:all the time.
Speaker:I just think it creates just this wonderful synergy in life.
Speaker:Love it,
Speaker:and that's what gives you the spirit and the energy that
Speaker:we hear in your voice.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Just that attitude and approach to life.
Speaker:I appreciate that.
Speaker:How would you direct our listeners to learn more about pasta
Speaker:mamas? You can go to pasta mama's dot com just P
Speaker:a S T a M a M a s.com.
Speaker:You can sign up for a newsletter there.
Speaker:You can sign up for an account and check out some
Speaker:pasta. You can send us a note at info at pasta
Speaker:mama's dot com if you'd like to try out some pastas
Speaker:and you're interested in doing anything like that,
Speaker:we'd be happy to send you some.
Speaker:You can email me at Eric at pasta mama's dot com
Speaker:also. Beautiful.
Speaker:That's pretty much it.
Speaker:Find us.
Speaker:Yeah, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram as well.
Speaker:We've got recipes and always updating new blog posts with recipes
Speaker:and content.
Speaker:Oh, Ooh,
Speaker:yeah, we didn't even get into that.
Speaker:We'll have to schedule another time.
Speaker:It will have to be for another time.<inaudible>
Speaker:so give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know Eric just rattled off a number of different ways
Speaker:you can connect up with them.
Speaker:I will have all of that information as well as the
Speaker:links to all the social media sites over on the show
Speaker:notes page.
Speaker:So if you're out and about,
Speaker:you're not able to have a pen and paper,
Speaker:but it sounds pretty easy.
Speaker:Just remember pasta mamas and I bet you you can find
Speaker:your way there.
Speaker:Eric loved hearing the story.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:I've known a little bit of it.
Speaker:I've had a few intimate looks behind the scenes,
Speaker:but hearing the whole story from you has been absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:You've shared some great,
Speaker:really solid best practices with our audience,
Speaker:so I really appreciate that too.
Speaker:And I look forward to seeing the future of pasta mamas.
Speaker:Thank you so much for being on the show.
Speaker:Awesome. Thank you so much too and I really appreciate you
Speaker:taking the time to bring me on and talk with me
Speaker:about all of this.
Speaker:Hopefully I wasn't too long winded.
Speaker:You weren't,
Speaker:but you have done one thing.
Speaker:I now have to go home and make pasta for dinner.
Speaker:That's just the way it has to be.
Speaker:Take a picture Tag,
Speaker:isn't it?
Speaker:If you do that,
Speaker:I love seeing all of our different recipes and anything that
Speaker:we have out there getting cooked up.
Speaker:So anything you're creating,
Speaker:I would love to see it.
Speaker:Okay. And we're going to end this on a final fun
Speaker:note. If you were doing that,
Speaker:what would be the pasta choice and the sauce?
Speaker:Like describe to us as we're going out here,
Speaker:what it would look like.
Speaker:Your favorite,
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I love the black pepper.
Speaker:It's got a little bit of zip to it and you
Speaker:can get it in a linguine or a fettuccine or a
Speaker:Pepperdine. I personally liked the big Pepperdine noodles and I love
Speaker:the creamy Craill sauce.
Speaker:I like a little bit of spice.
Speaker:I don't love a lot of spice,
Speaker:but the creamy cradle sauce and the black pepper pepper Dale
Speaker:with let's say some good fish and shrimp or scallops.
Speaker:So good.
Speaker:That would be a good way to go.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Alright, thanks again for taking your time today.
Speaker:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker:I appreciate it.
Speaker:Okay. I seriously think I'll be making Eric's pasta tonight.
Speaker:If you have a business that could potentially use his product,
Speaker:you definitely want to get a sample as he so generously
Speaker:offered and if you see it on the shelf in your
Speaker:local gourmet shop,
Speaker:take it from me,
Speaker:pick it up and plan for a very tasty experience.
Speaker:I'm really loving right now how one podcast episode is leading
Speaker:into another and next week is no exception.
Speaker:What comes up after a delicious pasta dinner?
Speaker:Dessert, of course,
Speaker:and I have a very sweet show being served up next.
Speaker:An easy way to make sure you don't miss any episodes
Speaker:is to subscribe to the show in Apple podcasts or wherever
Speaker:you listen to the show.
Speaker:That way a new episode every time it comes live will
Speaker:just automatically be delivered over to your phone,
Speaker:so that's a wrap for this week.
Speaker:Meanwhile, don't forget to join us in the masterclass.
Speaker:That link again is gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash masterclass.
Speaker:Bye for now.<inaudible>
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift biz breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:I've got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing,
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people and just for fun because
Speaker:we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody in
Speaker:the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite posts every single week without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.