126 – Get the Scoop on Package Goods Wholesale with Irene Costello of Effie’s Homemade

Hi, this is gift biz on rapt episode 126.

It was just started very organically.

And the next thing we knew we were in 200 stores.

Hi, this is John Lee,

Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

and you're listening to give to biz unwrap.

And now it's time to light.

Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific

insights and advice to develop and grow your business.

And now here's your host,

Sue Mona height.

Hi there.

It's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

If you are a gifter Baker,

crafter, or maker,

and own a brick and mortar shop sell online or are

just getting started,

you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

business. And today I have the pleasure of introducing you to

Irene Castello.

I read and her friend Joan McIsaac founded Effie's homemade.

This is a wholesale baking company and the inspiration for Effie's

homemade comes from Joan's mom Effie and her recipe for Oak

cakes. If you grew up on a rural farm in Cape

Brenton, Nova Scotia,

like many traditional farm house recipes,

the uniqueness of both cakes is in its honest and simple

flavors. All of their products are based on this premise as

Irene and Joan rekindle old fashioned and forgot the recipes.

Welcome to the show Irene.

Well, thank you To tell our listeners,

the way we got together is I tasted one of those

oatcakes and I turned to my friend who gave it to

me and I said,

O M G,

these are delicious.

And I never get tired of hearing that.

I bet.

Do you know who makes these?

And she says,

well, of course I do.

And I said,

Oh, okay,

share. I have a little bit of an untraditional way that

I'd like you to share who you are with our listeners.

And that is by having you describe what would be your

ideal motivational candle.

So if you were to create one that represents you,

what color would it be?

And what quote would you put on your camera?

Okay, so the color would be purple,

deep, deep,

purple kind of Royalty.

I should sounds to me I guess,

But I don't really think of it that way.

It's a very rich color.

I wear a lot of purple.

I even have two rooms painted purple,

my dining room and my bedroom,

a light purple.

Oh, beautiful,

wonderful. I love having it around me.

And what would be your quote?

The quote would be to listen to your inner voice,

pay attention and trust it.

Interesting. Yeah.

And there are certainly a couple of times in my life

where I put that into practice and it's really changed my

life. I don't know that we put as much value and

emphasis on intuition as we should.

You know what we're telling ourselves?

I think very often I'll hear people and I've done it

myself too.

It's like,

you know,

I just knew this didn't feel right.

Or, you know,

I did it anyway,

but something was making me second guess,

but I still did it.

You know,

I wish I would've listened to myself,

Pay attention to those feelings and the physicality of it too.

You mean Like to how your body reacts to something And

it's, you know,

I don't even like to use the word intuition because I

think sometimes people associate with women's intuition,

but it's more than that.

It's, it's an inner voice speaking and you know,

are you on the right path for your life?

And, you know,

happiness. Interesting.

I think in applying to our listeners too,

because as crafters and people who are creators,

a lot of times we think,

Oh, that's just going to be a hobby.

And inside you're saying no,

but there's so much passion.

How can I make money doing this?

You know,

maybe in your case,

it was baking.

We're going to get to your story in a minute,

but you can't always ignore that inner voice.

That's something that you really love,

which could add a lot of value to your life.

Right. And we'll get to that again.

But when people ask me,

you know,

how would you advise somebody starting out in the business?

I would say one,

listen to your inner voice,

but also have a plan for the business and where you

want it to be,

because it's perfectly fine.

If it's a hobby,

if your passion is a hobby,

that doesn't mean you have to go off and start a

wholesale baking or pickling or wholesale food company out of it.

Right. And what's right.

For some people is not right for others.

Of course.

Well, let's get into your story.

Tell us about Effie's home.

All right.

Well, Joan and I are actually about to celebrate a 10

year anniversary.

right? On the Eve of the financial market crash.

Oh, of course you did.

You just had to put a one more challenge up there.

Oh, of course.

And we're like,

the markets were crashing all around us and we're all looking

at each other and our brand new office and our brand

new furniture that we bought and looking at each other and

saying, how should we do this?

And really dear friends who we admired and who had been

in the business.

That was,

yes, go ahead.

In good times.

And in bad times,

people will always pay for a premium product and you've got

a premium product.

So it's the middle brands that get squeezed.

They encouraged us to continue on.

And it was about six months later that we actually introduced

the Oak cake,

which was February,

2008. And that's our first and flagship product.

Take it back and talk specifically about how you and Joan

as long-time friends,

right. Decided you were going to go into business together.

Sure. Well,

John and I have,

we grew up in the same town and we go back

to high school and I was a year older than she

is. And we had mutual friends.

And at some point I had made a big career change.

I'm one of those corporate people who jumped off the corporate

ladder. And I was in financial services for many years.

I had a pretty successful career and I was making a

lot of money and I have to confess,

I had those golden handcuffs on.

I knew I wasn't happy there and had hit the glass

ceiling and I really looked around and there wasn't anything else

I wanted to do.

That's a tough spot because you're making the money.

And everyone's like,

well, why can't you be happy?

You've got it.

You're making the money.

It was hard.

Yeah. I had a similar situation.

You just don't feel fulfilled.

I, when there's more to life than money,

Right. And don't get me wrong.

I liked the money.

But you know,

when I had a milestone birthday coming up and I just

know I can not be here on the next milestone birthday.

So I started to really think hard.

One thing that just kept coming back to me was I

love to cook and I love to have company.

And how can I turn this into something that I can

share with people?

So I looked at going to cooking school and I looked

around at a couple of places.

And then I realized,

Hmm, I visited a few cooking programs.

And they were either bachelor's degrees,

which I didn't need,

I didn't need to go back for four years.

Or they were restaurant chef type of programs.

And I knew as soon as I went there,

then I was like,

I don't want to be a chef.

I'm not looking to get into the restaurant business.

So what is it?

And then I found this program at Boston university and it

was such a Eureka moment because I live in Boston and

I live like a couple blocks away from the program and

the school I called the director and we spoke and it

was just like,

that's it,

I'm going to go for it.

And I started taking one class at a time.

And then as I approached that milestone 40th birthday,

I was at a point where I told my manager that

I want to go to cooking school and take a semester

off. They were going to let me use this program towards

my master's degree.

And he let me take a leave of absence.

And I left for about six months and I finished the

master's program and I never looked back.

I never went back.

And then I was on my own.

It comes together though,

because it's so crazy that the school was right near where

you lived.

It was what you wanted to do.

It was going to work out.

So you did have a way to go back.

If you decided to it's like the perfect storm,

it all came together for you.

It really did.

It was very clear.

Listen to that voice.

And then Joan and I reconnected after several years,

we had a mutual friend who heard that I was doing

this. And he said,

Oh, you've got to reach out to John McIsaac.

She went through that same BU program,

the culinary program,

and she's a caterer.

And now she's a really famous catering in Boston.

I'm sure she'd love to talk to you about some of

your ideas.

Cause I kind of had an idea of where I wanted

to take this.

And so I called her and we spoke a few times

and then I ended up doing a couple of jobs for

her catering jobs and would be talking.

And she was like,

you know,

I really like what you're,

I'm hearing.

I really like what you're saying.

And I didn't really mean to be in the catering business

this long.

I've kinda thought about a couple of things myself and,

you know,

could we put our heads together and kind of think up

a business together?

I'm like,

okay, sure.

And we tried a few Ruby charred was her catering company.

And she wanted to transition that into cooking classes cause she's

a fabulous teacher and I like to teach.

And so we did that.

We took her catering brand and we transferred it over into

a team building and culinary events.

And the idea was that eventually we would find our own

physical space to build out these programs and build out this

sort of have a retail component to it and a food

service type of component to it.

were renting spaces for our team building classes.

And it just like the planets all had to be aligned

to get one of these gigs to come together because we

were trying to schedule kitchens and manage company schedules and,

you know,

just get everything put in place while we continue to look

for our own physical space.

And we finally just looked at each other and said,

I don't think we can sustain this and we're not finding

a place.

And that was really good timing for us because as I

just mentioned,

you know,

the market crashed soon afterwards and I'm really glad we weren't

in that business.

I'm trying to keep a float with a lot of overhead.

Sure. Well,

you know,

the other thing that you guys did is you really projected

into the future.

Is this a life we want to lead?

Because if everything has to come together in that manner,

you're always under stress.

You know?

Like you're not able to focus then on what it sounds

like you guys loved,

which was actually doing the cooking classes.

You're focused on all the logistics behind it to make it

happen. Right.

That's a good message.

Gift busy listeners.

It's not a failure if you pivot,

if you get into something and it's just not working or

it's not feeling right.

I mean,

just like you're saying,

you know,

it's just not sitting well with you.

There is nothing wrong with adjusting your plan and pivoting and

trying something else out that's different.

Absolutely. And we pivoted a few times we had a few

business plans and would have an idea.

And one that kept,

you know,

sitting on the back burner was the idea of wholesaling Joan's

mother's oatcakes.

And when she was a caterer,

she used to make them.

And she knew that they had a very nice following or

customers loved them.

And so we said,

okay, let's take that off the back burner and just do

up a plan and see if we can make it work.

And that's what we did.

And that was the business plan that we ended up pursuing.

Okay. So you're going to try the oatcakes cause at that

point you didn't know if it was going to work or

not, but it had been in the background,

et cetera.

What were the first steps that you take to start your

business? Oh,

there are a few steps.

The first one was how are we going to make them,

how are we going to scale up for mother's recipe?

Are you meaning like commercial kitchen,

you know,

where you're going to make them?

Exactly. Okay.

Gotcha. Yeah.

Right. You know,

first we have to scale up the recipe for large scale

production. Okay.

I'm Just curious.

This has nothing to do with anything maybe,

but if you are making a cookie recipe just for a

family, can't you just quadruple or 10 times the recipe or

does that change?

Does the whole recipe kind of change?

Yeah. The whole recipe changes because you have fat from butter

or shortening and water,

the eggs and the leavening will,

you know,

need to be altered.

It doesn't just scale up by times 10 or times a

hundred. And then a lot of times it's the feel of

the dough and how thin the dough is because our products

are rolled out.

They're not dropped cookies,

but the thickness and the oven temperature and the type of

oven that we're using in a commercial setting,

it's very different from a home.

Okay. The first two things you had to do was first

figure out where you're going to produce the product and then

test, I guess,

and adjust the recipe so that the result is what you're

wanting to bring to market.

Right? And so we had a friend who had a pie

shop who let us work in her pie shop after hours.

And so we would be there working on the recipe and

we actually also wanted to test market it.

And so we brought it to a Christmas fair cause we

weren't really sure how much to charge for them.

And so we took it to a Christmas fair and we

charged $6 for a bag and they sold out in 30

minutes, we were gone like,

well, one,

we didn't make enough.

And two,

nobody has a problem set spending $6 on a back of

cookie. So this is right.

So, you know,

we've just started getting a little bit more of affirmation from

the marketplace.

So we,

you know,

using the friend's pie shop,

but that was not going to be sustainable.

We knew we needed a different kind of production method to

really scale up our output.

So Irene,

for someone who is thinking of doing some type of a

consumable where they're going to have to produce like this reflecting

back, do you think it was good,

even though you knew long-term,

you're not going to be able to produce out of your

friend's pie shop.

Was that a good way to start on a small level?

So you could really perfect the recipe and then test the

acceptance of the product in the market.

Would you suggest that to people to do it that way?

Sure. Yes.

And there are incubator kitchens around.

They're becoming very popular and in Boston,

there's the Commonwealth kitchen where you can go in and rent

kitchen space,

time and produce,

and then test your product in the marketplace.

And they help you set up with farmer's markets or small

scale wholesaling.

And it's a great way to,

without making a huge investment to test your proof of concept.

The other thing is that we learned in talking to friends

is that we needed money to help start up and investors,

aren't interested in building a kitchen for you.

They're not interested in brick and mortar.

They're interested in what's your brand concept and how are you

going to make it grow?

So that has nothing to do with the production.

And probably a little known fact among,

you know,

a lot of people is that a lot of food is

actually produced by what's called co-packers.

And these are people who on a contract basis will make

your product to your specifications.

And that's one that,

that was the way we ended up going.

We did not build out our own commercial kitchen and it

was great for us because you know,

as much as we both love to cook,

you know,

remember, I didn't really want to be in the restaurant kitchen,

right? Wasn't looking to be in a commercial kitchen,

you know?

Well, I'm the marketing and,

you know,

Jones and marketing and product development and the creation of the

product. And the day to day operation and production is down

to our co-packer and they worry about staff showing up today

and the equipment is down.

That's not our problem.

That's their day to day responsibility.

So it's nice.

I like that you brought up the way you and Joan

decided to take the business.

So instead of focusing on production and employees and building out

a space for production,

you two have elected to do the co-packer thing.

Like you say,

and then look at how do we continue to scale this

business more from an upper level,

like marketing,

getting into,

I was looking at your website and I'm hoping we're going

to get to that a little bit later,

but you're in so many stores coast to coast and you

know, you've got the volume and your brand is right on

your website is fabulous.

So I'm guessing those are the more upper tier things that

you guys are focusing on these days.

That's right.

And also starting out,

you asked earlier,

you know,

what were the things that you did first and creating the

brand. We spent a lot of time creating the brand,

the image and working with a designer to come up with

our logo and just,

what are we trying to convey in this,

you know,

in all the artwork and the colors and for every new

product that we came out with,

we knew we would need a color palette.

So we had to kind of think into the future a

little bit,

because we launched with just the old cakes,

which is not sure,

you know,

how that might be a little unusual,

but they're so good.

Oh, thank you.

And so yeah,

the other thing I'd neither Joan,

nor I had retail experience,

you know,

we, Joan's a chef and I came from financial services.

I might knew how to sell,

but not to retailer.

So we had to crack that nut next.

And we did it by going door to door,

to retailers around the Boston area.

We knew who the good shops are.

And we started literally door to door,

bringing baskets of our own cakes and asking them if they'd

like to sample them and bring them in as a trial

and then would deliver them Theo cakes if they order two

cases and you know,

it was just started very organically.

And the next thing we knew,

we were in 200 stores all on our own.

And looking back,

that's a drop in the bucket.

Would you say That if were looking at starting the business

and your vision was where you are now,

it would almost look unachievable being in 200 stores.

Like how do you get from virtually cooking in your friend's

pie store after hours to that seems such a big leap,

but as you're talking about,

you went in local,

it was smaller steps.

And then other steps that built upon that,

but all small steps that led to where you are today.

That's right.

And you know,

one thing that I think I've mentioned a couple of times

that we consulted with friends who were in the business and

that's one thing that I always recommend to people who are

thinking of starting.

This is just go talk to people who have done it

because we've got a lot of really good advice.

And one of them was,

we thought would be like hot diggity dog.

If we got into 60 stores in the first year and

somebody that we were working with doing some pro bono consulting

with us said,

now you've got to be in 500 stores as fast as

you can.

So you know,

like, Oh,

yikes, okay.

You want to be profitable in a couple of years,

you know,

60 stores,

it's not going to cut it.

So we got a lot of really good advice and there's

a lot of resources out there for people who are thinking

of starting this.

Cause it's not easy.

And there was a lot that we didn't know.

As a matter of fact,

Joan was like,

scratching her head one day.

It's like,

we don't know anything about wholesaling or retail.

I was like,

yeah, I know Joel.

But look at all these other people that have done it,

we're smart.

We'll figure it out.

Yeah, absolutely.

God, it's really hard.

And seriously,

The people who decide that they can't,

that's where everyone stalls.

Right. But going through being resourceful,

learning from others who have gone before you is how you

figure it out and how you get somewhere versus just stalling

and saying,

you know,

that's a big,

nice, big wall that people can make an excuse and they

can't jump over because they don't know.

And you guys clearly didn't do that,

but you did reference that.

It wasn't always easy.

So I'd like to go there for a minute.

Can you share with us something that was a real challenge

and what you did to overcome it?

Sure. Yeah.

There've been a few of them.

I think the first ones right from the starting gate was

getting money.

Again, we started right on the Eve of the financial crash

and we knew banks are not going to give us money.

So we didn't even bother going to banks.

We went to friends and family and going back to that

was part of the co-packing decision also because we knew we

weren't going to have a quarter of a million dollars to

invest in building out a kitchen.

So again,

that co-packing idea that really kind of solved itself for us.

And then,

you know,

what we focused on was the branding,

a website and building our sales.

So we were actually able to start the business on about

$60,000. The other thing that you were talking about that I

really liked was that you laid everything out.

You had the plan,

you were talking about this a little bit.

When you're talking about your branding,

that you weren't just looking at the oatcakes initially you were

looking at where you wanted to go for the future.

So you had a plan started and created.

I think it's hard when you start the visual representation of

your business,

because you're starting with a white piece of paper,

like it can be anything.

Right? Right.

So those types of things in terms of,

you know,

where then you spent that 60,000

was a lot of it in the pre planning.

Now of course it had to be production because you had

to produce the product.

But it sounds to me like you got professional help with

your branding.

And that is like all important because if you don't land

your branding and the message and the way you're going to

appear to the world that could break you,

if you don't get it.

Right. Absolutely.

And we invested in professional design firm to help us create

not just the package,

but you know,

again, the whole brand concept.

Did you do that right from the beginning?

Yes. Okay.

Interesting. Because a lot of people wouldn't,

a lot of people would try and take that on themselves

at first,

because you can write,

but it sounded like that was the right way to go

and give biz listeners.

I will encourage you.

We're going to talk a little bit later about how you

can get to the site.

Your website is beautiful.

Oh, thank you.

I love it.

You know,

in terms of,

it's very easy to navigate around.

It's very personable nowadays.

Everyone wants to know a little bit about who they're doing

business with and Vince,

your wholesale.

We would be another business who would be purchasing from you.

You want to know who you're starting to do business with

and that they're reputable and they're strong and the story behind

the brand and all of that.

And it's all shows on the website.

It's beautiful.

Oh, great.

Well, thank you.

Do you have any advice for somebody?

And I guess,

you know,

you don't always have to go that way.

If funds are limited.

I mean,

I would say 60,000

is a nice little kitty to get started with.

Not everybody has that,

but are there any ideas or thoughts that you would give

someone who's going to have to tackle this themselves?

Any suggestions since you've been through a more formal process?

Well, you know,

that's hard question,

you know,

why, because the technology's changed so much since we started.

And I really appreciate your comments about our website because our

marketing people are saying right now like,

Oh, you got to change your website.

It's really outdated.

So it was really nice to hear your comments about it

because that was an expensive website to build.

And now today you can build a website off of a

template and you know,

Bob's your uncle and you're off,

you know,

selling on Shopify.

And the technology is broadest there with just like really rapid

development tools.

So on one part it's great.

The other part is you have to keep up with it.

Well, give biz listeners,

if you want to give Irene a little bit of informal

market research,

go take a look at the website and comment on the

podcast, you know,

on gift biz unwrapped later and tell us what you think.

I personally think it's great.

So, and I'll give you the reasons later,

I'll put it on my own post as an attachment to

this. You always want to refresh and adjust and revise,

but I think it looks great.

Thank you.

Okay. Let's talk a little bit more.

So you're talking about how your needing to get into retailers

and you didn't really know the retail industry.

So you started small,

you're going into shops in Boston,

getting your product in the store.

My guess is that they're giving you positive feedback and reordering,

which is how you started to grow.

What was the approach to get in besides walking in with

samples as you were doing,

is there something else you were doing then,

or you do now to help scale the sales of the

business? Well,

two things we knew right away that,

you know,

we had a product called an Oak cake and that's a

confusing term.

What's an Oak cake.

The product came down from Nova Scotia and you know,

the history of the okay.

Cause it came over from great Britain and Scotland.

And then the recipe was modified,

you know,

in the new world,

they added butter and lard and sugar to it.

And today an Oak cake up in Nova Scotia is very

different from an Oak cake that's produced in the UK and

Scotland. So just understanding like what the product is and educating

people, we knew it was going to require a lot of

sampling because people would look at the products like,

well, what is this?

And it wasn't until they tasted it,

that they got the wow factor.

Like, Oh my gosh,

as you did.

Yeah. Just say that's a pro and a con,

it's a con,

because as you're talking about people don't really necessarily understand it.

So they can't relate to it,

but it's a pro because you're the ones who have these

and nobody else does.

Yes, it's a challenge.

And it continues to be a challenge.

And when you look at our other five flavors that we

came out with,

we continued on to make it even more challenging.

We came up with a corn cake and a cocoa cake

and a rice cake and a nutcase.

It has to align with the brand.

So that makes total sense Right now.

We've got a lot of sampling to do,

but sampling is key to our marketing and our sales effort

Out a lot to trade shows now as well for sampling.

Well, what we do,

so is we put a bag of samples in every case

of product.

So when the retailer opens that case,

there's a little bag of bite-sized pieces and they can take

that out and they can put it out and give it

to their customers.

So that moves product within existing establishment.

Like I know you're in,

around us,

you're in whole foods.

Are you in whole foods?

All across the country,

We're in seven regions of whole foods.

Okay. So lots of whole foods stores you're in,

Mariano's here in the Chicago area.

What are you doing?

Because you can't,

well, I guess you can send samples to other chains that

you're looking at getting into,

but how do you approach some of the new change that

you want to carry your product?

Oh, we'll call them up.

Or we're working with a broker and we'll find out who

the buyer or the category manager is.

It's different for every retailer.

And now that we're working with the larger retailers,

as I mentioned,

there's a category manager slash buyer and they'll have a category

reviews once or twice a year.

And so you get your over to them and they'll try

it. And they're looking at your packaging and they're looking at

the whole brand concept and deciding if they're going to remove

a few skews and make room on the shelf for new

skews, then they'll give you a shot.

Right. I mean,

wholesale is a whole different ball game for sure.

Oh, it is.

Yeah. Whoever look at doing both or are you solid and

strong with wholesaler Doing both like sell direct to the consumer,

right? Yes.

We do that on our website.

You do on the website.

Yep. And we're also doing it through Amazon.

Okay, good.

Good to know.

So GIF is listeners.

Oatcakes, they're my favorite.

I tried,

I think three different samples,

but okay.

Where the winner for me,

the original they're all delicious.

Okay. And then what is it that you can do to

affect your ability to stay in those stores?

Is it a customer relation situation or is it making sure

your product arrives on time?

Or what is it that you can do so that you

can keep your shelf space for the product that you have

and then build on that?

Right. So one of the most important things and takeaways that

I heard once at a seminar was,

you know,

you think you've gotten into the store,

which is great,

but that's the beginning of the race staying on that shelf

is when the race really begins.

And so to do that,

retailers, the larger retailers,

they're expecting you to do promotions,

you know,

offering temporary price reductions,

you know,

a couple of times a year,

they want you to place ads in their circulars.

They might want you to do coupons or all sorts of

marketing programs that they have that they want you to sign

up for.

But promotions are probably the most important Along with that also

goes all of the materials,

all of the physical materials that go along with the promotion

to right stop signage and all of that,

A lot of sense,

the larger ones will do it themselves.

So they're not looking for us to do shelf tags or

shelf talkers necessarily.

It's a matter of fact,

Wholefoods won't even take them because they have their own in-house

art department that might vary by retailer.

But yeah,

sure. There'll be very interested in pairing cards.

One thing we realized early on,

especially with the sampling was that our products go really well

with cheese.

And so one of the things that we do to help

educate the store is to show,

you know,

how great our products are with different kinds of cheeses.

Got it.

That helps sample.

And then that helps sell both products.

So this is really interesting Irene cause we've established already that

on the production side,

you're with the co-packers.

But a lot of the things that you're talking about now

require a lot of time and energy and analysis.

Can you give us a little feel for how you guys

are structured over in your corporate building?

Like it's you and Joan,

do you have other people helping with marketing or give us

a little feel for how this all comes together so beautifully?

Yeah. Well,

because we're using a co-packer then over here,

we're pretty lean.

We're a lean.

And we do a lot with contracting out very specialized services.

So we don't have our own in-house designer.

We use an outside designer,

we don't have an it department.

We use a web developer and a it person,

but we do have customer support in house and the marketing

person in house.

And we also have a marketing consultant that we work with.

We also hire brokers to help us with our Salesforce and

get the reach because we can't be in California,

in Chicago all the time.

So we have people on the ground who are covering parts

of the United States for us.

Well, that's a great look at what you're doing over there.

Not everyone is at the size.

You are the,

you know,

they might aspire to get there,

but they're not in the beginning.

And hearing that someone at your level and the size of

the business that you have outsources,

I think is really helpful and comforting to a lot of

people, because you can outsource for the small tasks you need

or the big tasks you need.

And when you're outsourcing those companies are able to take all

different sizes of businesses and they have the knowledge and the

skill already.

So you don't have to learn that.

So don't be afraid,

no matter how small or medium or large you get to

consider outsourcing for certain things.

I think that's a great add.

So thank you very much for sharing that.

Sure. There's a lot going on there.

How do you keep everything under control and productive?

Like, is there something that you're using within your day,

whether it's a app or some type of a program,

what are you doing that you find is really useful that

keeps you in line with everything?

We have a couple of programs first.

Yeah, we're using we're quick book shop.

So we're QuickBooks is doing all of our invoicing,

all the invoices and the orders come directly to us and

we get them in right away.

And QuickBooks has a wonderful reporting capability.

So we just kind of had to think through our accounts

are structured and how do we organize our distributors versus our

direct accounts and different sales channels that we're in.

And we're able now to just sort of categorize all that

and then manage it and report on it through QuickBooks.

But the other thing that we've been doing,

and this is actually his cost of some pain,

but I think we're on the right track now is we

use a customer relationship management system and we just moved over.

We're still in the process of converting to a product called

turn link,

turn link,

turn link.

Yup. Interesting.

And what do they do actually It's our third or maybe

even our fourth CRM system.

And we went with it because it was developed by people

in the food retail space.

And so it just has a lot of that industry knowledge

about the supply chain and how product moves and how the

different levels of reporting that you need.

For example,

we started out direct,

we still maintain our direct and we'll still drop ship to

stores who are independent retailers.

But when you start going through bigger chains,

they are going to require you to work through a distributor.

So we had to start working through distributors and learning what

that was all about.

Now about 80% of our business is going through distributors versus

direct. So we know what's going on in our 500 direct

accounts because we're the ones that are taking the orders and

talking to them regularly.

But once they go over to a distributor,

we don't sometimes even know who they are.

And so we really put a big push on getting information

from our distributors about who they're selling to and capturing that

information and putting it into our CRM system,

which has this nifty little feature called map.

My stores,

that's tied seamlessly to our website.

So when you go to our website and you're looking for

a store and you want to know,

okay, who is within 10 or 25 miles of my zip

code, it will come up with a list of stores for

you. And those stores now may or may not be stores

that, you know,

we do business with directly.

They go through a distributor,

but we've gotten their names and we've gotten the addresses and

we can track them now.

Well, and that's exactly what I did when I wanted to

see if you around me,

that's how you knew we were in Mariano's exactly and Deerfield,

which is right up the road.

Do you feel whole foods?

So hopefully they're going to have the Oak cakes cause I'm

going to be on my way to pick some up,

Oh, well,

day better made better.

What else do you do to stay current within your industry?

Well, we belong to an organization called the specialty food association.

Have you heard of that?

Okay. They have great educational programs throughout the year and they

have absolutely for anybody thinking of getting into wholesaling,

a specialty food product,

definitely look up the specialty food association and look at their

educational pages.

They have a lot of tools and programs that you can

learn everything from the basics of starting your own business,

to understanding the sales channels,

to pricing,

to promotion,

and just a really good wealth of information out there.

And so much of it I'm sure is online too.

It is.

Yep. And you get a good discount if you're a member

on some of the tools.

Oh, but you could use it even if you weren't a

member, you just pay more.

I think so.

Yeah. Okay.

Every time I go in now I'm already signed in as

a member.

So, you know,

it's like,

Oh, it's free.

Could you remember?

So it's an annual fee or something like that.

Yep. You pay an annual membership fee and then you also

can go to the fancy food shows,

which are there to industry trade shows each year,

one in San Francisco and the other in New York.

No, those shows well,

right. So we do those.

Do you exhibit at those?

We do.

We have a booth and we exhibit our own products,

but then we also work with the distributors who were there

because if buyers are out visiting their distributors,

we want them to see our product there.

Right. And then hopefully they'll stop off and see us too.

So give his listeners,

the fancy food shows are January in San Francisco and June

in New York.

And I would walk it once,

maybe twice wouldn't even kill you to do it three times

before you actually do it.

It's totally overwhelming.

And take the classes and just get a feel for it.

Cause it's an enormous show.

You have to have a business to get in,

which is one of the great things about the show you

have to show and prove that you have a business of

some sort to be able to get in.

Right. It's for the trade it's for the trade,

Right. It's not a public.

Right. All Right.

So now we may have completely overwhelmed some people listening here.

So let's take it back to,

do you have any advice for someone who's starting out who

looks at what you've done and is like,

Oh my gosh,

this would be my dream,

but it sounds like so much.

I just don't even know where to start or what I

should do.

Would you have advice for that person who's listening right now?

Who is motivated,

but doesn't know the first thing to do.

What would you say to them?

Two things,

one again,

buying these resources because they are out there like the specialty

food association.

See who's making,

not competitive products obviously,

but similar products in a category and call people up who

have done it.

One thing I noticed in this industry,

especially smaller companies and the people who are in startup mode.

We're a very sort of,

there's a lot of comradery and there's very nice people and

they should talk to you.

A lot of people helped us along the way.

And so Jones and my motto is pay it forward.

So we're happy to talk to people there you're listening.

And you don't have a specific question about starting up and

would be happy to spend some time on the phone with

you because people really helped us a lot and gave us

a lot of incredible insight.

There's no magic formula for how to do it.

It all depends on your personal plans and lifestyle and what

resources you bring to it.

There are a lot of different ways to success,

but do know that if you're going to go into wholesaling,

you know,

have sort of an end game in mind,

think about 10 years down the road,

15 years down the road,

you know,

depending on what your age might be,

because this is also going to be Jones and my retirement.

So we have a very specific financial sort of goal that

we have to meet Really important.

Yeah. As you're building the company,

are you building it to sell down the road or are

you building it for extra income right now?

That's really important because that goes through what you're going to

name things,

how you're going to work everything,

how you're setting up your systems,

because you want to make sure to set up systems so

that they can get transferred off.

Just like all the stuff that Irene was talking about.

That one is really super important too.

So great.

This is wonderful.

I now am going to invite you Irene to dare to

dream. I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

You bought me a house.

Oh, I Did tell me what does it look like?

What's a house on farm.

I'm not going to be a farmer though,

because I don't have that one more career left in me,

but I just want him to be on a farm,

like setting,

maybe have some chickens and maybe some sheep.

And I'm going to have my dream kitchen with people who

come and visit me.

That sounds wonderful.

So just like you have your plan for when you're done

with the business,

do you have your plan for what's happening after that too?

Which is awesome.

Right. And I have to stay in good health.

So by the time I get to enjoy it.

Okay. And how can our listeners get in touch with you

or take a look at your website or where would you

lead people if they want to see what you're all about?

Oh, sure.

Well, our website is Effie's homemade.com

and my email is Irene I R E N e@fec.com.

Perfect. And you were so generous to offer up that people

could get in touch with you and you know,

you're not the first person within the baking industry who is

said how generous everybody is within that area.

I think it was Rebecca Wilbur of Rebecca Naomi cake decorating

just a couple of episodes back who was saying the same

thing that within your particular industry,

people are willing to share and help and advance.

And I think it's also because nobody can copy exactly what

you're doing.

Clearly. Nobody has the recipe,

but the style and everything you bring to the business,

just like how you were saying that there's a lot of

different ways to success,

same thing.

Nobody can do exactly what you're doing.

Right. So I think that helps with people being willing to

share and support each other too.

Absolutely. Thank you so much.

You know,

Irene you've given us such a good look,

I kind of like peek behind the door a little bit

at what wholesale is all about.

So really interesting.

I appreciate everything that you've shared with us today.

And I kind of say along the line of the theme

with the candles that we started out with is generosity is

when you light someone else's candle with the flame of your

own. And that's what you've done by just giving us,

you know,

some information and a behind the scenes,

look at what you're all about.

Thank you so so much.

You're welcome.

It's my pleasure.

And I have To end with saying that my wish for

you is that your candle always burns bright.

Yeah. Listeners.

That's a wrap.

And thank you for joining me today for the show.

I wanted to give you a couple of announcements here.

I am just recently gotten back from a podcast movement,

which is a conference for the industry of you guessed it,

podcast hers.

And just like I say to you,

that you should be continually upgrading and educated learning everything You

need to know about your industry.

That's what I've been doing with podcasting.

And so I've come back here and I think I want

to switch some things up for the show for a while.

I've been challenged because I try to make these shows evergreen

meaning any show that you watch is going to be relevant

for any timeframe that we're in.

And that's because these shows are meant to teach and train

and educate and motivate you as you move forward with your

dream, your creative journey,

your vision for your business.

But towards that end,

I've eliminated a lot of time-sensitive type information.

For example,

if I'm out at trade shows or if I have a

course, that's open things like that because I felt like it

would affect the integrity of the ability for a show to

be evergreen.

Well, I've talked with a couple of people over at podcast

movement and they've convinced me that that is not the case.

Even though we have listeners who might just start listening even

today, this was their first show.

People like to go back and look at different shows even

from two years ago.

And for the most part,

I think everyone understands that they are produced at a certain

point in time.

So there may be things that aren't as timely or available

anymore, versus when a show might've been broadcast.

So you're going to see me popping in here in a

more natural way from this point forward.

And with that said,

I have three things to tell you.

The first thing is feedback.

I would love to have feedback from you guys on the

show. What's good.

Is there something you'd like to see that isn't included at

this point that would help you out or any information at

all, feel free to send me an email and that would

be at SU at gift biz,

unwrapped.com. Secondly,

this September 10th through the 12th.

So that's September 10th through 12,

2017. I'm going to be at the Philadelphia candy show now

a little crazy,

but the Philadelphia candy show is actually in Atlantic city.

This year,

I'm at booth number four 18.

And again,

please stop by if you're going to be at the show.

And finally,

I have a little request of you.

It would help me so much.

If you are one who listens to this show on iTunes,

if you would be so kind as to subscribe to the

show, which is great,

because then you always know when new episodes come out.

And also if you could give me a review,

I'm hoping it's a five-star review,

but honesty is the name of the game.

So anything that you want to put there is fine.

I know that I tuned.

Doesn't make it very easy to figure out how to do

this. It's always a challenge,

but let me just give you a little bit of direction

on your phone.

All you would do is tap that purple podcast icon and

then tap on the search button.

The microscope enter in the name of the podcast,

gift biz unwrapped.

And then you'll see right there,

there's a little button you can do review and then write

a review.

I would so appreciate your doing that.

And honestly,

I don't mind if you want to put in a little

bit of PR for yourself to tell me your name and

tell me your company,

if you'd like.

And I don't know if you've noticed,

but over on our website,

gift biz on rap.com,

we do a scrolling image of all the reviews that come

through. So this could give you some extra publicity as well.

That's all I have for you today.

Thank you once again for joining in with me and I

will catch you on the next show.

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