Monday, November 8, 2010

Doing Something Right…

Michael A. here.  Well, we must be doing something right.  Not only are people buying our sauces but now they are coming back to buy more!  That is the true measure of success.  It’s easy to get them to buy the first time, it’s much, much harder to have them come back and buy more.  AND, more gourmet shops are starting to order our sauce!  We are watching our inventory levels fall…so much so we are having a meeting with Rid’s favorite folks, THE CO-PACKERS, later this week.  Time to discuss that next production run.  And to see if my eyes get real small again.  I’ll leave that for Rid to report on.  One thing is for sure, this next production run won’t be for the minimum! 

Rid mentioned we went back to school.  St. Joseph’s University Food and Marketing program had us in one of their senior classes.  The class had been assigned our company as their mid-term exam.  We sat in on the class while they reviewed our company, our products, our business strategy, etc, etc.  We were impressed.  They were a bunch of very bright young people!  We had fun hearing their perception of our company and what we were doing and we got to answer their questions on why we have done what we have done.  (As if we really know…..)

And just this afternoon our PR guru, Eileen Acello, let us know we are featured, as a Top Story no less, on Food and Beverage World.Com.  (FBWorld,com) Wow, what a nice write up.  We really must be doing something right!

Stay tuned… more exciting things are in the works.  More media coverage, new products, holiday specials and who knows what else…

Thursday, November 4, 2010

"I'll give em a try"

Well folks, we are in business. Stores are beginning to order our superb simmer sauces for their stores and sales are pretty good!  Some stores are sampling and when a customer walks into their store, they notice the wonderful smell of our Piccata or other sauce and ask, "Mmmmm, that smells good, what is that?" BINGO- thats the way to make a sale for sure!

We are showing off our sauces daily and know a time will come when we need to expand through the use of distributors.  Running around from store to store aint easy. I find myself exhausted by 4pm. Right now though, we want to meet our clients face to face. Know their business and work with them to maximize sales. It's a learning curve for us.

Eileen, our marketing guru, is trying to get us on TV. Articles are coming out which are giving us high marks for our sauces.  We are on our way......gotta keep that snowball growing!

A lot of customers are buying our 4-pak to give as Xmas gifts this year.   A tasty choice indeed!

Stay tuned--and buy our sauces online or in one of our retailers--if you live near Philly.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Knock knock......

Rid here: Well, now it's hustle time.  Pressing that flesh. Trying our best to get into every gourmet shop around. I am a little impatient though.  Of course they want to sample the sauces....that takes time. Ugh.
Then...they have to think about it.  Ugh. I want to walk in, wow them with our pitch and have them yell out, " OMG, I'll order 100 cases of each sauce-- you have created the greatest thing since sliced pineapple and we want it in our stores--NOW!"

Aint gonna happen like that.  I'm learning a whole new phase of this business now. It's called persistence and patience. Ugh. Ugh.

We had the good fortune of being featured in the local newspaper. A great article about two guys who, out of work, start up a unique food company.  And people are noticing.  We are getting calls, emails and the like.  We are also sending out samples and our sales kit to food websites, reviewers, online gourmet sites and media folks.  I'm now best friends with the girl at the local UPS store.  I walk in and she says, "the sauce man is back"  I tell her that I am now a saucier extraordinaire.  (Am I losing it already?) The trick is to hustle. Never quit. Work 12-15 hours a day.  Get out there. Analyze. Strategize.  Scrutinize.

Im also learning how to be a sales guy.  I'm not a sales type person.  But again, I'm learning. And listening. Trying different tacts.  Honing my skills.

Online orders are slowly coming in--and that's to be expected.  It's going to snowball. Into a really really big snowball we hope.

Tomorrow, Michael A. and I are attending a class at St. Joseph's University's Food marketing school. This is going to be a thrill.  And we are excited by being selected to be a part of their marketing assignment. These students will grill us and we will grill 'em right back. Ha!

Wow....things are actually starting to pop.  (wow)

time to cook dinner.  Am making my not yet famous shrimp scampi tonight (hint: add orange zest with the lemon zest-red pepper flakes, lots o garlic!)

Til later.....

Friday, October 22, 2010

Moving to the head of the class!

Rid here:  We are in a high state of marketing now. Calling on gourmet shops, gift basket companies, food publications, friends, relatives... everyone. The response has been good.  Very good indeed!

Now we have been invited by the good folks at St. Joseph's University for our company to be featured in a food marketing class. Students will be asked to develop marketing ideas for our new and growing food business. Michael A. and I will attend and answer  (oh Gawd) all those questions about our business.

Can't wait. Since my background is advertising and marketing, it should be a snap--right?  We'll see....

The game has changed in the world of marketing. Aint no more just run an ad. It's Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Dugg, FoodBuzz, whatever. I don't know this stuff.....so I'll excuse myself from class and turn it over to Michael. Hahahahahaaaaaa!!!

Good luck big Mike.  I'll get it all on video and post it Youtube.   Seriously though, it will be an engaging two hours of learning for the students as well as for two bald guys who sell the best simmer sauces in the universe.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Cha Ching$$$

Michael A. here.  It’s been a busy time the last few days at Lizbeth Lane Gourmet Cuisine.  As you know the sauces are in!  We’ve been selling 4 packs faster than we can box them up.  Pay Pal orders are coming in.  We even had an inquiry from Australia about buying our sauces!  Shipping is a bit much so the person is waiting to buy them when she comes to the USA in a couple of months.    Of course Rid and I are now considering the need to make a trip Down Under to set up a distribution network.

I had to make a bank run yesterday to deposit sales receipts.  Yeah…REVENUE!  After all these months of sending money out it’s really nice to actually bring money in!  I had so many checks to endorse that I went to Staples after the bank to order a “For Deposit Only” stamp.  Now that’s one expense I have no trouble paying.

Rid and I are busy sending out sample packs and sales data to Gourmet shops that are interested in our sauce!  We are meeting today with the fulfillment folks and UPS to get the best shipping rates for our customers.  Tomorrow we have an interview with a local publication about us and the company…photographer included!  Hey Eileen, how’s our spot on Rachel Ray and the View coming along?

It’s a busy time here at Sauce Central.  Check back in to keep up with what’s happening. 

Oh BTW, if your interested in buying sauce and live within 25 miles of Sauce Central, call or email us directly.  We’ll process your order and deliver it for free.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

It's been one year?

Rid again: I just read Michael A,'s post below and found it to be touching and quite sentimental. Can't believe it's been a year since he became freed from the bounds of corporate culture.

Feels like 5 years, are you kidding!?

This is a tough road, folks--but the payoff is terrific. Hard work does get you there... eventually. People probably think we sit "poolside" in the summer, sipping cocktails and playing with our dogs or something. No way!  We are in the trenches. Meeting with people. arguing and fighting for our collection of simmer sauces.  Yes, it's tough out there. But fun, so far.

Buy our sauces. They are online now. They are very good. No... they are better than that. They are fabulous.

Happy anniversary Michael. Free at last.....

Friday, October 15, 2010

One year…

Michael A. here.  One year…one year tomorrow.  October 16, 2009, ironically enough Bosses’ day, Kathy’s birthday, the day she could retire with full, pension, benefits, etc…Kathy in New York with her mother in the ER…and I lost my job. I’ve mentioned it before at the start of this blog many months ago.  It was all about dysfunctional personality, abusive ego, narcissism, etc... And none of it mine.

One year...what a journey. From COO of a $40 million company to house bitch.  Kathy’s term, not mine :) And many positive things have happened.  An opportunity to do things with the kids.  Raise a puppy (well that wasn’t first on my list), relax for the first time in years, and along the way discover an opportunity to reinvent myself with something I really love.  Food.  And do it with a really great guy, my partner, Rid Francisco. 

Oh yeah, and miss the FBI when they came knocking at the door of my former boss…now there’s a FML moment! (Yes, there is a God and she has a wicked sense of humor!)

One year…and now Lizbeth Lane Gourmet Cuisine is a reality!  After a really long, painful, long, stressful, long road, the sauces are done.  We are already selling our 4 pack sampler almost as fast as we can box them up.  Tomorrow the online credit card purchasing is active.  Our media/PR person, Eileen Acello of Acello Media Solutions, is pounding the pavement, burning up the wires and getting us out there and known!  We have an interview next week for a local publication.  Buyers for gourmet shops and specialty distributors are asking for sales data and samples.  It’s only a matter of time before we’re on Rachel Ray and the View!  No pressure Eileen. :):)  

One year… and I met the first of my goals.  To sell that initial jar of sauce before October 16, 2010.  Now on to my next goal…for Rid and I to be on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine.  And of course there’s that other goal about the first million………

Stay tuned…the next year should be quite exciting…

Monday, October 11, 2010

Toughest critics try the Piccata

Rid here- On Saturday, my daughter called and said, "hey dad, want to meet in New Hope, PA for lunch? I jumped at the chance.  She lives in Scarsdale, NY, so its about half way for us.  I was excited to see my two grandkids, too. So we met. Had lunch. I gave her a set of the sauces to try.  She mentioned that Stacey, my youngest daughter, and her hubbie were coming to her place Sunday for dinner--and that they would try one of the sauces.

I told her they were great tasting but deep down inside I was sweating bullets.  My kids don't screw around when it comes time to hand out real honest, stern "hanging judge" type criticisms.  If we can live through this--we have it made......

Last evening the phone rang about 7:30pm.  It was the kids.  "Oh God--this is it..." I thought. They're gonna tell me that the sauce they tried was no big deal, in fact they didn't like it at all.  Lauren will say that her husband, Alan,  is having a bowl of cereal  for dinner after trying it......

My wife, Connie hands me the phone.....  I'm trying to analyze her expression. Uh oh, why is her eyebrow doing that,  Im wondering.

"SO, what did you think?", I asked.   "Well dad, we tried the Lemon piccata- had it with chicken-- prepared it just like the label said-- and the votes have been tallied," she said.

I'm now cringing.  praying. I mean, these girls of mine dont pull punches. There's a painfully long pause.......then

"AWESOME. A TEN. IT WAS REALLY  REALLY GOOD, DAD. BILL HAD THIRDS!"
"Your kidding, right?" I asked.  No, they all thought it was great. I think they were actually surprised that their father made something that actually tasted so good--and that it came from a jar.

I asked the toughest critique question of all. I mean, I had to know... "would you serve it to guests?"
"Absolutely", Lauren replied.  I wanted to drop to my knees and weep with happiness.

They made my day.  My girls loved our Lemon Piccata. I will live to see another day.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Enter: marketing/being fulfilled!

Rid here:  Okay, the sauces are still at the co-packer. The sauces need to be pH tested 48 hours after production. After pH approved and FDA approval, we ship em to our fulfillment house in Thorndale, PA.

This is not just any fulfillment house though.  They are called HandiCrafters.  It is a non-profit organization that employs people who are physically and mentally challenged.  My stepson, Rob works there and loves it. These folks do a great job and HC provides a fabulous way for these people to really take pride in the work they do.  I believe these people, despite their limitations, actually do a better job than other fulfillment places. And yes, they are more affordable than for-profit fulfillment companies.

Our marketing guru, Eileen, from Acello Media,  is busy getting the word out.  Here there and everywhere.  Our strategy is to contact every single person in the food trade and let them know that our simmer sauces are about to hit the market.  We are doing PR releases, food blog entries, email blasts and more. My email box is filling up fast!  Ahhhhh!!!!   Slow down Eileen!!   People are starting to come out of the foodie woodwork and take notice though--that's a good thing.

As for designing all our marketing materials-- thank God that I am an art director by trade.  I designed the website, our labels, our brochures, our data sheets, our ads, our logo, shot and cut our videos....(I want Michael A. to read this list and realize Ive saved us about $50,000 so far). tee hee hee.

Yes, its getting a little crazy. I dont understand all these foodie bloggie type websites though. Dont know how to add the friggin items properly. But social network marketing is a biggie....gotta do it.

There are so many new avenues for marketing these days--it's hard to keep up.  When I worked in ad agencies in NYC, it was basically ads, TV spots and collateral support materials (brochures, posters, etc.)

Im hungry....gonna go toast me a big "everything" bagel.

Til later..

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

TWO MEN GIVE BIRTH!

We are pleased to announce the birth of healthy and beautiful quadruplets!  Each weighs about 1.0 lbs. Their names are: Lemon Piccata (Lem for short), Mediterranean Tomato, Roasted Red Pepper & Basil Cream and finally, Marsala & tarragon.

Yes, folks, we dragged our butts outta bed early yesterday and made our way to the co-packer. And after 14 hours of grueling labor, updating our spouses, tweaking, meeting, huddling, sampling, worrying, celebrating and loads of anticipation, produced four wonderful and delicious simmer sauces.  We are so proud and excited! Can't wait to show them off to the world and have you try them all. They are available for purchase on our website at www.LizbethLaneCuisine.com. By the way, the births were ALL NATURAL.....hahaha. (couldn't resist)

We now just need the blessing from the FDA and we are in business! So, stay tuned.  It's going to be lots o fun.  The journey so far has been wild---and to think we're just getting started.  Yikes.


Friday, October 1, 2010

O Day of Days?

Michael A. here.  Sorry I haven’t written lately but my eyes have been so small that I couldn’t see right to write. :)  Rid has been keeping you all posted on our continuing journey.  We were joking today that if we go to hell we would find ourselves on the small line (all hand work) of a co-packer doomed to never quite get the sauce done! 

This week was more of the same, on the phone…do we have all the ingredients…did Cornell approve the processes…how in the world can we not get mushrooms when we live in the mushroom capital of the world, 6 pack vs 12 pack cases…etc, etc, etc!  My eyes were so small Rid was avoiding me. FML…

But today, a good meeting with the spice folks, a GREAT meeting with the fulfillment folks.  (BTW:  Check them out at http://www.handi-crafters.org  Good people doing a wonderful job for some special people.  We are going to work with them to do all our packaging and shipping.)

Driving home after the meeting I make a call, oh something like the 4,378th call about our sauces and guess what?  This is it; it’s all there, labels, jars, Mushrooms and even approval from Cornell!  WE ARE ON…Monday, October 4, 2010 Lizbeth Lane Gourmet Cuisine goes to production.  

Stay tuned, either we take a giant leap forward Monday or maybe we just find out we’ve died and are in that special hell reserved for Rid and I…keep your fingers crossed for us.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Mushrooms found

Rid again: It's now the 29th of Sept.  Our co-packer found mushrooms.  Wow....I knew they were out there somewhere.  So, we have that under wraps--now we need to get Cornell to approve the processes before we can go into production.  Uh oh.....this may take some time.

Today I ordered hangtags for the giftpacks that we'll sell online. I ordered handout cards-meant for consumers. I ordered the carriers that the giftpack of sauces come in. We got our new checking acct for retail and wholesale business. We have our liability insurance in place. We ordered the labels....lets see...
we also are having a meeting with our fulfillment house, who will pick and pack and ship our orders.
We need to order shipping cases and labels for the carriers.  We are working on developing PR for our company.  We are looking at some small scale advertising as well. We are arranging the trucking of our sauces (once the beauties get produced) to transport them to our fulfillment house. Michael and I will keep some of the cases for sampling and to promote ourselves to gourmet shops.  

It's easy to start a company like this--a snap.  Just cook up some sauce and hit the road.....hahahahahaha!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Fungus problems

Rid here: We live and work near the mushroom capital of the world--Kennett Square, PA.  This area produces most if not all the friggin mushrooms you eat.  I mean, there are smelly farms everywhere-producing millions of mushrooms per week.  Michael and I even visited one of them and the tour was really amazing.  Michael A. really is a "fungi" to spend the day with by the way.   (sorry about that).

Anyway, we go into production on Monday the 4th of October. Today is the 28th of Sept.  We are scrambling to get all our ducks in a row. There are many ducks to deal with, too.

Well....... guess what?   We got a big f**kin problem-- the mushrooms we need? There's a shortage and it will take 4 weeks to get them.  Four weeks!  They are white mushrooms which are quick frozen--and all natural.  They retain their flavor better and won't spoil....AND THERES A SHORTAGE!!!

Michael A. just emailed me with the subject: FML-- so I knew it was a biggie. It is.

In the capital of the mushroom world, there are no mushrooms for us. For everyone else? plenty.
WTF.   Stay tuned.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Labels are off to....

RId here:  I sent the jar label art off to the printer on Friday.  Proof is looking a little fuzzy--am getting a hard copy proof someday. Printer said they'd send it FedEx with Saturday delivery-because we are on a tight deadline now.  I waited patiently for that orange and purple truck.....and waited..... and.....

It never came.

WTF!  Here we go again! Oy friggin vay.  Why us? Michael and I must've done something really really bad in a past life.  Seems like everything starts then stops. It's moving ahead--no wait! It's not.

Been waiting for the data sheet specs now for about 10 days or so.  Co-packer is going to get back to us on that.  I also emailed the jar company and asked them for the info. I'm all excited about who will respond first.  Anyone wanna bet on this one? (Didn't think so...)

The label printer gal is great though. She returns our emails within the hour.  Holy shitake mushroom!!! It's really a treat to be thought of as an important client. I think I'll stop writing for now and just bask in that wonderful feeling of being "a valued customer".  A h h h h h h h h h h........

Oh, don't forget! We go into production a week from tomorrow. October 4th is the big day!!
Yup. Yessiree. Oh yeah.... Indeed. Absolutely. Fer sure.  Okeedokee.  Can't wait.  Too excited to sleep.
Am putting suicide prevention number on my speed dial.......

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Pinch me!

Rid here:  Well, it's been about a week since I last posted anything. At that time, we were getting ready to go out and buy chainsaws and hockey masks--and pay those co-packer guys a visit. Michael sent them a firm email or two and asked them point blank if they even wanted to do business with us. His email to them was, "direct, harsh, uncompromising, yet business-like." Geee. It seems that may have fixed the problem.  For now anyway. There was a point where I asked Michael A. if we should consider creating our own co-packing facility.  Sure, if we had a spare million or so laying around.

Well, it was just me thinking out loud.....

They are now actually responding to our emails and phone calls!  Just friggin amazing! Everyone is copying emails to everyone so nothing slips between the cracks. For awhile, we were dealing with craters, not just cracks.

Their R&D guy informed us that the reason he hadn't responded to my emails about important, time sensitive issues was because of his SPAM filter.  Huh? Really? Okay..... who knew?! I nver thought for one minute that our business was considered SPAM.

Long story short is....they are responding. We got nutritionals. We're moving ahead with processes and labels and fulfillment issues because they have decided that maybe we are worth the effort.
I sure hope so.   Once the market gets wind of our simmer sauces, we will be producing much larger quantities of sauce.  We'll be building the brand.  And will be entering into a whole new realm of the business--brokering, distribution and retail merchandising. (OY! can't wait)

October 4th is now the deadline.  Their deadline.  We will be ready. Will they?

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Tick tock...tick tock

Well, its now Wednesday the 15th of Sept. and we are still waiting for the fourth nutritional to arrive. They (co-packers) said last week it was coming---so where the f**k is it?   Again, they are AWOL. They have vanished. They're gone. No response.

Michael and I are about ready to go ballistic on them. We have called. We have emailed them. No response.  Not even a courtesy, "we're busy today but will be in touch with you tomorrow" kinda email.  Nothing!!

I'm afraid we will not be making our production date of the 27th now. They have dropped the ball so many times I'm starting to think they have taken the ball and gone home.  It is without a doubt, the worst case of mismanagement I've ever seen.  They obviously don't get it.  We small potatoes just don't matter to them.
We small potatoes know of other food companies looking for a co-packer--companies that produce large quantities--(big $$$) and we could recommend this co-packer. But won''t do that now.  We small potatoes will be growing pretty quickly in the future, if we can ever get these friggin sauces produced and could make our co-packer some real money.  But it's a case of who are we going to trust (and use) for these larger orders. Now, our confidence level is at about 0.015 on a scale of one to ten. They really don't get it.

I have never known such frustration. But we are in it so deep now, we need to see this through. Get the last nutritional, get the labels I sent three days ago approved by their R&D guy, get the Cornell approval to the processes and get final FDA approval of it all.  

So, I'm making a prediction. Are you ready?
It will snow here in beautiful Berwyn, PA before we get these sauces produced.

stay tuned..... be patient.... please. The sauces will happen. I think. Maybe. Hopefully in our lifetime.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Yikes!

Rid: I no sooner post the previous ranting post when my email chime goes off.
It's the nutritionals!  Sent by our co packer to Michael A. at 1:09AM this morning.

wow. Maybe I'll call off that phone call to the suicide hotline......I do have them on speed dial just in case...

Small potatoes in the land of corn.

Rid here: I have been in business for 35 years. I have never come across a situation like this before. You see, I have been an ad guy my whole career. It's a deadline business. That means there are deadlines. The reason they call it a deadline is, if you miss it--you're dead. Plain and simple.

Our co-packers have a deadline now....and has for the last three weeks. It's Sept. 27th. Thats the day we are supposed to go into production. Well guess what? It aint gonna happen. And you want to know why it aint gonna happen?  GUESS.

Im ready to call the suicide prevention hotline. Maybe Michael and I can get a 2 for 1 deal. Or we could arrange a conference call with them. because we are slowly losing our minds.

Our co packer guys dont return our calls. They dont return our emails when they say they will. They say something is done--and its not. They claim they will "send it right over" and don't.  They don't know if its done. They think the other person was supposed to do it.  They think, they think they know what is happening and who they think is looking into it and when it will be ready to be sent to us but it's not because there is another client in the plant that day.  (that made no sense, right?--welcome to our little saucy world) They think it will be ready by EOD. It's not. They think, think, think, and know absolutely nothing.  The best part is, when Michael calls, they answer with a cheery, "Hi Michael, whats up?"  It's our blood pressure that's up, dude. Poor Michael...he came over last night and his eyes were so small I couldnt find them!

Sept. 27th is just 16 days away.

Right now we need to know the list of final ingredients and get the nutritional labels from them. It's been 3 weeks.  When we asked them early last month how long it took to do the nutritionals, they said it would take about 4-6 hours to create them.  No problem.... Yesterday Michael A. was on the phone to our contact person (whatta yuk) and he told Michael the nutritionals were wrapping up and he would send them over via email. He didn't.

We need to get them on the labels with the ingredients so we can get the f**king labels printed in time for the 27th.  Im starting to wonder--Sept. 27th of WHAT YEAR?!

We need the box dimensions and weights of a loaded box so we can get a quote from the fulfillment house. And add this info to our data sheets, which also need to get printed. It aint happening-- they suggested we use a new 6-pack carton instead of the standard 12. We took their advice.  Cool. Now they tell us that there are no 6 pack cartons out there that will handle our sized paragon jars. WTF on steroids.... they are going to keep looking. Meanwhile, we need answers. Maybe we stick with the 12 pack carton?  Stay tuned.....

Looks like production will be in October...no, November....no,.... how 'bout, before I die.

Lastly, when Michael A. was talking to our contact guy (OY!) about this n that and complaining to him about how nothing is getting done, our contact guy replied, "well Michael, we DO have other clients you know".

Huh?   He said what?   You're kidding.   No.     He DID say that?

Upon hearing this tale from Michael, I thought that if I said that to one of my ad clients because I was late with a project?.....I would no longer have that person as a client.  You gotta be f**king kidding that anyone would say that to a client, no matter how small the client is. You might infer it--but in a way that's not insulting or rude.  Try using tact.

So we wait. We lose another week. And the co packer guys prove once again that they dont care about us. We are small potatoes. What THEY forget though, is our next run after this small one will be 1000 cases. And after that? Maybe 2000 cases. That's of each sauce....

 "well, we DO know other co packers you know".

Friday, August 27, 2010

We got our prices based on new ingredients!

Rid here: we finally got our prices and now can move ahead. Are the prices where we want them?
Sorry, that's proprietary.  But, we do have a new twist in this thing and that's the case we pack the jars in. Co packer dudes want us to go to a 6 bottle case from the standard 12 bottle case.  Why?  I dunno- something to do with how some food stores and distributors want their shipments now.  We were told we could be one of the first companies "to ride this new wave".  Hey, this aint some f**king surfing class. There is nothing cool or sexy or earth-shaking about a friggin box!

Stay tuned all you sauceheads out there.....we are getting ready to fire up those kettles for real.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

No more waiting!

Well......Michael and I have been emailing each other like crazy. He's in WIlliamsburg, VA. It has been determined that we will go into production the last week of Sept.  Now, the questions becomes, is that gonna happen?  Who the hell knows.  But we need to establish a date in order to keep ourselves from jumping off some bridge somewhere.

We have not gotten the quick responses needed from our co packer guys.  But we are on them, now. Hopefully we will get answers to move ahead with the nutritionals and processing approval from Cornell.
We will also need to forward all this info to the FDA so we can start cooking up these sauces and get them into our customers shopping carts!

SO---- this is the deal---we are going into production the last week of September.  Hahahahahahaha.......absolutely.....yessireee....yup.....you betcha.......really.
(we shall see)

Monday, August 23, 2010

The waiting game

Rid here: It's late August. Everyone is running away to grab their last minute vacation. Not me. No sir. I'm working. Trying to get anything done is impossible!!

We are still waiting for our co-packer to finalize ingredients and related pricing so Michael A. can do his final calculations to see how much these sauces are going to cost to make--and to see how much (or how little) we will make on them.  We are also debating whether to run a 30 case batch (wait til we get orders before spending big bucks--but price per jar to make goes way up) or do we order 100 cases, (so if we get an order, we can fill it immediately, much better unit prices to produce). We don't want to have to wait 2-3 weeks to fill an order should one land on our desk.  That's how long it takes for the co packer to prepare for a production run.  If a new client wants it NOW, we better be able to respond.

Hopefully we get moving again this week.  Nothing is happening and I am EXTREMELY frustrated by the slow pace. What pace?  There isn't one. I'm from the advertising business. We live and breathe deadlines. BOOM!  Meet it or die.

Ya wanna know how f***ing slow the pace is? They are rebuilding all the roads, installing new sewers and putting in about 5 miles of sidewalks in our neighborhood. They started 3 months after we started talking to co packers. They are just about done.  We are still waiting to get something done. ANYTHING! Maybe a good price. Or a nutritional. Or a Mediterranean tomato sauce sample that's not pink. Or..... never mind.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Labels

Rid here:  Well, I have finalized the labels for our four glorious simmer sauces.  They are elegant yet have a sense of "inviting" to them.  People seem to like them....and find them.... "inviting".

 



We are now waiting to fix the Mediterranean Tomato simmer sauce. The co-packer keeps using this big ass blender that whips up whatever is in the kettle. I think its making certain ingredients milky--thereby making the tomato sauce pinkish in color.  No. We need it to be red. Fresh garden-like red.  It will happen.  In our lifetime...we hope.

We also now need to get new nutritionals for each sauce. And final ingredient lists to add to the label. In our lifetime, we hope.  It takes so f**cking long to get anything done!!   I feel like I'm stuck in a big vat of molasses.

We are also weighing the idea of running 100 cases for our first run instead of just 30 cases.  Don't want to be caught shorthanded if someone wants to order a significant amount.  Don't want a bizillion jars of sauce in our garages either. (Actually, we can warehouse them at our co-packer. Costs oodles more $$ though.  Uggh.  But like they say, you can't make money without spending money.

Stay tuned...there is a lot coming as we approach production day.

Monday, August 16, 2010

In the land of mushrooms!

Rid here:  Today, Michael A. and I went to a mushroom farm in West grove, PA.  It was fun and we learned a lot about how mushrooms are grown.

That's all.

Big Test Day Round 2 – FML ???


Michael A. reporting on round 2 of “testing”.  You’ve already heard from Rid that all went well…sort of, and the sauces tasted…well, FABULOUS…

Now I’d never say that Rid exaggerates, its just his, what did I call it?  Oh yes, his exuberant emotionalism.   But I have to say he’s not exaggerating very much at all.  The sauces did taste very, very good.  They ranged from a low of 4 (on a 1 – 5) up to a 5.  Rid’s Roasted Red Pepper Basil Cream sauce kicks ass! 

Thursday started out much the same as the week before.  Kids and dogs at camp/day care, wives working (God please continue to Bless them) and Rid and I driving up the road.  When Rid asked me this time how I thought the day would turn out I said “forget it, I’m not predicting a thing!  Just look how last week turned out"!  We get to the co-packer and first thing are the women walking in at the same time saying “hi, we’re here for the R & D test day”.  Ahh, wait a minute, Rid and I are here for the R & D test day!  Is this the start of an FML day? 

Well, turns out that there was a schedule screw up (see Rid’s earlier blogs about the food industry) and the co packer folks were trying to work it out.  Oh, and also, it was the day the co packer had the “INSPECTORS” in, just to add a little excitement to the day.  (BTW, they did fine with the inspection)  So “M” worked with the ladies and “C” worked with us.  C starts working on the sauces and of course Chef Dave is there to assist.  Piccata turns out good.  Bottle it up and move on.  C is moving at his usual pace (don’t get me started) and the Marsala gets going.  Now in order to help move things along Dave and I sliced up the fresh mushrooms.  Lots of questions and issues of how big they can be and still get through the bottling equipment.  I take a break with Dave and Rid to eat and when I come back C has decided to chop the mushrooms a bit with the big blender.  Their not chopped, their pureed! Its now Marsala mushroom soup!  FML…  “C” I say, before making any more decisions about OUR sauces please consult with us first.  C tells me that maybe he should have chopped the mushrooms in the first place.  Suffice it to say that was not the best thing to say to me, you know the customer, the guy PAYING FOR ALL OF THIS!  Along with a few other pithy comments from C and I was just about to loose it!

Anyway at this point I left the area and tried to cool down.  See Rid’s comments on my condition.  Anyway, with Chef Dave’s help and M the sauces all got down.  We learned a few things that needed to be tweaked.  Bottom line is I think we are almost there.  Rid and I will be working on sourcing mushrooms, sourcing all natural bases, etc etc. But we are on our way and in the end I don’t think it was an FML day!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

We did it! BOY, did we ever!

Rid sez: It's now early Saturday AM and I'm still thinking about the simmer sauces that we made on Thursday. You know, the small batch test....the day we would either dance in the streets or shoot ourselves.

Well, they ALL came out tasting fabulous. I'm talking Superb. Fantastic. I mean, really.....I'm not being biased here... they tasted like the sauce gods came down from their gas ranges in the sky and blessed these four little creations of ours.

Michael A. and I and our better halves all got together last night and sampled each according to the directions which will appear on the labels.  Holy sh*t.   That's all I can say about how good they tasted. If someone had told me they were made in a factory-and I didn't know that, I would've said they were crazy.  They tasted like some super gourmet chef spent hours creating them.  Well...duhhh... friggin gourmets DID make them.  Us. And it has taken 8 months so far. And worth every blessed minute.

We now have samples of our latest batch. We are going to start getting real impressions from folks about what they think of them.  They better not break my heart. We feel pretty confident that they will love them all. If they don't--they're f**king morons. Simple as that.....

We still will need to address some issues regarding the sauces. They each taste great but some of the textures aren't quite right and the processes need to be re-worked.  Its not just what you use...it's how it's made, too.  Like, you never use a high speed blender on olive oil--it turns to milk and ruins the color of your food. Stuff like that.  We need the mushrooms in the Marsala sauce to be bigger pieces--ideally, we want slices.  Might be tough to do.

I did need to calm Michael A. down on Thursday however-- there came a moment when he redefined the word, "pissed".  I mean, this guy's blood pressure must've been 600 / 1000. There are those out there who have no idea about how lucky they are to still be alive this morning.  I have never seen Michael's eyes get so small as they did Thursday afternoon. They looked like two little glowing red peas. I swear, I thought the guys was going to blowtorch the entire co-packing plant!  I stayed verrry quiet.....

What was he so pissed off about?  The mushrooms in our Marsala batch were cut too small. Waaaayy too small.  Was I pissed? Nah.  It's fixable.

He's fine now-(his eyeballs have returned to normal). And so am I.  Life is good in sauceland.....for today anyway.

Next steps:  fix the texture issues, new batch of Med. Tomato sauce, new nutritionals, new Cornell? Meet with PR people. Select label printer. finalize ingredients for labels, buy UPCs, Re-do videos, new photography of jars and beauty shots of entrees with our sauces, update the website with new photos and videos, buy liability insurance, meet mushroom people (mushroom issues abound), talk to buyers, etc.

...and that;s just Monday and Tuesday of next week.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Ground Hog Day part 3

Rid sez: Well, Michael A. and I have been busy getting ready for ANOTHER batch test this Thursday. We have been tracking down the cheapest real wine we can-- which is hard to do in PA because youre forced to pay retail. Yes, retail, because of the damn liquor laws in PA. You cant ship from out of state either and you cant buy in bulk.  We also found organic mushrooms instead of some gawd awful dehydrated mushrooms.  Hair net guy at the co-packer never let us know if the price we got for organic is cheaper than the dehydrated.  Ahhhhrrgghhh!!!
At this rate, the sauces will retail for about $80!      (kidding-I hope)

So, thursday is another big day and the sauces better be good. And they better be all natural. And so on...

Will we EVER get these friggin simmer sauces to market? Who the hell knows. At this rate, we'll be too old to run the company when they hit the shelves. Dimentia will set in and we won't even remember doing all this work.  Hmmm.... maybe thats a good thing.....

I gave a manager at a nearby major food store chain a sample of our Piccata to try, which we made last week. He's going to take it home and try it. Hope it doesn't put him in the hospital.

Also--we need a good food PR person.  Know anyone?
Stay tuned.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Holy Simmer Sauce!

Last night we made chicken Piccata using our Piccata simmer sauce made in yesterday's batch test from hell.

It was.....    Perfect.   Awesome.   Dead on.  Fabulous!  My wife Connie, who claims NOT to be a "sauce person" (can you believe that?) said it was the best Piccata she had ever tasted. Michael's wife, Kathy said it was wonderful. Perfect.

WTF FML OMG LOL!!

You may think this is some self-patronizing bullshit, but the truth is (for me anyway) is that last night's chicken Piccata was the best I had ever had.  Really.  As good as the best I've ever had in a fine NYC restaurant. No, better.  Really.  Shocking........wow.

The weird and scary part is, it was better than the sample we had made for comparison.

So, if we can make these sauces taste as fine as last night's, and do them all as all-natural?  We have a monster hit on our hands. People will break down the f**kin doors to buy our sauces. Really.

Tonight, crazy Dave tries it. We will hear from him.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

FML?

Rid's response to today: I'm just not quite sure what Michael's problem is. He needs to emote more. Tell it REALLY like it is... Whatever. He captured the play by play of the day accurately, (see post below) however it certainly was NOT an FML day.

IT WAS A F**KING WTF DAY! IT WAS A FRIGGIN "IM GONNA LOSE MY MIND" DAY!!!

Look, if you're thinking of going into the food biz with that super secret sauce recipe that grandma makes--the recipe that has been handed down for four generations....DONT DO IT. There is the real chance that you will end up needing psychiatric counseling. This food game is a friggin nightmare. Okay, It's FML. But, it's also WTF on steroids.

Right now, I feel like FML stands for: FAT MENTAL LOSER. That's me alright.

Yes, we want our simmer sauces to be all natural. They have to be. The only "all natural" thing going on here though is my need to pee every four hours!

So, we have to go back. Do this whole charade over again. Make sure all our ingredients have no preservatives or flavor enhancers in them. Next week, we'll probably discover that the friggin water isn't all-natural and that we need to import water from Iceland or something. WTF.


This is me in the middle, flanked by crazy Dave on my right and Michael A. on my left.
We look dorky and happy here, don't we?  Dorky? Yes. Happy? No.

Okay, okay. Gimme a second to catch my breath..... Im okay now. Im about to pour myself another drink and realize that that this day has been a blessing. (God help us). Had we moved forward, using these ingredients--AND-- had we gone to a major food chain, like Whole Foods, who we REALLY want to do business with at some point in the future (because our simmer sauces ARE really fabulous), and found out that our sauces were blacklisted because of some crap in the stock base AND the friggin denatured wine--  well.....I'd just go wander off somewhere and blow my f**king brains out.

So, I'm now looking on the bright side. This day saved our lives. Really. We also learned more in one day about production and food prep than we could've ever hoped for.

We saved our Simmer Sauce company, too.

The Big Test Day…Also known as FML Day!

Michael A. here, you know, the suit, Mr. Calm, the cool, analytical balance to Rid’s exuberant emotionalism. Today was the day we went to the co-packer for the 3 gallon test batches, work out any minor kinks and get ready for the real thing. And my head exploded!!! More about that later…

The day started out great. Kids at camp, dogs at doggie day care, wives working at real jobs (God bless them). Driving up to the Amish country Rid asked me how I thought the sauces would turn out. “Oh, I think 3 out of 4 will be fine but for a couple of minor tweaks, the 4th one will probably need some work”. “It will be fine.”

We get there and meet Chef Dave, the consultant who has been helping us. Rid has talked about him. Chef Dave is a great guy, a wack job, but a great guy. We really love this guy. He has done so much to help us I can’t say enough. But he is a wack job!

Anyway, we meet with the production manager, one of Rid’s “M’s”, you know the hair net guy. And the R & D tech, “C”. C starts off with, “you know, I’ve worked in restaurants before and I never saw Marsala with tarragon in it”. Rid says that’s the way we want it. “And I never saw Piccata sauce made with sherry”. Rid, with slightly gritted teeth, “That’s the way we want it”. “Well ok, just thought I’d mention it”. Well I thought, this is an interesting way to start out.

So out to the production floor, staff busily filling jars with raspberry jam, salsa is next and then blueberry jam and so on… We gather in the corner where C has his test area and the test KETTLES! Rid and I are excited, this is it, we are on our way! We decide to start with the Piccata sauce. C starts measuring ingredients, Chef Dave is there to clarify the recipe and we are cooking. (No pun intended) By the way C says, you know these low sodium stock bases we are using means you can’t call it “All Natural”. WHAT? FML… (I recently learned from one of Kathy’s nieces a new internet slang term the younger generation is using. It fits perfectly. Look it up if you never heard it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FML

Anyway, here we are. No “natural” sauces! M reminds me we could use the “All Natural” stock bases but of course they have much more sodium – SALT, in them. Meanwhile the sauce C is whipping up in the kettle tastes like…blahhhh. What happened to our great Piccata sauce? Well, when you go from that little sauté pan, in your kitchen, on the stove it’s not quite like the big kettle cooking away at 210 degrees. Things happen to ingredients, flavors change, etc. Long story short we test a few things, add this, change this and well maybe it’s sort of ok. Rid and I are eating it tonight and will let you know how it turns out. Meanwhile let’s get the “All Natural” stock bases in here and redo the recipes. M says well should we even bother to do any more today if we are changing the recipes? We decide to try the Marsala since the mushrooms are already out.

Rid and Dave run out to get lunch and I’m with C. He starts making the Marsala. By the way he says, you know using this “cooking wine” means you can’t call it “All Natural”, it has preservatives in it. WHAT? FML. Oh he adds, forget Whole Foods, they have a list and this stuff means they will never, ever let it in their stores! And then my headed just exploded…FML!!!!!!!

The whole reason to use cooking wines was to help with the cost. Now we are back to using the real stuff. But in PA that means buying from the state controlled liquor store. And much higher prices! FML…

So the day ended. I haven’t even told you about the lemon problem in the Marsala recipe. Rid can tell you about that if he wants. So now we are going back next Thursday. To use the “All Natural” stock bases. And the real, EXPENSIVE, wine. And maybe, just maybe it will turn out better than today. FML…

We did the small "botch" test today....

rid sez:  I'll post later....too busy busting up the furniture in my house right now.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Crazy Dave is king of chef consultants

Remember Davy Jones from the Monkees?  Well, we aren't working with him--we're working with Dave Jones.  Chef extroardinaire!  this frggin guy created our samples and they were dead on.  Fabulous!  the guy is an effin genius.

Tomorrow we make our sauces at the co-packer.  Am praying to the sauce gods today
.  they said all will be fine.
The Best of The MonkeesImage via Wikipedia
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Is it Tea time?

So, while we wait for the small batch test later this week, we are looking at adding a line of 100% organic teas and tea blends to our "family".  We'll see. Are we nuts? Let us know. Like the idea?  Let us know that, too.

Back to sauce city..... today I meet with crazy Dave. He needs to create a small sample of each of our sauces for the co-packers this Thursday.  This is a critical step.  Like a rocket launch.  Everything must flow smoothly and taste exactly as we want them.   Dave's samples (based on our recipes)  will be the taste guide for the food boys in Lancaster.  Michael can't make it to the meeting with Dave and me, but will get to taste Dave's concoctions when he returns home from Baltimore.

Since Michael can't be there, I might just tell Dave to leave those capers out of the Piccata sauce.  Ha!

I hate capers.

Michael A. and the rest of the friggin world like them I guess.....uggh. To me they look like little rabbit turds.  Yuk. If you hate capers, let Michael know. Im still lobbying against them.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Done.

Rid: Well.... we did it. Finally. We have our prices and they are as low as they're gonna get. Amen. Michael A. and I are confident that this is the end of searching for the super low price for manufacturing our sauces.  So we now move ahead.

Next comes what's called a batch test. This is where we create each of our four sauces in 3 gallon batches.
This is truly a critical stage. Because, as I mentioned in an earlier post, this is where the rubber meets the road--where the tongue meets the sauce- here's where the taste of each sauce will be finalized. Tweaked to be the sauce our sauce junkie customers will taste and hopefully love.  Oh God....this is crunch time. They MUST be better than good. They MUST be fabulous.  Will that take another friggin 2 months?

We are going to try and schedule the batch test for next week.

While we wait, we are also again on the move... I guess. We are still shooting for production in late August. Our fans are cheering us on. I'm working on designing point of sale items for the stores. Designing shelf talkers, decals for store windows, posters, etc., searching out suppliers for our spice display. Did I mention we were also coming out with recipe portioned spices?  we're negotiating pricing and strategies with internet marketing specialists.  We're finalizing contracts with the co-packer. Finalizing liability insurance coverage and costs.  Hooking up with people who have been down this road and learning from them as we go. So making a sauce and selling it is simple...right?  Hahaha.....ughh.

We are on a mission. We are going to give you a line of sauces that you will love. There is so much crap on the market these days. We are going to blow people's taste buds away! I guess you could say I am re-energized.  I gotta admit, the price thing really got me down. The production price war was brutal but we survived. Now comes the batch test!  Is ground hog day about to rear its ugly head again?  Stay tuned.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

TGIS

Thank God it's Saturday! That's because my head exploded yesterday.  Prices went up on two of the sauces. The co-packers hadn't called a great source we gave them for whatever they need for ingredients. Did they call them? No.  Said they'd call them now since the prices went the wrong way.  

See?  People in this biz are amazing.  We should be making sauces by now.  They've known about this resource for ingredients since early June.   WTF rules the roost these days......

Friday, July 23, 2010

The great crash of 2010.

Rid: Well....we're waiting. And waiting. Still a few details to work out with the ingredients. But I think today might be the day we get our new prices.  We are ready.  TGIF.

Enough of that though, two days ago, my computer crashed big time.  Since I had the web design files, P.O.P. display designs, label designs, pricing info, correspondence and a million other important items on there, I was freaked.  Michael A. would talk to me and it would just go right past me. "Huh?", I would respond. He might as well have been talking to a turnip. Ya see, I hadn't backed up a lot of these files in awhile.  It was uh oh time---big time.

Well, my buddy, Randy, the MAC fixer came by yesterday to see what the problem was. I sat there like a scared child as he went through my drives and so on.  "hmmmmm.....gee......hmmmmmm....".
"Shit Randy, don't say that. So Randy, am I a goner?  Am I screwed, dead,  done... out of business?"
"I'm not sure--" Randy replied. "Looks like you may have lost all your data----hmmmmm.....oh wait!  You're okay!  Your startup drive is fine!"  I immediately went to my dog, Max, and gave him a big kiss on his nose.  Bless you oh wonderful MAC guy Randy. Bless you.

Turns out I had a corrupt drive--not a primary drive- just one of four I had in my computer. Once it was replaced, we were back in business.  (I was back in business).  I was one happy camper.

Once I had finished hugging Randy, I told him that I was starting a food company with my neighbor. He quickly told me that his brother, Steve had been a friggin biggie in the food biz for years. Had started his own food business from scratch, had worked for Nestle's. Made a verrry handsome living in the biz of food.

Wow, it seems like every person I talk to has a relative or knows someone who's in this crazy business. I got steve's number from Randy because we'll be calling him to pick his brain and to get some insights and strategies from him. When we are ready to go to market, we will need to tread carefully. There are evil forces at work out there.... we will need guidance from people like Steve.

LESSON: CONNECT WITH EXPERIENCED FOOD PEOPLE TO LET THEM GUIDE YOU FORWARD.  IT'S A NASTY BUSINESS AND THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE AND LARGE FOOD STORE CHAINS OUT THERE THAT WILL STEAL YOUR RECIPES, CONCEPTS, ETC. --ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE NEW TO THE BIZ. PROTECT YOURSELF!

We also received a mockup for our spice display. Pretty cool. A cardboard shelf display for gourmet stores. Seemed to work well. Price is an issue however.  Damn!   It's tough to get these prices down when you're starting out because you don't want to by a large quantities of anything until you actually need to (AKA-getting orders).  If we buy 500 spice displays now, the price will be great.  But, what the hell are we gonna do with 500 displays? And where would we store the damn things anyway?  We need maybe 50 to start with. Ughh.

LESSON:  BE PREPARED TO OVERSPEND IN THE BEGINNING. SMALL QUANTITIES OF PRODUCTION, MARKETING MATERIALS, DISPLAYS, ETC. ARE GONNA HURT, CRUSHING YOUR MARGINS AND PROJECTIONS.  BUT THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS.  YA GOTTA SPEND MONEY TO MAKE MONEY....YATTA YATTA......

LESSON : BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER DAILY.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Crazy Dave to the rescue

Met with Dave this morning at a local foodstore.  He had a concern about the updated recipe breakdown of ingredients created by our new co-packer.  We worked it out in no time--and will ask the R&D guy there (hairnet guy) to confirm and/or revise as necessary.   When the meeting was over, I was going to ask Dave how to pronounce his partner's last name--just for fun. But didn't.   Tomorrow is a good bet that we'll get our new and improved prices.  Tonight we pray.

IF the prices are good and translate to a good retail price point, our next step will be to move ahead and produce a 3 gallon batch of each sauce. This test will firm up what each sauce will actually taste like when made in larger production batches. This is where we have to finesse the recipes to make sure they taste fabulous.  

This is it. We either love 'em or blow our brains out.   It's crunch time.  Pass the Immodium time.   

LESSON: WHAT YOU MAKE IN YOUR KITCHEN AT HOME AINT GONNA TASTE THE SAME AS SOMETHING COOKED IN A HUGE 100 GALLON KETTLE.   THE TRICKY PART IS GETTING IT AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE.

Stay tuned:

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Waiting for our co-packing prices

Rid:  Just a quick bit of news while we wait for our new low prices from our co-packer...
Our company, Lizbeth Lane Cuisine is also getting ready to sell a collection of hard to find spices that are sold in RECIPE SIZED portions! No need to buy a whole jar of some weird spice for $8 when all you need is a teaspoon! Our spices will be sold in gourmet food stores and on our site in 2 tsp. pouches.  Cool, huh?  This idea all came about when I needed a spice for a recipe I was trying. It called for 1 tsp. of Tumeric. I went to the store--saw what a jar cost and said, "fuhhhhget it". Im not spending that kind dough for a spice I'll use maybe twice in my lifetime.  That's when I had that "aha" moment. Michael and I agreed this was something to pursue.  What do you think? Leave a comment.

So, we are working with crazy Dave ( the guy who isn't sure how to pronounce his partner's name) to bring these recipe portion spices to the market.  Stay tuned....


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And now the real story…

Michael A. here. Yes, Mr. Calm, the Suit, the sane one in the partnership. Well, that’s not completely true as I’m sure time will reveal. Just ask anyone who knows me.

But anyway, back to the “story”.

Back in the fall of ‘09 I suddenly became unemployed from my job as the COO of a healthcare company. No the business wasn’t suffering in the economic downturn (its healthcare!) and no I didn’t F-up or steal the petty cash. It was all about personality, ego, narcissism, etc... And none of it mine. Maybe someday I’ll tell you all about it. After 30 ish years in healthcare I decided to take some time and recharge my batteries, spend time with the kids, maybe reinvent myself? When we first told the kids I had lost my job, “Dad, you got fired?!?!?” And explained why I couldn’t sue the bastard “honey, that’s the way the business world is”. My daughter looked across the table an earnestly said “Dad, what do you like to do?” Wow, pretty insightful for an 11 year old! And that started me thinking about that reinventing thing. Oh, and we also got a dog because now “Dad is home and he can train it”. Someday maybe I’ll talk more about that!

But anyway, back to the “story”.

So here I am in February ’10, outside picking up dog poop, talking with my neighbor Rid. Rid is a great neighbor to have, a bit crazy (hey he shoots fireworks over the fence towards my house!) laid back (so I thought) friendly, easy going, blah, blah blah… and we have gotten along very well ever since they moved next door 8 years ago. Even more so since I got that snow blower this winter.
So we’re talking “Jeez, I (we) wish I (we) could do something different for the rest of my (our) lives. I’m (We’re) tired of _______ (healthcare, advertising, etc) what could I (we) do something that we’d really enjoy? “Well, we both really love food.” “Yeah, but we’re too old to become professional cooks, plus the pay and hours suck.” “And we really DON”T want to go in to the restaurant business, that really SUCKS.” And so the conversations went on for awhile. Then one day Rid calls me up and says “I got it…simmer sauces…we’ll be rich!” and that got my attention. Hey, I used to have a 6 figure + salary now I have a 3 figure unemployment check. “Honey, don’t quit your day job!”

So we start researching sauces, visiting grocery stores (well we pretty much do that everyday anyway, just ask our wives). Search the net (Rid’s an expert at that, he comes up with all kinds of strange s**t). But we couldn't find anything close to our idea. Actually Rid’s. He created the idea, give credit where credit is due! So we decided to start a company and give it a go. Of course, now we need to name the company. Days and days of Rid coming up with one name after another…finally I said, why don’t we keep it simple and just name it after our street? Next day Rid comes back and says your right, let’s keep it simple! So I created the name of the company. Hey, give credit where credit is due!

Gotta go pick up more dog poop but I’ll be back to continue the “real story”…

Up at 5:15AM to go food shopping?

Uh oh.... the crazy syndrome that runs rampant in the food biz might be working its way into my life. I got up about an hour ago (5:15AM) in order to be one of the first people to visit the new Wegman's foodstore in Malvern, PA. This store is HUGE. They have even got a pub/restaurant in the place so the husband can throw down a few beers while the missus shops! Movies for kids, too! A friggin village theme marketplace that sells hot foods, bake goods, ethnic foods, etc.
Well, I want to check them out.... after all, our Simmer Sauces deserve to be only on the finest store shelves. Is Wegman's a store we want to talk to about carrying our collection? Maybe not.

LESSON: DON'T CONFUSE BEING NUTS WITH HAVING PASSION. IF YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO, YOU'LL NEVER WORK A DAY IN YOUR LIFE.



Check previous posts in our blog archive

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Ground Hog Day: part 2

We met up with Jerry what's-his-name in the parking lot, outside the co-pack plant. We exchanged pleasantries and proceeded to the conference room. 2 of the M boys showed along with one of the co-owners. He seemed like a good guy. One of the M guys wore his hairnet the whole time we were in our meeting-3 friggin hours. He looked kind of weird sitting in a meeting with that thing on his head, like a surgical assistant or something.

Anyway, we went over a number of details that we had questions about: warehousing, shipping logistics, shipping costs, fulfillment, label printing, production contracts, recipe adjustment while in production,.....OY, it went on forever. Selling a food item is a whole lot more than just sticking some goop on a store shelf and hoping that it sells. Oh no, there's more. A whole lot more.

So, we get answers to our questions on the above topics and are feeling pretty good. They can warehouse our simmer sauces, re-pack the cartons for shipping to clients via UPS or FedEx. This issue is a biggie. The last thing I want to do is spend more time with Michael, in his garage, packing sauces with tape, boxes, labels and those f***ing peanut things that cling to your pants.

We were moving along, checking our list and actually making progress. AMAZING. We were actually getting real answers to some of our questions. That is a rare thing in the food biz. Most food people don't seem to know WTF is going on. Or, "they'll get back to you"...and never do... because they're out there making some other poor schmuck crazy.

Then came the costs to produce our sauces. Michael and I were pretty sure these prices were going to be REALLY good and lower than the first round they presented a week earlier. Two of the first set of prices were pretty good--but a couple weren't. Michael A. had let them know in no uncertain terms that it was time to sharpen those No. 2 pencils and give us their best numbers---today. No more screwing around. The owners had promised that they would take a long, hard new look at those prices to see what they could do. I couln't wait to see these numbers.... our profit margins were about to improve hopefully.

The hairnet guy was the guy who worked the numbers. He confidently handed out the sheets with the new prices. I stared at the new figures as did Michael........... hmmmmmm........ whaaa?.......... huh?.......WTF! The prices were higher than the first round! We had given them the name of a food supplier who could provide incredibly low prices. Had they call them? So WTF happened here? I stared over at Michael. He stared back at me. "Oh," I thought, "this is normal". This is groundhog day in the food biz. Again.

Then there were issues with some of the ingredients, which meant that we might have to re-file our recipes at Cornell U. before going into production (it's a requirement--to make sure your recipe won't kill somebody). We had already filed with Cornell at our previous co-packer--that took 4-5 weeks. Our previous co-packers were the guys who had messed up the ingredient list in the first place--and we didn't catch it at our end, so Mr. impulsive (me) was getting nutty now. Even Mr. Calm (Michael A.) was starting to lose it. "I'm pissed", he said. Hairnet guy, Jerry, Michael, the co-owner and I all sat there staring at one another. I looked over at Michael. He shot me a glance. Yikes! He's one scary looking MthFker when he's pissed..... his eyes get really small and its like youre ready to see white hot laser beams come shooting out from his eyeballs, turning the co-pack guys into small piles of ash. I tried to look really pissed off, too. But I'm no match for Michael A.

We're waiting on a new set of prices. Can't wait. Ughh.....

LESSON: IT WILL TAKE AT LEAST 2-3 TIMES LONGER THAN YOU THINK TO GET ANYTHING DONE WITH CO-PACKERS.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Ground Hog Day

Well, Michael A. and I had our meeting with the co-packer guys. It felt like every meeting we ever had with a co-packer, and there have been way too many. I'll get into the meeting later in this post.

First, a little co-packer history. When we started this adventure back in Feb. of 2010, I didnt know really what a co-packer was. I googled terms like prepare food, commercial kitchen, food bottler and other lame terms like that , expecting some measure of success. If my computer could've laughed at me it would've. The google folks were all probably gathered in some conference room, watching a big screen as I lumbered through this exercise, laughing their ass off. Another friggin moron wants to get into the food biz.

Finally, while talking to somebody about wanting to produce a line of simmer sauces, that person said, "have you found a co-packer yet?" "Uhh, no,not yet", I replied. Ta-friggin Da..... I now knew what the term was called and had learned my first of 11,000 lessons about the food biz. They are called co-packers and picking the right one is VERY important....we'll get into that as well, later.

I contacted some place in New England that I found on Google. They were all excited when I described what our sauces were. Gee, I was excited, too. Then as a week or so went by, I sent them recipes, they sent a non disclose agreement, so they wouldn't steal our precious secret recipes. I was told to contact some food business consultants, too. To learn and grow...

I talked to my next door neighbor, Michael. He's an accomplished cook and makes all kinds of fancy shit in the kitchen. He's into Gourmet Magazine type recipes. I'm into more of a Cooking Light kinda cooking. He cooks duck. I make a brisket. I also have a problem with authority, so I pretty much always ignore 50% of a recipe. Why follow theirs when I can make it better?

So Michael asks if I'd like a partner. I said, "sure how much money have you got"? He said "enough to get us going". I said, "let's do it!" He asked if I had found a company to prepare our sauces. I said, "you mean a CO-PACKER?" I told him about the place in New England and he told me he'd look at their website, blah blah. etc. After a couple of weeks. we knew shipping costs from New England would be ridiculous. So, we learned another lesson. SHIPPING COSTS MATTER. SO IT MATTERS WHERE THE CO-PACKER IS LOCATED IN RELATION TO YOUR MARKET AREA.

"Okay, Michael, so how are we going to divvy up the responsibilities within our now blossoming company"? He told me I was an impulsive, crazy creative type and that he was the calm, collected type--a former COO of a healthcare company. A detail guy. A suit. So, it was a perfect match-- a crazy guy and a not crazy guy. A visionary and a realist to throw cold water on the visionary. We sat in his kitchen during many long winter evenings, a bottle of scotch on the kitchen island, two brains full of ideas, discussing our glorious future working together. Getting all excited, like a couple of goofy girls. But... we were giving birth to a monster of a food idea.... we were a whole new niche in the sauce arena.....AND! we were now going steady!

Back to today...
Okay, so here we are, driving on th PA Turnpike, a beautiful yet scorcher of a summer day. About a one hour drive and we chatted about this food thing and that food thing. We were also being joined by a partner of another food company, who was going to join us at this co-packing company around 10:30AM. Im driving happily along when Michael A. suddenly picks up Blackberry and calls this guy, Jerry who we are to meet up with. They chat. Michael fills him in on the who is who and whatever, then Michael hangs up. I looked over to Michael and casually asked what Jerry's last name was. I mean, we didn't want to look like a couple of assholes when it came time to introduce Jerry ________huh?
"Gee, Im not 100% sure". Michael hops back on his Blackberry and calls Jerry's partner, who happens to be our chef consultant. Now, this guy's name is Dave. Dave is a f***ing nut job. But we love this guy. He's good at his job but spends his day thinking about getting laid or sending out "I hate Obama" emails and videos. Dave is a one of a kind guy. And I voted for Obama, yet I love big, crazy Dave.

Dave answers and Michael A. asks, "hey, Dave, just want to double check-- what is your partners last name?" there's this long pregnant pause.... I'm waiting and waiting. Im thinking this is one long friggin name! Michael suddenly explodes. "WTF!" Dave explained that he wasn't sure how to pronounce his partner's last name. Huh?

We learned another valuable lesson. PEOPLE IN THE FOOD BUSINESS ARE ALL COMPLETELY NUTS. And that is why Michael and I are going to do really well. Because by the time we get our sauces on some food store shelf, we'll be ready for the f***ing looney bin ourselves.

The meeting- come back this post later tonight.

I have a confession to make...

While sitting out on my deck last night, I confessed to Michael A. that I have started this blog/diary/journal thing. Now HE wants to post some of his own observations as well. This may not be such a good thing. Afterall, they say a business partnership is like a marriage--enough said.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I'll tell the biker story later.... first I've got a meeting tomorrow

Tomorrow, my partner, Michael A. Dernoga and I...Ridgely B. Francisco will be meeting with our co-packer out in the amish countryside of PA. What's a co-packer? Some friends ask me what a co-packer is. I tell them it's not your partner carrying a glock 9 mm, but a place where they manufacture your food items. It can be a sauce, a glaze, a rub, or whatever your food item happens to be. They follow strict FDA rules and need to adhere to all types of standards. AND THEY TAKE F***CKING FOREVER TO GET YOUR SAUCE MADE.

So, Michael A. and I will be hopping in the car tomorrow to meet with three guys whose names all start with M. Christ, its a friggin "3M" company. Michael and I will be finalizing the costs for them to produce our line of simmer sauces. We'll be cracking whips and doing our damndest to get those per unit costs down. I'll tell you what the sauces are about later. I now need, however, to get ready for this meeting. And I certainly look forward to watching my partner, Michael, do his masterful dance in front of the 3M guys.

Stay tuned....

Huh? Another money making idea? Oh my!

Ive always wanted to be my own boss. I've always wanted to run a company. I've always had a bunch of crazy ideas about what kind of company to create--Im a creative guy, that's why!

In the 70's, my life long friend, Patrick Hasburgh and I decided that a cool thing to do would be to own a "tattoos on wheels" business. We'd ride around town and every once in awhile, park in some lot somewhere and tattoo people. Problem was, we were only like 18 or something. Didn't have a plan, a clue or any dollars to do this. Oh well... we needed to do something to keep us looking ahead and feeling positive--good God, we lived in Buffalo, NY!

I'm an artist, so I decided in the 80's that along with my present job as an Art Director in a Philly ad agency, I'd start a business doing dog portraits. Computers were creeping into my life-- I had a MAC with a 14 MG hard drive...OMG!! That was just too cool. Didn't have a clue as to what a computer was going to do to help my life or make me oodles of money. So--back to the portrait idea...

I would take some photos of some ladies dog, pet the dog and make nice , then make a print, tape it to a window and trace the damn dog. I was an Art Director, not some lame purist who decided that it was better to capture the dog's spirit on paper. Screw that. I knew that if I could knock out two portraits a day x 5 days tracing and rendering these pooches, I could make a shitload of money. I didn't. I made a total of $350 for one portrait, which the lady just loved. She cried when I delivered it. I knew I had a hit idea! I was going to be rich and the "cry-o-meter" would be my secret weapon!

Her dog died. I moved. Then my portrait business died, too.
Back to just slaving away in some ad agency... idea # 2 had come and gone.

My next idea was destined to be a huge hit, though.

The 90's rolled into my life and it was all about motorcycles. Harleys. Forget those imported rice burning crotch rockets. No way. I was a tough, red blooded liberal biker! I had a friend that always joked at my liberal views saying I could, "only make left turns". He could only make right ones...

So I had a huge idea. this was it. the big mutha of money making strategies that was sure to put me over the top. Sell bike shit! Like bandanas, helmet covers with horns and spikes and all that scary, tough dumb shit that bikers are into. Would I wear this stuff? Never. Would the rest of America's leather-clad bikers wear this crap? You bet. Did my friggin brainstorm work?

I'll let you know. I will also tell you about all those lessons learned from selling "unique" biker shit.