Sunday, November 27, 2011

Getting sauced in Ohio of all places....

Last Monday, Michael A. and I hopped an empty Southwest flight to Pittsburgh. Carry-on only. We were on our way to produce our largest run to date. Over 13,000 bottles of simmer sauce! No security line. No pat downs. Wow... it was too friggin easy getting there. Not a good sign. Once in Pittsburgh, we hopped in our rental car and drove one hour to Boardman, Ohio, where our newest co-packer was. We checked into our hotel. Michael was so excited because he had become a Priority Club member. They had a goodie bag waiting for him. A bottle of water, a bag of pretzels and a voucher for a couple of free drinks.  He kept elbowing me that he was member and I wasn't.  Like I give a s**t.

We dumped our bags in our rooms and headed over to the local Longhorn Steakhouse. An easy 30 second walk across the parking lot and the now damp grass. We bellied up to the bar and hoisted our scotches in a prayerful manner, hoping that the next day would be a good one.

Michael ordered the stuffed filet (I think it was a filet). Supposedly stuffed with lobster with a lobster tail perched on top of the steak.  The menu made it look soooo goooood... I ordered a massive cowboy ribeye. Baked potato. Sour cream. Dressing on the side please.  We polished off another round when our entrees arrived.

Michael's stuffed steak looked like it had been flown in from Bangladesh. "What the hell is that?", I asked. He stared at it and quickly realized he had made a crumby choice. My steak was superb. So much for the Priority Club membership.  Michael coaxed the bartender over--a sweet young girl who was so sorry that Michael's steak looked like roadkill.  The manager then approached cautiously, expecting us to yell or something.  I just dove into my ribeye and watched Michael wrestle with his inedible disaster.

They brought him another entree about 15 minutes later, as I wolfed down my last morsel of dinner. "WTF is that... looks like the first one", I said. It really did. Another dead imitation of meat with a wimpy lobster tail from an obviously midget lobster.  Michael called over the bartender and the manager again.  They apologized profusely. We were kind, yet Michael now felt a wave of incertitude invading this meat matter. He ate a few bites and pushed the plate away.  I now realized how handy that little bag of "Priority Club" pretzels would become for Michael. (ha)

Long story short. We only paid for my dinner! The bartender apologized 14 times. The manager? 23 times. And one last faux pas....we ordered a final round of Dewar's and the manager came back and said that they were out of Dewar's. I have to admit, I figured this was an ominous sign of things to come.

Next morning, we drove the 2 miles to the co-packer.  They did a spectacular job. Dead on...no... better than that. Our four simmer sauces tasted the best they've ever tasted.  All went well. I also videotaped some of the production for CNN to use in our upcoming story on....CNN.

Our flight was delayed almost 4 hours. Spooky nightime flight back to Philly, through rain and darkness and clouds the whole way.  We made it home.....around 11:30pm.

Wait til you taste the latest batch!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

What a production!

Rid here again...where the hell is Michael? Wish he'd enter some of his deep thoughts. Oh well....
On Tuesday we fly to Pittsburgh and drive an hour to Boardman, OH.  It's time to make more simmer sauces.  We blew through our last run and must make plenty more. We have a ton of orders to fill from our Haddon House distributor and Avenue Gourmet, who we just recently started doing business with. Interstate Foods in Phila. is sending along orders, too.

On this trip I must take my HD video camera and get some shots of our sauces in production. Some of what I shoot will be included in the CNN story, which will be airing some time in December! I MUST make these shots dramatic! Cinema at its finest!

A few weeks back I shaved off my beard because at our co-packer, they make you wear these stupid looking chin nets. I mean, you look like a friggin fool! Since CNN was going to be there shooting, there was no way I was going to let them shoot me wearing one of those lame nets on my chin. I don't want millions of people seeing me looking like some jerk. The head net is goofy looking enough!  Turns out, CNN won't be making the trip next week, so there was no need to shave the beard. Oh well, it's growing back nicely.  Looking rather white though....ugghh.

Well get ready world, over 13,000 bottles of our fabulous simmer sauces are about to hit store shelves. Hopefully near you!  If there's a store nearby you, let them know they should be selling our superb simmer sauces.

Til later....all you sauciers!!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Is a book deal in the works?

Rid here.... just to let you know that I've decided to write a book about this adventure. The way I look at it, if the biz goes belly up, (it won't)  at least I can publish the book and make millions that way. Ha!
The book will probe deeply into the minds of me and Michael. Dissect our thoughts and emotions.  Confront the darker side of the business. It will tell the story in a way that can't be told on this blog.
A saucy, piccata laden thriller like no other!

I will keep you informed of where the book tour will take me. Some of my friends have indicated that they'd like to join my tour as paid book buyers. I have had to tell them that, alas, a Gulfstream IV can only seat 10 passengers.

Jennifer and JP pay us a visit

OCTOBER 28: CNN Day

It was CNN day!  We were actually going to be interviewed by one of their producers. I had a slight twinge of excitement and a load of butterflies just thinking about it. “what if I screw up or just go blank?” I thought.  It was all ridiculous anyway, as I had been down this type of road before. Michael and I had told our story to so many people. It was something we could do in our sleep. 

At 10:45, a white SUV pulled up in front of my house and out popped two young people.
One was the producer. Jennifer was in her late 20’s and was quite friendly and attractive.
The camera guy was named J.P.  Both were great. I felt immediately at home with them. So did Max, my golden, who ran through my legs to greet them in his usual retriever style. They came into my house and looked it over. I showed them the kitchen and “unsold” the prospects of shooting there because the layout just wasn’t right.   They checked out the living room and nodded that this could work well.  Jennifer saw photos of my daughter, Stacey on our bookcase and was excited seeing these photos. “Look J.P., it’s Stacey, do you remember her?” she blurted out. J.P. did remember her from when my daughter had worked at CNN for Anderson Cooper.  She was a producer for Anderson and stayed at it for about 3 years.  The work was rough. The hours were brutal. News never takes a break.  This was why we got the interview in the first place. It was Stacey who connected us with Jennifer.  So, knowing this fact was a pretty good reason why I didn’t really care where we shot the interview. 

We strolled over to Michael’s house and it was decided to that we shoot in his kitchen. He had an island in his kitchen which would be a little tight but enabled JP to set up his camera on one side as we sat on  the other. It worked out well.

Damn, we were good! Jennifer asked a bunch of questions that we had heard before but we attacked each with vigor. We were good….no, we were great! We bounced comments back and forth and we were like a well oiled info machine. After 45 minutes or so, it was over. Next would be a quick trip to our fulfillment house, Handi-Crafters. This is where my stepson works every weekday. They hire people with employment barriers--in other words, they are special needs folks.

It was just a 40 minute drive. We pulled up, JP unloaded the equipment and proceeded to shoot three of their workers, as they packed orders of our sauces in cartons. They did a great job, too.  These special needs people do a great job. Better than others. They take pride in their work. They smiled. They hugged us when it was over. It worked out beautifully.

We bid farewell to our CNN friends afterwards and told them we’d be in touch the following week to coordinate other upcoming film bits that needed to be shot for our story.

I needed to go home and crash. A one hour nap would work just fine. So I did. I love naps. But this was a special nap that day. It came after knowing that we would be on international TV. Seen by millions of people around the world. My imagination had us getting calls from Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, Russia, even India! We would find out soon enough though, as we are scheduled to go on the air sometime in early December. We will let everyone know ahead of time.

Oh yes, it was a great nap indeed.