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. 

Living on the edge!!

Well, again, we have been so busy that we haven't had time to make entries into this blog--til now. Up to our necks in logistics, and expanding our markets.

Lots is happening, that's for sure!  Michael A. and I have been traveling a lot and lining up brokers to hawk our simmer sauces. We have also hooked up with a large distributor which sells to many of the best food store chains along the east coast.  This distributor is hosting a large trade show next week in Orlando and we'll be there exhibiting our fabulous simmer sauces. What makes this show unique is that its strictly for buyers from food stores. Its an order writing show!! No pussy footing around here my friend, so we're hoping to write a bazillion dollars worth of orders and finally start turning the corner financially.

Man, we have spent a ton of money to get this company moving.  Money for displays, airfare, hotels, tolls, marketing, consultants, and when some big orders hopefully come in, we'll need to spend a s***load of money on a large production run of our sauces...like 1000 cases of each sauce. That comes to 24,000 jars of simmer sauce!!!  Yes... we are in it up to our necks now.  This isn't the little startup deal anymore. We are now running with the big dogs.

We have learned that the ONLY way to make money in the food biz is to sell volume.  we love our gourmet retail clients--they also helped us learn a lot about the food business. But we are also focused on volume sales to finer food store chains like Whole Foods, the fresh Market and the likes.

We are now "living on the edge".  Right there on the brink... of becoming a real player in this food business. These are anxious yet exciting times for us!

Orlando, here we come!! Oh, please be good to us.....please!

Going for broker!

On the brink. Yes...that's where we are. The edge of greatness? Not sure, but it's the edge of something big.
We have been meeting with brokers and distributors who handle the east coast. They all seem to want to do business.  We kick around pricing, trade allowances and promotion allocations...fees, timing, expenses and listening to our consultant, John, who chats it up with whomever we are meeting with-- he seems to know every friggin person in the business! 

This broker/distributor thing is the tricky part. It's also a reality check. The dreams of making oodles of cash are gone. At least for now. Michael and I have quickly realized (ugghh) that this is a volume business. The margins are slim. You have to sell a ton of product in order to make any money.  It's not like making a hat in China for $0.90 and selling it in the USA for $20.  Those are definitely NOT food businesses!

If you want to make gobs of money, don't do the food thing. Sell widgets. Or a goofy hat. Or the next pet rock.

We will probably end up making 10-15% profit before taxes.  The hat guy will make a tad more, don't cha think!!??

But hey, it's only money (or a lack of) and Michael and I are in it for the long run.  We shall press on and WILL sell volume in good time. First, a pallet. Then two. Then a pallet of each sauce. Then 2 or 3 of each. Then a truckload....

Stay tuned....

The "WOW" factor takes hold

Well....we are back from 3 days of selling, selling selling at the DC Fancy Food Show. It was a roaring success!  We "WOWED" a large number of interested companies that might be able to help our simmer sauces grow and expand in the retail marketplace.  We met retailers, distributors, brokers, packaging, co-packers, food sources, internet gurus, media outlets and a slew of other companies and people who love our samples of the best simmer sauces on earth. We were even interviewed by CBS radio so we could tell our story!

What impressed us most, is that the majority of those we met "got it" in terms of seeing how unique our simmer sauces are. They understood that the glutted sauce market did NOT apply to our unique niche.

Was the show a success?  We won't honestly know for a few months. You see, it takes awhile for these contacts to come back to us.  Nobody was buying at the show except one new retail customer who made a pretty large order!

As for the rest of our trip-- Michael A. had a room with a busted TV, so they moved him into a frigging huge suite with living room, sauna, balcony with a panoramic view of the whole city!  Im not angry about this....nawww.....   but I won't forget about this either.  He owes me one, since Im the guy who was able to get our rooms at half the going rate. (don't cha think he should've given me that room as a token of his gratitude for having saved the company hundreds of dollars?----no? I didnt think so....)

It was also blazing hot. 107 degrees on Tuesday.  People were cursing the heat as they struggled to pack up their stuff and move it out of the convention center.  The center had the worst system (none) for helping small exhibitors like us to move in and out.  We had to use regular elevators to move our stuff!
The line waiting for these two---yes two..... elevators were long and the wait was over a half hour.
THEN....we had to take another elevator, which was shut down.  A real mess!  Oh...and the people parked outside the DC convention center waiting to get packed up were all given parking tickets!

Nice, huh?

Oh well....the show is over and now it's just about to begin for us!  Stay tuned.

What a week!

Won't go into details, but we had a verrry promising week!  We met with some heavy hitters in the food biz who were willing....even eager to possibly do business with us.  John, our consultant, said that these meetings were some of the best he had ever sat in on. (and he's been in the business for something like 30 friggin years).

I think we're right there....right on the cusp of something big.  I feel it.  I just hope whatever it is, it makes us money.  We aren't even close to paying off our investment capital and it will be awhile before we start paying ourselves something.  But hey! You gotta pay if you wanna play.....!!

We're off to the Fancy Food Show in DC today.  Michael has been running around like a lunatic, and so have I --however in a far more relaxed and "everything is cool" kinda way.  "We're making a list and checking it twice.....gonna find out who's......"

We'll load up Michael's SUV and barrel down I-95, set up in the convention center this afternoon.  It's going to be a friggin zoo!  A bazillion exhibitors fighting for parking spots at the center to unload their foodie stuff. Sweating... cursing.... short nerves... sounds just lovely, doesn't it? Show starts tomorrow. It will be interesting. Three days of who knows what.  It will be exhausting. It will be a true learning experience....and it will be expensive.

Gee......wonder what we're forgetting?

Whole Foods....where art thou?

Lizbeth Lane Cuisine makes the finest simmer sauces in the solar system....right? Right. That's why it's so frustrating that it's taking a long time to be approved by Whole Foods.  We have waited 9 weeks so far.... three Phila. WF stores want our sauces in their stores. More will be lining up soon..... our vendor form was submitted by a local WF manager, which corporate needs to approve.

I mean, Whole Foods is a fantastic store and we are fantastic simmer sauces--a perfect marriage-- we're unique (and loved--like Whole Foods!)  Our sauces are quickly becoming staples in customer households!  We're not some weird, exotic glaze or marinade that might get purchased once a year.  Our fans purchase our sauces 2-3 times per month!  We're certainly NOT another pasta sauce (Oy! The world doesnt need another super duper pasta sauce--or another BBQ sauce...or salsa!)

So, we'll be patient and hope we get approval soon. Like within a week or two.  Remember, the food biz moves sssssslowwwwwlllllyyyyyyyy.....