"Incoming!!!!!

Well.... the holidays have come and gone. I feel like my mind has done the same.  It was fun but also exhausting!  We aint getting any younger you know!!

Had a blast with my grandkids who came for a late Xmas from their home in Scarsdale, NY.  We shredded gifts open and messed up the house...oh, it was grand!  Then on New Years Eve...and right in the middle of an Elmo story, the phone rang.  "Just saw your story on CNN- how do I order?"  Holy Piccata! Here we go again.  I'm not complaining mind you, it's just that Michael A. and I thought the CNN deal was over and that things would now be a little calmer here at Lizbeth Lane Cuisine.   Oh no...not a chance.

Another call. Then another. Web hits rising through the top of my computer!  Orders setting off Michaels smartphone.  Yes indeed...CNN was running our story again...and again...and....

We were happy as could be!  Happy friggin new Year!!!  Time to dive into peanuts, tape and boxes again!

It's now the 5th of January and all is calm...all is bright.  It's time for us to focus on 2012. And it's looking good.  We will expand our markets north and south. I'm chomping at the bit to go west because so many inquiries have come from CA, OR and WA.  It's a huge opportunity. But, it's also a logistical monster.

We can't ship our sauces out there unless people are willing to pay $20/ bottle! Shipping a load across country would cost a fortune. That aint gonna happen. We are going to have to manufacture our fabulous babies out there and find distribution.  That will take some doing.

But fear not western state folks-- be patient. We will be there eventually, if not sooner... maybe later this year. Right after I finish reading that Elmo story to my granddaughter, Chloe.

We can breathe again...

Ahhh....finally slowing down... a few orders per day now. If I never see another packing peanut, it will be too soon.   The flurry of activity was great however!  We were pushing orders out the door at a rate of 60-75 per day.

Now it's time to re-focus....get back into family and friends and enjoy the Xmas holiday.  What am I giving to people? Simmer sauce, of course.  Oh and for Michael A.?  Hahahahaaaa....it will bring tears to his eyes. He will jump for joy. A dream come true.
Oh, and a bottle of good scotch, too.

Merry Christmas!

We got peanuts!!!

What do you do with over 20 huge bags of peanuts? I'm not talking about the ones you eat--I'm talking about the ones you use to ship packages. Well..... we have been going bonkers here at Lizbeth Lane since last Monday, shipping out over 200 packages of our fabulous simmer sauces to folks all over the country!!

Our story aired on CNN over a one week period beginning last Saturday. A great story which was beautifully produced by CNN. When it first aired, Michael sent me a text message:  Wow--28 orders so far.  We thought that was pretty good. Then.....40...60....80...120....OMG....150.......and growing!

We hauled our butts out to Handi-Crafters beginning Monday to assist in filling these orders.  They were great.  We came home at the end of each day totally exhausted but feeling really good knowing that people wanted our sauce!  They loved the mention of Handi-Crafters as well, who we use for fulfillment.

Our Facebook friends list has been growing by the day.  Gee...never thought we'd have 130 new friends in just a few days.  Emails loading up our computers! Business inquiries! Now it's Friday and has calmed own somewhat. Orders are still coming in but it's no longer a tsunami of paypal orders.  

Be sure to view our story which is now up on CNN's website. It might just help you work up an appetite for a great tasting entree made with one of our simmer sauces.  Thanks to all who have ordered. Be sure to spread the news... and the joy of it all!!

http://yourbottomline.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/13/boomers-simmer-up-success/

CNN airs our "story"!!!

Rid here...
Yesterday we got an email from Jennifer at CNN with the schedule of when our story would be on the air.
Michael and I were like two little kids on Xmas morning. We simply couldn't wait to see ourselves. I immediately thought about the fact that you look 10 lbs. heavier.  Uh oh.  Oh fergetttaboutit!!!  I had to do demos in one of our stores today, so I missed the first airing. Michael was busy working at that time as well. Damn!

Michael stopped over about a half hour ago so we could watch the 5-6pm airing of our touching and poignant story.  It was grrreat!!! We actually looked like a couple of smart savvy guys, who knew what they were doing.   Well....that's because we do. Sorta. We still have plenty to learn and lots of hurdles to face. That's the food biz.

We are getting plenty of online orders, emails and comments and new friends on Facebook.  Great!!!

Thanks, CNN and thanks to my daughter, Stacey, who used to be a Producer for Anderson Cooper. She's the one who was able to get CNN's interest in us in the first place.

Great....and then....

First, we're in the ACME in Paoli. For those who don't know, ACME is a chain of 120 stores in the SE Pennsylvania and NJ area.  We are starting with one store- Paoli and will roll out into others. as time marches on.  Ugghh. Would love to be in all 120 stores in one shot. Oh well....
So, there I am shopping at the Paoli store with Michael when the Manager came up to us and told us that our sauces were now on the floor. Michael and I raced over to where they were on display only to find that they had only 3 of the 4 sauces for sale. The Roasted Red Pepper was missing. HEY! That's one of our biggest sellers!  Customers go bonkers for that one. We talked to the Manager and emailed him as well. He must check with his  (our) distributor to see where the hell those cases of Red Pepper are.  When they get the Red Pepper is anybody's guess. Hope it's soon. It's weird seeing only 3 of our 4 sauces on the shelf.

Again, there is this "thing" about the food business. For every good thing that happens, there is a "thing" that goes haywire.  You get into a store---one SKU is missing.  You get a meeting with a store to present your product-- but need to wait 3 months to meet.  The store wants your simmer sauces-- but beat the crap out of you on price, demanding free fill or paying to get an off shelf position (that means you get out of grocery aisles and into the perimeter where all the customers travel).... like the meat dept. or produce, etc.

Doesn't matter. It's rhino time. We just gotta keep charging ahead.  Clawing for every bit of business we can get.  Can't go after new business now though. It's the holidays and managers and buyers are all going nuts with the holiday crush. We will be calling them right after New Years.  Got to go now...
tomorrow I demo for 4 hours and need to get ready.

I hope I sell every last jar of our simmer sauces.

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!

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!!