Podcasts about fancy food

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Daniel Scharff and Patricia Menegoto from the Startup CPG team sit down with Leana Salamah of the Specialty Food Association to learn all about the upcoming Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, as well as Luca Molinari of BARIS, who exhibited last year, and Jaden McTaggart from Earth Fare, a show regular.They kick things off with an inside look at the upcoming Summer Fancy Food Show in New York—why it's one of the most high-impact events of the year for emerging brands, and what makes the Startup CPG section a magnet for top-tier buyers. Leana shares how the show supports brands at every stage, while Daniel and Patricia offer a behind-the-scenes look at their curated events, pitch sessions, and founder networking opportunities.Then, Luca shares the story behind BARIS—a Patagonia-born, chocolate-dipped raspberry brand that turned a single tabletop at Fancy Food into major retail wins. He shares insights on connecting with buyers, leading with purpose, and building traction as a young brand.Lastly, Jaden offers the buyer's perspective from Earth Fare, explaining what stands out at Fancy Food, how he approaches early-stage brands, and why product mission, packaging, and personal connection matter more than ever.Tune in now!Our upcoming Fancy Food Show 101 webinar: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fancy-food-show-101-get-ready-for-the-2025-summer-show-tickets-1291507807619?aff=oddtdtcreatorApply for the Startup CPG section at Fancy Food Show:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdbu0jtXP2n-tS1xSWhC9LHorFI8Fm736mujws35eftWixlfg/viewform Listen in as they share about:Overview of the Fancy Food Show (Summer Edition)Opportunities for Brands at the ShowWhat to Expect from the ShowStartup CPG's Role and Events at the ShowBrand Perspective - SFA (Leana)Brand Perspective – Baris (Luca)Buyer Perspective – Earth Fare (Jaden)Tips for Brands Attending Fancy FoodEpisode Links:Website: https://www.specialtyfood.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leana-rogers-salamah-5770862/ Website: https://everybaris.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luca-molinari-cattarossi/ Website: https://www.instagram.com/earthfare/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaden-mctaggart-1167225b/ Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.Show Links:Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)Follow @startupcpgVisit host Daniel's Linkedin Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.comEpisode music by Super Fantastics

Our guest is Thomas Frebel who is the creative director at Noma https://noma.dk/.  Noma is the famed restaurant in Copenhagen with numerous accolades, including three Michelin stars and The World's 50 Best Restaurants' No.1 spot.Since its opening in 2003, Noma's chef/owner René Redzepi has been inspiring the world through his strong philosophy of cooking with Nordic traditions and his never-ending pursuit of creativity.  Noma's landscape has reached far beyond Nordic countries and Redzepi and his team have been actively exploring various food cultures in the world, including Japan.Since Thomas joined Noma in 2009, he has been working closely with Chef Redzepi and served as the executive chef at Noma's restaurant project in Tokyo called INUA.  He joined us in Episode #338 and discussed his experience at INUA, Noma's pop-up dinners in Kyoto in spring 2023 and many other topics.In this episode, Thomas is back to talk about Noma's latest pop-up dinner in Kyoto that ran for 10 weeks from September to December 2024.  He will share with us the new discoveries and flavor development by the Noma team in Kyoto, this time in the fall, and also what is the future of Noma going to be after the pop-up up and much, much more!!!

It's trade show season with the biggest one of the year, ExpoWest, wrapping up this week. Whether you are walking the floor of regional shows, distributor shows or buyer shows like Fancy Food or Expo, it can be overwhelming at best and deflating at worst. I've seen founders come back from shows feeling hopeless caught in compare and despair or a "how will I ever succeed with all the other brands out there" mindset.Trade shows, or event big farmers markets, can be used for good to help uplift and inspire you and help you feel more determined that you can be successful than ever, if you follow what I prescribe in today's podcast. Market season is around the corner (for our winter friends) and it's time to get into the markets you want and make WAY more money every minute you are there. Get the Up Level Workshop for just $97 and increase your sales - guaranteed. Get the bundle offer and save big already ($171), plus use code SELLPOD50 for an additional $50 off the full course. Purchase either offer here. Are you a Badass in Business? We're starting a 30 day Discipline Challenge in the free Private Facebook Group + prizes on February 17th! Sign up here. MAKE A BIG LEAP IN 2025! Commit to the support and accountability you need to create a beautiful business! Get Food Business Success to launch and scale to $100K guaranteed Scale your existing business to $300K in 2025 with the financial and operational foundations and become the CEO of your biz in Master Your Business - apply today! We start Jan 28th! Pick up your copy of "Key Ingredients" on Amazon here. Check out my YouTube channel at www.foodbiz.tube for how to videos to start and grow a packaged food busin...

#291. Groceries are expensive right now anyway, so might as well just go ahead and splurge on some luxury fruit from Japan! Or perhaps you'd rather save on the grocery bill and spend a couple hundred bucks on a steak dinner at a linen-napkin kind of place instead of going down the street to your chain steakhouse of choice. We're not saying we would do these things, but we would gladly make a meal out some Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Maybe grab some fast-casual-fine-dining takeout to snack on while you watch the film you heard about because you watched the Oscars or are trusting us with streaming suggestions. All of the above we cover in this episode with varying detail and sporadic expertise. We would love to hear YOUR thoughts via the LinkTree below! Until next time, be kind to each other.FTM Merch! - https://www.teepublic.com/user/fromthemiddleLinkTree - https://linktr.ee/fromthemidpodVOICE MAIL! Comment, ask a question, suggest topics - (614) 383-8412Artius Man - https://artiusman.com use discount code "themiddle"

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Quello italiano è il padiglione più grande tra quelli nazionali, questo conferma l'importanza del mercato statunitense. Siamo il terzo fornitore dopo Messico e Canada". Lo dice Giosafat Riganò, direttore dell'ICE, Ufficio di Los Angeles, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'export calabrese è in forte crescita negli Stati Uniti. Il mercato americano offre grandi opportunità". Lo dice Rocco Colacchio, responsabile internazionalizzazione di Unindustria Calabria, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'export calabrese è in forte crescita negli Stati Uniti. Il mercato americano offre grandi opportunità". Lo dice Rocco Colacchio, responsabile internazionalizzazione di Unindustria Calabria, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'export calabrese è in forte crescita negli Stati Uniti. Il mercato americano offre grandi opportunità". Lo dice Rocco Colacchio, responsabile internazionalizzazione di Unindustria Calabria, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Il fatto che l'Italia sia partner ufficiale è una grandissima opportunità anche per le aziende. Negli Stati Uniti i prodotti italiani stanno tirando molto, c'è il grande interrogativo sui dazi ma speriamo che non sia un problema". Lo ha detto Alberto Auricchio, amministratore delegato di Auricchio, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Il fatto che l'Italia sia partner ufficiale è una grandissima opportunità anche per le aziende. Negli Stati Uniti i prodotti italiani stanno tirando molto, c'è il grande interrogativo sui dazi ma speriamo che non sia un problema". Lo ha detto Alberto Auricchio, amministratore delegato di Auricchio, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "E' un appuntamento importante, dà l'opportunità ai marchi italiani di presentarsi al meglio in un mercato molto competitivo". Lo ha detto Giuseppe Di Martino, presidente e CEO del Pastificio Di Martino, a margine del Winter Fancy Food di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "E' un appuntamento importante, dà l'opportunità ai marchi italiani di presentarsi al meglio in un mercato molto competitivo". Lo ha detto Giuseppe Di Martino, presidente e CEO del Pastificio Di Martino, a margine del Winter Fancy Food di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Quello italiano è il padiglione più grande tra quelli nazionali, questo conferma l'importanza del mercato statunitense. Siamo il terzo fornitore dopo Messico e Canada". Lo dice Giosafat Riganò, direttore dell'ICE, Ufficio di Los Angeles, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'Italia, per molti decenni, è stata un partner incredibile per i Fancy Food Shows. Riconoscerla ufficialmente come paese partner è semplicemente fantastico, ha un impatto su come i buyer statunitensi vedono le nostre fiere, perché l'Italia è nota per le sue innovazioni e tesori culinari". Lo afferma Bill Lynch, presidente della Specialty Food Association, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'Italia, per molti decenni, è stata un partner incredibile per i Fancy Food Shows. Riconoscerla ufficialmente come paese partner è semplicemente fantastico, ha un impatto su come i buyer statunitensi vedono le nostre fiere, perché l'Italia è nota per le sue innovazioni e tesori culinari". Lo afferma Bill Lynch, presidente della Specialty Food Association, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Siamo in una situazione di lancio dell'azienda negli Stati Uniti, con prodotti pensati per questo mercato e il lancio di diversi brand". Lo dice Francesco Bauli, di Bauli Usa, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'Italia, per molti decenni, è stata un partner incredibile per i Fancy Food Shows. Riconoscerla ufficialmente come paese partner è semplicemente fantastico, ha un impatto su come i buyer statunitensi vedono le nostre fiere, perché l'Italia è nota per le sue innovazioni e tesori culinari". Lo afferma Bill Lynch, presidente della Specialty Food Association, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'Italia si conferma leader nel settore agroalimentare e anche delle esportazioni". Lo ha detto a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas Raffaella Valentini, console generale d'Italia a Los Angeles, che ha rivolto il suo pensiero a quello che è accaduto in California, con i devastanti incendi "che hanno molto provato il territorio. Anche molti operatori al Fancy Food Show hanno manifestato la loro solidarietà". sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'Italia si conferma leader nel settore agroalimentare e anche delle esportazioni". Lo ha detto a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas Raffaella Valentini, console generale d'Italia a Los Angeles, che ha rivolto il suo pensiero a quello che è accaduto in California, con i devastanti incendi "che hanno molto provato il territorio. Anche molti operatori al Fancy Food Show hanno manifestato la loro solidarietà". sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "L'Italia si conferma leader nel settore agroalimentare e anche delle esportazioni". Lo ha detto a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas Raffaella Valentini, console generale d'Italia a Los Angeles, che ha rivolto il suo pensiero a quello che è accaduto in California, con i devastanti incendi "che hanno molto provato il territorio. Anche molti operatori al Fancy Food Show hanno manifestato la loro solidarietà". sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Qui c'è la grande squadra Italia che riesce a promuoversi attraverso le sue eccellenze, e per noi essere la Regione ospite nell'anno in cui l'Italia è Paese partner vuol dire tanto". Lo ha detto Alberto Cirio, presidente della Regione Piemonte, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show a Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Qui c'è la grande squadra Italia che riesce a promuoversi attraverso le sue eccellenze, e per noi essere la Regione ospite nell'anno in cui l'Italia è Paese partner vuol dire tanto". Lo ha detto Alberto Cirio, presidente della Regione Piemonte, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show a Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Qui c'è la grande squadra Italia che riesce a promuoversi attraverso le sue eccellenze, e per noi essere la Regione ospite nell'anno in cui l'Italia è Paese partner vuol dire tanto". Lo ha detto Alberto Cirio, presidente della Regione Piemonte, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show a Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Siamo in una situazione di lancio dell'azienda negli Stati Uniti, con prodotti pensati per questo mercato e il lancio di diversi brand". Lo dice Francesco Bauli, di Bauli Usa, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Abbiamo oltre 100 aziende italiane partecipanti quest'anno, nel Padiglione Italia proponiamo un connubio tra cultura e agroalimentare di qualità". Lo dice Chiara Cinelli, dirigente di Universal Marketing, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

LAS VEGAS (STATI UNITI) (ITALPRESS) - "Abbiamo oltre 100 aziende italiane partecipanti quest'anno, nel Padiglione Italia proponiamo un connubio tra cultura e agroalimentare di qualità". Lo dice Chiara Cinelli, dirigente di Universal Marketing, a margine del Winter Fancy Food Show di Las Vegas.sat/gsl

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "Partecipare al Fancy Food con un grande numero di aziende per noi è motivo di orgoglio. Vuol dire che stiamo andando nella direzione giusta". Lo afferma Erica di Giovancarlo, Direttrice Agenzia ICE di New York e coordinatore rete USA, parlando del Fancy Food. "Siamo molto ottimisti e positivi, la squadra funziona e andiamo avanti così", aggiunge. Si parte il 19 gennaio con il Winter Fancy Food.La magia di Las Vegas e una location d‘eccezione come il Las Vegas Convention Center saranno ancora una volta la “casa invernale” del Fancy Food.Le eccellenze italiane prenderanno vita nel tradizionale “Italian Pavilion”, il più ampio spazio espositivo dell'area internazionale di tutta la fiera.f11/mgg/gtr

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "Partecipare al Fancy Food con un grande numero di aziende per noi è motivo di orgoglio. Vuol dire che stiamo andando nella direzione giusta". Lo afferma Erica di Giovancarlo, Direttrice Agenzia ICE di New York e coordinatore rete USA, parlando del Fancy Food. "Siamo molto ottimisti e positivi, la squadra funziona e andiamo avanti così", aggiunge. Si parte il 19 gennaio con il Winter Fancy Food.La magia di Las Vegas e una location d‘eccezione come il Las Vegas Convention Center saranno ancora una volta la “casa invernale” del Fancy Food.Le eccellenze italiane prenderanno vita nel tradizionale “Italian Pavilion”, il più ampio spazio espositivo dell'area internazionale di tutta la fiera.f11/mgg/gtr

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "Gli americani sempre di più riconoscono nella cucina italiana non soltanto la qualità ma quello che la rende unica. Tutto ciò si traduce in un'attenzione crescente che produce export del nostro agroalimentare verso gli Stati Uniti". Lo dice Fabrizio Di Michele, console generale d'Italia a New York, a margine della presentazione del Fancy Food show.f11/mgg/gtr

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "Gli americani sempre di più riconoscono nella cucina italiana non soltanto la qualità ma quello che la rende unica. Tutto ciò si traduce in un'attenzione crescente che produce export del nostro agroalimentare verso gli Stati Uniti". Lo dice Fabrizio Di Michele, console generale d'Italia a New York, a margine della presentazione del Fancy Food show.f11/mgg/gtr

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "Quest'anno abbiamo tantissime nuove iniziative, non solo degustazioni, ma anche attività promozionali per far crescere la nostra presenza negli Stati Uniti". Lo ha detto Donato Cinelli, presidente Universal Marketing, agente esclusivo per l'Italia Specialty Food Association, in occasione della presentazione del Fancy Food Show. f11/mgg/gtr

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "Quest'anno abbiamo tantissime nuove iniziative, non solo degustazioni, ma anche attività promozionali per far crescere la nostra presenza negli Stati Uniti". Lo ha detto Donato Cinelli, presidente Universal Marketing, agente esclusivo per l'Italia Specialty Food Association, in occasione della presentazione del Fancy Food Show. f11/mgg/gtr

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "La crescita dei prodotti italiani nell'ultimo decennio è una storia fenomenale, è anche una storia di buon cibo, innovazione e tendenze che l'Italia ha contribuito a portare a un livello superiore nella ristorazione e alimentazione negli Usa". Lo ha detto Phil Robinson - Senior Vice President, Specialty Food Association, in occasione della presentazione del Fancy Food Show. f11/mgg/gtr

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "La crescita dei prodotti italiani nell'ultimo decennio è una storia fenomenale, è anche una storia di buon cibo, innovazione e tendenze che l'Italia ha contribuito a portare a un livello superiore nella ristorazione e alimentazione negli Usa". Lo ha detto Phil Robinson - Senior Vice President, Specialty Food Association, in occasione della presentazione del Fancy Food Show. f11/mgg/gtr

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) - "La mia generazione è attenta a una cucina che sia sana. Sicuramente gli americani stanno conoscendo la cucina regionale, ne apprezzano tutta una serie di valori e stanno capendo che c'è tantissimo da scoprire". Lo dice Aurora Cavallo, meglio conosciuta come la food blogger Cooker Girl in occasione della presentazione del Fancy Food Show. f11/mgg/gtr

It's time to dine! Al Mancini, host of the Food and Loathing Podcast is here with all the tasty foodie news, celebrity interviews and on-the-scene reporting; covering the most important restaurant happenings on and off [...] The post Neon Feast: Saying Farewell to Julian Serrano, A Wine Dinner at Red Rock, and Fancy Food Returning To Vegas appeared first on Highway Radio.

70 people came down with food poisoning, likely from oysters, at an L.A. Times event celebrating the best restaurants in SoCal. We're seeing more and more cars decorated for the holidays, but is it legal? And why are squirrels suddenly becoming carnivores? The L.A. Local is sponsored by the LA Car Guy family of dealerships.

Andy is president of Gellert Global Group. The company imports more than 5,500 unique food items from more than 60 countries and is one of the largest food importers in the world. Gellert Global Group is home to 12 companies, led by Atalanta, the largest privately-held food importer in the U.S.Gellert Global is a third-generation family-run business. The Gellert Global Group comprises many of the leading North American food-importing companies and has been importing food products for over 100 years. The combined revenues of the Group exceed $1.7 billion.The Gellert Global family includes Andy's sister, brother and cousin. Andy's father and uncle are also part of the company. Andy's father, George, was recently inducted into the New Jersey business hall of fame. Gellert Global's goal is to be a part of every food and beverage experience. Andy and his team use a variety of factors to determine which products and brands to partner with, including trends and the needs of customers. QUOTES “Some of these family businesses and you hear about fighting and people not getting along. I think we're successful because we keep growing and there's enough things for everyone to do and for everyone to bring value.” (Andy) “You want (joining the family business) to happen organically. It's a fun business. There's opportunities for (family) to join if they want. There's no obligation to come in. We'd like them to come in, but we don't want to make a rule that they have to come in.” (Andy) “Network is important to my father. I learned that from him early on. Being a part of YPO (Young President's Organization), I love leveraging my network. I like investing in early-stage CPG's and helping and leading them to other opportunities.” (Andy) “We don't want to lose direction. We're very big and we're happy where we are but we're not in a rush to get to two billion. We're going to get there smart. If it means pairing down and doing SKU rationalization to be more profitable, all the better.” (Andy) “It's really all about efficiency. As you get bigger you can be more efficient, but you have to be diligent.” (Andy) “We're an importer of products so our products are expensive already. We're always looking for ways to (save). You always have to turn over rocks to look for more opportunities.” (Andy) “I love eating. I love food experiences. I love being surprised. I like going to a chef and saying ‘Just surprise me. Just give me what you do best.'” (Andy)  TRANSCRIPT 00:00.45Andy GellertBye. 00:01.87vigorbrandingHey there, welcome to Fork Tales. I’m ah Michael Pavone, and I’m happy to really get a chance to talk to a good friend of mine. ah Today we have Andy Gellert here. He’s a good friend I’ve known for and respected for a long, long time. Andy’s the president of Gellert Global Group, one of the largest food importers in the world. ah They import more than 2,500 product lines from more than 60 countries. Andy, thank you so much for being here. 00:27.05Andy GellertMike, always a pleasure, always great seeing you, and nice seeing your smiling face, and I love hanging out with you. We’re always having a lot of fun together. 00:34.39vigorbrandingYeah, absolutely. You know, if they if they have music for this in the beginning, you know, I was going to, I was going to change up our, our forktails music and have a little. 00:41.11Andy GellertListen, I don’t like to brag about my my my my my my my my my beautiful voice. where You saw me on stage with Welcome Pepper a long time ago. I hung that up a long time ago. 00:52.98Andy GellertI got straight into the food business, Mike. I can’t cant just think my life away, you know? 00:54.81vigorbrandingYeah. The little salt and pepper in the beginning of this thing i gets us off on everything and everything. The thing is, Andy, I have known you for a long time, but I love doing these interviews because I always learn more. so it’s like I might have seen you over the years at these shows and get to hang out and you know have a drink together, but you know when you’re digging a little deeper about the family business and about the food industry and and all of that, it’s just I’m always blown away. and your Your company and your family, which is the company, is absolutely amazing. 01:21.57vigorbrandingSo tell us a little bit about Gellert Global Group and know what they do. 01:24.57Andy Gellertbut i mean like Next year we’ll celebrate our 80th birthday and we’re very excited. and As I said, you know I’m third generation and I live i live food. It’s a passion of mine. I love all aspects of the food industry. and you know like My grandfather started this in 1945. 01:46.38Andy Gellertimporting meats from Eastern Europe and seafood. We’ve grown and got other lines of businesses in. We’re selling food service, retail, manufacturing, cruise line. 01:57.56Andy GellertWe’re now involved in, you know thanks to YPO, I’m i’m involved in the franchise business. By the end of the year, we’ll have 55 guys. Thanks to our good friend Dan Rowe. 02:05.09vigorbrandingWow. Yeah. 02:07.17Andy GellertWe’re introducing their first one. And you know we invest in food businesses and it’s just, ah We’re all about food. I tell everyone I hit my belly, it’s this is R and&D. 02:17.29Andy GellertThis is R and&D. I mean, 02:20.68vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. Now, you know, I know family owned, super important. I know you treat everyone like family because I’ve seen you around ah customers, employees, the whole thing, but your dad, he is an older gentleman, but still very much involved in the business. Is that correct? 02:35.09Andy Gellert86. I went to his house to play tennis at 6 o’clock in the morning today. We play with people from our company. He loves it like he’s, my mom goes away for the summer. 02:45.63Andy GellertHe’s having, ah lot this summer is incredible. He’s 86. Every, twice a week, he has people from the company come over and have dinner and just different groups of people. 02:52.74vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 02:53.86Andy GellertAnd and he loves what he does. It’s it’s it’s really it’s really an honor to to to work with him and and watch him. he loves He loves his suppliers. 03:04.49Andy GellertWe love our bankers. We love our employees. It’s all about, you know, yeah he’s all, he’s all about people. And it’s really great. 03:11.81vigorbrandingYeah. 03:12.97Andy GellertI said this summer at the fancy food show, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award. And it’s such a good honor to see him up there and enjoying all the success of the role we’ve done together. 03:22.47vigorbrandingWell, it’s so well deserved. He deserved that honor. The company’s amazing. But you should give him a break. I mean, I think you you put sneakers on him. 03:28.24Andy GellertHe loves, 03:28.57vigorbrandingi had He had sneakers on in the booth to run around. I mean, you know. 03:32.00Andy Gellertyou know, listen, like I said, he works out before we play tennis in the morning and He’s all about the next activity and what we’re doing next. So, you know. 03:39.84vigorbrandingThat’s it’s fantastic. how many So how many members of the family are currently working in the company? 03:45.07Andy GellertSo today we have my sister, my brother, and my cousin in my generation. And my cousin who, my other cousin who runs the Five Guide business. And then I have my father and my uncle. 03:56.25Andy GellertSo there’s, you know, three, six of us, you know. 03:58.55vigorbrandingthat’s great 03:59.47Andy GellertAnd we’re getting ready for the third generation. 03:59.41vigorbrandingand look 04:01.81Andy GellertHopefully, you know, there are nine kids in the next generation. Hopefully one of them or two of them will come in and we’re we’re excited. It’s all about, you know, we love what we do and there’s a lot to do. 04:12.31Andy GellertAnd, you know, some of these family businesses, you know, the family, you hear about them and they’re fighting and they’re not getting a along. 04:18.50vigorbrandingThat’s 04:19.38Andy GellertI think we’re being successful because we keep growing and there’s enough things that everyone can do and everyone brings value that no one’s stepping each other’s toes. 04:25.06vigorbrandinggreat. 04:27.57Andy GellertWe’re all different, we but we appreciate each other’s opinion and listening to each other. We argue, but, you know, we all, we we get her off our chest and we move forward. You know? 04:36.10vigorbrandingWould you go out and play tennis, right, and solve it over the own tennis court? 04:37.88Andy GellertExactly. We stopped it on the court. We stopped it on the court. 04:40.98vigorbrandingSo you the kids, are are they are they interested? are they old not I don’t know how old they are. Are they old enough to be getting close? 04:47.10Andy GellertSo I think um my daughter my daughter is a social worker therapist. I don’t think she’s going to come in, you know. But my, you know, my other two ah potentially will come in. 04:57.29Andy Gellertone One probably more likely than the other. 04:57.44vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 04:59.68Andy GellertOther is in the real estate industry. And then my sister’s kids potentially were there and my brother’s kids were a little bit younger. So I definitely think at least three or four will come in for the next generation. But in the meantime, we keep growing and getting bigger and and looking at opportunities and we have fun. Why why are we doing it? 05:17.12vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. Well, so in in your situation, I mean, we’re we’re of a generation, you and I, I’ll say that, like, did you, did you have a choice or did you always know that this is what I’m going to do or I want to do it? Or did you, did dad put a little pressure on you and say, Hey, look, you know, you got to do your thing. 05:32.22Andy GellertI did everything wrong in the family business. youre They all that go out and get the outside experience. And I came right in. 05:38.08vigorbrandingyeahh Yeah. 05:38.43Andy GellertAnd it was difficult. I’m not going to say it was a piece of cake. And my brother was a lot. 05:41.30vigorbrandingYeah. 05:44.06Andy Gellertyou know He went to business school. He went to law school. He worked in private banking. And then he came in. So it it made a lot of sense. And my sister, the same thing. yeah I did everything wrong but it’s good to know, it’s good to do it because then you know you’re not going to repeat it. 05:57.78Andy GellertSo you know my son who who definitely looks forward to maybe joining one day says he want he wants to spend three or four years you know the outside and coming in. 05:58.16vigorbrandingYeah. 06:05.42vigorbrandingyeah 06:08.26Andy GellertHe says he doesn’t like his boss I’m like that’s good get used to it. you Get used to it better than me you know. 06:12.52vigorbrandingGet used to it, right? 06:17.21vigorbrandingWell, you know, that’s I had the same rule with my girls. I mean, I don’t know that they’ll ever want to come into it. Why would anyone would go to an advertising agency or come into a marketing firm? But if they would, I said they had to work somewhere for two years and get one promotion. 06:28.93vigorbrandingAnd thankfully, they’ve both been doing that. 06:29.31Andy GellertYeah. 06:31.08vigorbrandingIn fact, they’ve been doing it for a while now, so maybe they’re not interested. So ah they may have dodged the bullet or maybe I have. But I just think our generation was one of those things where, you know, yeah, go do what you want to do, but you’re coming into the company kind of thing, you know. 06:43.02vigorbrandingI started my own business, I didn’t go to my dad’s company but I mean it was one of those things where I just think a lot of folks, it was just I guess different. ah Now I think with, I’ll say with my daughters and probably your kids like go out and do your thing and if you’re interested talk to me, don’t you know, don’t don’t not talk to me about it but you know, no pressure, that kind of thing. 07:00.05vigorbrandingYou know, it’s just a little different. 07:01.20Andy GellertYeah you want it to happen organically and you know listen he he comes around a lot of the meals and the family all gets together and a lot of time is talking about work so he’s interested and you know he spends weekends he came to the fancy food show they all came I can see what’s going on and it’s it’s a fun business so I think there’s opportunities for them in the future if they want but there’s no pressure we’re growing we we have a lot of we’ve done a great job of hiring a lot of outside ah you know ah 07:03.16vigorbrandingYeah. 07:19.45vigorbrandingYeah. 07:30.22Andy Gellertah you know professionals to help us run the business and they don’t have to come. re We’re doing well and you know they’re all going to enjoy the from the fruitfuls of the business as as it as it gets bigger but there’s no obligation for them to come in. We like them to come in but we don’t want to make a rule if they have to come in. 07:48.07vigorbrandingYeah, but on that note, and we’ll jump in more about the business, but on the family side, you mentioned earlier that we’re both in YPO. And we both know that a lot of YPO businesses are family owned businesses. And there’s there are challenges, right, with being family owned and led. I mean, you know, what, you know, can you talk a little bit about that? 08:05.93Andy GellertListen, it’s hard, but thank God for YPO. To me, it’s one of the best opportunities of my life. I really enjoyed all the people like yourself and getting involved in the Food Network and my New Jersey Forum. 08:23.49Andy GellertThese guys are my board of directors and my own personal board of directors. 08:26.70vigorbrandingyou 08:28.15Andy GellertThey really helped me grow. where you know where I was i was being stubborn, they told me to relax, where I was not being aggressive enough, they pushed me. And it’s just been a great environment for me to to prosper as a leader because of YPL. 08:43.66vigorbrandingThat’s great. When I know your food and beverage form or that group and boy, you know, I can’t believe you learned anything from them. So ah you guys have a group of, you guys have ah ah a group of, uh, of, uh, cherished individuals, yeah characters. 08:49.65Andy GellertThank you. 08:56.99Andy GellertWe’ve got a great group and we’ve been together for over, you know, some of us back almost 16, 18 years and it’s great. 08:58.20vigorbrandingYes, you do. 09:03.87Andy GellertI love seeing the guys and we don we try not to miss meetings and and we’re supportive of each other. 09:06.99vigorbrandingYeah, it’s cool. Yeah, I’ve had a couple of them one here, so it’s ah it’s been great. They’re they’re they’re like the characters, that’s for sure. So yeah and you mentioned your father got an award at Fancy Food. I was there at Fancy Food this year, and what it’s a great honor. He’s also a member of the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame. 09:24.61Andy GellertYeah, please listen, though we it’s not easy. I think we’re the 11th largest privately held business in New Jersey. We’re very proud of that. and we you know it’s We work hard and he deserves to be honored for what what what he’s accomplished. 09:39.11vigorbrandingYeah. i mean so As I was saying earlier, you know I get to meet folks and we get to see you know different folks at different shows. and i had i i mean I knew you ran a great, important company. I had no idea the size and scale. so you know on Your vision is to be a part of every food experience. and you know Well, I will say that sounds like a really you know audacious goal, right? But with your company, you kind of are. i mean you have you have you have You have a franchise, you have you import your frozen food, you have CPG, you have a private, I mean, it’s it’s incredible. 10:13.44vigorbrandingCan you talk a little bit about the breadth and the different companies within your organization? 10:15.87Andy GellertI mean, it’s exciting and I think we’ve grown over the years through acquisitions. I think the last 18 months we made three acquisitions. We’re probably closing on one the next month and have two on the table that we’re looking at. So growth is, you know, we’re always looking at mergers and acquisitions. And we like to say, listen, private equity, if you’re a family business, you want to stay apart, you know, how enjoy the ride, take some money off the table and join our family instead of private equity where they 10:44.81vigorbrandingYeah. 10:45.10Andy Gellertchange your business up and listen if you want to cash out you can always cash out but if you want to enjoy the ride a little bit longer and take some money off the table we’ve been very successful about people wanting to join a family business and ours is that we’re like a large very large family business so we get to a lot of opportunities to look at business deals. 11:05.69vigorbrandingYeah, and you know, ah your your ah passion for the business and your your love of people, it sort of precedes you. Like I’ve always seen that about you, your energy and i it’s not, it’s not, it’s not artificial. 11:18.40vigorbrandingYou do that. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen you at the booth when I’m standing walking the shows and stuff. And it’s, ah it’s really kind of ah really cool. And I’m sure that’s a compliment to your father and and I’m sure your whole family’s like that. But you do treat everybody like family. 11:29.62vigorbrandingAnd I think that’s ah admirable. 11:30.12Andy Gellertbut You know, network is always um is important to my father. I learned that from him early on. And being part of YPO, I love leveraging my network and not for myself, but helping people. 11:39.05vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah. 11:41.20Andy GellertI like investing in early stage CPGs and helping these young people and watching their passion and, you know, leading them to other opportunities. I love putting two people together and let let them prosper. 11:53.58Andy GellertIt’s it’s really a ah pleasure of mine, you know, watching that happen. 11:58.17vigorbrandingYeah, well, and that’s, that leads to success, right? 12:00.84Andy GellertIt’s really pure joy. 12:00.82vigorbrandingYou know, you help people out. 12:01.68Andy Gellertat You’re 100%. 12:01.74vigorbrandingYeah, absolutely. So, and I will say, ah you know, I’ve been informed with you and you were a treasure and valuables all get out. And the amount of people you know, and and the connections you have are second to none. 12:14.02Andy GellertWell, 12:14.00vigorbrandingAnd you know, 12:14.46Andy Gellertwe do have a good friend in LA who like to compare. 12:16.32vigorbrandingokay 12:17.18Andy GellertMy good friend, our good friend Clara, who probably knows one more than I do. 12:20.44vigorbrandingyeah hey 12:22.30Andy Gellertjob 12:23.31vigorbrandingheard I would always keep score when we’d be talking, like who knew who or who knew the other person better or whatever else, but I will say, yeah I’m excited for you to be on here because I know my podcast now will be, I’ll rival the the football games, you know the upcoming football games for for for viewership because because of you. 12:34.55Andy GellertYeah. 12:38.34vigorbrandingSo I just, I appreciate that. So, but but back when companies, though you have frozen, you have CPG. can you Can you talk a little bit about the different types of of ah products? 12:46.45Andy GellertYeah, so we’re in the frozen fruits, frozen vegetables. You know, we just actually, a few years ago, we invested in a company called Cafe Spice. I made him join YPO and they make ethnic meals. um I just, you know, we did ah the Bloomberg of Food, the Food Institute, 13:04.37Andy GellertWe made a minority investment in there. 13:04.43vigorbrandingYep. 13:06.90Andy Gellertwere you know We do a lot of different retail, private label, manufacturing. We’re just trying to leverage all the everything on a plate. look at you know we’re We’re looking at an olive business, a rice business. There’s so many opportunities out there. We just want to add on to our great team here. We’ve got great people. 13:27.64Andy Gellertah We have great sales people, great buyers, and you know, finance. And we just, we can do some more. So we’re looking for more opportunities. 13:33.69vigorbrandingMm hmm. That’s great. Do you need an ad agency? I’m just kidding. 13:37.95Andy GellertWe’ve said, a lot of us not our own brand. We do have some brands that we, that are ours. 13:43.18vigorbrandingYeah. 13:43.84Andy GellertAnd we bought, we bought two brands from, from UNFI, Mountain Vicos that was owned by UNFI and Sonoma Cheese. 13:48.53vigorbrandingMm hmm. 13:52.16Andy GellertSo we do, we do work on our brand. So we, you know, we and um we have a marketing department. 13:54.60vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 13:56.46Andy GellertWe got a, get you more engaged, Micah. 13:58.46vigorbrandingThere you go. 13:58.78Andy GellertI’ll get to that. 13:59.35vigorbrandingHey, I’m always here for that. That’s awesome. 14:01.26Andy GellertFor even your Philly cheesesteak, we’ll have a meeting, you know, that’s all I need. 14:03.59vigorbrandingYou got it. Hey, that’s done. No no no problem there. So when you’re when you’re building and you’re always looking for these new new products or companies, ah yeah what when you want to import them, what what factors are you looking at? 14:15.50vigorbrandinglike I mean, obviously you you go to need a lot of things, there but you’re in so many different places. What what is it that you’re you’re kind of like, what’s on your checklist at the top of the checklist? 14:23.65Andy GellertSo we want to look at something that makes sense. so if you know We love the the old math, one plus one equals four. So we want to find efficiencies. Maybe they’re doing the same thing we are, but they have a big they have a big finance team that we don’t really need going forward. 14:38.14Andy GellertOr maybe they’re in one segment of the business where we’re not in. 14:42.04vigorbrandingUh-huh. 14:42.16Andy GellertSo we try to really identify where we can do the math where one plus one equals four and five. 14:47.91vigorbrandingRight. 14:48.70Andy Gellertyou know we don’t want to doesn’t that A copycat doesn’t really help sometimes, but if they have a you know a big ah big staff on the some redundancy there, then it could make sense. 14:54.08vigorbrandingUh-huh. 14:58.10Andy GellertOtherwise, it could be a whole new field that we can add to our already you know deep bench of of products that we do. So we don’t have a playlist of what we’re looking for. We just look at different opportunities and see if they make sense. 15:11.27Andy Gellerti mean like Just like building a network, we love looking at decks and looking at opportunities or 15:16.32vigorbrandingMm hmm. 15:16.75Andy GellertWhy are companies for sale? Why aren’t they aren’t? And a lot of times, i likeck listen, this is going to go to private equity. We’re not going to need a bit because we know we’ll be blown out of the water. 15:25.59vigorbrandingright Yeah. Yeah. that makes That makes a lot of sense. So, I mean, obviously, and you know, I kind of had this philosophy as well in the business. It’s like, you’re opportunistic. You know, you’re not saying I’m looking for this exact thing. 15:36.91vigorbrandingIt has to be this big, that, you know, that that category doing that thing. It’s sort of like, Oh, here’s an opportunity. Hmm. This fits or no, it doesn’t fit. Or, Hey, this can enhance that. 15:43.96Andy GellertYeah. 15:44.95vigorbrandingAnd if we do this, maybe we can go here. And so I’ve always looked at that. It’s kind of fun to do it that way. I kind of always. 15:50.32Andy GellertIt’s not a good idea. You’re looking under the rug and see what’s there and putting that puzzle together because like I said, a big company that’s competitive in mind, it’s going to go for a lot more for private equity. 15:51.60vigorbrandingYeah. 15:54.65vigorbrandingYeah. 16:03.40Andy GellertI don’t even want to play in there. I don’t have private equity money where I could afford to strike out. 16:05.38vigorbrandingRight. 16:10.74Andy GellertI want to make sure these are successful acquisitions and they fit in them all. 16:15.96vigorbrandingYeah, and you make a really good point because we’ve seen, you know, I’ll say, and um I know you’ve seen for sure, but in my business with CPG and in the restaurant side, private equity will come in and they, I’m not gonna say they don’t care if they fail, but they they know it’s a numbers game. 16:31.27vigorbrandingThey know that all aren’t gonna pan out. So they make these investments and then they they do their, they they they they apply their playbook and then, you know, if it’s like baseball. if they They hit three out of, ah if they hit three out of 10, they feel like they’ve done something and and you probably have financially, but 16:40.88Andy Gellertyeah 16:44.73vigorbrandingThe other seven are just left to the wayside. 16:46.68Andy GellertExactly. And and they’ve, you know, they can afford to do that. We really don’t want to do that. 16:49.73vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah. 16:51.36Andy GellertAnd we don’t want to, we don’t want to lose direction. 16:51.34vigorbrandingNo. 16:53.42Andy GellertI mean, listen, and we like, you know, we’re very big and we’re happy wherever you are, but we’re not in a goal to rush to get to 2 billion. 17:00.89vigorbrandingRight. 17:01.14Andy GellertWouldn’t get there smart. And if it means paring down and skew rationalization to be more profitable, all the better. 17:06.88vigorbrandingMm hmm. Do you find yourself doing that a lot? Do you do you have to go in there and and do skew rationalization or? 17:12.64Andy Gellertall the time, all the time, we really, you know, skew rash, customer rationalization, and we’ll bundle a bunch of customers and give them to a bigger customer just to make sure our warehouse is more efficient. 17:13.21vigorbrandingYeah. 17:16.68vigorbrandingYeah. 17:21.11vigorbrandingYeah. 17:23.25Andy GellertIt’s really all about efficiency. I mean, as you get bigger, you could be more efficient. 17:24.87vigorbrandingYeah. 17:27.21Andy GellertAnd, but you have to be diligent and skew rationalization, customer rationalization, people rationalization, you know, rationalization as well. 17:32.84vigorbrandingYep. 17:35.97Andy GellertYou know, it’s important. 17:37.23vigorbrandingYeah. And that’s that’s such ah’ such an interesting point because I think, you know, and I’ll say i’ll say in my own experience, you know, i in our holding company, we have several different marketing companies and I’m always afraid to let customers go. 17:48.21vigorbrandingLike, oh, though no, that we can do it for them. Sometimes it’s not good business, right? And sometimes you have to make those tough decisions and, you know, it’s it’s hard to let employees go, but it’s it’s hard for you to let, or I’ll say for me, to let a piece of business go, a paying customer. 17:52.67Andy GellertYeah. 18:00.83Andy GellertYeah, ah it’s, you know, you don’t like the same thing. But, but you got to look at it like, you know, you still have another 300 other employees out there that you want to do for the better the of the group. 18:07.78vigorbrandingRight. 18:10.14vigorbrandingRight. 18:10.45Andy GellertSo it makes sense to let someone go or let a customer go in order to be more efficient for everyone else. 18:10.42vigorbrandingThat’s right. 18:17.54Andy GellertSo it’s hard. 18:17.83vigorbrandingyeah 18:19.55Andy GellertAnd initially, it’s hard. But over time, you realize It’s a better decision and to be you know to be more efficient and just try. 18:27.95vigorbrandingAbsolutely. So I mean, one of the things that, you you know, we have the two agencies, we have quench, we have, ah which is CPG food and beverage, we have a vart of Vigor, which is ah ah restaurant marketing. and you you You cover them all because you’re in franchise with five guys, you’re in, you know, in the CPG world. um You know, it’s it’s sort of like, it’s hard to keep track of everything. How do you manage it all? I mean, I know you have different folks, but you’re sitting up there, are you just pulling up a different P and&L for each of these business units every two days? or 18:56.16Andy GellertI mean, we’re on ah basically a lot of these Zoom calls and just listening in and we just had one a few minutes ago, you know, we do a lot of nut and dry fruit business and we’re working on getting bigger in the bakery in the in the supermarket. 19:09.09Andy GellertSo how could we be, you know, and and we sat down today and we talked about all of our items and they all fit in the bakery. bill We’re selling very little of the bakery. So it’s an untapped market and it gets everyone excited. 19:21.02Andy GellertAnd we sit down and f throw things at the wall and see what sticks. 19:24.19vigorbrandingThat’s great. 19:24.58Andy GellertAnd we’re kind of fun. like we just said hey You know, we do this item, this will be good for, and I just, I love sitting in these meetings and just, you know, throwing out ideas. 19:32.21vigorbrandingThat’s great. That’s great. Very cool. Well, I know at Quench, you know, the CPG side, we would do to learn, to understand the industry. You know, we started the agency in food and beverage. 19:43.65vigorbrandingIt’s like, you can’t just say you do advertising and marketing food and beverage. You have to have an expertise. We’re going to hire people from the CPG world. But then what we did was we created a food and beverage trench to learn what was going on. 19:54.01vigorbrandingRight. And the first year we’ve done them for 15 years. You know, you’ve probably seen me speak on them at different events. 20:00.02Andy GellertYeah, are you do a great job. I love hearing your updates on the YPO conferences and you really got a pulse of what’s going on in the industry. 20:07.49vigorbrandingYeah. would So we we would do that. just We did it actually just for our own edification, just to learn. And then when we did it, we said, well, let’s let’s just give these away. So we do them every year. We give them away, fast companies written about them and all that. Do you use trends ah for your business to for like that next big thing? 20:21.92vigorbrandingOr is it more of truly just looking at the pieces and moving things around on the board? 20:26.18Andy GellertWe look at trends, we look at pieces, you know, we lot of our a lot of our suppli customers say, we like this item, can you go out and find it for us? And we got people or, you know, and in some cases we do a lot of business, some of our our customers say, here’s an item, you know here’s the supplier, you know, you’re you’re a great importer, we want you to import it for us. So it just, because we’re a trusted supplier, we’re good at logistics, they actually given us business to to handle. 20:53.89Andy GellertAnd it’s it’s exciting. And then we take that business and look at other opportunities as well. 20:59.70vigorbrandingHow is there anything are you doing anything in the beverage side is it mostly all just food? 21:01.22Andy Gellerte 21:04.27Andy GellertNo, I mean, we the beverage side we have, so we, Cipriani, you know, the so we we handle all their CPG items. 21:09.46vigorbrandingMm-hmm Okay Mm-hmm 21:13.80Andy GellertSo they make a the bulini mix, non-alcoholic bulini. So we’re slowly getting it. That’s our beverage and, you know, we’ll see where that takes us. but That’s new space for us. 21:24.96Andy GellertAnd we’re doing it on the retail side. Now we’re looking to try to listen to all the beverage distributors we don’t really touch on. So we’re getting a ah handle on that business as well. 21:31.95vigorbrandingMm-hmm. Yeah. 21:34.96Andy GellertSo that’s the only part of beverage. know I’m an investor in a few CPG, like Ollie Pop and Lemon Perfect, a few others. 21:40.57vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 21:43.06Andy GellertBut but not I think that’s a tough space. But I think we’re we’re getting our feet wet with this Trippiani land. 21:48.39vigorbrandingSee, that’s interesting. 21:48.67Andy GellertWe’re very excited. 21:50.05vigorbrandingYou’re 11 perfect. We just took over their space in Atlanta. They’re headquartered in Atlanta, yeah. 21:53.76Andy GellertOh, 21:54.76vigorbrandingAnd we just took over their space. They went ah they went all virtual, so yeah. 21:58.07Andy Gellertyeah. Yani went to Cornell with me. 22:00.32vigorbrandingYeah. Oh, is that right? 22:00.83Andy GellertYeah, yeah he’s a you should get him on your podcast. 22:03.45vigorbrandingWell, I’ve met him, he’s a great guy. 22:05.26Andy GellertI he’s Mr. Energy. It was his birthday this week. 22:06.69vigorbrandingOh my gosh. 22:07.72Andy GellertSo I just I love that guy. 22:08.28vigorbrandingIs that right? I will reach out to him. Yeah, i we you you can you can appreciate this, Andy, you know me pretty well. 22:11.20Andy GellertHe 22:15.37vigorbrandingSo i’m goingnna I was gonna sublease his his office, right? So you know it’s a real estate deal. I’m gonna sublease it, we’re gonna move from one ah ah one office to this other office. So I talked to him and he was like, he was going 180 miles an hour and it was great and all that. 22:29.28vigorbrandingAnd I was like, I really like this guy. And I’m like, 22:31.92Andy GellertHe’s an infectious personality. 22:32.86vigorbrandingYeah. 22:33.53Andy Gellertyou 22:33.75vigorbrandingAnd I’m like, you know, johnny i said hey if you want, I mean, I’ll, I’ll do the deal here with you, but if you want to stay, like, you know, I mean your energy and what you’re, you’re in the beverage, that’s what we do. 22:44.21vigorbrandingI mean, you can stay, you know, like if you have meetings here and like your, if your people come in, like it’s a big enough space for all of us, I’m not asking for anything on the other side. 22:46.07Andy GellertYeah. 22:51.86vigorbrandingah You can stay. I mean, I just i thought energy, you know, creates more energy. So, and we talked about that, but then he was like, you know, isn’t that crazy? 22:57.60Andy GellertThat’s so funny to know that guy. I met him at Expo West. And he had a small little table. 23:03.20vigorbrandingYep. 23:03.40Andy GellertAnd I’m like, wow, this guy’s this guy has a firecracker. 23:07.14vigorbrandingYeah. 23:07.31Andy GellertAnd I’m like, um’m I’m supporting you. 23:09.42vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 23:09.51Andy GellertAnd it’s a great story. 23:11.92vigorbrandingThat’s very cool. That’s the end goes to show you know everybody that’s amazing to me amazing. That’s funny. 23:17.14Andy GellertTake that, Clara. 23:21.03vigorbrandingI’ll make sure we tell her that. 23:22.87Andy Gellertbut 23:22.95vigorbrandingSo, all right, now I’m gonna bring up something, I guess negative or whatever, but inflation. Inflation is, ah you know, is it affects every industry, especially food. 23:28.56Andy GellertIt’s tough. its you know 23:30.55vigorbrandingYeah. how How much of an impact has that had on you guys? 23:32.99Andy GellertThat’s a very important product. 23:33.03vigorbrandingand 23:34.29Andy GellertSo our product are expensive already. And so it’s tough. We have to find you know so you know find other opportunities. That’s why we invested in this cafe spice that makes meals. 23:44.93Andy GellertSo maybe we make things more efficient for more of our customers and look at other opportunities. Maybe so source something that’s coming from Europe, getting it from South America. And and we’re always looking for ways to skin. 23:59.19Andy GellertWe started importing French fries from Belgium. to the East Coast because it’s it’s more effective and looking at opportunities like that. and Now we’re looking at opportunities in India. You always have to turn over rocks, look for more opportunities. It’s scary. 24:14.30Andy Gellertand it’s it’s you know the It’s all the news, the the price inflation. So we’re always looking for newer opportunities to try to make things better for our customers. 24:25.43vigorbrandingAnd being a global you know accessing globally with conflict and things like that, I mean obviously that’s affecting everything. i mean are you having are you ah is there um Is there ever a chance where one area of the business is sort of shut down or hey we can’t get this from there? 24:40.46Andy GellertYeah, things happen all the time. I mean, you know, when the Ukraine war first started, you know, it was it was a big factor because happened old Europe was tough. 24:42.39vigorbrandingIt’s crazy. 24:51.28Andy GellertAnd then when there was a ah big problem of freight from the from from Asia, supply chain issues from COVID. I mean, we’ve we’ve seen them all, Mike. 25:00.35vigorbrandingcrazy 25:01.71Andy GellertAnd now ah there’s an impending dock strike that’s going to come. So that’s going to affect from Maine all the way to Texas. 25:07.59vigorbrandinghear about that? 25:09.05Andy Gellertand 25:09.51vigorbrandingYeah. 25:09.86Andy GellertThat’s really making us very nervous and our customers nervous. 25:11.55vigorbrandingOh yeah. 25:12.86Andy GellertSo, but we, you know, we do the best we can and we keep fighting every day, you know, get up, get up and play some tennis, you know. 25:13.80vigorbrandingWow. 25:18.34vigorbrandingYes, I was gonna say, you get played tennis and smile and have a positive attitude and that’s the secret sauce. 25:23.15Andy GellertYou just got to, you know. 25:25.04vigorbrandingYou know, and I do love because every time I’m talking, I think, I think you always say, yeah, I played tennis with my dad this morning and you know, family businesses, there’s so many family businesses that end up like not talking to each other and you hear all the the generational strife or the the falling apart. 25:37.72vigorbrandingThe fact that you you still hang with your dad, my dad was my best friend. So that’s just so near and dear to me. It’s incredible. I think that’s so awesome. 25:43.18Andy GellertWell, today is a little, today is a little flat with him. I showed up at his house at 10 to 6, pouring rain, and the the match was canceled. So I had to wake up for nothing, and I’m a little annoyed. 25:50.67vigorbrandingah Oh boy. 25:53.10Andy GellertBut that doesn’t matter at all. 25:55.76vigorbrandingI hope you don’t ever let him win. 25:57.56Andy GellertWell, i I’m his partner. He doesn’t move very well, and people, no one was allowed to drop shot him, you know? 25:59.16vigorbrandingOkay. 26:04.11Andy Gellertget Everyone starts booing, whoever dropped off him. 26:06.88vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 26:07.02Andy GellertBut it was an accident. They’re like, no, you know? He’s got a bunch of rules, you know? 26:11.16vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. It’s his own tennis game, right? It’s his own. 26:13.99Andy Gellerttheel game is his ze tennis game 26:16.17vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. So, if I if i may ask, and I know if there’s something you can’t say, that’s fine, but what’s what’s next for Gellert Global? I mean, what is anything new on the horizon, anything exciting you could talk about? 26:23.54Andy Gellerti We’re looking at more opportunities. you know we will be like We have such a great team. We have such great suppliers, such great employees, such great customers. We just want to keep doing what we’re doing and look for more opportunities. And if it makes sense to to make an acquisition, we’re going to do it. 26:40.44Andy Gellertand uh, it’s, it’s fun. You know, I mean, you know, just look at my cousin and the five guys, we were like 12, five guys. Now this year, by the end of the year, we’ll have a hundred. I mean, it’s just, uh, opportunistic and good people and growth to move forward. 26:50.43vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 26:57.42vigorbrandingYeah. And, and Dan Rowe, as you mentioned, he’s a king of a guy and he, he was actually on the podcast and he, he’s, he’s fantastic. 27:00.10Andy GellertYeah. 27:03.17vigorbrandingSo that’s good company right there. 27:05.70Andy GellertYeah. Yeah. We were at a YPL event and he’s like, and we’ we’re looking My cousin at the time had a bunch of cinnabons and we’re looking for our second concept and we’re at a YPO in DC. 27:11.89vigorbrandingUh-huh. 27:15.43Andy GellertHe’s like, Andy, come try this concept. And I took a bite of the five guy burger. I’m like, this is like a, like the, when you taste a cinnabon for the first time, it’s wow factor. 27:23.93vigorbrandingRight. Yeah. 27:25.78Andy GellertI called my cousin and the next thing we know, we you know we’re down there signing the deal. So it was, it’s been a great journey. 27:30.70vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. Yeah. Fantastic. Very cool. All right. So now I asked this question. I have one last question, right? And this probably, well, I don’t know if it’ll be easy for you, but it’s not like you have to say, you can’t say five guys. 27:41.96vigorbrandingSo I have to fill it out there. So, but if you have one final meal, what would you eat and why, and I’m going to say this too. 27:48.70Andy GellertLike, that’s the hardest thing because I love. 27:48.90vigorbrandingAnd and and who with, I want to know who with. 27:52.53Andy GellertThat’s like the hardest question anyone can ever ask me. I love like, it’s like, we I think I told you was before we started out that you was open with my son and my wife and there’s so much food options. 28:00.19vigorbrandingYeah. 28:04.26Andy GellertI had a headache. I couldn’t find what to get. Would I get to the Korean bowl or the palette for the steak sandwich? or or the fancy chicken with truffles, the dumplings. 28:15.10Andy Gellertyou know i’m like I almost get a headache, I can’t even decide. 28:15.19vigorbrandingyeah 28:19.04Andy Gellertso back It’s impossible. I just i love eating, I love food experiences, I love being surprised. I like going to a chef and say, just surprise me. 28:29.38Andy Gellertonly even Just give me what you you you do best and let me try it. 28:29.31vigorbrandingYeah. 28:33.30Andy Gellertand and you know it’s really i can’t i There’s not one meal that I have to have. i 28:39.23vigorbrandingYeah. 28:40.25Andy GellertI love a good sandwich. I love a good burger. I got a good steak. I like Italian, French, Spanish food, everything. 28:45.72vigorbrandingYep. ah You know, it’s funny. i I’m the same way. I’m lucky. I can eat anything. Like I don’t get nothing. I don’t have any allergies. I don’t get sicker. But you know, if I have a go to at a certain thing at a certain place, i will I’ll have a go at my go to. 28:56.26vigorbrandingBut nine out of 10 times when I go to a restaurant, like whatever the chef wants to make, because I figured he’s gonna put his heart and soul on it. 28:56.44Andy Gellerte 29:00.90Andy GellertYeah. 29:02.21vigorbrandingRight. If it’s, if I’m asking him his opinion. 29:02.59Andy Gellertbut i agree yeah if if if If they put it on the menu and then they’re behind it, I would take their recognition and set something I really want. 29:05.89vigorbrandingYeah. 29:09.81Andy Gellertso My father, yeah. 29:10.21vigorbrandingRight. That’s right. That’s right. You nailed it. And I love the fact that you mentioned the U.S. Open and there was somebody there at the U.S. Open that had better seats than you, which was your. Of course, yeah. 29:21.87vigorbrandingAndy, you know, I love being with you. I love talking to you and I appreciate your time. ah Just thank you so much for being on Fork Tales. 29:28.25Andy Gellertah mike First of all, congratulations to you and the organization you built and you’ve always been You’re always smiling, too. i mean actually That’s why we like each other so much. 29:36.16vigorbrandingYeah. 29:36.89Andy GellertWe’re always smiling. Have a good time. And your trends are amazing. And I really enjoyed seeing you and doing this with yourself. 29:43.81vigorbrandingfantastic well thank you so much 29:45.78Andy GellertAll right? 29:46.39vigorbrandingtake care 29:46.78Andy GellertTake care. Bye. 29:47.78vigorbrandingright 30:07.41vigorbrandingFantastic. 30:11.01vigorbrandingWell, thank you so much. Take care. 

Renfro Foods is a privately owned, award-winning food producer of salsas, sauces and relishes, including 30 Mrs. Renfro's products, located in Fort Worth, Texas. Founded in 1940, Renfro Foods is owned and managed by the second and third generations of the Renfro family. Its products are sold in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada and the U.K.As president of Renfro Foods, Doug works closely with his cousins Becky and James to run the company. In particular, Doug focuses on research and development, private label and contract packing, quality assurance, sales and marketing, legal, information technology and a dozen other areas Doug and his cousins strive for family harmony in managing the company and don't make any major decisions without a unanimous vote of support. For Doug, one of the benefits of working with family is the ability to be brutally honest with each other and still maintain a civil and professional relationship.  The team at Renfro Foods pays close attention to flavor trends to identify new salsa flavors.  QUOTES “When I got out of college, if I had come to work here I would have been chopping cabbage. The executive positions were filled by my dad and my uncle.” (Doug)“When I came (to Renfro Foods) I had been in charge of corporate accounting for a billion dollar company. My uncle was still doing pricing on a legal pad with his desk calculator. I said, ‘Here's a spreadsheet. It's going to instantaneously recalculate the cost of thousands of items in a millisecond.' He saw what that did and he said, ‘Can you do that every 90 days from now on?'” (Doug) “If you don't demand as much of your ego to be around, one of the secrets I tell (people) is get somebody without your last name to suggest the same idea you've been suggesting that's been ridiculed and suddenly it's a great idea.” (Doug)“If you take business things personally, that screws (family) relationships up.” (Doug) “I think we lost money on every jar of Raspberry Chipotle we sold last year. Thankfully we didn't sell many.” (Doug)“I want everything on the label to be tasteable but you can't always afford to do that without losing money,” (Doug)  TRANSCRIPT 00:01.23vigorbrandingAll right, hey there, Fork Tales listeners and viewers. I am really happy to be joined today by a good friend of mine, Doug Renfro. Doug is president of Renfro Foods. And I had to say it like 25 times because somehow the word foods after Renfro, I mean, foods in Renfro is easy. 00:13.93Doug Renfrosorry 00:15.18vigorbrandingRenfro Foods, I just struggled. But anyway, ah he is the the the president of Mrs. Renfro’s Salsa. ah Not only are they a family owned company, which always is interesting, but they’re one of the most innovative companies I know. Doug, welcome and thank you very much for joining us and for your time. 00:32.73Doug RenfroThanks, happy to be here. 00:34.60vigorbrandingSo ah you know I’m going to start off by pointing out i’ve I’ve been very fortunate to know you and to ah have your product. And it’s phenomenal. And I’m not just saying that. ah Case in point, I have three jars behind me that were supposed to be props for this presentation. There were actually more than three. But my favorite one was sent to me, which I thank you for, and I ate it. So ah I don’t have as many jars here as I should probably. but Anyway, it’s a phenomenal product and you know, anyway, I appreciate you sending us some samples. So so tell us tell us about you and Renfro Foods and the story and your role in the company. 01:12.84Doug RenfroSure, we’re an 84-year-old family business and all the development has been organic. My granddad distributed grocery items in the 30s and made it through the Depression and thought, you know what would be fun, we’ll quit my job and start a company out of the house. So in 1940, he and my grandmother started out of their house and for 12 years or so they distributed grocery items and flavored vinegars and different things, spices. And around 1952, they moved into the core building that I actually sit in. We have now two city blocks in the street in between, but we were just one little brick building. And he started making syrup, and I like to point out there were no maple trees harmed. 01:50.40Doug Renfroyeah And then they made relishes. And you know, when when I do a trade show, like we’ll be in New York together two weeks from now and it’s a fancy food show and people will walk up and say, are these are grandmother’s recipes. 01:56.90vigorbrandingYep. 02:01.53Doug RenfroAnd I always say, no, but wouldn’t that be cool? ah You know, nobody ate Chipotle in 1940, 50, 60, 70. It’s all very organic dynamic. 02:07.41vigorbrandingRight. 02:09.47Doug RenfroSo when I was a kid, we just made Southern relishes, which had the velocity of a snail. So we had no money. And then we got in, my dad and my uncle got into taco sauce, thank God, in the seventies, which became macanti, which became salsa. and and ah and so And separating that you know for a moment, I went i worked at the nastiest jobs we had you know every summer, sixth grade, through high school. and In college, I lived at home and mixed the spices in the afternoon, went to school in the morning, very glamorous life. So I got out of college early, went to work for Ross Perot’s company at the time EDS. I was here when they sold it to General Motors, you know wearing a coat and tie every day, going to Detroit. My car did not smell of oregano anymore. 02:46.98Doug Renfroah Very cool, good people, smart people, good money, got my MBA, CMA, and some other acronyms. But, you know, corporate life will suck the soul out of your body. So I came back 32 years ago and working with my cousins, my dad, my late uncle, it’s been a lot of fun and to your point, You know, we weren’t getting a lot of sales with mild, medium, and hot. So we started creating things like craft beer salsa, mango habanero, tequila, I think. And not at um a gourmet store, housewarming gift price, but at an everyday in your grocery cart price. 03:18.68vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 03:19.53Doug RenfroAnd we’re fortunate now to 600 brands in the country where Mrs. 03:19.54vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 03:23.12Doug RenfroRimbros is number eight. I caution people not to get excited because we doubled would be number eight. but Big folks are big. 03:31.24vigorbrandingyeah Yeah, well, hey, they are. But you know what, though? Your product is fantastic. And in this in this day and age, we do a quench. We do a ton of CPG work, right? And craft and ah the originality and having a real story It’s super important to people and so products like yours. I mean you yeah I mean, I know you’ve been doing this or for forever you guys but but it’s a really it feels like a really great time for this type of brand and this type of product and Again, it’s all about the quality. 03:52.55Doug Renfroyou 03:59.98vigorbrandingSo I you know, the mango habanero as I said is my favorite. What’s your favorite? 04:05.52Doug RenfroWeirdly, that is also my favorite. 04:06.85vigorbrandingAh Nice 04:06.92Doug Renfroand and i’ve you know all Almost all the items now are recipes I’ve gotten to create over the years with my vast lack of culinary training. um but we you know I would look at things like Mango Habanero specifically. 04:17.07vigorbrandingThank 04:19.83Doug RenfroI was at a white tablecloth restaurant. I saw Mango Habanero on Chutney on Halibut, and I followed it away as something maybe five years later, we could sell every day in the grocery stores. 04:22.21vigorbrandingyou. 04:29.82Doug Renfroand That’s exactly how it turned out. and Even then, there was pushback internally about, you know, it sounds like a bizarre combination. And of course, it’s a better number two seller now for quite some time nationwide, Canada, UK. But ah it’s also, you know, a normal trend now. And that’s what you’re seeing like, you know, fast food places now have Carolina Reaper french fries, which, yeah you know, 20 years ago, nobody knew what it was. 04:50.78vigorbrandingYeah. 04:54.17Doug Renfro10 years ago, it was crazy, exotic, ridiculous. And now it’s almost an everyday thing. 04:58.86vigorbrandingRight, right. So we are you Mrs. Renfro then, if you’re making all these recipes? 05:03.42Doug RenfroIf you take the, my grandmother’s on the side of the label, if you put a wig on me and shave the beard, I think that’s what you get. 05:11.51vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. yeah it’ so Okay, so talking about family here. I mean, you know some family owned companies, you and I know know a lot of people are part of family owned companies. ah Some families require members and future leaders to spend time outside the company. ah Was your time required and did you find that time valuable? And then or or did you and did you always plan? I know you worked there when you were young. Did you always plan on coming back to the company? Talk a little bit about that. 05:36.67Doug RenfroSure. My time was not required. Frankly, when I got out of college, if I had come to work here, I would have been chopping cabbage. 05:43.53vigorbrandingYeah. 05:43.60Doug Renfroah they they The executive positions were filled by my dad and my uncle. s such a tiny We’re small now. We were tiny, tiny back then. So I had to go somewhere else if I wanted to not wear jeans and be covered with cabbage and onions. And I think it was wildly helpful. like When I came back, I had been you know in charge of corporate accounting for a billion dollar company in some areas. and My uncle was still doing pricing on a legal pad with his hand desk calculator. And I said, look, here’s a spreadsheet. And it’s going to instantaneously recalculate the cost of thousands of items in a millisecond. 06:16.59Doug RenfroAnd he saw what that did. And he’s like, can you do that every 90 days from now on? stick yeah Having the discipline and learning and the networking was just fabulous. And I will tell you, we needed a ah filtration system for the fourth generation. So I said, we can’t hire 14 people just because they want to work here. And I said, in that case, for that gen, yes, you have to work somewhere. You have to graduate college. You have to work somewhere else for at least two years and a real job. 06:41.34vigorbrandingyep 06:42.42Doug RenfroAnd then we can talk about management training on your management track. 06:44.65vigorbrandinghere 06:46.70Doug RenfroAnd ah today we have zero fourth-generation working here. But we have we have that off and on. About half of them have done so well they could not remotely afford to take a pay cut and come back here. 06:59.74Doug RenfroYeah. 06:59.93vigorbrandingYeah, that’s great. And my my rule has always been two years and one promotion. 07:01.41Doug Renfroyeah 07:04.61vigorbrandingIf you want to come in the family, in the business, ah you got to, you know, college education, two years and one promotion. So ah and you know what, it’s neither where my girls or seem to be remotely interested. So they’re probably smarter, they but they got a good education. 07:18.22Doug Renfroand And we’ve got our age range on Gen 4 is like 23 to 38. 07:19.88vigorbrandingkind 07:23.63Doug RenfroSo you know some of them, I didn’t come back till I was 29, I think. 07:23.85vigorbrandingMm hmm. 07:27.19Doug RenfroSo there’s you know wait we’ve got lots of time. I’m not ancient yet, but you know I’ve still got some time in me. 07:33.14vigorbrandingYeah, well, yeah, sure. Of course you do. and Now you said, in one of your quotes, it was something like, ah ah if people say their family business journey, if if people have said ah their family business journey has been a smooth road, they’re a smooth liar. 07:46.85Doug Renfroso 07:46.95vigorbrandingah but Talk a little bit about the struggles and the family and all that kind of stuff. 07:47.79Doug Renfrowell 07:51.08vigorbrandingJust, you know, like some of the things you have to overcome, because it’s always amazing to me. ah ah Just, you know, what what all is involved there. 07:59.16Doug RenfroYeah, it’s it’s funny. i’ve I’ve spoken to the TCU family business class like eight years in a row now. And I usually start out with how much time do I have? um But is anyone recording this? I’m like you. But you know, one of the things you deal with is like my late uncle and my dad, they, to me, they see me in diapers when I started talking because that’s how they met me. 08:19.23vigorbrandingMm hmm. 08:19.42Doug RenfroAnd it’s hard, you know, they’ve seen you be a silly kid and get in trouble. And now I’m telling them they need to change the branding. You’re like, you know, what’s this little kid saying, shut up and get back over there. And frankly, if you don’t have, you know, if you don’t demand this much of your ego to be around, one of the secrets I tell them is get somebody without your last name to suggest the same idea you’ve been suggesting that’s been ridiculed. And suddenly, it’s a great idea. 08:42.33vigorbrandingHmm. 08:43.81Doug RenfroAnd actually, it becomes their idea. And as long as you can live with that, you know, if it’s all for the greater good, you know, foul I don’t have to get credit for everything, and I don’t have to get immediate results. It’s slow, steady progress to me. Because you and I have seen a lot of people that you know skyrocket up and then skyrocket back down. 08:59.28vigorbrandingYep, that’s right. 09:00.96Doug RenfroIt’s about gradual process. We have we have no investors. you know We just use bank debt when we need it. um It’s all still family controlled. And because of that, it’s more slow, steady path. But yeah, well I think you know I’ve told you that my dad and my late uncle had a rule. They were 50-50. They had a a little sister who didn’t work here, but she could be a swing vote, but they had an agreement. They never ever did anything important if it wasn’t a unanimous vote. They didn’t go get a tiebreaker. So now my cousins and I who run it, we have 84% of the votes of the company, and we could outvote each other on certain things. 09:30.24vigorbrandingThat’s great. 09:38.26Doug RenfroAnd we’ve done the same thing. if it’s I’m talking about a capital expenditure branding campaign, a new flavor. big things. We have to be unanimous or we don’t do it. I just assume I’m missing something if I can’t convince them both and vice versa. And now that’s key. I’ve seen friends who make a lot more money and have a lot more wealth, who have a sibling they can’t talk to, they’ve never spoken to in 20 years, and it breaks their parents’ heart. And we’ve chosen not to do that. 09:59.72vigorbrandingyeah Yep. 10:02.50Doug RenfroWe’ve we’ve gone with family harmony, so we sub-optimize, but it’s a family business. 10:02.81vigorbrandingYeah. 10:05.90Doug RenfroWe can do that. 10:06.99vigorbrandingYep. And you know, that’s, ah that’s really important. I mean, I know you obviously get it because you said all those words. and and But, but, you know, when you have the family involved, I mean, you know, the family, it’s important. 10:17.69Doug RenfroOkay. 10:18.01vigorbrandingthere’s I don’t know that there’s anything more important than family. And you’re, you know, the the company is what supports the family. And so if they can’t all be harm, if there can’t be harmony, At the end of the day, we have. and so I admire you for that, the way you’re handling it, because ah as you’re you’re right. We’ve seen a lot of ah more, unfortunately, probably more examples than not where you know somebody gets ah iced out, or they’re not talking, or you know the families are completely ah dysfunctional now, you know but maybe maybe the business survives, or maybe it doesn’t. and That’s just tragic. so 10:49.71vigorbrandingAnd so speaking of, your Uncle Bill, you said, I think one of your other quotes in an interview said something like, you can be brutally honest with each other about ideas. ah he could He could call you an idiot and it’s no big deal. So, I mean, that’s that’s that’s a benefit, right? That level of honesty. 11:03.05Doug RenfroYeah, that’s key is that we were i famously tell that story that like I would say to him or he to me that, you know, I think what you just said was the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard from a business perspective, where do you want to go to lunch? Because we didn’t, you know, there was no personal aspect to it. And and that’s key. If you take business things personally, that screws the relationships all up. 11:22.85vigorbrandingso you Now, back to the salsa. You have 20 different flavors. and how do you I know you’re the one that’s ah um coming up with a lot of the different formulas. How are you finding that inspiration? I mean, just out there in the world, i mean you said that the the the the mango habanero came from ah a meal you had somewhere. is that Is that pretty much what you’re looking at, just trends and things like that? 11:42.45Doug RenfroYeah, I tell people I’m cursed to have to eat at the nicest restaurants in the nation and, you know, read cool food magazines and see what’s going on. But yeah, it is that that simple, which is not actually simple, is always looking around. You want to see what’s on the edge. You know, I we developed a bacon queso for a customer. And as you know, a lot of what we do is creating things for other people. Our names know we’re on it. There’s no indication we made it. ah But people looked at us for ideation. I’ve had grocery chains come to me and they’re like, what should we do for a private label salsa? 12:12.69Doug RenfroIt’s going to be our first time. And I don’t mean, we’ll never make the mild, medium, and hot for the big folks, but if they want a pineapple chipotle or something, they were one of the few players that they will come to. 12:19.59vigorbrandingRight. 12:22.91Doug RenfroAnd i’ll I’ll give them my ideas. Half the time they run with that, say make some recipes for us. Half the time they do the total opposite of what I suggested. As long as they pay us, I’m fine. 12:31.59vigorbrandingYeah, makes sense. 12:31.88Doug Renfroum But yeah, you’re looking at, and and as you know with trends, most of them won’t become a mango habanero or a ghost pepper, which are in a habanero, which are top sellers. You know, I thought pomegranate chipotle was a great idea. Not many other people did. ah So, you know, you end up DC and you ski rationalization um is painful, but we do go through that. 12:49.81vigorbrandingWell, and you have to balance that. like you You can be out there too far out on the trends. I mean, a quench, we’ we’re big on trends. We do trends presentations every year, and I know you’ve seen them and been a part of them. And you know so you you see these things that are out there. You want to kind of be first to market, but that can be dangerous because you know maybe maybe the pomegranate is going to be something that will be fantastic maybe in another six months. If you’re too far out in front, you can you can you know get delisted, as you said. or But if you if you would just sit back and be hot and medium and you know mild, I mean, that’s no good either. 13:22.12vigorbrandingSo I really i admire what you’ve done. And I think that the the branding you’ve done and the flavoring you’ve done is fantastic. And just just for all honesty, I don’t do the branding. I mean, your your your design package stuff is impeccable. And I’ve always been a big fan of it. So ah congratulations on that. 13:39.90Doug RenfroThank you. 13:42.28vigorbrandingSo, I mean, now, how many do you try and make? I mean, like, ah is there in your mind, you say, hey, we should come up with two new SKUs a year? Is it sort of like when I find something I like, we’ll make it? ah how does How does that work? 13:55.53Doug RenfroBut it’s two different answers based on when it was. When I came back, we we weren’t really in grocery stores per se. 13:58.43vigorbrandingOkay. 14:02.35Doug RenfroWe were in fruit stands at the time and different things. So we were fighting for our lives. My cousins and I needed more money. Our dads wanted more money. We needed it. You were raising families. 14:12.71vigorbrandingYeah. 14:13.20Doug Renfroand so we were literally being told no constantly go away because we had hot medium mild and green taco sauce. That’s all we had. And so with no permission, one day when nobody was looking, I added black beans to the medium. Then I added the habanero, which was crazy exotic sexy at the time, you know, super hot. And we would, my sales director and I, he’s been with us 32 years and it’s non-family. We would go to retailers around the country and in Canada and say, hey, I know you have a million sauces before you throw me out. We have a black bean and a habanero at an everyday price, not a gourmet price. It gives you variety. And they started saying, yeah, that’s they’re delicious. That makes sense. We love your company and your marketing and your products. And this will give us variety. And they started putting it in and we were just you know making it up praying. And so after that, we did a 15:01.69Doug Renfrobut we A couple of years later, we did Chipotle, corn. we i We were early on Chipotle. Nobody could say it, including our own staff. I walked through the office. I’m here. Chipotle. Chipotle. 15:10.26vigorbrandingbut 15:10.84Doug RenfroI’m like, oh my god, we can’t pronounce our own product. ah Then when you when Chipotle, the chain became big, they taught everybody. And then Jack in the Box made a hilarious ad about how to power pronounce it. And so, yeah, I would look at things, you know, I saw a ghost pepper in a chocolate bar. I’d been watching it for a couple of years. When I saw it in a chocolate bar, and I told the family, I think we can put it in salsa. My uncle thought we were gonna get sued, so we put a crossbones skull on it, ex-scary hot. 15:33.05vigorbrandingHmm. 15:34.74Doug Renfroand The Today Show fell in love with it, gave us a solid minute on the Today Show back when we all watched TV and there were no streaming channels. ah Huge success. But at this point, now we’re mature. 15:45.35vigorbrandingYeah. 15:47.18Doug Renfroand frankly we’re busier than ever on rnd but it’s all for food service co-pack and private label clients with renfro what you’ll see is the big chains will want you to give them two items with a significant slotting and kick out your two slowest ones and i’m like no thank you but if you give us two if you’ll give us two more spots incrementally, we’ll take it, and that happens. But for now, when the when COVID hit, the supply chain fund and the inflation that followed that, frankly, we haven’t come up with a new item since Blackberry Serrano was our last one. 16:20.17vigorbrandingNice. 16:20.37Doug RenfroAnd we’ve kind of hunkered down. So you know maybe Pavone pomegranate is next. 16:25.34vigorbrandingThere you go. I love it. 16:26.20Doug RenfroI’m still thinking. 16:29.01vigorbrandingSo what what is the what is the mix between ah branded sales, I’ll say, and and food service ah percentages? 16:36.24Doug Renfroi And there’s there’s branded food service and then Copac Private Label. So it’s three, it’s a triad, which is really nice. It it really, you know, diversifies things for us. And we’re sort of 40, 45% Renfro and then you split the rest of it between food service and and other brands. Like I can take the national retailer usually and show you, you know, two to five other brands that we make and and not all salsas. 16:53.69vigorbrandingThat’s great. 16:59.57vigorbrandingMm 17:00.60Doug RenfroYou know, we we’re acidified foods, condiments, so we can do cheese in a jar, which God didn’t mean to happen. um barbecue sauce, relish, you know, sauces. 17:12.54vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. That’s very cool. um So I mean, the flavor thing, again, is brilliant. And I love all the different combinations and they are delicious. You know, through my career, you know, again, doing CPG for for basically, almost 30 years, I hate to say the agencies around for 33 years, but doing the CPG thing for good, I think 25 years. ah food, um the flavor thing was almost, it almost seems a shortcut because there’s a lot of expense involved in in flavors. But like I remember, okay, that as dumb as this sounds, potato chips. It’s like, you know, ah plain potato chips still sell great, but put flavors in there and we helped many ah snack food brands, currently hers, with a lot of their products and and just adding new flavors all the time. 17:43.66Doug RenfroWow. 17:52.57vigorbrandingJust the consumer loves it. It gets them excited. We even did it with tuna, which, I mean, adding flavor to tuna, ah you know, and it just, we blew sales out of the water. Now, again, the companies were the the R and&D behind it, but we were like all in for the, the you know, the Sriracha flavored and all the different types of ah tuna flavors. And, you know, for Starkus, and it blew them out and the sales went through the roof. 18:14.72Doug RenfroSo. 18:17.12vigorbrandingSo, I mean, the, I know R and&D and I know category extensions can be expensive, but I also think there’s a a sort of a hidden ah marketing excitement. ah It just you know it brings brings energy to the category. And again, when you see your products against across the shelf or those log those those labels across, it’s ah it’s a really impressive uh a lineup i mean how how you mean i do i obviously probably feel the same where you wouldn’t have so many but i mean yeah i’m sure you’re torn like do we want another skew do we not want another skew can you talk a little just a little bit about that 18:51.01Doug RenfroYeah, it’s challenging because everything in life, usually the 80-20 rule works and ours, you know, we have 28 current Renfro SKUs, the top four do have the sales, you know, the top seven or 70% of the sales. 19:01.36vigorbrandinghuh 19:03.24Doug RenfroSo you’re like, well, why don’t we just cut the rest of them because people want variety and the people who want those second tier items. It’s funny on our online platforms, those will be our best sellers because they’re so hard to get and the people don’t care what it costs. They just want it so badly. 19:16.56vigorbrandingRight. 19:17.79Doug Renfroand But and you know no matter what you do, I don’t care if you have another 10 fantastic skews, the top four or five are going to be half your sales. 19:24.24vigorbrandingThat’s right. 19:26.20Doug RenfroIf you go to a farmer’s market and they got like 30 kinds of jelly, you’ll inevitably find that two or three do most of the sales. But they they get attention. People come over there because they want to taste you know coconut marmalade, but they end up buying peach. you 19:40.92vigorbrandingRight, right, right, right. Well, I think I heard you say that the mango habanero is number two. What’s what’s number one? 19:47.21Doug Renfroof habanero, though the one I was told internally would never sell much because it was so hot, but it’d be cute to have. 19:53.27vigorbrandingWow. 19:53.65Doug Renfrothink It’s been number one for over 15 years and I can’t eat it. i Most of the things that are best sellers that I’ve created and when I create for Renfro, my cousins get votes in our sales director. If it’s non Renfro, the customer rules or I’ll make up something. but for rent bro i I first cook with Microsoft Excel because it we line price. It doesn’t matter how good it is if we lose money on it because I can’t charge more on just one item. So first I pre-cook it in Excel and if it’s going to work financially, then I i do what I think is good. and Then I bring in my cousins and a lot of like on the craft beer, we were about ready to take it to New York. 20:31.12Doug Renfrofor the big show and I was like, it’s just kind of bland. And then my cousin Becky was like, yeah, it’s, they need something. 20:36.20vigorbrandingMm hmm, mm hmm. 20:36.98Doug RenfroSo I threw in Guajillo, Ancho and Chipotle in small amounts. It’s kind of a mid range. And we’re like, she’s like, yeah, that’s better. And then James might think it needs to be chunkier who runs production and our sales director might have an opinion. And so it, you know, it is a village situation, but you’re right. Right now we’re like, oh, it gives me a headache to think about another skew. Cause how much could it sell? Your home runs are about one a decade. 21:00.63vigorbrandingyeah Yeah. So you you said something very interesting there. And again, being in a CPG world, I have experience with that whole line pricing thing. So if I can ask, like I’ll say it this way. We had a client we worked with for, oh boy, we built the brand. It was probably a good 18 years and it was Turkey Hill Ice Cream. And Turkey Hill, like most brands, had a line price. But there was an awful lot of a difference in cost to make vanilla ice cream versus, let’s say, ah like a rainforest crunch or anything with nuts and stuff. Because the expense of those nuts, and and people don’t realize that. 21:32.10Doug RenfroRight. 21:33.41vigorbrandingThey just think it’s, oh, it’s two for $5. Or, oh, the price went up. Or it’s 89 cents more. But they they don’t realize. that one flavor to another flavor could be a huge difference and in in the cost to make it. um do you run I mean, I have to imagine you run into that to a degree. And ah you know is that something you have to deal with? 21:52.47Doug Renfroand and Absolutely. I think we lost money on every jar of raspberry chipotle we sold last year. Fortunately, we didn’t sell many. but yeah Raspberry is an item that the price goes wildly up and down, fluctuates like crazy. and Most things don’t. they They go up slowly or they sit still. but Our craft beer salsa, we don’t make as much money on it, but it’s fabulous and tastes great. But yeah would I be thrilled if everybody just bought mild all day long? Absolutely. I could get a new car. 22:23.33vigorbrandingYeah, there you go. 22:23.47Doug Renfroi myself And that is that is exactly the challenging aspect. Blackberry Serrano, you know making that worthy of the name, I get really annoyed when I go to a restaurant. They got a tomatillo pecan, you know smoked watermelon sauce, and all I can taste is salt. I want i want everything on the label to be tastable, but you can’t afford always to do that as much as you’d like without losing money. 22:39.89vigorbrandingRight. Right. Right. Yeah. That’s ah well yeah that’s ah that’s the the the the difficult part of, I’ll say, what you guys do. And that’s that’s putting product ah quality product in ah in a container. Whatever your your product is. It could be ice cream, salsa. It could be potato chips. It can be candy. it’s just the the The flavoring, you can do it. But there’s always these these cost constraints, that line pricing thing. and And then there’s the evil empires of the retailers, right? so 23:12.03Doug RenfroIt’s a delicate dance. 23:12.91vigorbrandingbut its It is a delicate dance and I don’t i don’t envy you. so But hey, you sent us a bunch of salsa, so like we’ve had a lot of parties at Proven Group, and ah but we’re gonna have our first salsa party coming up, so we’re pretty excited about that. um But as we know, um you you have recipes throughout the thing, so ah your salsas aren’t just for tortilla chips. 23:29.66Doug Renfrothe 23:33.46vigorbrandingYou have tons of recipes on your website that you salsa. 23:33.90Doug Renfroright 23:37.31vigorbrandingum So we’ll have some fun. 23:37.41Doug Renfroye 23:38.43vigorbrandingI’m gonna i’m gonna name a few recipes from your site that use salsa. And you can tell me if you’ve tried it and what you thought of it. Ready to roll? 23:46.76Doug RenfroReady. 23:47.46vigorbrandingAll right, we have the Molten Chili Chocolate Brownie with raspberry chipotle salsa. 23:54.46Doug RenfroThat came out of a wine pairing dinner. I thought it was and a winery owner and we’re a charity event and I thought she was inebriated and they She would sober up later. No, she flew us out there and had her chef and they had like 80 people bought tickets and they paired a Renfro item with every course. And for dessert, they they used the raspberry chipotle. I think they blended it with maybe raspberries and sugar also. But ah on chocolate, that did pair nicely. 24:19.34vigorbrandingYeah, ah that’s interesting. 24:19.62Doug Renfroyeah 24:21.07vigorbrandingand But that was your most expensive vitamin, so maybe you don’t want to sell too many of those brownies, right? 24:24.76Doug Renfroah please Yeah, please don’t buy too much of it. 24:29.31vigorbrandingAlright, meatloaf with craft beer salsa. 24:33.21Doug RenfroI have not had that. I have had it with the roasted salsa, which has a really strong mesquite aspect to it. 24:39.53vigorbrandingNice. ah Grilled, and this is also a delicious ah one of your products, but grilled peach salsa chicken with a pe with ah with a peach salsa. 24:48.11Doug Renfroyeah Back in the day when we still had to demo at the booth, that was our go-to. 24:51.39vigorbrandingUh-huh. 24:52.21Doug RenfroAnd and it’s funny, people think they’re cooking. If you say, put a jar of peach salsa in a baggie, throw in the chicken breast, put it in the fridge for an hour or two, then grill it. They think they’re like a gourmet chef. um And it tastes delicious. 25:03.30vigorbrandingYep. 25:04.91Doug RenfroYou can reserve some. ah It’ll caramelize on the grill, and then you can reserve like a third of it and pour it over just as you serve it. 25:07.79vigorbrandingMm 25:10.15Doug RenfroAnd that is delicious and crazy simple. 25:10.85vigorbranding-hmm. Yeah, that’s great. I mean, a very good friend of mine owns a company called Gazebo salad dressing, and he sells way more salad dressing as a marinade than he does as a salad dressing. And it’s really, truly a salad dressing, but people find figured out that you know marinating in this in these products, and I’m sure your products are are phenomenal for that. 25:32.84Doug RenfroAnd I love any recipe that’s take a whole jar and use it. 25:35.06vigorbrandingRight. That’s right. That’s right. 25:36.98Doug RenfroNo tablespoon recipes. 25:38.73vigorbrandingYeah. 25:38.89Doug Renfroyeah 25:39.37vigorbrandingYeah. He he realized that early on. It’s like, well, you know, the more, especially guys, right? Guys are grilling. So what do they do? They dump the whole jar to your point, you know, we’re not, we’re not going to spare anything. 25:45.50Doug RenfroAbsolutely. sister yeah 25:47.93vigorbrandingSo that’s, that’s the perfect consumer right there. 25:48.64Doug Renfroyeah 25:50.55vigorbrandingAll right. spag Spicy spaghetti sauce with medium salsa. 25:54.72Doug RenfroI don’t recall having that. I think we i think my cousin Becky pre-cooked everything before we would let it be on a label back and when we started doing this. I i probably sampled it, but she’s our ah she she cooks as my wife does too. ah gee They’re both excellent cooks and will actually whip these things up. I’m gluten-free too, but my wife can find gluten-free pasta to put that on. 26:16.82vigorbrandingThere you go. 26:16.93Doug RenfroI’ll tell her Michael said we had to taste it. 26:18.85vigorbrandingThere you go. That’s it. That’s it. So the last one is Mexican fudge with green jalapeno salsa. This one isn’t a chocolate fudge, it’s more of a cheese. 26:27.63Doug Renfroyeah When I came back 32 years ago, that was the only recipe we had, and it’s still the most popular. My aunt came up with that, interestingly. and it’s It’s cheddar cheese, eggs, and green salsa, and you just add more green salsa if you want it spicier, and you you put it in a pan, you throw it in the oven for 40 minutes, you go get ready for the party, whatever, take it out, slice it up, put it on triskets or whatever, and people love it. It’s gone, especially when it’s warm, and you serve it that way. ah We call it cowboy cobbler. I mean, there’s a million things, but it’s just three ingredients. like Even I can’t screw it up. 27:01.20vigorbrandingNow you said that that when you do R and&D, it’s your cousins get involved, but you also said like the the really hot, you can’t eat. Like that’s for, is that your palette? Is it just, you don’t really like super spicy or how does that work? 27:10.80Doug RenfroIt hurts. 27:14.06Doug RenfroMy assistant, it’s ah my R and&D guru that I’ve got working with me now the last few years. He’ll make me occasionally do a cutting of like ghost pepper case. So in the morning, I’m like, really? That’s my breakfast. And with ghost pepper, habanero, Carolina Reaper, I can taste two or three, four samples. And I’m done for a few hours because then I’m torched and I can’t distinguish anything different. 27:33.60vigorbrandingRight. 27:37.32Doug RenfroFortunately, I don’t have to very often when we’re coming up with something. um You know, I created a ah special ah triple hot reaper for a business group you and I are in and I tasted that till I couldn’t see my feet and then we said, okay, it must be fine. 27:53.90vigorbrandingWell, that’s fantastic. So tell me, before we wrap up, like what’s next for Renfro Foods? i mean Can you share any details about what you’re cooking up for the future? Anything you’re excited about? Anything that’s going on in the company or in the family? 28:07.24Doug RenfroYeah, that’s always a frustrating thing about doing so much private label and co-pack and food services. I can’t talk about most of it, but it’s really cool. We’re we’re doing things for people like ah the dairy-free queso, you know, that’s nut-based, the things that my 87-year-old father is like, what? 28:22.27vigorbrandingme 28:26.19Doug RenfroThat’s what my grandparents wouldn’t have known. ah We do ethnic sauces. We were always reinvesting in the plant. my My dad, my late uncle, my grandparents taught us don’t ever milk the company. So we doubled our shipping warehouse two years ago. We added a brand new two story production employee break room with QA and production offices above it. We automated some more things on the food service line. We’re always reinvesting. We’re always looking, you know, for the future we’re doing licensing agreements with other brands where we handle the marketing for them and you’ll see if yeah you’re gonna be in the new york show i think you’ll see another brand in our booth that i can talk about then. 28:55.96vigorbrandingAwesome. 28:59.33vigorbrandingYep. 29:04.36vigorbrandingSuper. That’s awesome. I mean, congratulations on all the success. and I mean, you’re, you’re a great president. You’re always very self-deprecating. Absolutely hilarious. Lots of fun. And I think that just, it sort of just, you represent the brand in my mind and in a lot, in all the positive ways, you know, and I would love to see you put a wig on and and try and emulate your camera. That would be, ah that would be fantastic. 29:23.97Doug Renfromaybe yeah yeah 29:25.99vigorbrandingThat’s how you should work the booth. You should be Mrs. Renfro. So, 29:28.46Doug Renfrolike 29:29.43vigorbrandingAll right, so I have one last question I asked this from every guest and it can’t be your product if you had one final meal What would you eat? Maybe where and why? 29:40.36Doug RenfroWell, I forgot the can’t do your problems. You gotta start with chips and salsa. And frankly, I do eat lots of people’s salsa. It’s it’s experimentation, but also, you know, I always ask people, you think the donut shop guy eats a donut every day? You know, you want to change it up. ah for lunch ah For the entree, I think I’d have chicken tikka masala. My wife and I have become big fans of of Indian food and eating it around the world. I would say one of the places in London, I think it’s Rick Road that has all their Indian restaurants. 30:05.10vigorbrandingNice. 30:06.18Doug RenfroAnd then Grand Marnier Soufflé for dessert. It’s one of those things that’s too hard to make at home, but most so hard that it’s hard to find it. There’s a French restaurant locally. I can get it like occasionally and that, now those don’t go together, but you said final meal, so it doesn’t matter. 30:20.00vigorbrandingThat’s it. Final meal. Yeah, that’s what you got to do. That’s fantastic. 30:23.12Doug Renfroah 30:23.48vigorbrandingWell, Doug, thank you very much. 30:24.20Doug Renfroyeah 30:25.29vigorbrandingI look forward to, I know you’re doing ah an event in in in Fort Worth ah for all of us. um That’ll be fantastic. And I will see you at Fancy Food. 30:34.95Doug RenfroSee you there. Thanks again for letting me play. 30:36.83vigorbrandingAll right, pal. Appreciate it.00:01.23vigorbrandingAll right, hey there, Fork Tales listeners and viewers. I am really happy to be joined today by a good friend of mine, Doug Renfro. Doug is president of Renfro Foods. And I had to say it like 25 times because somehow the word foods after Renfro, I mean, foods in Renfro is easy. 00:13.93Doug Renfrosorry 00:15.18vigorbrandingRenfro Foods, I just struggled. But anyway, ah he is the the the president of Mrs. Renfro’s Salsa. ah Not only are they a family owned company, which always is interesting, but they’re one of the most innovative companies I know. Doug, welcome and thank you very much for joining us and for your time. 00:32.73Doug RenfroThanks, happy to be here. 00:34.60vigorbrandingSo ah you know I’m going to start off by pointing out i’ve I’ve been very fortunate to know you and to ah have your product. And it’s phenomenal. And I’m not just saying that. ah Case in point, I have three jars behind me that were supposed to be props for this presentation. There were actually more than three. But my favorite one was sent to me, which I thank you for, and I ate it. So ah I don’t have as many jars here as I should probably. but Anyway, it’s a phenomenal product and you know, anyway, I appreciate you sending us some samples. So so tell us tell us about you and Renfro Foods and the story and your role in the company. 01:12.84Doug RenfroSure, we’re an 84-year-old family business and all the development has been organic. My granddad distributed grocery items in the 30s and made it through the Depression and thought, you know what would be fun, we’ll quit my job and start a company out of the house. So in 1940, he and my grandmother started out of their house and for 12 years or so they distributed grocery items and flavored vinegars and different things, spices. And around 1952, they moved into the core building that I actually sit in. We have now two city blocks in the street in between, but we were just one little brick building. And he started making syrup, and I like to point out there were no maple trees harmed. 01:50.40Doug Renfroyeah And then they made relishes. And you know, when when I do a trade show, like we’ll be in New York together two weeks from now and it’s a fancy food show and people will walk up and say, are these are grandmother’s recipes. 01:56.90vigorbrandingYep. 02:01.53Doug RenfroAnd I always say, no, but wouldn’t that be cool? ah You know, nobody ate Chipotle in 1940, 50, 60, 70. It’s all very organic dynamic. 02:07.41vigorbrandingRight. 02:09.47Doug RenfroSo when I was a kid, we just made Southern relishes, which had the velocity of a snail. So we had no money. And then we got in, my dad and my uncle got into taco sauce, thank God, in the seventies, which became macanti, which became salsa. and and ah and so And separating that you know for a moment, I went i worked at the nastiest jobs we had you know every summer, sixth grade, through high school. and In college, I lived at home and mixed the spices in the afternoon, went to school in the morning, very glamorous life. So I got out of college early, went to work for Ross Perot’s company at the time EDS. I was here when they sold it to General Motors, you know wearing a coat and tie every day, going to Detroit. My car did not smell of oregano anymore. 02:46.98Doug Renfroah Very cool, good people, smart people, good money, got my MBA, CMA, and some other acronyms. But, you know, corporate life will suck the soul out of your body. So I came back 32 years ago and working with my cousins, my dad, my late uncle, it’s been a lot of fun and to your point, You know, we weren’t getting a lot of sales with mild, medium, and hot. So we started creating things like craft beer salsa, mango habanero, tequila, I think. And not at um a gourmet store, housewarming gift price, but at an everyday in your grocery cart price. 03:18.68vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 03:19.53Doug RenfroAnd we’re fortunate now to 600 brands in the country where Mrs. 03:19.54vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 03:23.12Doug RenfroRimbros is number eight. I caution people not to get excited because we doubled would be number eight. but Big folks are big. 03:31.24vigorbrandingyeah Yeah, well, hey, they are. But you know what, though? Your product is fantastic. And in this in this day and age, we do a quench. We do a ton of CPG work, right? And craft and ah the originality and having a real story It’s super important to people and so products like yours. I mean you yeah I mean, I know you’ve been doing this or for forever you guys but but it’s a really it feels like a really great time for this type of brand and this type of product and Again, it’s all about the quality. 03:52.55Doug Renfroyou 03:59.98vigorbrandingSo I you know, the mango habanero as I said is my favorite. What’s your favorite? 04:05.52Doug RenfroWeirdly, that is also my favorite. 04:06.85vigorbrandingAh Nice 04:06.92Doug Renfroand and i’ve you know all Almost all the items now are recipes I’ve gotten to create over the years with my vast lack of culinary training. um but we you know I would look at things like Mango Habanero specifically. 04:17.07vigorbrandingThank 04:19.83Doug RenfroI was at a white tablecloth restaurant. I saw Mango Habanero on Chutney on Halibut, and I followed it away as something maybe five years later, we could sell every day in the grocery stores. 04:22.21vigorbrandingyou. 04:29.82Doug Renfroand That’s exactly how it turned out. and Even then, there was pushback internally about, you know, it sounds like a bizarre combination. And of course, it’s a better number two seller now for quite some time nationwide, Canada, UK. But ah it’s also, you know, a normal trend now. And that’s what you’re seeing like, you know, fast food places now have Carolina Reaper french fries, which, yeah you know, 20 years ago, nobody knew what it was. 04:50.78vigorbrandingYeah. 04:54.17Doug Renfro10 years ago, it was crazy, exotic, ridiculous. And now it’s almost an everyday thing. 04:58.86vigorbrandingRight, right. So we are you Mrs. Renfro then, if you’re making all these recipes? 05:03.42Doug RenfroIf you take the, my grandmother’s on the side of the label, if you put a wig on me and shave the beard, I think that’s what you get. 05:11.51vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. yeah it’ so Okay, so talking about family here. I mean, you know some family owned companies, you and I know know a lot of people are part of family owned companies. ah Some families require members and future leaders to spend time outside the company. ah Was your time required and did you find that time valuable? And then or or did you and did you always plan? I know you worked there when you were young. Did you always plan on coming back to the company? Talk a little bit about that. 05:36.67Doug RenfroSure. My time was not required. Frankly, when I got out of college, if I had come to work here, I would have been chopping cabbage. 05:43.53vigorbrandingYeah. 05:43.60Doug Renfroah they they The executive positions were filled by my dad and my uncle. s such a tiny We’re small now. We were tiny, tiny back then. So I had to go somewhere else if I wanted to not wear jeans and be covered with cabbage and onions. And I think it was wildly helpful. like When I came back, I had been you know in charge of corporate accounting for a billion dollar company in some areas. and My uncle was still doing pricing on a legal pad with his hand desk calculator. And I said, look, here’s a spreadsheet. And it’s going to instantaneously recalculate the cost of thousands of items in a millisecond. 06:16.59Doug RenfroAnd he saw what that did. And he’s like, can you do that every 90 days from now on? stick yeah Having the discipline and learning and the networking was just fabulous. And I will tell you, we needed a ah filtration system for the fourth generation. So I said, we can’t hire 14 people just because they want to work here. And I said, in that case, for that gen, yes, you have to work somewhere. You have to graduate college. You have to work somewhere else for at least two years and a real job. 06:41.34vigorbrandingyep 06:42.42Doug RenfroAnd then we can talk about management training on your management track. 06:44.65vigorbrandinghere 06:46.70Doug RenfroAnd ah today we have zero fourth-generation working here. But we have we have that off and on. About half of them have done so well they could not remotely afford to take a pay cut and come back here. 06:59.74Doug RenfroYeah. 06:59.93vigorbrandingYeah, that’s great. And my my rule has always been two years and one promotion. 07:01.41Doug Renfroyeah 07:04.61vigorbrandingIf you want to come in the family, in the business, ah you got to, you know, college education, two years and one promotion. So ah and you know what, it’s neither where my girls or seem to be remotely interested. So they’re probably smarter, they but they got a good education. 07:18.22Doug Renfroand And we’ve got our age range on Gen 4 is like 23 to 38. 07:19.88vigorbrandingkind 07:23.63Doug RenfroSo you know some of them, I didn’t come back till I was 29, I think. 07:23.85vigorbrandingMm hmm. 07:27.19Doug RenfroSo there’s you know wait we’ve got lots of time. I’m not ancient yet, but you know I’ve still got some time in me. 07:33.14vigorbrandingYeah, well, yeah, sure. Of course you do. and Now you said, in one of your quotes, it was something like, ah ah if people say their family business journey, if if people have said ah their family business journey has been a smooth road, they’re a smooth liar. 07:46.85Doug Renfroso 07:46.95vigorbrandingah but Talk a little bit about the struggles and the family and all that kind of stuff. 07:47.79Doug Renfrowell 07:51.08vigorbrandingJust, you know, like some of the things you have to overcome, because it’s always amazing to me. ah ah Just, you know, what what all is involved there. 07:59.16Doug RenfroYeah, it’s it’s funny. i’ve I’ve spoken to the TCU family business class like eight years in a row now. And I usually start out with how much time do I have? um But is anyone recording this? I’m like you. But you know, one of the things you deal with is like my late uncle and my dad, they, to me, they see me in diapers when I started talking because that’s how they met me. 08:19.23vigorbrandingMm hmm. 08:19.42Doug RenfroAnd it’s hard, you know, they’ve seen you be a silly kid and get in trouble. And now I’m telling them they need to change the branding. You’re like, you know, what’s this little kid saying, shut up and get back over there. And frankly, if you don’t have, you know, if you don’t demand this much of your ego to be around, one of the secrets I tell them is get somebody without your last name to suggest the same idea you’ve been suggesting that’s been ridiculed. And suddenly, it’s a great idea. 08:42.33vigorbrandingHmm. 08:43.81Doug RenfroAnd actually, it becomes their idea. And as long as you can live with that, you know, if it’s all for the greater good, you know, foul I don’t have to get credit for everything, and I don’t have to get immediate results. It’s slow, steady progress to me. Because you and I have seen a lot of people that you know skyrocket up and then skyrocket back down. 08:59.28vigorbrandingYep, that’s right. 09:00.96Doug RenfroIt’s about gradual process. We have we have no investors. you know We just use bank debt when we need it. um It’s all still family controlled. And because of that, it’s more slow, steady path. But yeah, well I think you know I’ve told you that my dad and my late uncle had a rule. They were 50-50. They had a a little sister who didn’t work here, but she could be a swing vote, but they had an agreement. They never ever did anything important if it wasn’t a unanimous vote. They didn’t go get a tiebreaker. So now my cousins and I who run it, we have 84% of the votes of the company, and we could outvote each other on certain things. 09:30.24vigorbrandingThat’s great. 09:38.26Doug RenfroAnd we’ve done the same thing. if it’s I’m talking about a capital expenditure branding campaign, a new flavor. big things. We have to be unanimous or we don’t do it. I just assume I’m missing something if I can’t convince them both and vice versa. And now that’s key. I’ve seen friends who make a lot more money and have a lot more wealth, who have a sibling they can’t talk to, they’ve never spoken to in 20 years, and it breaks their parents’ heart. And we’ve chosen not to do that. 09:59.72vigorbrandingyeah Yep. 10:02.50Doug RenfroWe’ve we’ve gone with family harmony, so we sub-optimize, but it’s a family business. 10:02.81vigorbrandingYeah. 10:05.90Doug RenfroWe can do that. 10:06.99vigorbrandingYep. And you know, that’s, ah that’s really important. I mean, I know you obviously get it because you said all those words. and and But, but, you know, when you have the family involved, I mean, you know, the family, it’s important. 10:17.69Doug RenfroOkay. 10:18.01vigorbrandingthere’s I don’t know that there’s anything more important than family. And you’re, you know, the the company is what supports the family. And so if they can’t all be harm, if there can’t be harmony, At the end of the day, we have. and so I admire you for that, the way you’re handling it, because ah as you’re you’re right. We’ve seen a lot of ah more, unfortunately, probably more examples than not where you know somebody gets ah iced out, or they’re not talking, or you know the families are completely ah dysfunctional now, you know but maybe maybe the business survives, or maybe it doesn’t. and That’s just tragic. so 10:49.71vigorbrandingAnd so speaking of, your Uncle Bill, you said, I think one of your other quotes in an interview said something like, you can be brutally honest with each other about ideas. ah he could He could call you an idiot and it’s no big deal. So, I mean, that’s that’s that’s a benefit, right? That level of honesty. 11:03.05Doug RenfroYeah, that’s key is that we were i famously tell that story that like I would say to him or he to me that, you know, I think what you just said was the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard from a business perspective, where do you want to go to lunch? Because we didn’t, you know, there was no personal aspect to it. And and that’s key. If you take business things personally, that screws the relationships all up. 11:22.85vigorbrandingso you Now, back to the salsa. You have 20 different flavors. and how do you I know you’re the one that’s ah um coming up with a lot of the different formulas. How are you finding that inspiration? I mean, just out there in the world, i mean you said that the the the the mango habanero came from ah a meal you had somewhere. is that Is that pretty much what you’re looking at, just trends and things like that? 11:42.45Doug RenfroYeah, I tell people I’m cursed to have to eat at the nicest restaurants in the nation and, you know, read cool food magazines and see what’s going on. But yeah, it is that that simple, which is not actually simple, is always looking around. You want to see what’s on the edge. You know, I we developed a bacon queso for a customer. And as you know, a lot of what we do is creating things for other people. Our names know we’re on it. There’s no indication we made it. ah But people looked at us for ideation. I’ve had grocery chains come to me and they’re like, what should we do for a private label salsa? 12:12.69Doug RenfroIt’s going to be our first time. And I don’t mean, we’ll never make the mild, medium, and hot for the big folks, but if they want a pineapple chipotle or something, they were one of the few players that they will come to. 12:19.59vigorbrandingRight. 12:22.91Doug RenfroAnd i’ll I’ll give them my ideas. Half the time they run with that, say make some recipes for us. Half the time they do the total opposite of what I suggested. As long as they pay us, I’m fine. 12:31.59vigorbrandingYeah, makes sense. 12:31.88Doug Renfroum But yeah, you’re looking at, and and as you know with trends, most of them won’t become a mango habanero or a ghost pepper, which are in a habanero, which are top sellers. You know, I thought pomegranate chipotle was a great idea. Not many other people did. ah So, you know, you end up DC and you ski rationalization um is painful, but we do go through that. 12:49.81vigorbrandingWell, and you have to balance that. like you You can be out there too far out on the trends. I mean, a quench, we’ we’re big on trends. We do trends presentations every year, and I know you’ve seen them and been a part of them. And you know so you you see these things that are out there. You want to kind of be first to market, but that can be dangerous because you know maybe maybe the pomegranate is going to be something that will be fantastic maybe in another six months. If you’re too far out in front, you can you can you know get delisted, as you said. or But if you if you would just sit back and be hot and medium and you know mild, I mean, that’s no good either. 13:22.12vigorbrandingSo I really i admire what you’ve done. And I think that the the branding you’ve done and the flavoring you’ve done is fantastic. And just just for all honesty, I don’t do the branding. I mean, your your your design package stuff is impeccable. And I’ve always been a big fan of it. So ah congratulations on that. 13:39.90Doug RenfroThank you. 13:42.28vigorbrandingSo, I mean, now, how many do you try and make? I mean, like, ah is there in your mind, you say, hey, we should come up with two new SKUs a year? Is it sort of like when I find something I like, we’ll make it? ah how does How does that work? 13:55.53Doug RenfroBut it’s two different answers based on when it was. When I came back, we we weren’t really in grocery stores per se. 13:58.43vigorbrandingOkay. 14:02.35Doug RenfroWe were in fruit stands at the time and different things. So we were fighting for our lives. My cousins and I needed more money. Our dads wanted more money. We needed it. You were raising families. 14:12.71vigorbrandingYeah. 14:13.20Doug Renfroand so we were literally being told no constantly go away because we had hot medium mild and green taco sauce. That’s all we had. And so with no permission, one day when nobody was looking, I added black beans to the medium. Then I added the habanero, which was crazy exotic sexy at the time, you know, super hot. And we would, my sales director and I, he’s been with us 32 years and it’s non-family. We would go to retailers around the country and in Canada and say, hey, I know you have a million sauces before you throw me out. We have a black bean and a habanero at an everyday price, not a gourmet price. It gives you variety. And they started saying, yeah, that’s they’re delicious. That makes sense. We love your company and your marketing and your products. And this will give us variety. And they started putting it in and we were just you know making it up praying. And so after that, we did a 15:01.69Doug Renfrobut we A couple of years later, we did Chipotle, corn. we i We were early on Chipotle. Nobody could say it, including our own staff. I walked through the office. I’m here. Chipotle. Chipotle. 15:10.26vigorbrandingbut 15:10.84Doug RenfroI’m like, oh my god, we can’t pronounce our own product. ah Then when you when Chipotle, the chain became big, they taught everybody. And then Jack in the Box made a hilarious ad about how to power pronounce it. And so, yeah, I would look at things, you know, I saw a ghost pepper in a chocolate bar. I’d been watching it for a couple of years. When I saw it in a chocolate bar, and I told the family, I think we can put it in salsa. My uncle thought we were gonna get sued, so we put a crossbones skull on it, ex-scary hot. 15:33.05vigorbrandingHmm. 15:34.74Doug Renfroand The Today Show fell in love with it, gave us a solid minute on the Today Show back when we all watched TV and there were no streaming channels. ah Huge success. But at this point, now we’re mature. 15:45.35vigorbrandingYeah. 15:47.18Doug Renfroand frankly we’re busier than ever on rnd but it’s all for food service co-pack and private label clients with renfro what you’ll see is the big chains will want you to give them two items with a significant slotting and kick out your two slowest ones and i’m like no thank you but if you give us two if you’ll give us two more spots incrementally, we’ll take it, and that happens. But for now, when the when COVID hit, the supply chain fund and the inflation that followed that, frankly, we haven’t come up with a new item since Blackberry Serrano was our last one. 16:20.17vigorbrandingNice. 16:20.37Doug RenfroAnd we’ve kind of hunkered down. So you know maybe Pavone pomegranate is next. 16:25.34vigorbrandingThere you go. I love it. 16:26.20Doug RenfroI’m still thinking. 16:29.01vigorbrandingSo what what is the what is the mix between ah branded sales, I’ll say, and and food service ah percentages? 16:36.24Doug Renfroi And there’s there’s brand

Al and Gemini recorded this episode at the Fancy Foods Show, and talked to a few of the people hoping to find buyers for their products. Also: Chef Lasheeda Perry talks to Al about Taste of the NFL, the annual pre-Super Bowl event featuring some national celebrity chefs and some of our own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joe chats with industry veteran Lydia Burns from Rogers Collection, contemplating what makes Food so Fancy and the new location of the Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cutting the Curd by becoming a member!Cutting the Curd is Powered by Simplecast.

Seattle-area restaurants are hoping Seattle Restaurant Week, a two-week dining event starting Oct. 22, will provide a much-needed boost to make up for a post-pandemic lull.

In this episode, you'll meet Luigi Marulo, one of the men behind the most delicious, premium pasta brands I've ever tried (and I've tried them all)! I had the pleasure of meeting Luigi at the Fancy Food show in New York. After recording this podcast episode with him, Luigi invited me to visit his pasta factory in Naples, Italy and it turned out to be one of the most profound experiences this crazy job has led me to. Before the podcast, I decided to try Marulo pasta for myself. I was initially a bit skeptical of its premium price, however, I was quickly won over by the taste and texture. Luigi attributes the excellence of their pasta to their use of ancient superior durum wheat, 100% Italian ingredients, and meticulous artisanal drying processes. And all of that is true. I saw it with my own eyes. The factory was pristine and organized and the ingredients and the process were beautiful. But what truly sets Pastifico Marulo apart is the love and passion that go into every step of the process. Every detail of the process and every ingredient they use has been carefully considered and was beautifully explained on our tour. There is a respect for the food, the land, and the meal, that I don't know if most would appreciate without hearing it straight from Luigi. After the tour, Luigi treated my daughter and I to a delightful lunch at his family's beach club where we sampled incredible pasta dishes. Luigi generously offered to drive us back to Naples where we were staying, with 8 boxes of pasta in tow. That pasta was carried by hand on 6 trains and one plane from Naples to Cinque Terre and then to Milan before making its way to my home. I learned a lot that day, but I felt even more. Many people say you have to “try it” to really get it. That has never felt more true to me. Yes, This is a blog about a founder. And also, a thank you for the reminders about what matters in our industry and more importantly, our lives.

Listen to me more!Intelligent Speech Online 2023 where I talke about the 4 W's of Butter SubstitutesPrizefighters, Circus Freaks & Gangsters! There's Fighting, Food, Fashion & Fraud (and it's much more fun)Rice is a Fine & Fancy Food at this time.So rice as food of War & Adventure... not so much.But the limiting of the usual overseas markets due to overseas chaos meant that rice was entering the American pantry all the same. It's just that... well, how do you use rice?To find out how they did it, come along.Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor TurtleShow Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com Threads@THoAFoodInstagram: @THoAFood

We take a road trip to Fancy Food show in New York City. Favorite brands, how we think about imported products and costing are a few of the things we talk about. If there's anything you want to know, shoot us a question at podcast@thiscommercelife.com Could be anything - something retail related, or just if you want to know something about Kenny and I that's ok too.  sign up at www.thiscommercelife.com to get additional content we're building on retail.   

Very rambly. Joe was apparently the lynchpin. But check it out, we talk about food and stuff and Kyle's gonna go to Bali, which is cool

We discuss whether The Cheesecake Factory is fancy, what to do about Nick grinding his teeth, and why Emily is ready to send her boyfriend to the couch. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meet Marissa: Marissa kickstarted her professional career in 2012 gaining invaluable sales and marketing experience within a large corporation. She enjoyed the structure that corporate-life offered, but ultimately made the decision to transition over to a small agency focused in event design and production and immediately felt at home. After spending close to 5 years managing and growing teams, nurturing existing relationships, fostering new partnerships, and overseeing executive level operations the pandemic brought the industry that she loved to an immediate standstill. She wasn't ready to give up on the industry that fed her passion for creativity and connection. After a year of event cancellations her partner asked her “Well, what do you really want to do?”. She simply responded with “I just want to do cool sh*t and have a good time". And with that, Marissa launched Good Time Creative in January of 2021.Good Time Creative is a female-owned creative design and production agency. GTC is operated by fearless creatives who have a specialized expertise in the live event industry. We thrive on creativity and push the boundaries of experiential development.Website:  https://www.goodtimecreative.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodtimecreativecoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodTimeCreativeCoTwitter: https://twitter.com/goodtmcreativePinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/goodtimecreative_coWhat You'll Learn in this Episode:Best event planning or time management tips especially when it comes to staying organized and getting everything done with trade shows.Some things she's seen whether it's clients she works with or on the trade show floor to get the most out of ExpoWest, Specialty Food Association - Fancy Food Shows, Sweets & Snacks Expo, or any food trade showsWhat you can expect from some of her 11 clients exhibiting at ExpoWest this year. What makes a good event strategy and ROI tips.Planning/goals/tips for a brand to focus on pre-show, during, post showBrand activations, pop-ups come back post-pandemic.How she nurtures professional and self development; either with new skill sets or keeping up the event industry trends.About Us - Women Who Brunch:Women Who Brunch is a community for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews and more or say hi on Instagram!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunchWebsite: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Food founders, Expo West 2023 is just around the corner. If you’re going, then you’re in luck! We’re re-sharing an episode on how to finalize your preparations in the last month before the show. Listen to hear Alli’s buyer scoop on… What your biggest asset for trade shows is and how you can support your best asset How simple samples can save you time, energy, and money Why you DON’T need to be the first person to contact buyers after the show Wizes, DM Alli on Instagram and let us know what tips you’ll be taking with you to those food shows! You can also join our conversations on food shows and more in the Food Biz Wiz Facebook group. Find both links at our full show notes here! As mentioned in this episode, we’re offering a freebie workbook outlining 100 Buyer No’s. This workbook will walk you through preparing for any possible objection and guide you in crafting a rebuttal that lets buyers know you are READY to get on and sell off their shelf. It’s the perfect tool to have as you prepare for trade shows and pitches beyond. Find the free download here!

Episode 2286 - On this Monday's show, Vinnie Tortorich and Anna Vocino discuss everything from celebrity encounters to the Fancy Food Show, Vinnie's blueprint for goals, and more. https://vinnietortorich.com/2023/01/blueprint-for-goals-episode-2286 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS BLUEPRINT FOR GOALS Vinnie and Anna start the show with a little tribute talk about the passing of renowned musician David Crosby. (2:00) This segues to some shared stories of celebrity encounters both have had. Vinnie gives a very kind and appreciated shoutout to Debbie and Leona for the work done on the recent limited edition NSNG® hats. (20:00) Anna has some shoutouts of her own from the recent Fancy Food show in Las Vegas. (21:30) They switch to talking about goal-setting and how important it truly is! (28:30) Vinnie gives a blueprint for goals and how he handles goals throughout the year. Vinnie announces some guests he'll be having on some upcoming shows--super interesting! (33:00) Anna has a question for Vinnie from the Twittersphere regarding how soon and how much protein to eat after a workout. (38:30) Vinnie explains the Dunning-Kruger effect and bro-science and also answers the question. Anna shares her experience at the Fancy Food Show in Vegas and the various products she encountered. (51:30) She recommends always reading the labels on products–so many things have awful additives! Vinnie sends a shoutout to friend Peter Pardini about a ecent announcement. (1:00:00) Both Vinnie and Anna share some recent results and recommendations on various health tests to get to make sure you are well informed about your body! (1:01:15) Vinnie's brother Mike has finally stuck to the NSNG® lifestyle and he has lost weight and improved his health! PLUS... Vinnie reveals a Pure Vitamin Club special  Promo Code. (LISTEN FOR IT!)   PURCHASE BEYOND IMPOSSIBLE The documentary launched on January 11! Order it TODAY! This is Vinnie's third documentary in just over three years. Get it now on Apple TV (iTunes) and/or Amazon Video! Link to the film on Apple TV (iTunes):  Then, Share this link with friends, too! It's also now available on Amazon (the USA only for now)!  Visit my new Documentaries HQ to find my films everywhere: REVIEWS: Please submit your REVIEW after you watch my films. Your positive REVIEW does matter! FAT: A DOCUMENTARY 2 (2021) Visit my new Documentaries HQ to find my films everywhere: Then, please share my fact-based, health-focused documentary series with your friends and family. The more views, the better it ranks, so please watch it again with a new friend! REVIEWS: Please submit your REVIEW after you watch my films. Your positive REVIEW does matter! FAT: A DOCUMENTARY (2019) Visit my new Documentaries HQ to find my films everywhere: Then, please share my fact-based, health-focused documentary series with your friends and family. The more views, the better it ranks, so please watch it again with a new friend! REVIEWS: Please submit your REVIEW after you watch my films. Your positive REVIEW does matter!