Cold Open

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I met Jordan at the Seulard Market with the Sauce So Good brand, and I'm always using that barbecue sauce. So when I saw Jordan, I'm looking at the salsa and I'm like, ooh, this looks good. It looks fresh. Like, I really need some.

STL Bucket List Show Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:20

If you wanna hear about St. Louis, tune in to the bucket list show weekly. Hear what Marissa and Luke say. It drops every Wednesday. Got a dope new guest every single week. Buckle up for the ride. Who's it gonna be? Who's on the show today? They rap St. Louis. What to do in the loo on a late night? I maybe what to do on a date night. Yeah. Bucket list as you covered, they know what's going on. What's going on? They'll give you. Hey, 18 different things to do on 19. If you need one more to choose, yeah. The city, city, city is a place we call home. A place we call home.

Royal Banks of Missouri Sponsor Read

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

The STL Bucket List show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor and the official banking partner of STL Bucket List, Royal Banks of Missouri. Royal Banks is a full-service, independent community bank, locally owned, locally run, and proudly investing in St. Louis since 1964. That's more than 60 years of taking care of the people and businesses who make this city special. From checking and savings to mortgages, business banking, and wealth management, you get real personalized service from neighbors who actually know your name. With 16 locations across St. Louis, St. Charles, Illinois, and Northeast Missouri, there's a branch right around the corner. Royal Banks of Missouri, proudly investing in our communities. St. Louis, welcome back to another episode of the STL Bucket

A COVID Salsa Creation

SPEAKER_02 1:38

List Show, highlighting the people, places, and events that make St. Louis special. We're recording this episode here at Sunshiny Maplewood, Missouri. Julie on the Ones and Twos, our podcast producer, producing our episodes each and every week. We come out with new shows every single Wednesday. We've done over 230 podcasts. We continue to do this. We started back in March of 2022, and we love highlighting the stories of St. Louis. So I got two special people in the studio today. We have Taste of Jacks, we have Jordan Franks, and we have the Taste of Jacks brand ambassador, Springtime. Welcome to the studio, guys. So for those that don't know, I mean I heard about you guys a little this must have been right when the fresh time opened down at the City Foundry was the first time I tried. I think you were one of the first retailers there. Yeah. And I used to shop there, and I know how they did a bunch with the local community. That was the first time I saw you. But how, how and why did you get into salsa in the first place?

SPEAKER_04 2:33

Completely accidental. Um and by accidental, I mean everything happens in its own time. What did you just say?

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Something kind of oh, stay ready so you don't have to get ready.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

So I guess I was ready even before I knew I was ready. So it was a COVID creation, right? I know a lot of people had a lot of brilliant ideas when they were in the house for 24 hours a day. Yeah. So just came out, uh came up with the idea of this initial salsa. This is actually the one of the first products that we made. Uh sassy. It was really just an afternoon snack. Um but something in my mind just kind of clicked all of a sudden just to say, hey, I can sell products on a retail shelf, and that was it. It's it's nothing more than that. I started going to stores looking around and saying, Oh, that looks cool. That I can do that, I can put that over there, or I can, you know, be here one day. And the rest was literally history.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

What was it like when you got on your first retail

Landing the First Retail Shelf

SPEAKER_02 3:28

shelf? Because, like, yeah, you can look at the shelf and be like, oh, I can be up there with those products, but that first, who was the first person to give you guys a shot? And what was that like to be on a shelf like that?

SPEAKER_04 3:36

That was that was I either want to say Fresh Time or there's a small store in Webster Groves, and I can't think of the name of that store. It's right off I want to say it's right off Lockwood, um kind of downtown Webster. There's a small little retail store where they was it the Annex. Yeah, yeah. So the Annex was one of the first stores. And it kind of came in conjunction with Fresh Time. So those happened, you know, in dual time, and it was, it was, it was honestly, it was a very anxious time, I must say. And that's one of those things when you make it to a shelf and you're like, okay, that's really cool. But then you're trying to stay on the shelf, and that's where it gets fun and challenging, right? So you kind of have a fun, it's like real high and then real low. Yeah. Then you just keep doing that, keep doing that over and over again. I guess just in repetition until you finally get to that good, you know, sort of save point. But I mean, it it felt good for for sure to see my products, especially in fresh time. I mean, that's a major retailer across states. So that's that was good. That's super special.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

So, Spring, I want to toss it to you a little bit here. So, as uh an ambassador, like what is your background? What why

Meeting Spring at Soulard Market

SPEAKER_02 4:44

does this make sense and what what is this partnership all about with what you got going here with the salsa?

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, so I definitely have to start with the first time um I met Jordan at the Seulard Market. Um, he was teamed up with a good friend of ours, Keon, um, with the Salsa Good brand. And I'm always using that barbecue sauce. So when I saw Jordan, I'm looking at the salsa and I'm like, oh, this looks good. It looks fresh, like I really need some. And I'm such a foodie, like, and I'm a foodie for healthy food. So when I saw that, it was really appealing. I took it home and I immediately um created this like barbecue nacho with the salsa. And it just like, I don't know, the idea just exploded. And then before you know it, we had the idea of the festival. And then they were collaborating. Um, so yeah, it it just kind of like came out of nowhere, but it made such perfect sense.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Um so you had this, so you had just discovered the brand, but then also it's like now you guys are talking, and then you guys just teamed up for the Foodie Seat First Fest, which was a couple weeks ago now.

Planning Foodies Fest in Two Weeks

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Yeah. Um, so walk me through that. Like, what did you guys what was on the menu?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Oh my goodness. So first a lot of craziness. Yeah, it was craziness was on the menu. Let's start there.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

You know, we planned for that within two weeks, right? Less than two weeks, we planned for that entire festival when it was really successful. Anyway, go ahead with the menu.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

It was craziness. First of all, we had just met each other at the at the market. Yeah, getting to know each other. All of a sudden, you know, Jordan has no clue my background in food or anything like that. Um, I've been in the food industry for about 10 years, and like I said, I do practice holistic nutrition. So just eating healthy and like having very visibly appeasing food, but it tasting good as well. And um, you know, I told Jordan, I'm like, hey, I came up with this barbecue nacho. I also think we can do a pooled chicken slider. We can use both products, the barbecue sauce and the salsa. And um, I made like a content video of how we were gonna put it together. We did the grocery list. We kind of did like a projected estimation of what we would could make or, you know, what everything would cost. And we we just threw it together. And but it came together like so beautifully. Beautiful chaos. I really enjoyed the whole process.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

For over 150 years, SSM

SSM Health Sponsor Read

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Beyond the Jar: Hi-Pointe & Collabs

SPEAKER_02 7:39

after you guys did this pop-up? You know, because you I see you at Food Truck Friday, obviously you're at the farmers markets, you're at all these different spaces, but being able to showcase like the salsa on real food is something different than what you can experience on a retail shelf.

SPEAKER_04 7:51

I think that that was a part of my plan. You know, it it evolves, right? So when you start out, you just start out with this this jar or some idea, you go to the farmers markets, or you're selling it to your friends or what have you. And then you kind of, you know, you find some you find some inspiration somewhere, or you see other people doing things, and then you realize, well, I can I can do that too, right? I mean, you know, think about Foodie Z first and the recipes that we curated. You know, all that did was just get my mind kind of rolling, saying, okay, you know, maybe I can really make some some cool, nice looking, attractive bites that that people like and have a you know brick and mortar space. So I just think it's it's it's evolving over time. I mean, I've done even from the very beginning some collaborations throughout the city. So one of my first major collaborations was was with High Point. So Mike Johnson, he's cool, cool dude, man. Super cool dude. Uh but I was able to do a high point collaboration very, very early on in the whole salsa world. I mean, that's how good it was. So he, you know, made this pork wrap sort of situation. Okay, you know, blasted it out, ran it as a special at his McCauslin store. And that was probably the first, one of the first times where I'm like, you know, this isn't just a a chip kind of situation, right? This is uh this is a condiment, this is uh an ingredient to to food. So once we put the food festival together, I'm like, well, I mean, there's a potential right there, right? And we got proof of concept. So I mean that that prepares me to or I sort of puts us, I should say, in other spaces automatically. I mean, I got another guy, uh, Toast and Time. That's another collaboration. That's a newer restaurant, Dan used to run Boogaloo. Um but I'm we're working on something right now that hopefully we can launch on uh October 1. So I mean there's gonna be more collaborations, but eventually I want to be able to have my my own space and go to other cities, you know. Yeah. Um and and do some some work in other places and kind of capture their food scene as well.

Community & the First Sale

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah, and all that kind of supports the retail as well. Like the more awareness that you have in the community, it helps and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

I mean, yeah, it kind of it it brings the it it takes me directly to the customer and then it brings the customer to me as well. So, you know, they have the ability to go and pick up products at the grocery store, but I can give them, you know, real-time food ideas or you know, offer some catering options, or I mean get into corporate things, start selling at stadiums. I mean, you know, and you know for yourself, St. Louis offers a lot of that opportunity. Yeah. Um that's kind of an incubator for all that, but yeah, it's just it's one big, just one big never ending, evolving plan, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

So now that's exciting. So do you remember your first sale? Because as an entrepreneur, as an entrepreneur, I remember my first sale, and it was the smallest sale I've ever gotten in my life, but it doesn't matter. But it's like, do you remember that first transaction where you're like somebody actually gave me money for a product that I made at home? Because that's a really good feeling.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

Uh I certainly remember my first series of sales. Yeah. Right. So uh number one wrapped in there somewhere, but yeah, of course I do. Yeah. I mean, at first it was a very, it was very raw and kind of gritty. And to be very forward, it's still raw and gritty. I mean, I'm still a early to mid, you know, honestly, I'm still in the in the early stages of of my entrepreneurial journey, right? So um still gritty, but that first sale certainly was it was it was exciting. It was pretty exhilarating. It was the first sales that we did have officially was out at Chesterfield. There was a Chesterfield craft market. And you know, everyone was popping up with these markets during COVID, just trying to just find a way to support the local scene. Um, but going out outside of sort of your family and your community and selling a product to a random person and saying, hey, buy my whatever this is, and then like you said, giving you money for it. I mean, that's a pretty big feeling, honestly. No, that's amazing. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

So, Spring, with you, you being in food for the last 10

What Makes Taste of Jax Different

SPEAKER_02 12:03

years, like what excites you about this partnership and like what are what do you kind of see out of um because at the end of the day, when you think of salsa, you see thousands of salsas out there. But what makes like this Taste of Jack's experience different for you?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Well, I'm very big on experience, and one thing that I really do appreciate and love about this brand is the community. I really do think that Jordan does a great job in bringing people together in the community um and just kind of making everybody collaborate and partner together. Um, I think at the festival we had um Sugar Sugar Fire. Yeah. They they smoked our chicken, our pulled chicken, and man, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Shout out to you, Mike Johnson, former guest of the show. Inspired like we were our office, our studio is right by McCauslin, right by the middle of the store. The OG high point. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Um, but yeah, I just honestly just um commit um continuing to push it out to the community and bringing people together. And I mean, just like the salsa, there's you can see there's layers to it. It it's it's death to it. And I feel like that's the same with life. So just making that connection and showing people that we are all one, yeah, even if it just comes to some food on a plate.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Yeah, that was good. That was good, that was really good.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Spicy?

SPEAKER_02 13:24

So walk me well, spicy. Walk me through the offering. So we have your

Sassy, Spice, Magic & Unicorn

SPEAKER_02 13:29

sassy right here. Yeah, yeah. Um walk me through some of your other products.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

Yeah, I could only bring this one because this is all I this is all I had at the time. Yeah. Um, so I mean, again, this is the sassy. I don't know if where's the camera, but yeah. This is the sassy. So that's a Pico style salsa. So it's tomato, white onion, cilantro. Um that was part of the the original three salsa sweet that we came up with. So there was the sassy, spice, and magic. The names just kind of came out from I think from some kind of family inspiration conversation I was having with my partner at the time. Um so they're sassy, they're spice, that's a tomatillo, serrano, jalapeno, so that's a salsa verde. Magic is a mango salsa, so it's red pepper, red onion. Um, that one became super, super popular uh just because I I don't know. I've never thought about eating a mango salsa in my life.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

It's the sweet and spicy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Well, see, we haven't even gotten there yet. So that's the unicorn. So then there's unicorn, which is this mango habanero with corn. I had a person come up to me at Kirkwood Farmer's Market one day, and they're like, you know, I bet you can make the best mango habanero salsa. And I'm like, I guess. So then we did it and, you know, kind of played with the recipe a little bit, but you know, came up with a pretty good mango habanero salsa. And by pretty good, I mean it's great.

SPEAKER_07 14:48

Fire.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

So that's the the four product lines. We have some, we have some bruchette out there. Um that's not live yet, but that was one of the sort of test products as I've, you know, sort of evolved and changed some different elements of the business. So that's sitting out there right now. There's a chili lime spice that is has been um, I guess, pre-packaged at a local um spice manufacturer in St.

Building for Growth With Sauce So Good

SPEAKER_04 15:14

Louis. So that's something that is a future offering. Um not even, and that's just the fresh year line. So that's another thing. You know, we're Taste of Jacks, and very early on I had to think about the structure of the company, right? Like how can I be competitive in the long run on a retail shelf? Um, I ran into the Taste of Jack sort of nomenclature with another company that kind of has a similar name. And with that, changed the name and said, Okay, well, I'll be Taste of Jacks, but now I can start to create product lines, right? So that's just kind of positioning us for future growth, future products, future expansion, future partnerships, acquisitions. That's where Saw So Good comes in at as well. So that's another element to our our business. Um, Keon Watkins, he is the owner and founder of Saw So Good, but here recently we decided to partner, um, hopefully, and create, you know, sort of a conglomerate company, you know, in a in a Frito Lake.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

I haven't tried it as yet. It's good. It's uh it's barbecue sauce. Yeah. So at Soulard, he pops up at Soulard then.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Yeah, yeah. He's been there for about three, maybe four years. It could be longer. Um, but he makes the barbecue sauce, he makes a dry rub. Which is super good. Yeah, yeah, which he has quite a fan base. Yeah, that's awesome. And that's how you you know fire. So that's what that's where our connection was from Soulard. Um, but that's that's the product suite for right now. You know, hopefully we got a chip in work soon, which is sort of a natural next step where people always ask, you know, you got chips, you got chips. I'm like, okay, well,

Why Quality Comes First

SPEAKER_04 16:52

just hold on a second.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Well, it's like one of those things, it's like, you know, we have a you know, a business, we have a lot of products, but we we we don't want to overstretch ourselves on what we can offer. And quality at the end of the day is is at the utmost important. So like I feel like you're the same way where it's like, I'm not gonna offer a chip unless I know that that's the best chip that I can put together. I don't want to just put it out there and slap a logo on it and be like, that's my chip. Um make sense though.

SPEAKER_04 17:14

The quality thing is a big deal for me. Yeah. Um, and that was part of the inspiration, right? With even building this company out. What I have found is that most of the as you said before, there's a thousand sales or a hundred hundreds of sales out there, right? But there's a lot of similarity in their flavor and and the profile. Um and what I have found is that even when you get to the sort of fresh salsas, the the offerings become even more limited. So that's why I went the fresh way, by the way. There's a lot of saturation in the the shelf stable environment. But what I have found is that people really, really enjoy like the fresh aspect. Just people love it. So, you know, with that, there's some differentiation there that allows us to be a little bit more competitive.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

The STL bucket list show is proudly sponsored by Suede Dispensary

Swade Dispensary Sponsor Read

SPEAKER_02 18:08

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Fresh vs. Shelf-Stable

SPEAKER_02 18:26

the show. Enjoy the rest of the podcast. And you talked about like the depth in there, like you can see the cut up onions in there, you can see the fresh cilantro in there. When you get a shelf stable salsa, like it does the job. It's like a eat like you know, for a football party. So, like, but it's like when you're tasting it, you don't taste those ingredients. And it sounds like, especially now more than ever, like I I have little kids, I'm super health conscious about what is in my food, too.

SPEAKER_04 18:49

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

And we make my wife makes her own salsa, so she gets stuff, you know, um all the stuff and tomatillas, she'll like burn them on the stove and make salsa.

SPEAKER_04 18:57

But like you don't have to do that, Luke. You can just buy mine. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

I know, I know, I know, but it's people like making, you know, but people like homemaking, though. But you know, they like that a lot, they they but then that is because they want to they want the experience, and that's what you mentioned, like an experience. So when you think of Fresh Yeah by Jax, it's like, you know, how can we provide an experience? Can we pop up at the store and offer some of those offerings of like, hey, because when you mention barbecue sauce, salsa, those are two things I don't always think go together. But like when I when I think about it, I'm like, okay, yeah, I have seen that before. But like, how do you elevate those products and those condiments? And it's like, you know, St. Louis has so many great food entrepreneurs. And then it's like, how do we bring in these actual retail shelves with that? Um, so that seems like what excites you about it as well. So that is that why you're getting involved?

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Is like you're like, man, how can we have I am an experienced person. I enjoy, like I said, watching people eat good food. Like that's always my end goal because I love good food and I know how it makes me feel. So I just enjoy sharing that moment with people. And you know, there's nothing like having a great product and genuinely feeling like it's great and knowing it's great, and it's

Salsa-Making Pop-Ups

SPEAKER_01 20:08

so diverse, like everybody needs to try it.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

Yeah, and I think I think even to a point that you just made, like the experience of it, right? So when we were at Foodie's uh festival, they were doing these experience tables, um like chefs sort of created meals on the spot, you know, maybe something simple. But when I think of that and experiences, that's another idea that I that you know that has come to mind, right? These pop-ups and demonstrations. Yeah, I mean, imagine just having some pop-ups around town or even going to other cities and doing a tour just to make salsa or make sauce. Yeah. I mean, people show up for that kind of stuff. It's and nowadays, you know, the food industry is such a fascinating place. I mean, we've had all these different things with the retailers and stores and recalls, and people are more conscious now than ever before of you know what they're putting in their body, what they're what they're munching on, what they're sharing with their kids. Um I was making it. Yeah, so you know, if we can create that experience where you can see it in real time, you know, you're sitting down and you're you're putting the t tomatoes in there and the peppers and whatever else, you're doing that. I mean, I think that that's even another opportunity for us to to grow our brand and to also just have access to the community as well.

From Farmers Market to Dierbergs

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Yeah, 100%. And then the packaging design. So I wanted to ask you because at the end of the day, like a product, it when you have three products, it seems simple. It's like I just have these three products, but I know that it's very complex. So what is, you know, one of the most difficult parts about running a CPC brand like this?

SPEAKER_04 21:41

Yeah. Everything. You want to know one? Yeah, just one specific. All right.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

How much time do we have? But like, does that make sense? Like on the outside, it's like I have three products. I go in, I make my three products, I put them in a bowl, or I put them in a package, and then I go sell it. But I know that it's not that simple. That I just want the listeners to understand like what all goes into.

SPEAKER_04 21:58

I think. Well, not to oversimplify, but I think it's not as complicated as one would believe. But it's not easy though, right? It's not simple, just not overly complex. Um I think the biggest part is the regulatory stuff that you have to get through, right? So once you get to retail stores in the CPG world, then you have to start dealing with the FDA, right? So, you know, anybody could could make, you know, I can go in your kitchen here and make something and then go out on the street and sell it until somebody reports me to Maplewood or St. Louis County, then I need a permit to sell it, right? You can go get a permit pretty easily, no problem. And then you can sell your stuff as long as the real estate's okay. Um so that is probably the simplest part of it. Like it's easy to go to a farmer's market. And I hate to say that because, you know, I know there's somebody out there right now who's like, I have this great whatever it is, you know, this great, I don't know, brownie that I make, and I want to take it to the market. It's better than that brownie I had that that one time at the market. I want to take a mine. And maybe they're like struggling to get out, you know, of that spot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Get in, like, actually become a vendor. And I mean, it seems I had a guy come up to me at at uh at Food Truck Friday and was just asking me 6,000 questions. You know, sometimes we're not always ready to answer the questions, but you know, you always have to be on, right? So he's like, Well, how long have you been in business? You know, what does it cost to be here? Like, how much did you know what what do you do? Uh, this is great packaging, like, this is good. Like, how did you do that? And I could tell that, you know, he just wanted to know how do I do it, right? So I I think, again, simple, but but not simple. It just depends on like the levels that you're going to. You know, as you go to the farmers markets, you know, sort of easy. You go into some local stores because there's a lot of local stores where you can sell your products too, not just sort of the big box ones.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yeah, direct to consumer. Like you just walk in and they buy 120 cases.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

And they sell it for you, you know. And that's a good way too to kind of build out, but you know, once you even get to that point, you still have to have all the regulations, the regulatory stuff. You know, the commercial kitchens, the the food permits, the the labels have to be a certain way per the FDA. Um you have to brand and stamp it uh for batch numbers a certain kind of way, just in case there is some sort of recall, God forbid. I mean, there is a lot of steps that come just the higher you get. And that's sort of the level that you know they that I'm breaking into now, right? So get into that okay, you know, you you you conquered the farmer's market, right? You conquered the sort of you know, St. Louis, you know, sort of local market. You know, you got into some some local stores, you got into some larger stores. And keep in mind, I've actually been in Dearburg's too. So Dearburg's was complicated. Um but and larger, the complications came because it was larger. There's 26 stores in St. Louis that stretch from Shiloh, Illinois, all the way out to Wentzville. So, you know, as a one two-man show, I mean, that distribution and you really have to talk about like the scaling of it all. So now you're talking about distribution. How do I how am I gonna get my products from you know from A to B? And then how am I gonna get from A to C to go see all the individual stores and track the performance? I mean, there's a lot that goes into it. I can kind of fluently speak to it now because I've done it. Um and it's it's it's naturally growing. So again, simple but but complex.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

And you at different levels that you crack theory.

SPEAKER_04 25:44

I hope that makes sense. I yeah, that's that's I tried to wrap it up in like, you know, two minutes, but that's really like an hour-long segment.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

But it's like different levels. It's like every level, once you crack, that's where growth comes. So like once you crack into Dearburgs, it's like now you have those skills, you have the paperwork that's needed to go into another store. It's like you have all those steps that get into that. But at the end of the day, what I think about the CPG brand is it's we live in a really good time for it because so many people have social media, they're able to build these brands online.

Bootstrapping the Business

SPEAKER_02 26:11

You hear about all these acquisitions happening, you read about, I mean, I read Forbes all the time about oh, CPG uh Poppy gets acquired for eight billion dollars. All these different brands get acquired, but I know that it's the grind to get to that point because that's why I was gonna ask about funding is like right now, like how how did you originally fund it? How do you fund it now? Are you are you grassroots? Kind of walk me through that stuff, too.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

Oh, yeah, super, super grassroots. I mean, it like I said, it's a scrappy, gritty operation. Um, you know, I don't come from wealth, I don't come from, you know, there's nobody with a trust trust fund where I come from. So it was initially just all, you know, me working my day job, my part of the time she worked, and that's how we originally funded. You know, everything that we did sort of came out of our pockets initially until the business was sustainable enough to be able to to you know put the the the profits back into the business. Right. But when you're talking of scalability, right, you know, it takes more than sort of those those market profits and those those sales, those revenue to be able to actually drive the growth that you're looking for. Right. Um so at this time, I mean, I'm I'm obviously taking some some larger steps to fund, you know, some of that will be just through direct through financing. I'm not very, very willing to part ways with a lot of equity in my company right now, but that's gonna be a conversation for sure one day with the right deal, you know, with the right group of people. Yep. So that's always a conversation that, you know, is gonna come up. I mean, when you're growing, there's all sorts of ways and there it takes a lot. You know, it takes a a a ton, especially when you're building a business very organically. Right. Um, when you want to do it with as as little oversight as possible, you know, you don't want to get a lot of sort of capital firms involved just yet. I mean, I've heard some of those horror stories of people being involved with some of those capital groups. Um, that they certainly can bring the big checks, but you know, sometimes they sometimes the identity of your brand gets a little diluted with their mission of profitability. And because I want to be a grassroots, you know, sort of ground up, that sauce from St. Louis is kind of that slogan I've used for years because I want to be that um I'm gonna continue to sort of ground stump and you know, do it that way.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Yeah, but the STL Bucketlist show

Upshot Coffee Sponsor Read

SPEAKER_02 28:37

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The 10-Year Vision

SPEAKER_02 29:13

I think that's why people want to pick it up. Because I wanted to ask a follow-up question is like 10 years from now, if somebody, when somebody grabs this salsa on the shelf, you know, what do you what do you want them what do you want them to think of when they grab that salsa? Because obviously you have big goals. 10 years is a long time from now. But like what what's gonna make them what's gonna make them grab that salsa off the shelf? And like, what do you want them to think? Like, hey, like that's that that brand.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

10 years. Gosh, Luke, that's a big question. I know.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

I'm gonna be thinking I met him at the market.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

I know, right? I know, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

I had this at the market, yeah. And the experience is still the same. Every time you crack the bottle open, it's still gonna be the same. Every time you open that jar, it'll never change. I think he puts a lot of intentional energy into this product, and you can definitely taste it. That's my opinion.

SPEAKER_04 30:08

I like that answer, and I'll build on that answer, right? So, you know, when I when I created this, and as it evolved in my mind, you know, then I did begin to think about all the the age-old companies that are out there that are still selling, you know, products from its original recipe or sort of, you know, from a hundred years ago, right? So you think about the the Coca-Cola's of the world and the Frito Lays of the World and the Hershey's companies, and these companies have been around for, you know, a century. Uh food that built America, right? That was one of the cool shows that was on the the History Channel that I that I watched all the way through. Um and that that really gave me some insight to just industry overall. Um, I I enjoy the food space. I mean, I'm a I'm a bigger dude, so I like to eat, you know, sometimes. Uh entrepreneurs don't really eat that often. So we we eat at the wrong times, trust me. Yeah. Um but I enjoy, you know, food. I enjoy, you know, how I enjoy taste tasty food, right? Things that make me remember things or nostalgia. So if you talk about 10 years, I mean the whole point would be to create this nostalgia behind it. You know, in ten years is gonna be ten years worth of memories with my products, and hopefully, you know, twenty years worth of memories one day until I reach that sort of centennial that I'm trying to achieve as I've seen other companies achieve.

A Salsa With a Story

SPEAKER_04 31:34

Um and to do that, you know, obviously keep the product consistent. Um keep the story driving behind it, you know, the mission of it, and how how we started, the grassroots of it all. I mean, there's a story behind behind Taste of Jacks, right? It's a nod to my daughters without question. You know, I know you have children and your children become a massive part of your life. Um I got two girls too. That's right, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I didn't really again I didn't have that big legacy coming up as a as a kid. You know, my parents, you know, they kind of scrapped their way through, you know, their life and mine as well. So I want to be able to create something in that. That's one one of the reasons why this came about. But I want people to be able to identify that story um along with the product itself. You know, it's not just a salsa, it's a salsa with a story. That's actually a good line, by the way. Salsa with a story. But it's a salsa with a with a story.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

And then and then your kids get to see you work on it. So it's like one of those things, like the life, the battle that I go through all the time is like, okay, I work too much, I don't work enough, I don't support enough, I'm not there enough, I'm on my phone at dinner because I'm trying to like make a deal. But like your daughters, my daughter like is only two and a half, my oldest mother, and she's just like, Daddy goes to work. So she just sees daddy go to work every day. And it's like there's a reason behind that, and it's like now you have something tangible that they can see is like, oh, I worked all day. I was a little sassy when I got home, but I have these products and I got these products right there. I got these products, and it's like they get to see you at Food Truck Friday. It's like you're working. When we met at the beginning of the season, you're like, any opportunity I can get out and meet somebody. It's like you never know who you're gonna meet at a market. It's not always financial. It's like, yes, it's great if you do sales, but it's like, hey, I just need to be out in the community. So it's like I'm at Food Truck Friday, I'm at Kirkwood, I'm at Tower Grove, I'm at Foodie Z First Fest, I'm at Soular Market, I'm at, you know, doing a pop-up at Fresh Time, I'm doing the stuff at Dearburg's. And it's like, that's where it's like, that's how you separate yourself from you know becoming to becoming a national brand. Because from what you just said and what you said, is like taste of jacks, fresh yeah, salsa is like this national brand. And it's like, how does it become, how does this fresh salsa become that

The Sacrifices of Building

SPEAKER_02 33:42

national brand? And hopefully you never compromise on those values before when you do it, because a lot of these companies, that's what happens, is they they compromise on those values.

SPEAKER_04 33:49

Yeah, I think, and you know, even to speak to that, and this is this will be me getting a little personal, but that that's always gonna be a challenge, you know, the the the family aspect of it all. Um it it's it's it's tough to it's tough to to build to build something and be the places where you're expected to be at the same time. It's actually impossible. Yeah. And I think that I had to understand that. So there have been many, many sacrifices, right? I mean, personally, I've had some great sacrifices, which honestly adds to the story of Taste of Jack's um with you know family and relationships and everything. That's sort of the hard part that no one really takes the time out to understand. Also, that's a deterrent, right? That deters people from getting into things like this, you know. But I mean, that's any any profession that requires a lot of time, right? Think about all the lawyers and the doctors and the the military men and you know, people who are professional athletes. I mean, there's a massive amount of time that you have to devote to that craft based on your goals. So this is this is no different. The only thing is, you know, I don't collect a paycheck every day like those lawyers out there. Uh so there's a little bit more grind that kind of goes into it. And that also makes it a bit more complicated when you're explaining to somebody that, well, I'm building a food manufacturing company. That sounds like such a lofty, like, God, you sound like an idiot. But then when I look around, I say, well, no, it's completely possible, right? You know, and I and clearly there's a proof of concept, right? Clearly it's it's coming in the work. So that's that's one of the more personal sides of this, you know, one of the the things that you have to sort of just take a breath on and and be I hate to say this, but just be the best that you can. You're not gonna win at all. You're gonna piss some people off sometimes. You're gonna to not be at every birthday party or you're gonna miss time with friends. You know, that's just that's sort of the nature of it. Yeah, and you have to kind of be built for that too. So you have to be okay with that.

Spring's Picks: Mai Lee & Levels

SPEAKER_04 36:04

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

So you guys mentioned you're both foodies, so I want to kind of wrap up with some food spots that you guys like to enjoy. So, Spring, I'll start with you. Is there any specific restaurants that are on your bucket list? Um, and what I mean by bucket list is you know these aren't ones that you want to try. When we created STL bucket list, we highlighted a lot of restaurants like levels and like all these places that are STL bucket list spots in St. Louis. But when you think of my friends are in town, where are we going? Like, what's what's what's some of your spots that you go to?

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Oh, my number one spot forever in my heart has to be Miley's.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

Okay, that's solid. I mean, I I go there probably two or three times a month.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

I'm just saying, like, shout out Miley. This is my girl.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

Um, and I'm always working the takeout right there. Oh, let me throw some free stuff in the book.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

When I say she's so inspirational, she'll be the guest of the show, too. She gets it, and she's so inspirational, but I just really love the food. Like, the taste is always consistent. Oh my goodness. I'm getting them on me. I want my spring rolls, and they know spring is coming for the spring rolls, like, no doubt. Um, I don't know. Pho, I can eat the pho. They have good calamari, like the whole menu.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Like the crab ring goons, like so Kui, who also owns Nudo House and like the crab rangoons, they say like best crab rangoons in St. Louis. But then also, I think their fried rice. I know St. Louis has a lot of good fried rice places from OG, Chinese food spots. But for some reason, the pork-fried rice from Milee, they give you like a tub of it. You can eat it for like four days. You can eat it for like four days. Yeah, seriously. It's big forces. And it's uh it's great food. But that's like a solid, you know it's gonna be good, whether you pick it up and they're done in five minutes. You can just call. You don't have to go online. You're just like, hey, call, order, boom, done. They don't even take your, you walk in, you grab it. Like, I love that experience.

SPEAKER_07 37:55

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

So, what about like if you're gonna go? I guess, I guess my Lee's like an everyday spot. What about some other spots to celebrate some stuff, some fine dining spots?

SPEAKER_01 38:04

Um, something that maybe to celebrate. Hmm. I don't know. There are so many good places in St. Louis. I feel like I would be kind of like discounting a few people, but but I definitely can say for sure, like Mileys and definitely levels like. I'm going to level is a bottom. First of all, um, I have some gold pepper soup. But I don't think I've gotten over yet like.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

It was gold. It was beef gold. It was either gold or beef. I can't call it.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

It was gold. The other day I had um seafood ochre soup so good, but oh my goodness, the brunch. So I think once a month on Sundays, they do a brunch and banter, and I had the brunch, and it was so amazing, especially with the jerk wings. I'm trying to do a collab. I'm thinking like a little salsa on the jerk wings, but I don't know. Don't quote me for it, but it sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_04 39:21

First off, let's let me make sure that you know that we've done a collab with Levels 2 and made these uh these tacos. I can't think of exactly what they were named. Maybe somebody wants to help me out. But anyway, we made these delicious tacos on us. We did it for Cinco de Mayo. Fantastic, by the way. So we might run that back again, but I just had to put that in the back.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

Definitely really amazing. But yeah, we love a brunch spot, and it's like something about like just a Bobby brunch, good drinks, good food. Yeah, for sure. The drink, good music, the Japa.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Please try that. Try the Japa at levels. It's number one, like my favorite. The other day I went there, we did the little Drake Shebang challenge. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm like, Japa me, please.

SPEAKER_02 40:01

Oh, you did like the little shebang.

Jordan's Picks: Costco Hot Dogs & More

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

Y'all check that out, okay? I edit it myself.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

All right. So please. Those are good spots. Um, so what about what about you? What are some spots that I mean you've been in this food game for a long time. So that's tough, man.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

That's that that's tough. Let's see. I used to I used to, to be quite honest with you, I don't do a lot of eating out anymore because I just don't have a lot of time to go and have a nice meal, so I'm always picking up things on the go. Yep. And I've been eating Costco hot dogs. Uh was a laugh that hard, guys. First of all, they're $1.50. So they're so they're inexpensive. But it's a really I'm a big fan of hot dogs. Um I'm without question. I know it's kind of weird, but just hot dogs are amazing. No, for real. Seriously. I know it's big, big corporate. Hope I'm hoping.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

Might even get some salsa on that. Costco if you like it.

SPEAKER_04 41:02

Uh anyway, so um let's see here.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

I mean, they were put a little sauce in them? Like, come on.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

And if you got the Costco, you got the business thing in there, so you're going there shopping. Gotta do it, big.

SPEAKER_04 41:17

A lot of tomatoes from the executive member. So, anyway. Uh shout out to Costco Hot Dogs. Um it that that's tough. I've had a lot of restaurants around St. Louis. There is what's the name of that place that's out there? That Italian Let's see, man, what's the name of that Italian place? Tell me where it's at. Off of Ballas. No, Clayton Road out in town and country next to Straub's.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Um Clayton Road, town and country next to Straub's. It's okay. We're gonna look it up real quick. Yeah, look it up. Somebody hurry up. What about your kids? So when I think of like bucket list spots, like my kids like certain things. Like my kids love going to calachy. They love the little calachis. I grab the calachis.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

Um my kids, it's always Chick-fil-A for them. Isn't that disturbing? Nah. I mean, no, no, no, no, nothing with Chick-fil-A, but it's just always like Chick-fil-A, Chick-fil-A. Well, they want like chicken motherfuckers. Going to Chick-fil-A. Yeah. Um, there's another, there's a restaurant that they Pastoria? No, no. It's not Napoli. But I like Napoli too. Paul Mano's? There you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

Paul Mano's, that's on 141. Yeah, right over by my wife's school. She teaches at that high school over there.

SPEAKER_04 42:29

So uh no, well, then it's John, then it's John Minio's Mano's.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Mano. I think it's it's one of the. They may be family. I don't really know.

SPEAKER_04 42:38

But it's right off Clayton Road. There's a Strob's right there, and it's like in a little plaza. Yeah. Um, I will go there just to have a cool, you know, Italian meal. That's probably one of my older favorite spots. You know, my kids again, they like going to um, I can't think of the name of some of these places. There's a place out in, I guess, De Pair. Um that's right by Dearburgs, if anybody knows what that kind of area is. There, and then there's another, a second location out in town and country. I can't think of the name of that spot. Yeah. But I mean, for them, it's always like chicken tenders and and and stuff. So it's just not very exciting.

SPEAKER_06 43:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:18

Uh, me, I I like to dance around with my food a bit. So I like to get these great gizzards that they used to sell at this place out of North County, I must admit, called Sons, but then Sons burned down. Sorry, Sons. But then I think the family took over the recipe and moved it to someplace in New City.

SPEAKER_02 43:36

I grew I grew up eating some gizzards too. They were always at like a gas station and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 43:39

It was like really you're really trying to minimize my food taste here. No, I like gizzards, though. Yeah, I love like just little, I like, I like kind of you know, hardy southern meals sometimes, you know. For example, this is not St. Louis, but I just got back from South Carolina. There was this Brazilian restaurant there that the food was just amazing. So, I mean, that was very tasty. But there's this restaurant over in the loop uh that sells these gizzards now. And I I like things that I can just kind of eat on the go. I don't have time to get out a fork and knife and do all that stuff, man. So again, shout out to Costco Hot Dogs.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

Man, we gotta get you out somewhere, bro.

SPEAKER_04 44:13

We gotta take them to brunch. Sorry about that. I mean, you know, it's not that I I've been to I've been to plenty of spots, you know. Yeah, especially back then. But I mean, come on, man. When you get when you get into business like this, you don't really have a lot of time to sit down

Where to Find Taste of Jax

SPEAKER_04 44:28

and have fun. So no, I get it. But yeah, I'm waiting on you to take me to lunch, Luke. Let's go. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

Um, no, I appreciate you guys for coming on today, though, and and really like highlighting your story, also getting to talk to you, Spring. It was great to meet you. And um, you know, when this episode comes out, hopefully we can help spread some awareness around what you guys have working. And and uh for those that that have just heard about you from this podcast episode, tell us where they can find you um on your website and then your Instagrams as well.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

Yeah, so um you guys can find me on Instagram at it's Springtime, Timespelled T Y-Me, Google search. I'm on YouTube, I do music, fashion, and all of that.

SPEAKER_04 45:06

Yeah, she's everywhere. Uh Taste of Jacks on all the platforms, um, and fresh year on TikTok. Uh, spring's gonna help me with my TikTok, by the way. Um, so yeah, Taste of Jacks and thetaste ofjacks.com on the website. Um, catch us down at Soulard and uh for right now and across other markets and farmers' markets around St. Louis to pick up this delicious salsa.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

Yep, sounds good, guys. Well, we'll see you guys next week. St. Louis, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the STL Bucketless Show.