Manufacturing eCommerce Success – with Allen Ofir Dearie

Damon Pistulka  00:02

All right, everyone once again, your business it is no cheese. What am I thinking? I’m going to face as a business. I did that yesterday. I’ve got flashbacks from yesterday. And what time is it? I have not done that

 

Curt Anderson  00:18

I have  Damon where I don’t really know what time what time zone we’re in what stage just it’s all blur.

 

Damon Pistulka  00:24

Still messed up but it’s Friday it’s time for manufacturing ecommerce success. Thanks so much everyone for being here. I’m one of your co hosts Damon Pistulka. And we’ve got my friend, brother for another nother traveling partner, Curt Anderson was taken away

 

Curt Anderson  00:42

Damon Happy Friday, man. How was your week coming back from Alaska? You don’t Okay? Yes, surviving. I miss you. I like I like it’s so anticlimactic that we’re not in person anymore. Like we got this whole virtual thing going on. So man, do we have a big big show today? So how about Nicole Donnelly’s here to call? Happy Friday? How are you?

 

Nicole Donnelly  01:04

Happy Friday. It’s a beautiful day. I’m so excited to be here with you guys and Allen. And I gotta say, I’m uh, I’m jealous of your Alaskan adventure. That sounds like it was just incredible. Hey, we’ve

 

Curt Anderson  01:18

got tons of pictures. We’ll show them Yeah, no problem showing like 100 pictures but anyway, we let’s get into our steam. I know using gas man. It’s gonna get hot and spicy. Let me tell you like it’s a little Damon Can you feel the heat?

 

Damon Pistulka  01:33

In near and dear to my heart?

 

Curt Anderson  01:36

Man? Alan, my friend a handsome devil. How are you? Happy Friday to you.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  01:43

Thank you. I’m doing good. Getting ready for this.

 

Curt Anderson  01:46

All right. So let’s let’s do this. So I’ve been practicing all week. I’ve been practicing for like six months Damon so Guero Y Maria was like close my close. All right. So hot sauce extraordinaire, fearless, relentless entrepreneur. When I say you know like people tease me for using the word Rockstar. You are literally a rock star. So we have tons on cover. Guys drop a note man and chat box is already on fire Damon. So lots of friends. We’ve got Kyle, we’ve got your you’re gonna get Dallas here less. So hey, happy Friday. Guys. drop us a note. Let us know that you’re here. You definitely want to connect. Well, hey, connect with Damon. Connect with Nicole. I’d love to connect with you. But especially you need to connect with Alan. So Alan, let’s kick things off. Nicole. I’m gonna go there. You’re ready. You guys sit down for this. Are you because everybody’s

 

Nicole Donnelly  02:37

bracing myself? Right. We’re hanging

 

Curt Anderson  02:39

Allen, are you ready? First question of the day. We have some hot hot questions.

 

Nicole Donnelly  02:47

Are they saucy?

 

Curt Anderson  02:48

They are saucy? They’re shaking. See, man. We’re gonna we’re gonna be so we have a hot sauce manufacturer here. extraordinaire. Allen my friend. Cool. As a young boy growing up. As a young boy growing up who was your hero? Who was your hero as a little boy growing up? At about heaven. Eddie Van Halen dropped anybody under the age of 40 was like who?

 

Nicole Donnelly  03:29

All right now you got to start singing Come on. Let’s hear it.

 

Curt Anderson  03:33

Has all right. So, Allen, why Eddie Van Halen, please. Yeah.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  03:40

He’s from Portugal. And I mean, when I was a kid in the 80s you just hear him everywhere. You know, it sounded to me like magic, you know. And, and he was from Portugal, you know, next to Spain. And it was weird. You know, like, you know, as a kid, a sudden like magic, you know? Yeah. Yeah. What

 

Damon Pistulka  04:01

do you think of that? You think of his guitar, the riffs and the music. The way he played? It was it that time. It was different,

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  04:11

though he was doing on stage and all that, you know? Yeah. Oh, and Bruce Lee.

 

Curt Anderson  04:17

Eddie Van Halen Bruce Lee. Man. We’ve got some. Right So speaking of what was Bruce Lee’s famous line, I’m more fearful. I’m not fearful. The man that knows 10,000 kicks. I’m fearful the man that’s done one kick 10,000 times. So I think that’s a perfect segue. Yes, our dear friend Alan right now Mr. Eddie Van Halen fan. President of the fan club. Yeah, let’s begin. And so let’s you rock star illustrious career entrepreneur converted into a manufacturer. Let’s dig in. And I want to start with your journey as an entrepreneur. Let’s talk about your entrepreneurial journey. And then I wanted to get you and Cecilia your wonderful, amazing wife. You just came up with the stream for hot sauce. Let’s go there. Just About your entrepreneurial journey.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  05:02

So we started and we moved to Quincy and about 2000. And we open up a Mexican market. And Quincy, big immigration population, you know, with the agriculture and all that. We were living in San Diego before that. So in California to open up a business, it’s kind of hard, you know, it’s complicated, expensive, you know, and it was a lot easier instead of Washington. So that was one of the reasons why we moved to Washington in the first place. And yeah, we’ve been here 20 years with with with the market, we open up a second location in Wenatchee. And then, you know, what happened is tough to see, you know, we got people that come from all over, you know, tourists and Canadians, European. So that was like, you know, they needed something to take back home from, you know, like, a little memory, you know, so that’s kind of why, you know, we’ve just, you know, the South happened for, you know, just to have fun, you know, to have cheer center with people, you know, that were coming from far away. And, yeah, that’s, that’s where we are. All right,

 

Curt Anderson  06:16

perfect. So let’s dig in. And Nicole, have you met a more fierce marketer than Alan just I mean, his creativity. True, you know, just shows that he was a great rock star, you know, and just real quick share with everybody your your, What instrument do you play

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  06:32

by any playing guitar I play harana was take a little guitar from Veracruz, I play a little bit of bass, but mostly acoustic and electric guitar.

 

Curt Anderson  06:43

Awesome. So I’ve seen all sorts of pictures of Alan on stage. And so true Rockstar, very creative. And boy, your marketing acumen is really off the charts. And what I love and admire with you, Allen, you know, I’ve had the honor privilege kind of going through your journey this year, is like you’re really a well rounded entrepreneur. It’s like, you know, we all have blind spots. And so, you know, we’re all kind of looking over our shoulder, but like you’re covering efficiency, I’m going to talk about that a little bit with like, you’ve been looking at different pieces of machinery. I’m going to talk about like your marketing acumen and finances. So we’ve covered a lot of different topics. But when you started this company, what was what were your biggest concerns? Like when you’re like, Hey, I’m going to dip my toe in a manufacturing? What were some of your biggest concerns that you had to overcome when you got started?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  07:28

As far as marketing career

 

Curt Anderson  07:30

is just like a business as a whole, like some, like so many people out there have a dream, they have a vision, they you know, maybe they work for somebody else, or like, you know, to really take a product. Damon were in Alaska last week with a bunch of dreamers. Right? Yeah, you’re an entrepreneur, Elon products, you’re, you know, you’re, you’re a dreamer. And when you can take a product and truly bring it to life, what were some of the challenges that you had to overcome on early stages of getting into manufacturing?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  07:58

Well, why not something that was real, you know, I didn’t want to, you know, fabricate this product so they can buy it, you know, I wanted something, you know, when we, when we make our sauce, or even our food on the market, is we kind of love and if we don’t love it, you know, nobody else is gonna love you know. And we then, I mean, it’s got to be real, you know, if, if it doesn’t resonate with you, I mean, I love this, you know, I love it for me. Yeah. You know, I love this. I did this because I want to wear it, you know, seriously, I want to wear it. You know, I don’t do this. I want people to buy it. You know, like, if, in fact, I don’t want a lot of people to buy, you know, I don’t want to see it everywhere. I want only us. You know, I mean? If I go to a place and I’m the only one wearing this, then that’s what I want. You know, so I want something that’s, that’s unique and real, you know that I want something that I love. If I love it, then there’s a picture of people gonna love it, you know? But yeah, that’s a real you know, some something that’s yeah, that has value. You know, who cares? I mean, I’ve been I’ve been in business for 20 years, you know, like, you know, people are gonna buy crap all the time. You know, I want something that’s that if you you know, I want to I want to create memories with stuff you know, I don’t want fake stuff. You know.

 

Curt Anderson  09:21

I love that Nicole what you had the honor privilege of working with and digging into some marketing what was your impression of like, you know, he’s talking about his logo on his shirt. He’s find the colors on his on his mug. What was your impression of working with Alan and just his marketing genius?

 

Nicole Donnelly  09:37

Well, there’s just so much authenticity, it with everything, with the products with the branding, you know, with the product itself, you know, you have a very unique process in terms of how you create it and you you instinct very intentionally are true and authentic to what it is you want to create by with that fermentation process. We can talk about that how you carry ate it so that you don’t have to use these artificial ingredients, you take the time and the care to really, you know, be very, very authentic with those ingredients. I think one of the things I’ll never forget when I remember we were working together, Alan, as you said, we break the rules. And I just love that I think it’d be great to for you to talk a little bit more about how you’re breaking the rules, because I thought that was just so ingenious. You can see in your branding right there, it’s just very unique, it’s standout, there’s like kind of like this rebellious, kind of, like, very individual authentic undertone to it. So I think that’s what I love.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  10:35

Yeah, you know, by breaking the rules, I always say that, in the Mexican culture, a Mexican course was created by raking rules, you know, is when the Europeans came to Mexico. And, you know, they had rules, how to music, how to sound have had to have to dress and everything. So the indigenous people and, you know, they started saying, we’re going to do this for you know, every part of the Mexican culture i This is what I believe, is has grown because people have broken the rules. You know? So, if you look at this, this comes from the 80s heavy metal bands, you know, and you’re telling me oh, that’s not Mexican, I got the Helen’s done it is, you know, that’s, that’s what I did up by breaking the rules, you know, that my influence from the 80s is right here. You know, I used to wear those are men’s shirts and all those, you know, although it’s a these heavy metal certs, and this is the same thing, you know,

 

Curt Anderson  11:36

you gotta, you gotta bring back the 80s. Right, just add So breaking the rules, and we and Alan dad was great, Nicole on we were talking about, like, you know, the Mexican history and like, culinary, you know, like your dedication to culinary delight. I am dying to get your place. But I, you and I have FaceTime. And I’ve seen you in action. I’ve seen your customers in action. Cool. You just brought up fermentation. Let’s get into India and I want to tie in to you like you’ve been in his corner of the world many times. It’s just really a paradise where he’s at. But let’s let’s get into that fermentation that Nicole was just bringing up i That’s really a bragging right competitive advantage. Why did you decide to go that fermentation route for your product?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  12:20

Well, when I started looking at houses, you know, everybody had chemicals and dyes. And and then as I saw the sauces from Mexico, they Oh, yeah, even more chemicals. You know, and, and then, you know, we discovered fermentation by accident. To the store really quick. So I had a family come from Mexico. And there’s a farm real close to here. So anyways, you got peppers from this farm? About 50 minutes from here, Becerra farms. So we got all this out whenever peppers, so we had them in the freezer at the market, you know? And then my family says, How come you’re not using those peppers? I go there too hot. Nobody wants him. He goes, You’re not thinking and I go this guy was from this guy. Right? So then a couple months passed by? Maybe he’s right. Okay, I’ll do something with him. So I took them out of the freezer, put them in the fridge. And I forgot to grab those peppers. What happened is I open the back and it smelled beautiful. I go what’s going on here? Well they got from is from immigration. So then I started reading about it finding out and I go, okay. Mexican hot sauce, you know, but with the fermentation process. So then that’s cool. That’s something that I want in my house, you know, right. You know, if I call, I’ll buy that, you know, I’ll have that in my house. You know? Yeah, it can take care of having those local ingredients that we like cup. Yeah. My wife and we could pick them. Well, that was the first two years. Yeah. That was not working.

 

Curt Anderson  14:08

And that’s fantastic. And Damon. I think last week when we were Alaska, we had a there was quite an up there that was talking about fermentation with

 

Damon Pistulka  14:15

Yeah, they’re doing fermentation for producing sauerkraut and other things like that. Yeah,

 

Curt Anderson  14:20

exactly. So Damon, you’re very familiar with Quincy and what we’re talking about guys is like central part of Washington State, which is just really an agricultural paradise. Even what’s been your experience out in Quincy? Well, I

 

Damon Pistulka  14:32

mean, we’re you’re at there. The mix of sunshine water and the soil conditions produce a growing area like very few and, and actually, if you research Central Washington and look at the amount of sun, I forget what it is energy they receive in the summertime, it’s really more like central Kansas. So it’s a very unique place to grow in. I mean, just from my experience growing up Up in the Midwest and seeing corn in the Dakotas in Nebraska, right? They can grow corn with irrigation in the central Washington like nobody else. But the specialty products that they can grow in there are really incredible. And I didn’t realize as after until researching this and researching your company, Alan about how many peppers are grown in, and different kinds of peppers are grown in Central Washington. And it’s incredible because like you said, you have the product right there and are making your product from the freshest ingredients possible. So cool.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  15:37

Yeah, those are never peppers. They actually are from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Way down there with close, you know, in the Caribbean. Yeah. But the summer’s over here is super hot. Yeah, we actually grow in the in there. I mean, they got really spicy and really hot over here. Awesome.

 

Nicole Donnelly  16:01

Are they spicier here than they are in Yucatan? Are they grow? Are they originally from either the

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  16:06

same? Interesting that are the same? I mean, the sun here is just as intense, you know?

 

Curt Anderson  16:12

Yeah. Yeah. So So let’s dig into on the marketing side, okay. And Nicole, again, like, you know, just off the charts, marketing, Creative Social Media, you’re going after it on Instagram. And when you go in, and you go do, you and your wife go to different shows, festivals, and like, the response, the pictures and the videos of people trying your product is just their raving fans as soon as they taste it, but just talk a little bit about like, the hoverboard. And it’s been just the feedback that you’ve had from clients, and how you’re tying that in with your with your social media strategy.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  16:47

So, I mean, it’s fun, why cuz it’s, people can’t believe that, what happens, what happens is that when you see the brand, they see, okay, this guy, I mean, it’s like, they fall in love with it, you know, you just fall in love with it, you know? And that’s pretty cool. You know, and, and what, actually what people are telling us that they like, is what we’re doing, you know, I mean, you know, they’re, it’s, it’s rewarding, you know, they were kind of doing every, you know, we’re having fun every time. It’s like, it’s like we’re making fans, you know, almost, you know, it’s, it’s just fun.

 

Damon Pistulka  17:31

This is something that Andrew Deutsch says many times he says you’re creating a voracious advocates for your brand, because you’ve got great products that they love. And it’s so cool to hear, hear that it’s happening.

 

Curt Anderson  17:44

So, so let’s dig into like products different you have different flavors, different products, let’s let’s, let’s let’s dig deep man. And again, like, you know, you don’t need to be Midas Allen, like talk about the process and how, like, you started with one, then you created multiple, good, like, so for and what we what we’d love to do for somebody out there who’s like, Man, I had this dream, I have an idea, I have something innovative, that I’d like to bring to life, you know, like, you’re an inspiration to that person, like, walk us through the process of like, how you started the first one, bottling it labeling it, like, let’s let’s go through that process.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  18:17

I think that the most important thing is just to get it get it going, you know, it’s not going to be perfect. And like, like, you know, like John Lennon when he recorded a song he didn’t that song wasn’t the way he picture it, you know? And sometimes, you know what you’re, I mean, this is not the ideas I have for the brand is not there today, you know, but it’s more important to get it other and get it rolling and get the feedback and get out there because if you just talk about it and talk about it and I’m gonna do this I’m gonna you know, I had a lot of friends that say that oh, I’m gonna do this and I’m gonna do that and in a business plan and I go Yeah, but you’re not doing it. You know? What? I’m sure you know, we don’t have we will. I’ve been in food for 20 years, you know? So it’s like a matter frayed up for you know, I love food, you know, but the way we started with the bottle is just we just, we just got a little 12 bottles, we make the size we we borrow ourselves. I just my dad did a drawing we put it on the bottle, you know, I just wanted to have physically something in my hand you know hear this. You know? And then and then keep gone and gone and going until you got something that people loved. You know that actually that moves that works you know? Is I think that is just go for it. You know just do it. Go for it. Not be talking about it and match it in. The minute you get the idea in your head. You got to you got to You got a fire you got just got a call into it, you know? And and then you’ll see. And then

 

Nicole Donnelly  20:06

you’ll see that is such great marketing speed. How quickly can you move and iterate based on what the market is telling you?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  20:17

Going back, sorry, curriculum back to the marketing. People say, Well, how you marketing this and how you marketing that I go, I’m doing this in English and in Spanish. When I pet for I’m at the market, and I kind of customers, and then I take a picture and the two apples on the spot. And then I got like at the house, and then I’m doing another post or here, whatever, on the spot. At the time that happens. Right. Yeah. And as far as English and Spanish businesses,

 

Curt Anderson  20:56

yeah, and you’re doing it right. Like that. And you’re doing it right at the festivals. And like when you’re, you know, when you’re at shows and like, right in front of your clients. And so you know, what a cool, we just had a great conversation yesterday, we were talking about, like, direct to consumer and b2b e commerce, you know, shed shed a little light because, you know, and, Alan, you’re doing a little bit of both. But Nicole, from your perspective, what do you seen as like working with folks on direct to consumer, compared to b2b? Like, what do you kind of hearing in the streets or conversation that we that we’ve been having?

 

Nicole Donnelly  21:30

Yeah, we had a great conversation with a dear partner of ours, an E commerce firm, actually, in your area, actually, based in Portland yesterday. And I think what what’s happening is, is there’s there’s just been this big shift or massive push on the consumer side for people to be selling through marketplaces like Amazon, and, and that kind of a thing. And so a lot of these direct to consumer like.com solutions, what what we heard from, from our conversation is that there’s less of a push that way and more of a push for folks to be selling through these marketplaces, because they can just leverage the massive search engines of Amazon and all these places. But in b2b, they’re very, very much is still huge opportunity from an E commerce perspective. Because, you know, they’re, you know, they’re later to the game in terms of getting that started. And especially if you have niche products, it’s a great play. So yeah,

 

Curt Anderson  22:22

and I think with a product like this, what’s important is like, Daymond, Nicole, we talk a lot about community. And I feel like Elon that’s, like, that’s a superpower view of yours, just again, with that magnetic personality with your fetus enthusiasm, and with your marketing, but just talk a little bit of like how you’ve built up a nice community, from a social standpoint, to get direct to consumer and on a b2b side, but just talk a little bit about how you’ve been peddling social media to build up your community of fans.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  22:54

It happens by accident, it happens. You know, like, I wake up one day, and why didn’t a helmet I posted it, what am I gonna do today, you know, and then I get an email, I get people tagging or, or, and I Okay, that’s what we’re gonna do today, you know, I mean, you know, they, you know, you kind of have, the thing is, it kind of just happens, you know, when, when you, if you work on yourself and your product, you polish it and polish it and polish it, people are gonna be, you know, talking about it, you know, and that’s gonna, that’s kind of what I try to do, you don’t kind of concentrate on making my, my products better, you know, or my concentrated on making it better. And then then people will talk about it. Right.

 

Curt Anderson  23:42

Right. So focusing on the quality side, just trying to get the product out there. Now, how about b2b strategies? You know, we’ve talked about like, targeting, like different restaurants, I think you’re using, you’re using a marketplace if I’m not mistaken. Right. Fair. Talk a little bit about like, what are some of your business business strategies that you’re using?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  24:01

God, don’t send me all the customers send me the right customers?

 

Damon Pistulka  24:06

Yes, yeah, absolutely. Right customers.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  24:14

God, send me the right customers, right.

 

Curt Anderson  24:19

Who are the right customers compared to the the natural right customers?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  24:23

Okay, I’ve got a customer in Leavenworth. He buys the guidance, and he passes out those samples to his customers. He sells breakfast burritos. And he sells the bottles, right? So he’s promoted my house, and he’s selling it. And he’s picking it up. I mean, the guy is super nice, you know, and His restaurant is really kind of mama Papa kind of type of restaurant, you know. So that’s a good customer. Another guy. He’s at a farm and he buys a Thomas As from us, you know, and he tells me, why would I buy? If a Mexican says houses? Why would I buy it from somebody else? You know, but that’s, you know, he promotes my house, you know. And there’s other people that I try to promote this, this and that and it just doesn’t click, you know? And then I go, What am I doing wrong? I just don’t get it. I just, you know, what’s going on, you know? And then I go, Well, maybe they’re in a different states, you know, I just gotta focus on the right customers. Yes, a lot of them.

 

Nicole Donnelly  25:36

I love that too. Because then your customers, they’re doing the selling for you. That is like community marketing. That is like the phase of marketing right now. That is, is what everyone should be trying to double figure out double down on is that community market? That’s awesome. I

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  25:48

think that the right customers, there’s a whole lot of more than you can possibly fulfill orders with, you know, I don’t need them I need my the right customers for me, you know, right. And there’s, there’s so many of them.

 

Curt Anderson  26:07

The people that break the rules, right, so we’re talking like the Portland hipster, or like the b2b market, you know, the restaurant that really, you know, kind of resonates with, you know, we were joking around about like, the guy driving his Harley is just loving your product, you know, a little bit of a rebel flair. Damon, you’re doing a lot with direct to consumer and b2b with clients that you’re working. Any feedback? Or? What’s your take on this conversation?

 

Damon Pistulka  26:31

No, it really, you know, in in brands like yours, Alan, this is, this is where I see companies being successful at it. Because, as Nicole said, you’re creating a community of the people you want, and you’re very clear, it’s like, hey, not everybody’s gonna love me. And I don’t want everybody to try to love me, that’s what we just we don’t want we want the certain the right people. And then speaking to them, your right people, is how your marketing connects with with the right people, and in the right words, but, you know, we, you said a few things in here, how you’re, you know, at the festival and stuff, you’re doing things in English and Spanish to make sure you’re, you’re covering your right people, no matter where they’re at. And it’s just, you’re doing some cool stuff, you’re doing some cool stuff, and it’s refreshing to hear that you don’t want the wrong customers, or you have identified wrong customers and you don’t want them around. That’s, that’s really good.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  27:27

Yeah. And it’s like, you know, Oh, who am I gonna, who’s gonna buy this, you know, well, the right people, then they’re out there, you know, and they’re kind of love you, and you have nothing to worry about. All you gotta do is focus on your quality. And it’s gonna lie with somebody, you know? Yeah.

 

Curt Anderson  27:46

So let’s go there for a minute. So talk about like, how, what was the, you know, like learning curve, you know, the child error? How do you discover the right customers? Wrong customers? And then when you do find the right customers? How do you try to perpetuate that? As an entrepreneur? How do you double down and like, reel those in? So again, you know, how do you find the right ones? And then when you do find them, how do you double down on those?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  28:10

That’s a good question. Kurt. Have you found the right customers? Well, I guess you just gotta stand your ground, what it is you do and what you believe in, you know, this is what we do. We don’t add chemicals. If you don’t belong to the Mexican culture, and you’re from a different culture, we value that I share stuff, important events, for other cultures, you know, Indonesian, Hawaiian, whatever, I just, I share it because if I don’t like freshness, and kiss my race, I’m not gonna I also kind of be open to other races, you know, I like to share, you know, like, here’s what I’m saying. So you got to stand up for what you believe in, you know, we, you know, people are gonna see that and then you’re kind of, like, you’re kind of aligned with the people, you know. I mean, I could, I could easily just go with a co packer and chemicals and live or, you know, just throw it out there. You know, when there’s a bunch of people that do that, you know, yeah, I don’t, I don’t want to and I’m, I’m not gonna do it, you know. So, so, so, yeah. I’ve gotten into arguments with wood families, you know, how to why you don’t like that, why you fermented I go, that’s what I love. Because that flavor is the flavor that I like, that’s what I’m going to have and that’s it. And, you know, there’s there’s other companies that are that are adding chemicals and mass producing, you know, and they’re selling way more than us. But, you know, I’m always say that they will always be Goliath, you know, we’re gonna, we’ll come in for you oh,

 

Damon Pistulka  30:08

well and it’s interesting Alan, you talk about the chemicals and you talk about the other things because Kurt we interviewed last Friday on the show we interviewed mountain dog, the founder of mountain dog and they are making single ingredient dog treats because of the same thing they were looking through dog treats for high performance dogs and they have all these chemicals and all these additives and fillers and things in it. And they they went out and created a product that was a single ingredient product that didn’t have any chemicals and fillers and the things like like you’re talking about in your products and, and people value that they value, the time and the effort that you put into making your products right

 

Curt Anderson  30:45

so hey, let’s give it I know we’ve crossed the hour so if you’re just joining us we’re here with our dear friend Ellen, founder brainchild genius of Giro II Maria my saying that correctly been practicing that we’ve got Hey reflow is here today. Steven Stefan Jobson. No, don’t send me just customers, right customers social listening. We’ve got MD here today we’ve got Vijay here. We’ve got all sorts of good friends Shai have is here. David is here. We’ve got some other guys Jason hastens here. So guys, thank you for joining us here today. Lots of great conversation. It is hot man. Do you have to turn the air conditioning up for this murder? Yeah. And low hot in here, Nicole. So let’s go here. You’ve been what I love and admire. You’re constantly seeking new machinery efficiency, how can I get more product out? Talk a little bit again, this is going to the manufacturer, this is going to the dreamer that’s going to the could be would be should be entrepreneur. It’s like man, I wanted to pursue a Jeep dream. How do you talk about like, how do you go through that due diligence process of finding new machinery, right machinery to help reduce your costs, get the you know, improve profitability, keep your cost reasonable for clients go there about efficiency for us, if you would?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  32:05

Well, let me see here. You know, man, just, you just gotta keep going. The thing is that, you know, I try Well, I made the mistake of trying, oh, I need a I need huge equipment, and I need this huge, and it’s, I need to get alone and I need to spend all this money into this. And then in that way, okay, whose dream Am I living here, you know, you made a business plan, because you did a bit of a bank loan. And then once you get the loan, you need that huge equipment. And then, and then I go, Whoa, hold on, hold on, you know, who said I need to do all of that, you know, if I buy a little tiny machine, if I’m selling 240 stores, or 100 stores, okay, let’s, who cares if you sudden 20 cases or whatever, just do the amount of little little mouths with care with with with love, you know, and, you know, banks and all your friends, you know, who you don’t need to, you don’t need to do the you know, sell or buy the equipment for the amount you’re selling. Or you actually sell it now the amount that you think you’re gonna sell what it is you’re selling. And if it’s a little bit, who cares, it’s fine. But if you’re doing is we’re loving wood quality, that’s going to speak volumes, you know, so, you know, I had I had a I had a friend that was telling me I had this, they were putting stuff people were putting stuff in my head that I need I needed to get along because I needed to buy that huge equipment. You know, then I was telling my wife, okay, we’re gonna be here with a huge bank loan and those huge sick women. Okay, and then what are we getting ourselves into here? You This is not gonna be fun or you know, I said now we want to we, the machine that’s going to serve us that machine is going to reflect what it is we’re sending it we’re sending a little bit or a lot if that machine has to produce what it is we’re selling. That’s coming in is what the machine is producing. Not only you always you know the in this culture that you need this do you need to upgrade and you need that and you need this. Nah

 

Damon Pistulka  34:44

that’s wise advice right there.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  34:46

I’m not doing it. I’m not getting a bank loan.

 

Damon Pistulka  34:50

Well, that that’s that’s great advice. Because you know, how many times have you seen yourself fail and other people around you that have been went out and bought huge investments in equipment and things. And then and then you’re you’re left trying to figure out how I get volume, rather than letting the volume dictate the changes in equipment as you go or the changes in your business as you go. In it’s, it’s, it’s really wise in equipment because you can you can easily fall into the trap of from an from an equipment manufacturer standpoint, well, this is the equipment you need. You just need this piece of equipment because

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  35:31

50,000 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, and then if you don’t buy, you’re not a real company.

 

Nicole Donnelly  35:39

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. And, oh, go ahead. No, no, what

 

Damon Pistulka  35:44

is the difference is really is a lot of times is they some people think that equipment manufacturer thinks, Well, if you know, if you have to run it this long, that’s too long, you should only run it this much in some way. You know, for you, as a business owner, it’s like, well, we just run it a little bit longer, maybe we have to put the labels on ourselves, maybe we put the caps on ourselves, maybe we do some things that the equipment doesn’t, because we’re not at the volume, or we need that fancy that does all this stuff. And it’s just, it’s great. You’re strategy and approach is great on this.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  36:16

Yeah. And, and the other thing is, you know, if I did the minute, we stopped not looking at the other quality was coming out. As we went, we gotta pay that we kind of made the payment. So we need to sell this much. And, oh, man, that’s a huge trim. That’s a couple weeks ago, you know, what? No, then this, this is not going to be fun. And if it’s not fun, then it’s not. It’s going over.

 

Nicole Donnelly  36:50

I love that so much. I think as entrepreneurs, we all hear a lot of people giving us advice all the time. You know, people there’s no shortage, oh, this is how I did it, this is how you should do it. I mean, all the podcasts, everything, but nobody knows your business like you do. Nobody knows the in and out like you do and like what you just said your values where you want a quality product, you want to stay true to that for you to be truly authentic to your values as an entrepreneur needs to stay quality. And you knew that in order for you to do that buying this equipment would you would not stay true to that. So I love that. I think that’s great advice is like as entrepreneurs, you know, get all the advice you can don’t like you know, obviously seek out advice where you can but at the end of the day, you’ve got to stay true to what it is that your your values are and your brand ethos says and as long as you you’re you’re true to that you can sleep at night and know that you’re delivering the product that you know that you want to be delivering and that your customers the ones that are your soul mates want.

 

Damon Pistulka  37:52

Yeah, and you said that I know you said something there on that I think a lot of people when they do spend that money get caught in the middle of product companies is when you don’t spend that money you can concentrate on quality. But if you’re the entrepreneur that has spent that money and you need to sell so much the choice between quality and selling that product gets much different Yeah, you’re gonna have to make that payment right you’re gonna

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  38:19

make a sacrifice and then the other thing is a lot of a lot of people have businesses are a lot of pride a lot of ego you know that a lot of legal

 

Curt Anderson  38:43

Hey, Jason, Jason, great, so many people getting the whiz bang pops deeper and deeper. Usually stepping over dollars to pick up a dime Boy, talk to my mom because like that is my story.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  38:58

Thanks. Okay. A lot of this ego people are opening up, you know, you open up a restaurant for profit or for ego

 

Curt Anderson  39:16

it was brilliant. That would, man that was like

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  39:23

I, I’ve been guilty of Eagle.

 

Nicole Donnelly  39:28

Who hasn’t? You know, I think we find that every day.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  39:32

I’m gonna open up my own business and they’re gonna see that is me that’s doing it. And then I’m gonna get the bank loan, and they’re gonna see that. And then I can post it on Instagram and you know, and then and then what happened with the business, you know, and so who cares what people think about you? Who cares if you don’t have a bank loan? Who cares? If you have a brand that you love And you’re sharing it with people. You know, there’s love, I can honestly say that there’s love here, honestly say that they’re loving this. And and the people that work. I mean, when they have it a listing a picture like, it’s, it’s, it has value. So if I Okay, yes, we Okay, that’s how you grow, you know, one person at a time, one, you know, with value. And then if you’re just, you know that I mean, this ego thing is just, it’s, it’s a trap, I was telling my wife, you know what I noticed, if we keep thinking this the way a lot of these people are making a stick pretty soon working on all money, we’re gonna be stuck in this situation that we’re gonna have to do something or put out, put a product out there. So we can make those payments. And then this is gonna go now, you know? That’s what I see. That’s, that’s what when I see it, I go, No, we’re not. No, we’re gonna, you’re not we’re only going to do produce, what people are buying the amounts that they’re buying, if it’s a little bit or a lot. Okay? If God is gonna send us those sales when we’re ready, when is ready, when it’s going to happen is going to happen. But we’re not going to be stuck here in a trap on a bunch of money. hating this world being you know, we’re not. And that’s how you break the rules. Okay,

 

Curt Anderson  41:51

awesome. It’s awesome, man. That was just that. Alan, we have like these moments of silence on our program when somebody comes on and just drops. Killer comment, like, we just need to savor that hot, juicy comment right there. How about this? You know, I like that profit or ego validation seeking can be a trap. Dude, that was a demon that my most profound advice that we’ve ever had on this program.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  42:19

Thank you. Thank you for putting that into words.

 

Curt Anderson  42:23

That was phenomenal. That, okay, I want to be mindful of everybody’s time. We’re going to start winding down Ellen, you and I met through impact Washington impact Washington is the MVP Manufacturing Extension Partnership of the great state of Washington. Just share a little bit on like, you know, when you start out that business, it’s your child, right? It takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to raise a business. How about like, shout out to any like resources, who kind of helped you get things going impact Washington, like what are again, for that new entrepreneur out there? What resources would you what advice would you give, like, who to reach out to or how to get your how you get your party?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  43:03

Well, the mo ranawat. If a Washington, he’s from Spain, he’s really cool. He helped me a lot. When I when I first started, I will have that flavor and that flavor in my grandma’s house and my mom’s and my aunts and a bunch of flavors. You know, you know what, like, when you go to a Mexican restaurant, you get the tackle that the app? Like, a million items, you know, and I say? And then he said, maybe one flavor really good every time. You know. Okay, so what I did, I started doing my Veneto houses. And I did it you know, I dropped everything. And I did one hot sauce. The same spice level, the same flavor, the same color the same everything, every single time. And then when I did that, it grew a lot. People started catching up. So So I will see people event. They have so many flavors, so many options, you know, and then the people that are buying is like what do I buy, you know, now made the choice for them. You got one, two or three? And that’s it. Yep, like the money. So yeah, concentrate on one thing and one thing be good, you know,

 

Curt Anderson  44:31

I love it. So love it. Hey, we got nice comment from Diane. Diane. Happy Friday. Sounds like you’re making sounds like you’re making people most important product first. That services the needs of others go to people first. Appreciate that. Thank you, Diane. And thank you everybody for joining us. And let’s go here. Let’s start winding down a little bit. What’s the future at your company? Dude, you are an innovator. You’re just relentless resilient. What what are you excited about your Euro food in Vader, what’s on the horizon at your company? What are you looking for moving forward, moving forward in the future here.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  45:06

I’m looking for a reason to be successful. I’m looking to help something, I need a purpose. Okay, we’re gonna help this community over here or that community over there. And once we once we know that that’s one of the goals. The other goal says keep expanding with more more more products, but cool products. In a nutshell, just whatever, you know, but yeah, recently we are. We’re, we’re, we got more clothes, a lot more clothing coming in, in some candies to these. And these. Yeah, my wife has been getting candy we’ve been we’ve just went to a convention convention. And my wife has has been eating candy for a little more than a week, every single day. On a weekend, go, don’t you think? Because you’ve been eating candy every single day?

 

Curt Anderson  46:15

Like Halloween at your house? We’re great. Yeah. Right. So you know, a lot of things that you’ve covered today is just, you know, again, we’ve talked resiliency, you know, and I love that you mentioned, you know, hey, God’s gonna throw at you what you can handle in like, drive the business of, you know, not getting yourself in debt. Quality. First, we’ve talked heavy about the fermentation, the cold, takeaways, thoughts, comments that you want to share? You’re working with? Alan, what do you what do you got for us?

 

Nicole Donnelly  46:41

Oh, I just have so much admiration, Alan, for your approach and what you’re building. And I think manufacturers out there who are listening in can really learn a lot from how Elon is approaching his marketing and how he’s selling. Because right now, going forward, the key is for brands to really not be vanilla. In order for you to be successful going forward, you have to have a very strong point of view, and you have to be willing to share it. And your executive leadership team, they need to be out there sharing it like Alan’s doing right here today, like that is the future of success for manufacturers, if they want to grow going forward. So I think you’re just living and breathing that you’ve made a very clear what you stand for, you know, authentic ingredients, you know, small, you know, building your community organically. And really knowing who your customer is, and letting them you know, like, have a point of view. And I think when you have a strong point of view like that the right people will find you and that is really going to be the key to because it’s just the market is just everywhere. And manufacturing wherever you go. It’s so saturated. The only way you can stand out is really vice, you know, having a strong point of view and getting your executive leadership out there to share it. So well done, Alan. Well done.

 

Curt Anderson  47:51

dropped the mic, Nicole, that was powerful. So hey, Alan, how about AI? Should mean should manufacturers be using AI? Any opinion there and on, which is an AI?

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  48:03

Okay, here’s the thing with AI. If you don’t use it, I will.

 

Curt Anderson  48:16

I will. I try. We’ve had many conversations. So like I would throw out some goofy lingo word. He was like Kurt, what’s that word? I’m like, go to chat. And he was okay. Now I understand that word. And so we use if English is not my first language, it’s not yours. Not mine, either. I’m trying to figure it out. So we had a lot of where

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  48:43

we check it out. Check it out, too. So you can this is not my first language. And I have an accent. And I have, I have the idea of the ideas that are here, right? And I can write it and I can say the Spanish to somebody, and they go wow, all right. Then I’m gonna say to somebody and I’m gonna write it in English and this is not translating, you know? Yeah. So then I go to AI and I, okay, translate this or put this together, you know, but yeah, yeah, the only thing where I, you know, is what is what Nicole told me is, everything comes out, you know, kinda cliche or stuck, you know? It’s, you just kind of figure out how to make it where it is. It’s coming natural, you know.

 

Curt Anderson  49:35

So the name of the show for today was made in USA hot sauce with moxie. And when Al and I were talking, and I was getting to know Alan on my dude, I’m like, You know what, like, the first word I think of when talking to you. I’m like, Dude, you have Moxie. And it’s like, Kurt. What’s Moxie? He goes a chat and he pulls it up. He’s like, Yeah, I do have Moxie. Awesome. Yeah. And he Got he defined Moxie in dude all seriousness like Nicole just said we admire what you do through inspiration Damon thoughts comments what do you would take away from today with our conversation with our Dean esteemed friend Alan

 

Damon Pistulka  50:14

Well I just I just love talking to people like yourself Elon and learning in learning from you and learning how you’re you’re building your business because you are creating a great product that you said you would use you have in your home you would love having in your home and that is the basis for your products because I think that’s an E you talked about it will get in the bank loan and the the choice between making a payment and selling the right product. I mean it’s just I just love the way that you’re moving your your your vision forward for your products, all the way down to the point that you know you’ve got three hot sauces on your on your website, because that’s you want to be really good at what you do and focus down in that we talked about that Kurt last week. niched down till it hurts you got you got your three sauces that are on your online store and those are the best and you make and I think so cool. Yeah.

 

Curt Anderson  51:10

One before I’ve got one juicy, hot saucy question for you before we wrap up any any any so folks can find you I put the I put your website in the chat. So guys, you absolutely want to connect with Alan here on LinkedIn. You want to check out his website. Go buy some great hot sauce if you want to fire up the party the barbecue Fourth of July. Go check out some hot sauce with Ellen. Ellen any any parting thoughts before I asked you my last question of the day

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  51:41

know what you got? What you got?

 

Curt Anderson  51:48

Ready? So hey, dude, do we have a good time man like he would call me on a Friday night we would talk for like an hour and a half and so like you become like a dear friend. I love you like a brother. I admired what you’re doing just you know, fearless Moxie. Love it all. Your Southern California you’re your baseball fan, right? You baseball fan a little bit.

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  52:10

I used to play first base and Fisher but I’m a martial arts guy. I like your Mac. Okay, well,

 

Curt Anderson  52:16

I’m gonna I’m gonna go. I’m gonna go baseball. We’re all baseball fans here. So, Ellen, are you okay? Are you San Diego are you seeing are you mariners? Like who’s your team? San Diego, Sandy. Okay, so just Damon. Here’s just a really random random thought. Okay, just a goofy hypothetical. Okay. Let’s say it’s bottom of the ninth one guy on base, tie score two outs. And we need a pinch hitter. And Alan sitting on the bench just like just he’s got Moxie. We need a guy with moxie to come in and get the winning run. Right You know, and I was made right by it Can you taste it? When you’re walking over when you’re walking up to the plate? Which Van Halen song are you requesting to be played as you walk up to the plate for your walk up song walk up song hit that winning run? Eruption wake right you just man we stumped somebody the other day but

 

Allen Ofir Dearie  53:21

the computer I was thinking you said what’s your interruption?

 

Curt Anderson  53:28

Hey, great answer. So I guys hate niche down till it hurts that that is our tagline here. Here’s the website for Alan so guys in what a great alien. Dude, thank you so much. I bet you know guys if you’ve been sitting around for the past, you know whatever. I have a great time to stand up and give Alan like a roaring standing ovation. So Alan, thank you, brother. We appreciate you man hanging out with us for a second. So everybody on line today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us on our little jam session here today talking about how to bring your dream your innovation to life. And boy my words of advice is dear friend Alan. Just go out and be someone’s inspiration man. deliver quality with love. And you will be success Daymond take it away brother.

 

Damon Pistulka  54:17

Wow, what a show today we’re talking about Made in USA hot sauce with moxie. And boy did it deliver. Alan, thanks for being here today. Appreciate you. And I’m going out and get some of that Kurt awesome show and Nicole thanks so much for being here and everyone for listening in and all the awesome comments. Thanks so much. We preset a appreciate that every week to see that you’re you’re enjoying the show. You’re you’re engaging with the show and helping our guests share their message. So we’ll be back again next week. Thanks so much, everyone. Thank you