Canary Island Garlic & Herb Olive Oil is the name given to Kristi's business partner's great grandmother's special recipe. Pour it over fish and it's like eating a Michelin star meal. It was a secret sauce that captivated the people who came into contact with it. These people included some very famous marketers including Dean Jackson and John Carlton.

Kristi and Graham both are members of Flint McGlaughlin's MeclabsAI Guild. Kristi has been around since God was a lad, and Graham a more recent joiner.

Kristi's Bio

I grew up the child of entrepreneurs. My parents owned grocery stores,a beauty shop, hobby shop and rental properties. My parents taught me at a young age to do what you love... and you'll never have a dull moment... my parents became cosmologists because there was a beauty salon for sale! My dad then got a gig doing hair for the local funeral home customers... he never did get a complaint.😉

North Caroline State University

Fast forward I went to school at North Carolina State University and double majored in Communication and Social Work... then with one class left to graduate with two degrees... I chucked it all behind, moved to Florida and opened a coffee house.

We were the first coffee house in the area (this was 1994) and people didn't know what Cafe Latte's were and would often call them Cafe Ladies... one person who didn't turn out to be a customer funnily enough.... said... "You really think you'll sell hot coffee... It's Florida! I said... We have frozen coffee too!

How to Cook

Eventually people caught on and loved our little Cafe Latte shop and wanted to eat there and began asking for lunch... which was a huge problem... because I didn't know how to cook!

So I said to my business partner, "All these people want to eat here but I don't know how to cook, what do we do?" She said, "Well I'll make my great grandmother's secret recipe and you just Splash it on everything and people will think you know how to cook!"

Well it worked, we ended up winning 13 People's Choice Awards, and I would tell our customers... You don't have to know how to cook when you can Splash!

Our customers went wild over our secret sauce and harangued Miriam to please bottle her sauces to which she replied, "I've already got two businesses. I don't have time to start a seasoned olive oil company as well."

Soooo.... customers started bringing in empty jars on their own birthdays and really big jars on Christmas and requesting "fill-er-up" gifts of our secret sauce.. gifts for themselves... from us!

After seven years they finally talked my business partner into bottling her secret sauce and we officially named it the Canary Island Garlic and Herb Olive Oil in honor of her great grandmother's heritage. And began doing live events.

We ended up going on tour every year for 2 months and would close our restaurant for the summer and go up north to do shows with our hand-blended seasoned olive oils.

In 2016 we returned to a yucky surprise when we came back to find our restaurant had been destroyed by a flood (from our neighbor) the insurance refused to rebuild and eventually we ended up selling our gutted restaurant building and going on the road full time...

 But... not all is lost ... I like to say, "We had over 20 years in the restaurant business... we just went out with a Splash instead of a bang!

And went into the "secret recipe" business.

Canary Island Garlic Herb Olive Oil

Our Canary Island Garlic Herb Olive Oil has been sold in Whole Foods Markets, gourmet shops, specialty food shops and online as well as in our restaurant. We've been featured in multiple magazines, t.v and even did a guest appearance on NPR (National Public Radio)

We've co-authored 3 books and done over 800 live events, probably more like 1000 by now... I haven't counted lately... And we've driven over 1 million miles taking our Canary Island Garlic Herb Olive Oil straight to our lovely customers at cooking classes, health expos, festivals and guest appearances.

When the pandemic hit we again reinvented ourselves because all the shows closed and we turned to internet sales and our email list. Which has led to a love for internet sales... We still go on tour 6 months out of the year but our focus now is to grow our business online and help as many people as we can!

Summary of the PodcastIntroductions and catching up

• Graham and Kevin welcome Kristi Linebaugh to the podcast
• Her career spans the restaurant business copy editing with 90 Minute Books and marketing consulting.
• They discuss Kristi's early experiences growing up around her family's businesses and her initial foray into opening a coffee shop.

The origin story of Canary Island Garlic & Herb Olive Oil

• Kristi explains how the Canary Island Garlic & Herb Olive Oil product was created, starting as a secret family recipe that her business partner used to enhance the food offerings at their coffee shop.
• The product became a hit with customers and eventually grew into a standalone business.

Connections with marketing luminaries

• Kristi discusses her relationships with well-known marketers like Dean Jackson, Sony Jackson, and Stuart Bell, and how they have influenced and supported her business ventures over the years.
• She shares stories of how these connections came about, particularly her interactions with Dean Jackson as a regular customer at her coffee shop.

Overcoming adversity and pivoting the business

• Kristi recounts the devastating flood that destroyed her restaurant, forcing her to shift the business to focus solely on selling the Canary Island Garlic & Herb product.
• She describes the challenges of adapting to this change, as well as the unexpected opportunities that arose, including the ability to spend more time with family during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Future plans and the power of storytelling

• Kristi shares her vision for the future of the Canary Island Garlic & Herb brand, including plans to expand its online presence and leverage her own personal story as a unique selling point.
• She also expresses a desire to do more consulting work, helping other businesses unlock their potential through creative marketing strategies.

 The Next 100 Days Podcast Co-HostsGraham Arrowsmith

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. Graham founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, which combines the world's biggest source of 10,000 marketing experiments with AI. Find Graham on LinkedIn.

Kevin Appleby

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com