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ABP 006: Creating Community, Deliciousness and Crazy Sucess~One Jar at a Time. A Conversation with Sarah & Dirk Marshall of Marshall's Haute Sauce
Details: I would love to be able to make a product that is absolutely delicious and supports my local farmers AND is crazy successful. Where do I begin?
Well, I have a fantastic example of doing all of the above from my guests on the podcast today. Today’s conversation is a juicy [and spicy!] one, packed full of so many great takeaways, with Sarah and Dirk Marshall – the creators and producers of Marshall’s Haute Sauce from Portland, Oregon.
Sarah and Dirk share with me their origins story, as both a couple and their individual experiences with food, how they started their careers in social work to make a difference and give back, and move onto creating their delish sauces as a form of stress relief and nurturing their social work clients to making them in their home to taking it to a serious business, and how.
We also dig into their deep and personal relationships with their farmers and their commitment to supporting those farmers and local small business and producers.
Finally, we talk about going from craft fairs and markets [which are still a very vibrant and important part of their business model] to artisan brick & mortar markets to Williams Sonoma, all while still personally producing their products – one jar at a time.
Let’s go meet Sarah & Dirk.
Quote: “Getting uncomfortable was good. It made us move forward and figure things out.”
Topics Covered:
• Food origins – from growing up and adventures in family, gardens, and canning to college and young married life to producing artisan sauces
• During her career in social work, Sarah became in charge of the food program at the center she and Dirk both worked at and started experimenting with the [abundance of] produce supplied by the food bank
• The burnout from social work leads to sauce making and canning as stress relief
• The growing of rich relationships and partnerships with local farmers
• Taking the sauces to a business level production in their home kitchen with the help of the business program at MercyCorps Northwest
• Taking product to the market…and selling out! The secret to getting into the bigger farmers markets ~ which can be very competitive
• Moving from the home kitchen to commercial kitchen with their Kickstarter program
• Marshall’s Haute Sauce is full-time for both Sarah and Dirk 3 years in
• How getting out of their comfort zone was key to move forward in their business
• The importance of finding your “community” and being an active and giving part of it
• Scaling up, providing product to artisan brick and mortar markets and Williams-Sonoma, while still producing everything themselves ~ Sarah and Dirk taste everything and still bottle by hand
SHOWNOTES:
Marshall’s Haute Sauce
mercycorpsnw.org
Kickstarter
Portland Farmers Market
New Seasons Market
Pastaworks
williams-sonoma
crafty wonderland
Follow Sarah & Dirk:
Sarah Instagram
Dirk Instagram
SHARE: If you liked this episode and know of someone interested in trying their hand in biz, making a life change, experimenting with cooking and canning, or just up for a great story with cool people…I would be so delighted if you passed it on! Please share with your friends, loved ones, co-workers for inspiration, exploration and actionable tips and lessons for YOUR balanced pursuit.
READY FOR MORE ABP?
POSITIVE ACTION CREATES A POSITIVE REACTION. START TODAY.
Visit My Getting Started Page
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By Michele BoyerDetails: I would love to be able to make a product that is absolutely delicious and supports my local farmers AND is crazy successful. Where do I begin?
Well, I have a fantastic example of doing all of the above from my guests on the podcast today. Today’s conversation is a juicy [and spicy!] one, packed full of so many great takeaways, with Sarah and Dirk Marshall – the creators and producers of Marshall’s Haute Sauce from Portland, Oregon.
Sarah and Dirk share with me their origins story, as both a couple and their individual experiences with food, how they started their careers in social work to make a difference and give back, and move onto creating their delish sauces as a form of stress relief and nurturing their social work clients to making them in their home to taking it to a serious business, and how.
We also dig into their deep and personal relationships with their farmers and their commitment to supporting those farmers and local small business and producers.
Finally, we talk about going from craft fairs and markets [which are still a very vibrant and important part of their business model] to artisan brick & mortar markets to Williams Sonoma, all while still personally producing their products – one jar at a time.
Let’s go meet Sarah & Dirk.
Quote: “Getting uncomfortable was good. It made us move forward and figure things out.”
Topics Covered:
• Food origins – from growing up and adventures in family, gardens, and canning to college and young married life to producing artisan sauces
• During her career in social work, Sarah became in charge of the food program at the center she and Dirk both worked at and started experimenting with the [abundance of] produce supplied by the food bank
• The burnout from social work leads to sauce making and canning as stress relief
• The growing of rich relationships and partnerships with local farmers
• Taking the sauces to a business level production in their home kitchen with the help of the business program at MercyCorps Northwest
• Taking product to the market…and selling out! The secret to getting into the bigger farmers markets ~ which can be very competitive
• Moving from the home kitchen to commercial kitchen with their Kickstarter program
• Marshall’s Haute Sauce is full-time for both Sarah and Dirk 3 years in
• How getting out of their comfort zone was key to move forward in their business
• The importance of finding your “community” and being an active and giving part of it
• Scaling up, providing product to artisan brick and mortar markets and Williams-Sonoma, while still producing everything themselves ~ Sarah and Dirk taste everything and still bottle by hand
SHOWNOTES:
Marshall’s Haute Sauce
mercycorpsnw.org
Kickstarter
Portland Farmers Market
New Seasons Market
Pastaworks
williams-sonoma
crafty wonderland
Follow Sarah & Dirk:
Sarah Instagram
Dirk Instagram
SHARE: If you liked this episode and know of someone interested in trying their hand in biz, making a life change, experimenting with cooking and canning, or just up for a great story with cool people…I would be so delighted if you passed it on! Please share with your friends, loved ones, co-workers for inspiration, exploration and actionable tips and lessons for YOUR balanced pursuit.
READY FOR MORE ABP?
POSITIVE ACTION CREATES A POSITIVE REACTION. START TODAY.
Visit My Getting Started Page