Podcast: Catering for Facebook, Viacom and the Value of Relationships with Dallas Green
The podcast is after the jump. So skip ahead if you don’t like words. If you do like words, there’s some good stuff in here.
This podcast stars DJ Dallas Green: Harlem native, celebrity DJ and owner of Made from Scratch, a gourmet dessert company named to represent his love of food and DJing. He’s Dj’d for the NBA and Grammy Award Winning Rapper/Actress Eve and even catered for Facebook, Viacom, Epic Records, Universal Records and Dusse all by himself. From serving thousands of cupcakes to designing his own logo, Dallas has done a lot on his own.
Here’s a few takeaways from our talk. Skip ahead for the podcast.
Product over Money
Product always beats money when you want people to understand the value you create. Imagine you want to promote your business. Some might say pay for a billboard. One thousand people might see it, but most won’t give a second thought because billboards spread awareness but not value. Basically, an ad isn’t putting your food into someone’s mouth!
Dallas brought samples to an event at Viacom and gave them out to everyone. The events coordinator happened to be there…
Fast forward to his first catering gig with Viacom.
Let potential clients taste what they’re getting. They’ll tell friends who will tell theirs, and a friend’s word means way more than a creepy ad starring at you (Dallas has a lovely smile). People love sharing great food with people they know. You can’t beat word of mouth.
Life is Relationships
You never know who you’re going to meet or what lesson they can teach you. While out in Miami, Dallas and friends had some Cuban coffee. It turned out that the janitor at the school he was DJing at made the best Cuban coffee in all of Miami, and made they had coffee at the restaurant. He happily shared his recipe with Dallas, and Dallas’s new coffee was good. Now, the average person may not have given a janitor their time, but you never know.
“Continue to go out. Continue to eat the food. Continue to go home and cook.”
Once you master the recipe you create, that’s yours. Your food, your story and your recipes are yours. “You can’t say Popeye’s doesn’t make good chicken,” Dallas says, “Just like if I want to open a cheese cake spot, no one can say I can’t make good cheese cake.” If you have a good think going, you may not need to go to school for the recipe.
Marcus Samuelsson once said to him, “Continue to go out. Continue to eat the food. Continue to go home and cook.”
Listen to the full story here. It’s only 30 minutes. So, kick back and enjoy your Saturday.
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