LISTEN: From the Land of Spice and Honey
Live: Michael Kurtz dishes on how to scale up without debt
We spent some time with Michael Kurtz in Union Square park recently. This man and his team are geniuses and have made Mike’s Hot Honey a beloved brand for chefs and foodies alike.
Mike started making the chili-infused honey after a trip to Brazil by himself, years before he grew his operation into a business. His public debut was at Paulie Gee’s Pizzeria in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, after which his honey took a on a life of its own. “ I was pulled into business,” he says. That’s how you know you’ve got the juice, or honey in this case.
[cues “Honey” by Erykah Badu]
In our talk, Mike dishes a ton of info on how to expand a food business, how to leverage relationships with chefs and restaurants, and how to get distributors, certifications, and discounts for entering trade shows. There’s a lot more, but we’ll let you check it out for yourself.
Here it is! As usual, hit “Show Embed” to listen. We’ve even included some notes for you after the jump.
Enjoy!
Notes from the interview
National Restaurant Association
The other NRA. The National Restaurant Association trade show is a huge opportunity to meet restauranteurs if you want to get your product in the hands of talented chefs and placed in restaurants around the country. Go a head and get a head start on going to next year’s show.
Here’s a list of trade shows for North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia because inclusion is cool.
Food Export
Food Export supports U.S. food entrepreneurs with educational programs and even financial aid to help them export their products abroad. They’ll even reimburse you for half of your trade show costs. Another reason to go to NRA Show 2017. The food NRA. C’mon.
Co-packer
Also known as contract packers. This is a great way to scale your business without incurring loans or debt. They package your products on a contract and are not your employees. Here’s a list of co-packers from across the United States from Specialty Food Resource.
Going Deep, Not Wide
Mike only has one recipe, but is riding that wave hard. Instead of trying to create new recipes, his company has thrived by making various serving sizes for a variety of contexts and users.
- 12 oz. bottle for retail
- 1.88 oz. mini jar (sold in cases of $24, primarily targeted at weddings)
- Mini squeeze packets (think ketchup packet, but spicy honey)
- 24 oz. squeeze bottles aka “Chef’s Bottles” (for chefs and restaurants)
- Gallon Jug (for restaurants with higher volume and “heavy users”)
Cornell University’s Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship
Cornell University has one of the most robust food studies programs in the country. They provide a lot of services to entrepreneurs for free, including registering the scheduled process for your product. Search for other University related food studies programs near you!
We hope you enjoyed this! For more stuff like this, join the tribe.
