The Exchanges

Q And so what, how long before they put in an order, like a real order?

A So, okay. So after the 40 store test, it was probably within a few months. We got a new buyer named Tommy Greenberg. Tommy called us up and he's like, guys, I'm going to take your two product. We had two pancake mixes in the stores. He's like, I'm going to take them in chain wide. Nationwide. We're like, you gotta be kidding me. He's like, yep, let's go. He's like, just remember, you know, just remember I was on the desk when this happened. And so, so we're like, so we're like, all right, let's go. And so I remember we were, they started ordering by the case. And a lot of this was even UPS. We weren't even shipping pallets out. So Cameron and I would go into the warehouse of our, we had a contract manufacturer, but they, you know, they, they were busy. So we would go in often and pack up cases, uh, Together and get them all ready to ship. We did a ton of that and it started to work. It actually started to really work.

AI assessment note: “after the 40 store test, it was probably within a few months.”

Q And you decide to leave that and go back to Kodiak cakes. I mean, that, that's pretty risky. What, I mean, weren't you worried about your financial situation?

A I was so worried. I was incredibly worried, but what, what, you know, what happened is I just, you know, I talked to my wife and I just thought, you know, I've already spent 11 years on this thing. Like, you know, what's the worst thing that can happen? And I started to go there and I started to think, well, maybe I go bankrupt. Well, if that's the worst, I'm not going to die. And here's the other thing guy that was really weighing on my mind was I was 34 years old. Like those are really prime career building years. And, and I, not only was I walking into more financial risk, but I was walking away a big opportunity cost to really building my career. And I, and that was a fear for me because I remember thinking, man, if I go into this pancake gig and it doesn't work, what do I have to show for myself? You know, I, I didn't, I wasn't in consulting long enough to, to really gain a skill that could command a great income. And I wasn't CEO of this home healthcare business long enough to become a great CEO. And so I was worried about that. That, that was, that was hard.

AI assessment note: “I was so worried. I was incredibly worried”

Q But, um, I guess a friend of the family gave you, like, a check for 13,000 dollars. What's the story about that, around that?

A So, yeah, this guy, his name's Gary Beaner. A neighbor of my parents loved Kodiak cakes. You know, he'd buy it at Dan's down the road, and, uh, he, he would, he started talking to us, and he's like, hey, I love this pancake mix. This is awesome. You need investment money. And, you know, John and I, we would talk, I was running it, but we would talk all the time, and, And I remember thinking, yeah, it would be really nice to get a little bit of capital to, you know, try to do some, do some advertising, try to do some marketing and just try to help kind of kickstart this little business. And so Gary, John and I, we all started talking and, and Gary said, all right, guys, I'll put, um, 35,000 bucks in for, I can't remember, it was like 18% of the business or something like that. He's like, look, let's start with 13,000. And then when you need more, you know, we can, we can give you the rest of the money. So I went to Gary's house one night to pick up a check, you know, so I knocked on his door. We chatted for a little bit and he wrote me a check for 13,000 dollars. And man, I walked, I had never seen that much money. Like I walked out of there. I'm like, I was probably, what was I? 24, something like that. 25. I walked out of his house just going scared. Like, oh man, I've got to get this guy's money back. I've got to do it.

AI assessment note: “this guy, his name's Gary Beaner. A neighbor of my parents loved Kodiak cakes.”

Q Right. And, and in general, did you have any feedback from those stores about how sales were doing?

A Actually, yes. People loved it. I mean, people love the product and for a gift shop, it was doing well. And, and I think that the best feedback we started to get were that people started to write letters in and that was just incredible. I mean, we, we started getting the letters in one day, John got this letter from Tom Beaudet, the guy that does, he's a spokesman for Motel six and he, he lived in Alaska and he wrote the coolest letter and you know, he had sent a picture of him. And his girlfriend in their cabin up in Alaska making pancakes on this cast iron griddle. It was so cool, but, but these letters started to come in and people would say, Hey, this is the best pancake mix I've ever had.

AI assessment note: “Actually, yes. People loved it... for a gift shop, it was doing well.”

Q But that year, you met this kid named Cameron Smith. He just graduated from the University of Utah, and you hired him. Who, who's Cameron? How did you meet him? Why did you hire him?

A So I, my dad was, by this time, about 70, and he's like, look, I need to, I need to retire, Joel. And I'm like, yeah, you should, dad. And so I, I needed somebody to help me. And you know, I didn't have the money to pay for some super experienced person. So I went up to the university of Utah career services department where you could like put, you could post job postings there. And so I posted a job up there and I think I called it like marketing manager or something like that. I talked about, Hey, come join a small entrepreneurial business and have an entrepreneurial experience, something like that, and help me build the business.

AI assessment note: “I went up to the university of Utah career services department where you could like post”

Q All right. So you put this ad up and this guy, Cameron Smith response. And what did you hire him to do?

A So when I taught, he came into our little one room office and he was wearing a suit and a tie. I was probably wearing jeans and I just thought, man, this kid sharp. We just, I mean, we just connected. I really liked him. I thought, man, he's a good person. He seemed to have a ton of energy and drive. And I thought he seems like the perfect fit. So I immediately kind of put him in charge of some sales and And I, I gave him this list of small gift shops that we had sold to in the past. And I'm like, Hey, call these guys and see if you can sell some product by the case to these little gift shops. Well, Cameron, he thinks ahead and he, by the way, is exactly what I needed because I needed that. I needed somebody to come in and bring a spark of new energy.

AI assessment note: “I immediately kind of put him in charge of some sales”