Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/195987
Mulling Over Major Growth PHOTOS: DAVID KALLEN Q&A BY DENISE SHOUKAS D avid Kallen bought The Aspen Mulling Company in 1999, secure in the knowledge that its main attraction—mulling spices—had the potential to grow beyond its current market. The spice blend was created by Kiefer and Mary Mendenhall in 1973, who sold it in their popular Aspen gift shop, Wax & Wicks. The aroma and quality of the spices, and the charming pint-sized, milk-box–shaped package, helped make the product a customer favorite. Since Kallen took over, Aspen Mulling Spices has expanded to 11 food products and a supermarket brand called Aspen Taste. Here, he shares how he repositioned the brand while retaining its original feel. Why did you buy the company? It was a one-product business with a great reputation and a wonderful customer list. Almost all the customers were independent retailers like gift shops and garden centers. I knew I could bring my food experience to this business and expand it while keeping the essence of the business alive. The original owners ASPEN MULLING SPICES Location: Aspen, CO Year Founded: 1973 Products: 5 cider spice favors plus mufn, eggnog, hot buttered rum and cider drink mixes. A supermarket brand called Aspen Taste. Best Seller: Aspen Mulling Original Cider Spices 64 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE thought about how to stand out from the beginning. Serving a spiced cider in their gift shop set them apart on Main Street Aspen. People stuck around longer and bought more. It was there the selling proposition and marketing tool was born that we still rely on today. Why did you create a separate supermarket brand? We were drawn to get into supermarkets after experiencing a 25-percent decrease in sales from the closing of a lot of mom-and-pop shops in rural areas. But, I knew it was important to heed the lessons of other brands that got noticed by bigger entities and then lost their original base. We developed our supermarket-only line, Aspen Taste, about eight years ago. It's taken off. Why have you kept the original milk-carton packaging design? The milk-carton format is distinctive for non-liquid products. It is also very much tied into the brand's identity. So much so that we were able to trademark spices and other mixes in a milk-carton format. Five years ago we redesigned the look of our packaging and repositioned it as "cider spices" to more clearly convey the primary use for the product. specialtyfood.com What has been your biggest challenge? Running a business part-time while dealing with a major illness. I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Aplastic Anemia, a bone-marrow—failure disease, in 2008. Before getting a bonemarrow transplant they discovered leukemia, so the transplant was delayed to put the leukemia in remission. I'm now 14 months post transplant and have had an excellent recovery. I work a good 30 hours per week with few side effects. Needless to say, running a small business as a part-time owner has been challenging. Fortunately, I have very seasoned people in the company who require little supervision, and the support of my wife and my 24-year-old son, who stepped in to assist with sales. Any surprising successes? Having a continued association with the founders of the business. And not having any turnover with other key employees. As it turned out, Kiefer really enjoys doing the trade shows. That's his stage. He describes it as being a grandparent of the business. Denise Shoukas is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine.