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/523050
YUMMYSQUISHYFRESH All natural marshmallows and s'mores kits marshmallows www.threetarts.com For more information please contact erika@threetarts.com CHOCOLATE ART BOX wholesale@debrand.com . www.debrand.com Wholesale Division 260.969.8331 From impressive chocolate gifts to impluse items! Fancy Food Show #3862 Atlanta Gift Market #2-2-210 . NY NOW #3686 Classic Collection shown inside! Truffe Collection Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 3862 producer profile Noting how many network offers have come her way since then, she says, "that show is the gift that keeps on giving." She even has her own TV show in the works, although she's not ready to disclose which network. The first time Barrett tried out for "Shark Tank," however, she was rejected. "I was so close, going to rehearsals, talking to produc- ers," she says. "A week before we were preparing to go on-air I got a call that they couldn't move me forward; they didn't want to set me up for failure. They thought I had a great personality and a great idea but my sales weren't high enough at the time. I was crushed." Picking herself back up, she hustled for more accounts and was cast the second time around. "Oh, man, that's what gave me valid- ity," she says. Still, she finds the specialty food business a constant challenge. "I've dealt with a lot of rejection and don't get every account I go after," she acknowledges. "It's not how many times you hear no, it's how many times you bounce back." Having experienced more than one no turning into a yes on her second or third approach has built her resilience. Pressing forward with the brand, Barrett currently has a fried- chicken mix in the works. Not only is it a Southern staple, she sees it as a natural progression from the mixes, since chicken and waff les are a classic pairing. Flavored Grade A dark maple syrup, under the Shortstacks brand, is also in development, in f lavors like blackberry maple and sweet tea with white peaches. Testing is done in the studio kitchen of her Atlanta corpo- rate headquarters. Everything is manufactured in-house by seven employees; all 30 SKUs are for sale in Southern Culture's on- premise retail shop. Barrett's dream is to open a cafe and shop at the Atlanta airport where travelers can stop in for breakfast and buy her products on the way out. "If you want to make it work, you have to have a lot of passion and believe in what you're doing," Barrett says. "Passion is what brings me into work every single day. Without it, I'd give up." Much has changed since she first started cooking as a young girl, but one thing is the same. Her grandmother has held onto that well-thumbed cookbook that started it all. Julie Besonen writes for The New York Times and is the restaurant columnist for nycgo.com. "I've dealt with a lot of rejection and don't get every account I go after," she acknowledges. "It's not how many times you hear no, it's how many times you bounce back." 108 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com