Shownotes
The Burton’s Maplewood Farm Story
Identifying a potential new career. [2:40] Could this actually work on Tim’s farm? [6:55] A niche in a niche product. [10:12] Investigating how to produce barrel aged syrup. [11:26] Identifying and coining “fire infusion” [14:13] Oprah’s Farewell Breakfast – guess who Tim and Angie sat with! [19:24]Candle Flickering Moments
Transitioning from one business to another during a difficult ecomonic time. [22:40] Putting in hard drive time commuting 10 hours each day for meetings and markets. [23:19]A Few Whiskey Biz Facts
A whiskey barrel lesson. [12:23] The Devil’s Cut. [15:45]Business Building Insights
Identifying whether there is a market for your product. [7:37] Growth and visibility came with Signature Barrels [17:01] Farmer’s Market Goals and Plan. [24:43] Analyzing if a market has performed. [29:22]Success Trait
Tenacity and adaptability [30:44]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Square – accept credit cards anywhere.Recommended Reading and Listening
Made in America by Sam Walton
Contact Links
Website FacebookIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz on wrapped episode 91.
Speaker:The bottom line was I wanted to make maple syrup sexier.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gifted biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it.
Speaker:Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific
Speaker:insights and advice to develop and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host Sue Mona height.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business today.
Speaker:I have joining us Tim Burton of Burton's maple wood farm,
Speaker:Tim and Angie Burton are the owners of Burton's Maplewood farm
Speaker:located on 28 acres in the rolling Hills of Southern Indiana.
Speaker:They've been producing 100% pure and barrel aged maple syrup on
Speaker:their farm for eight years.
Speaker:Most of their bulk syrup is featured on menus in Chicago,
Speaker:Los Angeles,
Speaker:Las Vegas,
Speaker:San Francisco,
Speaker:and Nashville.
Speaker:Their barrel aged maple syrup are also offered online and at
Speaker:many farmer's markets throughout the us.
Speaker:And that happens to be where I met Tim a couple
Speaker:of weekends ago.
Speaker:I tried his syrup and was loving it.
Speaker:So I'm like,
Speaker:we've got to get him on the show.
Speaker:So welcome Tim.
Speaker:Well, it's great to be with you today.
Speaker:I'm thrilled to have you.
Speaker:And as our listeners know,
Speaker:we like to start off by having you describe a motivational
Speaker:candle. It gives a little bit of a different feel into
Speaker:who you are.
Speaker:So if you were to describe your ideal motivational candle,
Speaker:what color would it be and what would be the quote
Speaker:on your candle?
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:this is the first time I've ever been asked about a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:So I would say,
Speaker:well, leave it to me.
Speaker:I'm going to go with copper.
Speaker:And the reason that I'm going with copper is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we use wax,
Speaker:we dip all of our bottles in wax and we have
Speaker:a different,
Speaker:a couple of different colors,
Speaker:but the barrel aged maple syrup is a copper wax.
Speaker:And if I were to have a motivational quote or something
Speaker:that I like to refer back to,
Speaker:whenever there's any kind of a challenge is adversity does not
Speaker:build character.
Speaker:It reveals it.
Speaker:So I would say that would be the quote that I
Speaker:would have on that candle,
Speaker:Right? Like that,
Speaker:that could give us some thought for sure.
Speaker:So Tim,
Speaker:I know nothing about your story other than the little bit
Speaker:that I read at the show.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:as I'd mentioned earlier,
Speaker:tasted your product.
Speaker:How did you get started in the cereal?
Speaker:Well, Angie,
Speaker:my wife and I owned a systems integration business,
Speaker:a technology company,
Speaker:and one of our Hewlett Packard technicians,
Speaker:Joe Evans.
Speaker:He had asked if he can knock off a little early,
Speaker:it was in February.
Speaker:So my management practices as well have always been not to
Speaker:manage with a bullwhip,
Speaker:but to make sure that everybody is accountable for themselves.
Speaker:And as long as the customers were taken care of,
Speaker:I was fine with any time of the day that you
Speaker:took off.
Speaker:And so Joe had asked if he could take off.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:sure. So one day turned into two days,
Speaker:turned into three days.
Speaker:And on that third day,
Speaker:I said to Joe,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Joe, it's none of my business.
Speaker:What are you doing?
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:I'm having a blast.
Speaker:I'm going to the Miller's farm.
Speaker:And I helped him collect SAP.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:as in maple SAP and he said,
Speaker:yeah, why don't you come along?
Speaker:So I said,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:I'll take you up on that.
Speaker:So I went to the Miller's maple farm.
Speaker:They gave me two,
Speaker:five gallon buckets and said,
Speaker:follow these guys.
Speaker:And it was almost like a scene out of a movie.
Speaker:I'm walking across a hayfield heading towards the woods and all
Speaker:at once,
Speaker:I see all around me,
Speaker:these four wheelers and trucks with small tanks in the back
Speaker:of the bed of the trucks and things like that converging
Speaker:going to the same area that I'm going to,
Speaker:we would all take these five gallon buckets and empty the
Speaker:SAP bags that were hanging on the trees into the five
Speaker:gallon buckets.
Speaker:Then we transfer that over to the tanks and then the
Speaker:small trucks and the four wheelers will then transport all the
Speaker:SAP from the maple trees back to the sugar house or
Speaker:the maple house.
Speaker:And so we did that and we wrapped up and then
Speaker:we all met back at the sugar house.
Speaker:It was very surreal because I kind of just stepped back
Speaker:and I was watching the whole group of people.
Speaker:And over one corner,
Speaker:there were a group of gals that were talking about different
Speaker:things. I know they were talking about stitching and maybe even
Speaker:some local gossip.
Speaker:And, and then,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:here's, here's the group of guys,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:cracking jokes and that type of thing.
Speaker:Then you've got another group of people hovering over the evaporator,
Speaker:which is used to reduce the SAP into maple syrup.
Speaker:And I was just enamored by the whole process because this
Speaker:is something that has been happening for generations.
Speaker:We're friends,
Speaker:families, and neighbors all come together to help in something that's
Speaker:very labor intense.
Speaker:As my late Irish grandmother would say,
Speaker:it takes many hands to make light work.
Speaker:So all these friends,
Speaker:families and neighbors would come together and then they would also
Speaker:benefit by getting some of the maple syrup.
Speaker:Well, this happened in many aspects of farming,
Speaker:whether you're processing cattle or pork,
Speaker:or what have you,
Speaker:people, friends,
Speaker:families, and neighbors,
Speaker:they all came together.
Speaker:Then they divided the spoils of their efforts.
Speaker:And so I was just enamored by this whole process.
Speaker:And that's kind of what got things started.
Speaker:So a couple of questions for you.
Speaker:So we're the Millers then doing this,
Speaker:just to provide product to everybody who helped or did they
Speaker:have a business going around the syrup as well?
Speaker:Not only for themselves in their friends and family,
Speaker:but they had a small business for themselves.
Speaker:The Miller family consists of,
Speaker:I think there's eight children,
Speaker:big, big family,
Speaker:they're adults now,
Speaker:and now they have their kids.
Speaker:And so there's literally,
Speaker:I call it the Miller army,
Speaker:the Miller maple army.
Speaker:And they all come together every year.
Speaker:And it's such a great time to be at their maple
Speaker:house because there's some really interesting personalities.
Speaker:And I think it's more of a social gathering and there
Speaker:are so many people that just love to come out and
Speaker:hang out at the Miller farm and it's grown,
Speaker:it's grown a lot and I'm really pleased to be able
Speaker:to say that I've been a part of their growth as
Speaker:well. It sounds like such a Norman Rockwell moment,
Speaker:actually. So quick question,
Speaker:just to close up a little bit about how you identified
Speaker:that this was something that you were interested in,
Speaker:you did this for one day and a lot of things
Speaker:can be really fun for one day,
Speaker:but when you actually start doing it regularly,
Speaker:it takes on its own shape.
Speaker:If you will,
Speaker:after that first day,
Speaker:did you go back a couple of times and really confirm
Speaker:to yourself that this is something that you may be interested
Speaker:in taking on?
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:This was not just one trip.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I was over there for the season,
Speaker:which is a short period of time.
Speaker:It's only six weeks,
Speaker:but I did go over and make several visits.
Speaker:And then basically came back to our farm where we live
Speaker:and I started counting maple trees and then realized how many
Speaker:maple trees we have on our farm.
Speaker:And then it started to kick around the idea of gathering
Speaker:the SAP from our farm.
Speaker:And the first year that we gathered SAP,
Speaker:we didn't reduce it.
Speaker:We didn't turn it into maple syrup.
Speaker:We sold it because we had to build the maple house
Speaker:and get an evaporator and so on and so forth.
Speaker:So, and my background is sales and marketing.
Speaker:And so I looked at this industry.
Speaker:That was one of the other things that the numbered me
Speaker:about the whole process is I did not see on the
Speaker:market where there was anyone that was focusing on like a
Speaker:boutique high-end maple syrup,
Speaker:80% of the entire global production of maple syrup comes out
Speaker:of Canada.
Speaker:And the other 20% comes out of the United States.
Speaker:There's only 15 States in the United States that produce maple
Speaker:syrup. So I did some marketing research to see if there
Speaker:were many maple syrup producers here in the United States that
Speaker:were actually going in and introducing themselves to the chefs,
Speaker:especially in such a food city like Chicago,
Speaker:and we're only five hours South of Chicago.
Speaker:So it amazed me that there was not a maple syrup
Speaker:producer that was actually attending the farmer's markets in Chicago.
Speaker:I was,
Speaker:I was absolutely blown away by that most maple syrup producers,
Speaker:they're farmers,
Speaker:and they want to be on their farm and they want
Speaker:to produce their crops.
Speaker:And that kind of thing,
Speaker:going to the big city is not typically the highest on
Speaker:their priority list,
Speaker:where for myself,
Speaker:I don't shy away from that.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I'm happy to go in and introduce myself and that kind
Speaker:of thing.
Speaker:So that's what I looked at as a huge opportunity for
Speaker:us to go to a major market like Chicago and introduce
Speaker:our products.
Speaker:This is a really important point,
Speaker:Tim, because there's two things I want to say about this
Speaker:is first of all,
Speaker:you're a skill that you already had when you were working
Speaker:with a tech company,
Speaker:right? Which is sales and marketing and analyzing the opportunity for
Speaker:the product in the market.
Speaker:Just as you were saying,
Speaker:how much is there available?
Speaker:What are people doing?
Speaker:Where could your niche be?
Speaker:Which of course is local.
Speaker:Since there weren't a lot of us companies doing this and
Speaker:then also going into some of the major foodie markets,
Speaker:if you will,
Speaker:across the country,
Speaker:because we read that list in the beginning and it's a
Speaker:lot of the real fancy foodie markets.
Speaker:Now there's another thing that you do with the product that
Speaker:I think is really interesting.
Speaker:But before I get there,
Speaker:I want to also point out one other thing,
Speaker:gift biz listeners,
Speaker:specifically, if you are now working a nine to five and
Speaker:you also are building up a product on the side,
Speaker:don't think that the skills that you're doing during your day
Speaker:can't transfer over,
Speaker:that could be a huge benefit and asset for you.
Speaker:As you apply it to a product that you are creating
Speaker:for yourself.
Speaker:Now, Tim,
Speaker:when I met you,
Speaker:you were specifically sampling your whiskey flavored product at the show.
Speaker:At least that's the platter that I gravitated to the whole.
Speaker:Why, how did that come about?
Speaker:Because that's clearly a niche within a niche.
Speaker:Yeah. You know,
Speaker:it's really interesting.
Speaker:Again, going to Chicago,
Speaker:it did expose me to the foodie world.
Speaker:And so I'm dealing with a lot of dynamic chefs like
Speaker:Stephanie eyes are Rick Bayless,
Speaker:Charlie Trotter,
Speaker:art Smith,
Speaker:Paul Conn.
Speaker:I was able to see what these chefs were doing in
Speaker:the kitchen and how they were able to manipulate food that
Speaker:we're all familiar with,
Speaker:but they were able to take it to that next level.
Speaker:And it got me thinking,
Speaker:how can I take maple syrup to that next level?
Speaker:Someone that had asked me what made me think about barrel
Speaker:aging, maple syrup?
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they just asked me and I,
Speaker:I didn't have very much time.
Speaker:I have to think about it.
Speaker:But the bottom line was I wanted to make maple syrup
Speaker:sexier. I wanted to take it to that next level.
Speaker:That would make it different.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:like you say a niche within a niche.
Speaker:And so I talked to my friend,
Speaker:Paul Kahn,
Speaker:and he's a chef owner of one-off hospitality in Chicago and
Speaker:publican and Blackbird restaurants.
Speaker:And I said something to Paul about it.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:what do you think about the idea of me barrel aging,
Speaker:my maple syrups to pick up maybe the notes from the
Speaker:barrel. And he said,
Speaker:God, I think that's a great idea.
Speaker:And so the first thing I did is I reached out
Speaker:to another friend of mine.
Speaker:Who's a mixologist Adam Seger.
Speaker:And I asked Adam if he knew of any small batch
Speaker:rum distillers here in the United States.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:do you have a pen and a piece of paper?
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:call a Phil Pritchard,
Speaker:Pritchard distillery out of Kelso,
Speaker:Tennessee, and tell him what you're looking for.
Speaker:And lo and behold,
Speaker:Phil was game.
Speaker:And I drove from Indiana through Kentucky,
Speaker:down to Tennessee and picked up a truckload of rum barrels,
Speaker:brought it back to the farm.
Speaker:And that's how we started barrel aging or syrups.
Speaker:I know only a little bit about this industry from my
Speaker:husband. I told you in the pre-interview when I was talking
Speaker:to him about the fact that I was going to be
Speaker:chatting with you.
Speaker:And it's my understanding that these barrels can only be used
Speaker:once. So after they've been used for rom or whiskey,
Speaker:that's all they can do.
Speaker:They have to get new barrels for the next batch.
Speaker:So it seems to me there's quite a supply then of
Speaker:barrels for you,
Speaker:is that correct?
Speaker:Well, to the contrary,
Speaker:actually your husband's correct.
Speaker:The bourbon barrels can only be used for bourbon one time,
Speaker:but there's a lot of breweries throughout the United States that
Speaker:are aging,
Speaker:their beers in these barrels now.
Speaker:And so there's a huge demand for these used barrels.
Speaker:So the availability is not quite as great as you might
Speaker:think it is now many of the bourbon barrels that are
Speaker:available after they've been the bourbon's been aged a lot of
Speaker:them, if they're not going to breweries,
Speaker:they're being shipped over to Scotland.
Speaker:And that's what they put scotch in is used bourbon barrels.
Speaker:Oh, no kidding.
Speaker:Yeah. Yep.
Speaker:Really interesting.
Speaker:So our barrels are the best quality.
Speaker:It sounds like the bourbon barrels yeah.
Speaker:In the United States.
Speaker:Yeah. The bourbon girls are as well.
Speaker:And there's also a Renaissance that's happening right now where just
Speaker:like in the brewing industry,
Speaker:you had all these micro breweries going back 20 years ago
Speaker:or so.
Speaker:And then there was just this huge boom.
Speaker:And so the same exact things happening with the distilleries,
Speaker:a lot of States are making it more feasible for someone
Speaker:to get their distilling license.
Speaker:And so there's distilleries that are just coming up throughout the
Speaker:United States and one false preconception that I think that a
Speaker:lot of people have is they feel that the only place
Speaker:that bourbon can be made is in Kentucky.
Speaker:And that's not true.
Speaker:You can make bourbon throughout the United States.
Speaker:Now you're not allowed to label something bourbon if it's made
Speaker:out of the outside of the United States,
Speaker:but you can make bourbon throughout the United States.
Speaker:And so there's a lot of small batch bourbon distillers that
Speaker:are popping up all throughout the United States.
Speaker:Oh, very interesting.
Speaker:Let's continue on a little bit with the product development.
Speaker:So you get these barrels,
Speaker:you bring them back and had you already tested,
Speaker:or were you a little bit gambling that this truckload of
Speaker:barrels that you now have are going to work?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we were one of the first doing this and so we
Speaker:didn't know what kind of results we would get.
Speaker:So initially we were aging,
Speaker:our maple syrup in various barrels for six months and we
Speaker:were getting some nice flavor notes off of those barrels,
Speaker:but accidentally I was doing some housekeeping in the maple house
Speaker:and there was a 65 gallon cask that probably had about
Speaker:30 gallons of maple syrup in it.
Speaker:And it was a cask that had Apple Jack Brandy in
Speaker:it. And it was over by the fireplace that I built
Speaker:in the maple house sitting really close to it.
Speaker:And I thought it was an empty barrel.
Speaker:So when I went to move it,
Speaker:it was real heavy and I opened it up and we
Speaker:tasted, and it had been in there for about a year
Speaker:over by the fireplace.
Speaker:It's a Rumford fireplace,
Speaker:largest Rumford fireplace in North America.
Speaker:And so we had had a lot of fires going,
Speaker:a lot of intense heat.
Speaker:And the flavor that,
Speaker:that Apple Jack Brandy produced was three or four times more
Speaker:flavorful than the other barrels that we had aged maple syrup
Speaker:in for six months.
Speaker:So that told me right there that there's something going on
Speaker:between that fire and the barrel.
Speaker:So we coined it fire infusion,
Speaker:and we started to put all of our barrels next to
Speaker:the fireplace.
Speaker:And so inside of these barrels,
Speaker:whether it doesn't matter what it is,
Speaker:whether it's rum,
Speaker:bourbon, Brandy,
Speaker:whatever it is there is what's called the devil's cut.
Speaker:And the devil's cut is the liquor that's trapped in the
Speaker:wood of the barrel.
Speaker:And a distiller will tell you,
Speaker:depending on what size the cask is,
Speaker:but a 55 gallon cask,
Speaker:a distiller will tell you that they estimate that they lose
Speaker:between four to five gallons of the liquor just to the
Speaker:barrel itself.
Speaker:So after you empty the barrel,
Speaker:they're still four to five gallons.
Speaker:It's trapped in the walls of the barrel in the staves.
Speaker:And so what we figured out was that by heating the
Speaker:outside of the barrel,
Speaker:it was chasing the devils,
Speaker:cut into the syrup.
Speaker:And that's what gave it that intense flavor.
Speaker:Wow. Who would have known,
Speaker:yeah. It was like an accident that,
Speaker:that happened and it's producing because give biz listeners,
Speaker:you haven't tasted this,
Speaker:but I have,
Speaker:and it you're right.
Speaker:It's not just like a little undertone,
Speaker:but it's not overpowering either.
Speaker:It's not too much,
Speaker:but you certainly can taste it.
Speaker:It's absolutely delicious.
Speaker:As of course I've already said,
Speaker:but so interesting.
Speaker:Thank you for sharing the story about how the products developed
Speaker:and then from there,
Speaker:of course you tested probably how long you should actually keep
Speaker:it there to get exactly the flavor you're looking for,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:series of testing before you finalized on exactly what your product
Speaker:would be,
Speaker:the infused product.
Speaker:Let me see.
Speaker:That's correct.
Speaker:That's correct.
Speaker:And then once we discovered how to do this,
Speaker:I started reaching out to various chefs and restaurants to see
Speaker:if there would be a market for signature barrels.
Speaker:So we've had some great success.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:with that,
Speaker:we've, we've done a signature barrels for serve Richard Branson with
Speaker:Virgin, as a matter of fact,
Speaker:virgins, very first American hotel is in Chicago and we did
Speaker:a bourbon.
Speaker:Actually, we aged it for about three years in a bourbon
Speaker:barrel. And then we also had Madagascar vanilla beans that we
Speaker:infused in it as well.
Speaker:And so that was exclusively bottled for Virgin hotels in Chicago.
Speaker:And then we've done several other signature barrels around the country
Speaker:for different chefs and that kind of thing.
Speaker:So that also gets you really into a niche,
Speaker:a specific as you can customize it for of course,
Speaker:larger sales,
Speaker:larger volume sales,
Speaker:but it allows them also then to be presenting things that
Speaker:are unique to them when you get into the chefs.
Speaker:Yes. So yeah,
Speaker:you're exactly right.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:local has been kind of a hot button for the last
Speaker:four or five years.
Speaker:So being able to do something like this,
Speaker:especially when it's like a local distiller,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:Breckenridge distillery in Breckenridge,
Speaker:Colorado, we've done some signature barrels for the four seasons in
Speaker:Vail, Colorado using a Breckenridge bourbon,
Speaker:a local distillers barrel.
Speaker:So we've done that.
Speaker:We've also done at Breckenridge,
Speaker:a bourbon barrel for the little Nell in Nat in pardon
Speaker:me in Aspen,
Speaker:Colorado. And so that's kind of a cool local spin to
Speaker:it as well.
Speaker:And, and the chefs really liked that Now is this all
Speaker:because you're reaching out to them or are they hearing about
Speaker:you? And now are you getting inbound calls for the signature
Speaker:barrels? Yeah,
Speaker:we made the initial contact,
Speaker:but now it's a pretty small world.
Speaker:And now we're starting to get calls from chefs.
Speaker:I had chef James Samson from the Marco Island Marriott reached
Speaker:out to me and he wanted to do a signature barrel
Speaker:for the Marco Island Marriott.
Speaker:And I've had a Sherry yard in California.
Speaker:Sherry was a Wolfgang puck's pastry chef for many,
Speaker:many years.
Speaker:And so through word of mouth,
Speaker:Sherry reached out to me and we're collaborating on barrel aged
Speaker:maple syrup for her new concept in Culver city,
Speaker:California. Well,
Speaker:that's exciting.
Speaker:Cause you're getting to know a lot of these big name
Speaker:people. It is neat because I'll give you like one example,
Speaker:chef art Smith,
Speaker:several years ago,
Speaker:he had heard about our barrel aged maple syrup and he
Speaker:was hosting Oprah Winfrey's farewell,
Speaker:brunch at his restaurant table 52.
Speaker:So chef art had asked if I would be interested in
Speaker:providing some of our rum barrel aged maple syrup for that
Speaker:event. And so we were happy to do that.
Speaker:And when we dropped it off,
Speaker:chef had asked us to stick around for the brunch and
Speaker:we politely declined just because we had the long drive coming
Speaker:back. I know a lot of people would say,
Speaker:well, you're crazy.
Speaker:Why didn't you stay?
Speaker:Well, we ended up staying.
Speaker:We ended up sitting next to a couple that chef art
Speaker:introduced us to and all we knew it was Joe and
Speaker:Cynthia German auto that's the name.
Speaker:And so we talked with them,
Speaker:they had a lot of questions about our farm and that
Speaker:kind of thing.
Speaker:And then they were the ones that insisted that we stay
Speaker:and sit with them during brunch.
Speaker:So we did that as we're being served,
Speaker:chicken and waffles,
Speaker:we're getting to know one another.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, now you guys know why we're here.
Speaker:And we supply chef with our maple syrup and we know,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:chef, but how do you,
Speaker:how do you guys know Oprah?
Speaker:And Cynthia said,
Speaker:well, our daughter has been on her show and that just
Speaker:kind of went over my head.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:so is she a producer?
Speaker:You say she's been on your sh her show.
Speaker:Is she a producer?
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:no, she's actually been a guest a couple of times.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, then that begs the question,
Speaker:who is your daughter and Joe in kind of a sheepish.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:well, you know,
Speaker:we don't go around telling a lot of people this,
Speaker:but our daughter's lady Gaga,
Speaker:waffles. I almost come out of my mouth.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:your daughter is lady Gaga.
Speaker:And Joan,
Speaker:Cynthia said,
Speaker:yeah. And so you never know,
Speaker:you never know.
Speaker:We're just maple syrup producers,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and here we are at the table with Joe and Cynthia,
Speaker:German Otto,
Speaker:very nice people,
Speaker:by the way.
Speaker:That's what took me by surprise more than anything,
Speaker:not just because they're lady Gaga is mom and dad,
Speaker:but they were just so down to earth.
Speaker:So very,
Speaker:very nice and genuine.
Speaker:I don't know why I wouldn't have expected that,
Speaker:but I just,
Speaker:they were just super folks hour or so later Oprah came
Speaker:over and she sat at our table and we had brunch
Speaker:with her.
Speaker:So that was kind of surreal.
Speaker:Yeah. So this has opened into,
Speaker:and given you opportunities to see different sides of the world,
Speaker:if you will,
Speaker:celebrity world and restaurant,
Speaker:world, and all of that,
Speaker:that you might not have ever been exposed to before.
Speaker:So that's kind of an added plus for today That it's
Speaker:just one of those things that you just kind of laugh
Speaker:about it from the standpoint of you're going,
Speaker:like we make maple syrup,
Speaker:we would never have imagined dealing with all the great restaurants
Speaker:and the people and that kind of thing.
Speaker:And one of our other customers in Chicago is Michael Jordan
Speaker:steakhouse. Well,
Speaker:they serve our maple syrup there.
Speaker:Apparently Mr.
Speaker:Jordan likes the syrup enough that this is the second year
Speaker:that he's ordered 48 of R B grade bottles to put
Speaker:in a gift basket that he gives to all the NBA
Speaker:owners and coaches.
Speaker:So that's kind of a cool,
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So all these names,
Speaker:all this exciting stuff,
Speaker:like I want to be you right now,
Speaker:what is there that might have been challenging along the way,
Speaker:something that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:cause this all sounds so great,
Speaker:but there had to be some stumbling blocks.
Speaker:Can you bring us to some time that was more of
Speaker:a challenge and what you did to overcome the situation Started
Speaker:about eight years ago,
Speaker:if your listeners recall,
Speaker:I mean the economy,
Speaker:it's, it's a challenge today still,
Speaker:but the economy really took a dive and the systems integration
Speaker:business that we were in,
Speaker:it struggled as well.
Speaker:And so I was looking to shift my attention into something
Speaker:else other than the systems integration business.
Speaker:And so that was quite challenging making that transition because we
Speaker:still had to devote our time to the systems integration business,
Speaker:but at the same time,
Speaker:trying to build this other business and knowing that Chicago was
Speaker:the market that we really wanted to penetrate and get into.
Speaker:There were many times where Angie and I were driving up
Speaker:to Chicago on a Wednesday and then coming home Wednesday evening,
Speaker:that was 10 hours on the road each day because we
Speaker:didn't have the time to really stay in Chicago during that
Speaker:period of time.
Speaker:So it was quite grueling and we did that for several
Speaker:months and then we found somebody in Chicago that could run
Speaker:the farmer's market for us on Wednesday.
Speaker:So we were still going up for a few years,
Speaker:every Saturday during the summer season.
Speaker:And so that was quite challenging,
Speaker:quite, quite challenging from a physical standpoint,
Speaker:it was quite challenging.
Speaker:And from a mental standpoint,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:Sure. And those were the days when you were overlapping the
Speaker:businesses, you were winding down,
Speaker:one of them and ramping up the other one,
Speaker:right? That's exactly right.
Speaker:And then ultimately the maple syrup business,
Speaker:but we got our numbers high enough that we could do
Speaker:it full time,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:focusing on the Chicago market and then using Chicago as a
Speaker:springboard, we consider Chicago our home market,
Speaker:even though we're five hours South of Chicago,
Speaker:Right. Because it's the largest market close to you.
Speaker:Right. So let's talk about farmer's markets and trade shows.
Speaker:Are you still on that intensive schedule every week in the
Speaker:summer? And I saw you what,
Speaker:in December at a show.
Speaker:So are you still doing that as a primary way to
Speaker:get your product out and expose to the general consumer?
Speaker:Yeah, we are a matter of fact,
Speaker:we're ramping things up this year.
Speaker:We focused on 14,
Speaker:weekly summer farmer's markets in Colorado,
Speaker:Utah, Wyoming.
Speaker:Our goal was to engage local people,
Speaker:to run these markets for us while the farm supported these
Speaker:markets with getting inventory shipped out on a regular basis.
Speaker:And it worked out really well.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we expected and anticipated that there would be some challenges,
Speaker:personnel, challenges,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:But lo and behold,
Speaker:it was not quite as challenging as we thought it would
Speaker:be in terms of having people involved and not running into
Speaker:as many personnel issues and,
Speaker:and that type of thing.
Speaker:And so people have really expressed that they love doing it.
Speaker:They love getting the product out there,
Speaker:letting people sample it because of the reaction that people have,
Speaker:because it's such a unique one of a kind product.
Speaker:And so we're going to take it to another level and
Speaker:we're going to try to do 30 to 40 weekly markets
Speaker:in the Pacific Northwest in the summer of 2017.
Speaker:Oh wow.
Speaker:And so you're right.
Speaker:You're absolutely right when you start adding on staff and not
Speaker:only staff,
Speaker:you're now adding on distance,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and I know they're not staffed like they're working with you
Speaker:right on site,
Speaker:but there are people that are representing your brand.
Speaker:So, and now you're not even there when they're representing your
Speaker:brand, what direction do you give them?
Speaker:So that they're doing exactly at the shows,
Speaker:what you're expecting them to be doing clearly sampling,
Speaker:which we all know is so important to your process.
Speaker:Right? And brand recognition is a very important part of our
Speaker:scope of the business.
Speaker:If you go to downtown salt Lake city farmer's market and
Speaker:you see our stand,
Speaker:and then you go up to park city,
Speaker:Utah, and you see our stand,
Speaker:or you go to Jackson hole Wyoming,
Speaker:or you go to Vale,
Speaker:Colorado, each stand is going to look identical.
Speaker:The focus that we've shifted to is also my image,
Speaker:the image of Tim Burton,
Speaker:a maple syrup producer.
Speaker:And so every one of these farmer's markets has the image
Speaker:of myself on a banner as well.
Speaker:Because ultimately what we'd like to do is have,
Speaker:I would like to go to each one of these markets
Speaker:and talk to people about what we do and how we
Speaker:do it and making the maple syrup and that kind of
Speaker:thing. They're kind of like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:meet the maple producer type of thing.
Speaker:So the branding is a very,
Speaker:very important part of it for us.
Speaker:So you've got the branding,
Speaker:you got sampling.
Speaker:What else do you feel is necessary when you're doing a
Speaker:show like that?
Speaker:One of the things that we do,
Speaker:we call everybody that works.
Speaker:These small pockets,
Speaker:we call them this V I F very important farmhands.
Speaker:And so we want everybody to come to the farmer's markets
Speaker:or events with their plaid shirts on and that kind of
Speaker:thing and give it that kind of that farm ish feeling.
Speaker:We really try to do a good job in picking the
Speaker:right people that are going to be energetic.
Speaker:They're going to be outgoing.
Speaker:They're going to be asking people,
Speaker:would you like to try our bourbon barrel aged maple syrup?
Speaker:Because a lot of times,
Speaker:if you say to somebody,
Speaker:would you like to try some maple syrup?
Speaker:Oh, no,
Speaker:thanks. You know,
Speaker:or it's not as,
Speaker:quite as intriguing,
Speaker:but when you say,
Speaker:would you like to try our bourbon barrel aged maple syrup
Speaker:that typically stops people in their tracks and they'll go,
Speaker:what? I've never heard of bourbon barrel aged maple syrup.
Speaker:And then if you can get a sample in their hands
Speaker:and then they taste it,
Speaker:then there's another level of reaction.
Speaker:So do you have written guidelines or something that you talk
Speaker:them through when someone's first starting out,
Speaker:so that it's very structured.
Speaker:And so you have consistency from show to show,
Speaker:to show with different groups of people.
Speaker:Yeah, we sure do.
Speaker:That's kind of an interesting transition that we're going through right
Speaker:now this summer,
Speaker:I was able to work with people coming in,
Speaker:or my cousin Ruthie,
Speaker:who lives in Littleton,
Speaker:Colorado. She would work the markets,
Speaker:or I have a friend John in castle rock,
Speaker:Colorado. He would work with people.
Speaker:So we had the opportunity where we could actually be there
Speaker:and have a new person come in and just listen to
Speaker:what we're saying and how we're saying and all that kind
Speaker:of thing.
Speaker:Well, that's going to be really challenging if you've got,
Speaker:if you're shooting for 30 to 40 markets,
Speaker:how in the world can you get that many people trained?
Speaker:So another friend of mine,
Speaker:Wayne Johnson out of Chicago is creating a sales training video
Speaker:basically. And we're going to have that on our website.
Speaker:Everybody that we hired to work,
Speaker:these markets will be given a,
Speaker:like a password and they'll be able to click in and
Speaker:watch the video on,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what are the most common questions that you're going to hear
Speaker:when you're working at a farmer's market?
Speaker:And if you don't have the answer,
Speaker:just let whoever it is,
Speaker:know that you don't have the answer,
Speaker:but you get the answer if they want to come back
Speaker:next week and it'll have that answer for you.
Speaker:And then do you have certain levels of expectation in terms
Speaker:of performance bottles sold or however,
Speaker:that would be,
Speaker:It's a part of the business that can be quite challenging
Speaker:as well,
Speaker:because what we try to focus on is a certain demographic,
Speaker:a place that might be more of a destination point where
Speaker:people are coming in for vacation,
Speaker:that type of thing.
Speaker:So it has to do with the demographics as well,
Speaker:Probably going to perform better than just always,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you might have stronger markets and lighter markets.
Speaker:And certainly when people are being introduced to the product like
Speaker:the first week,
Speaker:it shows up on a farmer's market,
Speaker:there may or may not be interest,
Speaker:but as you continue to be there,
Speaker:it's going to grow too.
Speaker:So you're right.
Speaker:It is kind of hard to compare one against another they're
Speaker:each pretty much unique.
Speaker:Yeah, They are unique,
Speaker:but then we're able to monitor our sales through square.
Speaker:We use square as a point of sale.
Speaker:And so we're able to take a look at our numbers
Speaker:from the past,
Speaker:and then we can have a certain degree of expectation for
Speaker:those. This is so interesting.
Speaker:And I could continue on with a number of conversations here.
Speaker:This could go off in so many directions,
Speaker:but I think we're going to have to proceed on into
Speaker:our reflection section.
Speaker:And this is another look at you and things that you're
Speaker:doing just like square that you were just talking about that
Speaker:have helped you to be successful with your product.
Speaker:If you were to call on or identify one trait that
Speaker:you have naturally that you keep calling on to help you
Speaker:succeed, what would that be?
Speaker:I would say just the tenacity to keep going and keep
Speaker:moving forward and being able to adapt.
Speaker:That's a big thing.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I just kind of take that for granted that we can
Speaker:shift and change and adapt.
Speaker:I have found out that that's not something that's easily done
Speaker:by some people.
Speaker:And so I,
Speaker:I certainly appreciate that a lot more being able to adapt.
Speaker:No, I've noticed the same type of thing because a lot
Speaker:of people will get started and they feel like,
Speaker:and this is one of the reasons why I asked people
Speaker:about challenges because they see where everybody is.
Speaker:At one point in time,
Speaker:they don't see all the background of things that have been
Speaker:challenging or those points when you need to adapt as you're
Speaker:talking about.
Speaker:And that's a lot of times where people will fall off,
Speaker:they'll say,
Speaker:Oh, I just can't do this.
Speaker:I'm not cut out to do this.
Speaker:And they'll stop instead of what you're talking about and having
Speaker:the tenacity and being able to adapt and then be able
Speaker:to carry on you found the solution.
Speaker:Or as you're talking about driving 10 hours in a day,
Speaker:you just bit the bullet and did it because you needed
Speaker:to knowing it,
Speaker:wasn't going to have to be forever.
Speaker:Right? That's just,
Speaker:it, you know,
Speaker:you, you just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:this is kind of funny.
Speaker:I, I don't know if I really should say this or
Speaker:not, but I'm going to,
Speaker:in some cases,
Speaker:ignorance never gets enough credit.
Speaker:And what I mean by that is if you knew better
Speaker:before you started,
Speaker:then you probably wouldn't attempt to do it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:Zig Ziglar says,
Speaker:if you wait until all the lights are green before you
Speaker:go to town,
Speaker:you'll never leave your house.
Speaker:And so sometimes you just have to do it.
Speaker:You just have to go and know that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you could figure it out as you're going along on book
Speaker:that came out over 20 years ago.
Speaker:But I just recently read it with Sam Walton's book made
Speaker:in America.
Speaker:There's no way I don't believe there's any way that Sam
Speaker:Walton could have.
Speaker:Drempt what his business would grow too.
Speaker:So it's not like he certainly was a smart man.
Speaker:Absolutely. But he had tenacity and he had a drive and
Speaker:determination, but I can guarantee you that there was no way
Speaker:that he could have perceived how big that company was going
Speaker:to grow to.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I can't speak for him,
Speaker:but he'd probably get a chuckle out of ignorance.
Speaker:Never gets enough credit.
Speaker:I agree with you.
Speaker:You just don't know.
Speaker:I think a lot of us,
Speaker:wherever we are in our business life,
Speaker:didn't initially think that that was going to be the end
Speaker:goal or at least where you are net part of time,
Speaker:because I'm one to say,
Speaker:there isn't an end goal.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you just keep building and there's always a next step,
Speaker:but one step leads to another leads to another.
Speaker:It's a lot of small steps on top of each other
Speaker:that help you to be successful and get you to where
Speaker:you are.
Speaker:Just like you,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:reaching out to restaurants and different chefs and all of that
Speaker:and learning,
Speaker:and then they connect you with someone else and then someone
Speaker:connects you to someone else.
Speaker:And the next thing,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you're sitting,
Speaker:having lunch with lady Gaga's parents.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:who was to know exactly.
Speaker:Yeah. And so gift biz listeners,
Speaker:just as you're listening to the podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:And Tim was just talking about Sam Walton's made in America.
Speaker:My guess is that might already be on an audio book.
Speaker:I have teamed up with audible for you to be able
Speaker:to get an audio book just like this on me for
Speaker:free. All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection of your book.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:Tim. Now I would like to have you dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Well, you know,
Speaker:first and foremost,
Speaker:the health of my family and myself through this journey,
Speaker:I don't have a certain dollar amount that I want to
Speaker:achieve in five or 10 years type of thing.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:obviously being financially dependent to all of our goals is,
Speaker:is to,
Speaker:to reach that level of achievement.
Speaker:But when it really comes down to it,
Speaker:it's your health.
Speaker:And so I would say that through this journey is maintaining
Speaker:good health,
Speaker:loving family and that kind of thing.
Speaker:And that is one other huge perk to this business is
Speaker:our kids are involved with our business as well.
Speaker:Our adult children,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they have kids of their own.
Speaker:So we are very,
Speaker:very fortunate that we can all work together and I can
Speaker:be a little challenging at times,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:family as well,
Speaker:but we're really fortunate with that.
Speaker:And so I just hope that we can continue to do
Speaker:that as a family and maintain good health.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm looking at some more Norman Rockwell moments with you and
Speaker:your family,
Speaker:just like you had back when with the Millers.
Speaker:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:So I'm sure that we have piqued the interest of a
Speaker:lot of our listeners now and they want to see more
Speaker:and possibly even purchase some of your syrups.
Speaker:Where would the single place be that they should go?
Speaker:If people are just listening now they're not getting over to
Speaker:the show notes page right now,
Speaker:where would you suggest that they go and learn more about
Speaker:you and your product?
Speaker:Well, I would say our website is probably the place to
Speaker:go, which would be a Burton's Maplewood,
Speaker:farm.com. You can find out more information about our farm.
Speaker:There's some really,
Speaker:really great recipes that are on there.
Speaker:There's some other great applications.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:a lot of people think about maple syrup and they think
Speaker:about breakfast,
Speaker:but really the maple syrup that we produce goes beyond breakfast.
Speaker:It's fantastic on salmon,
Speaker:brussel sprouts,
Speaker:baby carrots,
Speaker:green beans,
Speaker:savory applications,
Speaker:the barrel aged maple syrups are still great on just vanilla
Speaker:ice cream.
Speaker:I had a lady in Kansas city.
Speaker:We were at an event in Kansas city and she said
Speaker:to me,
Speaker:she said,
Speaker:Tim, I'd like a bottle of your Kentucky bourbon,
Speaker:maple syrup.
Speaker:I'm going to go home caramelized onions and then put that
Speaker:on a burger.
Speaker:And I just thought,
Speaker:well, that's brilliant.
Speaker:I, I've never thought of that.
Speaker:Most of us don't think about taking maple syrup and in
Speaker:some way,
Speaker:adding it to a hamburger,
Speaker:but that really sounded good.
Speaker:And that was the very first thing I made when I
Speaker:got back to the farm.
Speaker:And how was it?
Speaker:It was phenomenal as good as you anticipated even better,
Speaker:even better.
Speaker:Yeah, it was As there.
Speaker:Well, Tim,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I had just met you and I didn't know a lot
Speaker:of this story.
Speaker:It was so incredibly interesting and also just understanding your transition
Speaker:from technology into something more earthy and all of that.
Speaker:And what you've developed into is such a fascinating story,
Speaker:and I wish you much success in the future.
Speaker:May your candle always burn bright?
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business,
Speaker:and you want to know your setup for success.
Speaker:Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y
Speaker:slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift
Speaker:biz quiz to four four,
Speaker:two, two,
Speaker:two. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for
Speaker:the next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
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