Episode 14 with Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)

Loyal Customers, Grocery Relationships, Employee Empowerment: Jannie Teitelbaum's Success Recipe

In this episode of the Business Superfans Podcast, Jannie, the owner of a pie business, shares her entrepreneurial journey from a home kitchen to multiple locations and grocery store distribution. She discusses strategies for customer loyalty, such as creating a neighborhood store feel and offering product demos in stores. Jannie highlights the importance of maintaining relationships with grocery stores through regular contact and marketing efforts like creative signage and promotions. She also emphasizes the value of a positive work environment and empowering employees. The episode covers Jannie's effective use of social media and targeted Facebook ads, which have significantly grown her customer base and online following. The host and Jennie underscore the significance of building relationships and making repeated contacts to secure sales. Listeners are directed to Jannie's website and offered a discount for joining her mailing list.

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Freddy D: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Business Superfan Show, Jannie.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:03

Thank you.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:03

Thanks for having me.

Freddy D: 00:00:05

So tell us, , how did you get started?

Freddy D: 00:00:06

How did this idea come up with, , Pot Pies?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:10

Well, I was kind of semi retired and very bored.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:15

I wanted to do something with food.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:17

I had other small businesses before, but I had never done anything with food.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:21

So I started making healthy bars, like granola bars, rice, crispy

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:25

bars, like that type of thing.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:27

And people would say to me, that's great, but we need dinner.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:30

So I don't remember honestly how it started, but I started working

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:35

on recipes for chicken pot pie.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:37

I did it on paper for almost a year.

Freddy D: 00:00:40

Really?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:41

And then I finally made one.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:42

Yep.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:42

Just, I don't know why it took me so long, but I finally made one.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:47

And I was in a women's network group at the time, just some women business

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:51

owners who would get together once in a while and we always would bring food.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:00:55

So I made one of these chicken pot pies and one of the ladies

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:00

said, wow, this is really good.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:01

Is this your new business?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:02

And I said, well, I don't know yet.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:04

And she said, well, it is now because I'm buying one.

Freddy D: 00:01:07

Oh, wow.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:07

And that was it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:08

That was it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:08

Yep.

Freddy D: 00:01:09

Wow.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:09

And then somebody said, Oh, my husband's gluten free.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:12

My daughter is vegetarian, you know, and anyway, I started coming out

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:16

with all these different recipes.

Freddy D: 00:01:17

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:01:18

I remember when you and I met, , back at the Panera Bread, , back in Michigan,

Freddy D: 00:01:22

many years ago, and you were just getting this thing off the ground,

Freddy D: 00:01:25

working from your kitchen and stuff.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:27

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:01:27

And look at you now,, you've been on several, news

Freddy D: 00:01:30

stations, been interviewed by the news and, tell us about that.

Freddy D: 00:01:34

How did that all come about?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:36

We found a good PR guy locally here and he got me

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:41

on the news, and then especially on the local Fox channel here, they

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:45

can't every time somebody canceled, they say, Oh, can Janie do it?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:48

Oh, can Janie do it?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:49

So, of course, I'm never going to say no.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:51

So I've been on their station probably 8 or 10 times already.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:54

But every time I have to come up with something new to do, and then I've

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:01:57

been on the other local stations also and one did a whole story on me, but

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:01

now when I'm out and about people say, Oh, you're the Popeye lady.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:05

I saw you on the news.

Freddy D: 00:02:07

Wow, that's just amazing.

Freddy D: 00:02:09

That's amazing.

Freddy D: 00:02:10

So how did you go, how did you transition from the kitchen to having a store,

Freddy D: 00:02:16

and expanding that location and to take the store next to you and doubling

Freddy D: 00:02:21

in size more importantly, during a pandemic, which is crazy, but, you

Freddy D: 00:02:25

pulled that off, tell us about that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:27

All right.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:28

So I obviously, you know, you're not allowed to cook in your

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:31

kitchen food, especially meat, and then sell it to the public.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:36

So I found a commercial kitchen.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:38

There's a church nearby and they had a beautiful kitchen.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:40

And I started hiring some employees.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:43

I did that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:44

Gee, I've kind of lost track of time.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:46

Maybe like three years I did that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:49

And then in that same town, I started doing the local farmer's market.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:53

And that's really what got me off the ground because, you know, that was

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:57

hard work, you get getting up at three 30 in the morning packing and all my

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:01

stuff is frozen, how to pack it in coolers, drag it to the farmer's market

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:06

set up, but I have these customers coming back to see me every week.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:10

It was really fantastic.

Freddy D: 00:03:12

How did you create those superfans?

Freddy D: 00:03:14

I mean, if they're coming back every week to buy your product, that's a superfan.

Freddy D: 00:03:18

So how did you create that superfan?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:20

Well, back then it was just, I wasn't on social media yet.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:24

I didn't have any of that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:26

It was just being at the farmer's market.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:28

These people would come every week.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:30

They'd buy the stuff.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:31

They liked it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:32

We have good quality product and they'd come back and then they

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:35

started telling their friends.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:36

And it just grew and grew and grew.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:38

And then I started doing another farmer's market the same day

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:41

I had somebody else do it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:43

And that kept me busy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:45

So this particular farmer's market was indoors.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:48

So it was all year round.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:49

So it really kept me going.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:51

The other one was outdoors.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:52

So it was only, you know, I live in Michigan.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:54

So, you know, it was only for only for a few.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:57

Months.

Freddy D: 00:03:58

But you built, but you built those relationships with those people.

Freddy D: 00:04:01

I mean, you, you talked with them.

Freddy D: 00:04:03

It wasn't just a transaction, you had to have built some kind of a rapport

Freddy D: 00:04:07

with them for them to just, start becoming your brand fans in a sense,

Freddy D: 00:04:12

or what I would call business superfans and calling all their friends, right?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:15

Well, you know what?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:16

We were very friendly.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:18

People at the farmer's market tend to be all happy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:21

So.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:21

You know, you start to build relationships with these people

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:24

coming to see you every week.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:26

And it was really just a face to face time that really built those relationships.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:31

And then I started making deliveries.

Freddy D: 00:04:33

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:34

So I would deliver to people's homes during the week.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:37

And that kept the business going.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:39

And not just being at the farmer's market.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:42

So then I started growing more from there.

Freddy D: 00:04:44

Right, I remember, that you had posted a video of one of your

Freddy D: 00:04:48

team members doing the chicken dance when someone had spent over a hundred

Freddy D: 00:04:53

dollars, I think it was, in the store.

Freddy D: 00:04:56

And, as a crazy idea that was, that was a brilliant idea because it was

Freddy D: 00:05:01

funny and it attracted more people.

Freddy D: 00:05:03

To, enjoy that and this is a cool, fun place.

Freddy D: 00:05:08

And that was a great attraction marketing strategy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:11

Yeah, that's funny that you remember that

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:12

because that was two years ago.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:15

Our Thanksgiving and a pie was really a Turkey suit.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:18

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:19

Thanksgiving and a pie is 1st.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:24

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:24

So I'm going to have to go remind her about that and maybe we'll have

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:27

to do that again because I think we all forgot about it for this year.

Freddy D: 00:05:31

But that was great.

Freddy D: 00:05:31

That was brilliant.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:32

It was really fun.

Freddy D: 00:05:34

It was really fun, it was off the cuff, and that's the

Freddy D: 00:05:36

things, in my book I talked about doing some kind of that are unique

Freddy D: 00:05:40

that sticks in people's mind.

Freddy D: 00:05:42

And I remember seeing that video on Facebook and I'm going that

Freddy D: 00:05:45

was a really a brilliant thing.

Freddy D: 00:05:47

And I think you guys should resurrect that.

Freddy D: 00:05:50

And maybe, this is a 2023 version of it and make some fun out of it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:56

You know what, she's here today and when we get off I'm gonna

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:00

go have her dig out that turkey suit because it was fun and people would

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:05

purposely spend enough over the hundred dollars so she would do the turkey dance.

Freddy D: 00:06:10

Well there you go, see that's a brilliant marketing strategy, it's

Freddy D: 00:06:14

what you created superfans from that perspective because if they've came

Freddy D: 00:06:18

in specifically to spend the extra money just to see the dance, I mean

Freddy D: 00:06:22

that's a brilliant marketing approach.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:23

Yeah.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:25

I hope she still has that outfit.

Freddy D: 00:06:29

So,, what'd you guys do for like loyalty and stuff to get customers

Freddy D: 00:06:33

to come back and things like that?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:35

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:36

We have a mailing list.

Freddy D: 00:06:38

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:38

And I used to write a whole blurb all the time.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:42

I don't do that anymore.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:43

Now, my son, Stephen, who, you know, does the marketing and all the social media.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:48

Stephen writes newsletters based on we have new products coming out.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:53

We almost always, every time he does a newsletter, there's a discount in

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:57

there or something special for them.

Freddy D: 00:07:00

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:00

And we have a point system at the register where

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:03

you square and for every week.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:05

Every hundred wait.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:07

I always get this mixed up.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:08

It's they get 10 points.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:10

I think for every 100.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:12

No, they get 100 points for every 10.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:15

That's what it is.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:17

And when they reach 1000 points to get $5 off.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:20

So we've made it so that the customer can get there very quickly.

Freddy D: 00:07:24

Right,

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:24

That it doesn't take a long time to get there.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:27

So we have customers, they spent, you know, they got 1200 points today when

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:31

they come back in next time, they're getting their $5 off and they like that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:35

So it does keep them coming back.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:37

They just have to put their phone number in.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:39

It's very easy to use square takes track of it keeps track of everything for us.

Freddy D: 00:07:45

And it's what's important there that you just mentioned was that

Freddy D: 00:07:48

it's attainable because there's a lot of businesses that create programs,

Freddy D: 00:07:52

but they're really not attainable.

Freddy D: 00:07:54

And so in turn, it really backfires because people realize I'm

Freddy D: 00:07:58

never going to get this thing.

Freddy D: 00:07:59

And it's just a gimmick where it's retainable.

Freddy D: 00:08:02

Like you just said that.

Freddy D: 00:08:04

Changes the dynamics because, someone comes in and buys a

Freddy D: 00:08:07

couple of things and poof, they're halfway there, right off the bat.

Freddy D: 00:08:11

And I go, yeah, I'm coming back because this is, this works.

Freddy D: 00:08:14

So that's important.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:15

And the other thing we do that's really important, is, we greet

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:18

every customer that walks in the store.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:21

Always say, hi, how are you?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:22

We're all smiles.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:24

Just, we make.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:26

We try to make everybody feel comfortable and when you walk

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:28

into our store, it's really fun.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:30

It's colorful There's always a lot going on and we make it so that people

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:36

want to come in we make it inviting

Freddy D: 00:08:38

And that's really important because it creates an environment you

Freddy D: 00:08:42

know, there's not enough of positivity in the world today, so you guys have

Freddy D: 00:08:47

set up a nice positive environment where people come in and it's all of a

Freddy D: 00:08:51

sudden, it transformed their mindset is like, wow, this is a great place , and,

Freddy D: 00:08:56

they leave feeling, wow,, this was a great experience and it's important.

Freddy D: 00:09:01

The experience is very important in business.

Freddy D: 00:09:04

And I think a lot of businesses, have become a little bit too transactional

Freddy D: 00:09:08

versus spending the extra few moments to build that relationship.

Freddy D: 00:09:15

Even though it might be a two minutes worth of,

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:22

mm hmm.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:23

We really put effort into, I don't want to call it , old fashioned.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:29

But, you know, like that neighborhood store that you would walk into that

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:32

everybody knew your name and, you'd see them all the time and you recognize

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:36

them, even though our pies can stay in the freezer for a year and a half.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:40

We have people who come in every week, and they want to try something

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:43

new, some of them keep it in the freezer because it's nice, you know,

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:46

rainy day or cold night or something.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:48

You don't know what to have for dinner.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:49

You can pull it out of the freezer, but we have a lot of them who come in every week.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:52

Oh, this week, I'm going to try this.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:54

Oh, last week I had this I want to try this and oh we've got you've

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:58

got your new taco pie now I want to try that so we try to keep a lot

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:02

of varieties going so that there's always something new for them to try.

Freddy D: 00:10:06

Yeah, so basically, those repeat customers are your superfans because

Freddy D: 00:10:11

they're coming back and buying more of the product, but more importantly,

Freddy D: 00:10:15

they're telling their friends about your pies and what they're getting because

Freddy D: 00:10:20

of the fact that they love the product.

Freddy D: 00:10:22

They love the company, and you can't buy that kind of PR.

Freddy D: 00:10:27

You've built that relationship with those customers that they're out

Freddy D: 00:10:31

there on your behalf your store.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:33

So we also have a frames out on the street.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:36

So for instance, our thanksgiving pie is available now So we have

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:39

big signs out on the street today thanksgiving and a pie And then

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:42

there's another one that says taco pie and they'll come in and say oh, wow.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:47

I want to try What's a taco pie?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:48

You know, I want to try that.

Freddy D: 00:10:50

Right.

Freddy D: 00:10:50

This is clever names.

Freddy D: 00:10:52

I mean, the Thanksgiving and the pie, that's great marketing.

Freddy D: 00:10:56

That's really good marketing.

Freddy D: 00:10:57

What do you do for employees and keep them and turning them

Freddy D: 00:11:02

into superfans for the business?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:04

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:05

So we do have a reward system.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:07

I try to do bonuses today.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:09

We had a, we just got picked up by a distributor.

Freddy D: 00:11:12

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:13

This week was our first week doing production for them.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:16

It was a really, really busy week.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:18

Everybody worked very hard.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:20

I just bought them lunch and did a little spiel at the beginning.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:24

We do a lot of that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:25

Also, we make a really, really big deal out of everybody's birthdays,

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:29

you know, they get the lunch they want, the cake, you know, all that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:33

What else do we do?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:34

I just try to, it's a lot of rewards.

Freddy D: 00:11:37

I think that's important for business owners to really think

Freddy D: 00:11:40

about that because really, your employees basically, I call them team

Freddy D: 00:11:44

members, they're the business, they're the front lines to the business.

Freddy D: 00:11:49

And , you've got a disgruntled individual that, that becomes a

Freddy D: 00:11:53

problem, , versus, having a cohesive.

Freddy D: 00:11:57

Team that's happy to work together.

Freddy D: 00:12:00

They're having fun and, in my book I talk about people will crawl through broken

Freddy D: 00:12:04

glass for appreciation and recognition.

Freddy D: 00:12:08

And you're doing that you're appreciating them.

Freddy D: 00:12:11

You're giving them and you're recognizing them on their birthdays and things

Freddy D: 00:12:15

like that and that's huge and a lot of businesses don't have that mindset.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:19

Mm hmm I think another thing that we do is

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:22

everybody seems really happy here.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:24

You can come in and not have a good day.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:26

People have stuff going on at home, but we all in general, people

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:30

come in here and they say, wow, your employees are always smiling.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:33

Everybody seems so happy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:34

It looks like a really nice place to work.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:37

And we try to have that atmosphere here.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:39

If somebody needs to go to a doctor's appointment, I never say no, or,

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:43

they have something they need to do, we'll work it out in the schedule.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:46

I never say no, you can't have that day.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:48

off.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:49

No, you can't go and do that on that day.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:51

We all work together to make it easy for everybody.

Freddy D: 00:12:55

That's a really profound statement there because you're a

Freddy D: 00:12:59

team and everybody's got everybody's back and we all have a life.

Freddy D: 00:13:03

We all have like you just said we've got things going on in our lives.

Freddy D: 00:13:06

We got health challenges.

Freddy D: 00:13:08

We've got you know financial things we've got family members that have things come

Freddy D: 00:13:14

up and it's important to accommodate and recognize that because that in turn

Freddy D: 00:13:19

builds a loyal team member that's going to say, this company really appreciates

Freddy D: 00:13:24

me , and I'm grateful for their approach.

Freddy D: 00:13:28

And so now, that team member has got gratitude , for

Freddy D: 00:13:32

what you're doing for them.

Freddy D: 00:13:33

And that's, now it's all coming together.

Freddy D: 00:13:36

As a really a cohesive, energized, team and that's why, you're exploding.

Freddy D: 00:13:42

I mean you opened up a store, like I said earlier, in a pandemic and then,

Freddy D: 00:13:47

you moved into the store next to you, which is, most people would never even

Freddy D: 00:13:53

think of doing that, but actually it's a brilliant time to move it because you

Freddy D: 00:13:56

probably got a heck of a deal on making all that stuff happen during that time.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:01

Well, I can tell you, I would have had to move

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:04

because there's no way we could have stayed in the original story.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:07

I grew up very fast.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:09

We opened the store April 20th 2020 right in the middle of the pandemic.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:15

The one good thing I had going for me was I had frozen food and I was still

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:19

doing the farmer's market nearby.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:21

So I would tell the people there, Oh, I opened my store.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:25

So they would start coming and then people in the neighborhood started coming.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:28

I put signs that on the street, we're open and it was a tough time.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:33

Everybody had to wear masks, we had the mask police come in to make sure

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:38

that we were all wearing our masks properly and handling our food.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:42

I mean, it was not a fun time, but then all of a sudden there was a hair

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:45

salon next to me and they went out and we were already crowded in my store.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:50

I think I was working on a little table myself.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:53

There was no room for everybody to work.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:56

So we did that lease, put a big hole in the wall, and now I've

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:01

got my production facility.

Freddy D: 00:15:03

Wow, just an amazing story.

Freddy D: 00:15:06

So, tell us a little bit about your management style and, how

Freddy D: 00:15:10

do you manage all that aspect of the growing the business.

Freddy D: 00:15:13

I mean, going from the kitchen in the house and to, creating that concept to,

Freddy D: 00:15:18

now a multi location distributing your products and grocery stores throughout

Freddy D: 00:15:23

the state of Michigan and beyond,?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:25

It's not easy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:27

I've always been in sales.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:28

I originally was a stockbroker.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:31

I don't know if you knew that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:32

So I've always been in sales and I like watching the business grow and

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:37

every little business that I've had.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:39

I like that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:41

You know, you like to see, wow, I'm growing, I made more sales this month.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:45

So to me, it was natural that I would keep going and I kept looking

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:49

for different avenues of income.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:51

So we started doing catering every week.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:53

I had the farmers markets going, I had my store and I just kept it going.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:15:58

What, where am I going to go next?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:00

What's going to bring income in for me?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:02

How many people do I need to work for me to get to that point?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:05

How much food do I need to buy?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:07

It is not easy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:08

I was not in the food business before.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:11

So it was a learn as you go process and I've learned a lot.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:15

And now, like I said, we have a distributor, they do all of

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:20

Michigan and a lot of Ohio.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:22

We chose not to go with a distributor that was in many more states because

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:27

that could put me out of business if I wasn't prepared for it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:31

Business has changed.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:32

So now it's not really that little, little business anymore.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:35

It's bigger now.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:36

I cannot do it alone anymore.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:39

I get a lot of help from the people that work with me.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:42

We have somebody who, my son, who specializes in all of our

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:45

social media and marketing.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:47

He does a lot of my financial work for me.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:49

I've got another son who does some sales for me.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:52

I'm working now with distributor.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:55

Plus I'm the contact for 42 stores that we're in, and we just keep going.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:01

It's hard.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:02

I won't lie.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:03

And it is not easy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:04

I'm no spring chicken anymore.

Freddy D: 00:17:06

I can appreciate that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:07

It's, a lot of work, but I really like it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:10

I look forward to coming to work every day and all these people who are having

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:14

all these problems with employees.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:16

I have not lost anybody except one who retired and one who moved

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:21

up North Michigan, and that's it.

Freddy D: 00:17:24

That's a profound statement because not many

Freddy D: 00:17:27

companies retain people that long.

Freddy D: 00:17:31

I mean,, since you've started having, one, basically one retire

Freddy D: 00:17:35

and then one moving up north, that's unheard of in today's business.

Freddy D: 00:17:40

Because unfortunately there's businesses that have a mindset

Freddy D: 00:17:44

that, I'm giving you a job.

Freddy D: 00:17:46

You should be grateful that I'm giving you the job.

Freddy D: 00:17:48

And unfortunately, that's the wrong mindset because no team I look at

Freddy D: 00:17:53

it as no team members, no business.

Freddy D: 00:17:55

There's no way you could conduct a business in a level that

Freddy D: 00:17:58

you're at without a solid team.

Freddy D: 00:18:01

That's all on the same page, working towards the same goal.

Freddy D: 00:18:06

And that's huge.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:08

So I can hear them behind me, making pies and

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:11

hand pies and all this stuff, and if they're not motivated to do that,

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:16

I'm going to be out of business.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:18

Because I can't do it myself.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:19

I hear them talking, they're laughing and stuff, but I know

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:22

what's getting done back there.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:23

And I know they're reaching their goals of what they need to

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:26

get them by the end of the day.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:28

Everybody here benefits from that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:30

I make sure.

Freddy D: 00:18:31

And that's right there is an important aspect is they're doing their

Freddy D: 00:18:35

job, but you're not micromanaging them.

Freddy D: 00:18:37

It's really what it boils down to.

Freddy D: 00:18:38

You're not saying, hey, quit yapping and get to work.

Freddy D: 00:18:42

You're giving them ownership of what they're supposed to do.

Freddy D: 00:18:47

And you're empowering them to do what they're supposed to do.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:50

Right, exactly.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:51

If they don't, I do say something once in a while, but it's all in the presentation.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:56

I'm very polite about it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:19:00

It's all I learned that a long time ago, how you say something to somebody.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:19:04

Even your children, it's everything.

Freddy D: 00:19:06

It's everything.

Freddy D: 00:19:07

Absolutely correct.

Freddy D: 00:19:08

Cause I've seen, people just say, Hey, you did this wrong and you did that wrong.

Freddy D: 00:19:13

And so now the person feels, and more importantly, if you do it in

Freddy D: 00:19:16

front of an audience and now they're belittled and now all of a sudden they

Freddy D: 00:19:20

start feeling, geez, I got to come to work and I got to face everybody

Freddy D: 00:19:23

again and I don't want to do that.

Freddy D: 00:19:26

And then they start to have anxiety issues and everything else.

Freddy D: 00:19:30

So the next thing, you know, they quit.

Freddy D: 00:19:32

And so , you've completely done a hundred percent the opposite of that

Freddy D: 00:19:37

is, you handle it in a very, proper, way that in turns transforms them into

Freddy D: 00:19:44

doing what you need them to be doing without belittling them or embarrassing

Freddy D: 00:19:49

them in front of everybody else.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:19:51

Yeah.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:19:51

And whenever I need to say something to somebody, I always do it in private.

Freddy D: 00:19:55

Yeah, that's very important right there.

Freddy D: 00:19:57

Cause again, we just said, you do it in front of the crowd.

Freddy D: 00:20:00

It's an issue that person's going to be embarrassed.

Freddy D: 00:20:03

They're not going to want to come into the office and it just creates a spiral.

Freddy D: 00:20:09

What about these, multiple stores, I'll call them business alliance

Freddy D: 00:20:12

partners in a sense, that you've got these grocery stores now, how are you

Freddy D: 00:20:16

maintaining those relationships and turning them into fans of your product?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:22

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:23

So I send certain people out to visit the stores, including myself, the ones that we

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:29

can, there's some that are hours away and it's hard for us to get there, but I call

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:33

them we have a lot of contact with them.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:36

What's selling?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:37

Oh, it's not selling well.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:38

Can we put a little sign?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:40

We also do a little, we do demos.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:42

We'll do a demo at a store.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:44

We try to every month and a half or so, especially the ones that are close.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:47

You know, like when you're at the grocery store and they give out little samples

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:51

of chips and stuff so you can try.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:53

We do that, and we set up a nice table with our signage.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:57

It's always one of my employees.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:20:59

We have a little apron on and the whole thing.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:02

And that the store will put an order in before the demo.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:07

They sell a bunch at the demo, so then after the demo, they have to order again.

Freddy D: 00:21:12

Oh, that's a brilliant idea, because they buy stock basically for

Freddy D: 00:21:16

the demo, it sells out, so it proves that it's sellable, and so now they buy

Freddy D: 00:21:22

more, and they've already got customers that like it, and wanting to buy more

Freddy D: 00:21:27

products, so it's a brilliant strategy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:29

Yeah.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:30

That's worked really well for us.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:32

And it also shows the stores that we're paying attention to them

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:34

because I've had some store owners and managers say to me, we get a

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:38

small business, we buy their product.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:40

They're selling in our store.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:41

We never hear from them again.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:43

It's only, they want us to reorder.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:44

But we call, I send people in just to say, Hey, how are you doing?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:49

We have these little signs that they can put up, let's say, Michigan

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:51

made homemade chicken pot pie, and they put it up on our shelf.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:56

We do a lot of stuff like that.

Freddy D: 00:21:57

Well, those are the things, I talk about in the book.

Freddy D: 00:21:59

It's relationships, you're building relationship with your customers,

Freddy D: 00:22:03

you're building relationships with your employees, team members, you're building

Freddy D: 00:22:07

relationships with your business partners.

Freddy D: 00:22:11

We mentioned earlier, a lot of people look at it from a transaction

Freddy D: 00:22:15

standpoint, but the reality is to really grow the way you're growing.

Freddy D: 00:22:19

It's really goes down to relationships.

Freddy D: 00:22:23

People buy from people that they like.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:22:25

Right.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:22:26

And whenever we do a demo, we always have a picture taken of the person who's there.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:22:30

And we posted on social media that day that also gets people to go to the store.

Freddy D: 00:22:36

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:22:36

Because again, you're building the relationship, you're edifying

Freddy D: 00:22:40

that, employee that's out there.

Freddy D: 00:22:42

So they feel, look at me.

Freddy D: 00:22:43

Did you see the picture of me posted at the store and stuff?

Freddy D: 00:22:47

So they're telling their friends.

Freddy D: 00:22:48

So you've got your employees as your superfans are telling their friends, Hey,

Freddy D: 00:22:52

look at the picture and stuff like that.

Freddy D: 00:22:54

And you've created a business superfans that are telling

Freddy D: 00:22:57

other people about the business.

Freddy D: 00:22:59

On your Facebook page, I've seen it grow from, 20 some people to, thousands now.

Freddy D: 00:23:04

And you've done that all organically.

Freddy D: 00:23:06

It's just amazing.

Freddy D: 00:23:07

I don't know remember the number, but I know it's more north of 4,000 followers.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:12

Yeah, I think we're up to eight.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:13

Oh, wow.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:14

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:14

8,000 followers.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:15

I think so.

Freddy D: 00:23:16

And it's all organic, that's just amazing..

Freddy D: 00:23:18

That's a lesson to be learned for other businesses, that's how you build superfan

Freddy D: 00:23:23

all organically by building those relationships, by recognizing, people

Freddy D: 00:23:28

and what you're doing with your team and what you're doing your business partners.

Freddy D: 00:23:32

It's fantastic.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:33

Oh, thank you.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:34

You know, we do also pay for some Facebook advertising and we target certain markets

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:40

and that's worked very well for us.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:43

Every single day, somebody comes into the store and says,

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:46

I keep seeing you on Facebook.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:47

I finally had to come in.

Freddy D: 00:23:49

It works.

Freddy D: 00:23:50

It does work, every day, half of our customers are new.

Freddy D: 00:23:54

Wow.

Freddy D: 00:23:54

That's amazing.

Freddy D: 00:23:55

But, you know, both of us having a sales background, the reality

Freddy D: 00:23:59

is you don't make the sale on the first, second, or third contact.

Freddy D: 00:24:03

Usually it's the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth contact, right?

Freddy D: 00:24:09

But unfortunately people give up, one or two or three and they, oh,

Freddy D: 00:24:13

okay, they're never going to buy.

Freddy D: 00:24:14

And they don't put in the extra effort to get to the eighth,

Freddy D: 00:24:19

ninth contact of that individual.

Freddy D: 00:24:22

Mm-hmm.

Freddy D: 00:24:22

. And, and that's when the transaction happens.

Freddy D: 00:24:24

You just, you proved it right there.

Freddy D: 00:24:26

Mm-hmm.

Freddy D: 00:24:26

, it works.

Freddy D: 00:24:27

And that's worked very well for us,

Freddy D: 00:24:29

So excellent.

Freddy D: 00:24:31

So how can people find you?

Freddy D: 00:24:33

Well, we're www.greatlakespotpies.com com.

Freddy D: 00:24:41

We are in Clawson, Michigan, if you Google us, under Great Lakes Pot Pies.

Freddy D: 00:24:45

And on Facebook and Instagram, it's at Great Lakes Pot Pies.

Freddy D: 00:24:50

Okay.

Freddy D: 00:24:51

Excellent.

Freddy D: 00:24:52

And do you have anything that you want to offer our listeners to taste one

Freddy D: 00:24:58

of your delicious because I've had a couple of them and they're the fab.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:01

Thank you.

Freddy D: 00:25:02

That could entice them to try out a great lakes pot pie.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:07

If you get on our mailing list, you'll get right

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:09

away, you get 10 percent off.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:12

We ship all over the country.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:14

You get it in one or two days, depending on where you are.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:18

And sometimes we have to be very careful because I know you,

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:22

Frederick, you're in Arizona and it's been really, really hot there,

Freddy D: 00:25:25

Yes, it has, but last night it rained, like we needed

Freddy D: 00:25:28

rain and finally we got a dump truck worth of rain, so it was good.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:31

Oh, good for you.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:33

So, the shipping goes a little better in the cooler.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:36

Four months, but we do ship all over the country.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:38

We have shipping bundles.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:40

So if you go on our website, you can find a whole variety

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:43

of pies that you can order.

Freddy D: 00:25:45

Excellent.

Freddy D: 00:25:46

Well, Jennie, thank you very much for being on the

Freddy D: 00:25:48

business superfan podcast show.

Freddy D: 00:25:49

Really appreciate your time.

Freddy D: 00:25:51

And, we will look forward to having you as a guest in the near future.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:56

Oh, thank you.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:56

Thanks for having me.