Shownotes
The central theme of today's discourse revolves around the rich tapestry of barbecue culture as embodied by our esteemed guest, Tory Campbell, of Felton and Mary’s Artisan Foods. Tory elaborates on the profound legacy of his grandparents, who established a revered barbecue restaurant in Portland, and how their traditions continue to influence his culinary endeavors. We delve into the intricate interplay between heritage and innovation, as Tory recounts his journey from the familial roots of barbecue to the modern-day challenges of running a food business. Furthermore, he shares invaluable insights into the art of marketing and the significance of storytelling in cultivating a loyal customer base. Join us as we explore the depths of barbecue craftsmanship and the personal narratives that enrich this beloved culinary art form.
Links referenced in this episode:
- paintedhillbeef.com
- oregondungeness.org
- paintedhillsbeef.com
- pigpowder.com
- heritagesteel.us
- feltonandmary.com
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Felton and Mary's Artisan Foods
- Campbell's
- Casey's Barbecue
- Burgerville
- Oregon State University
- Weston Kia
- Heritage Steel
- Oregon Dungeness Crab
- Pig Powder
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt so fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
Speaker A:Now from the Turnip Burnett studios in Portland, here's jt.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to the nation.
Speaker A:At the Barbecue Nation, I'm JT along with my co host and co commander, Leanne Whippen.
Speaker A:Hall of famer, I might add, coming to you from our respective Turn It, Don't Burn it studios in Portland and Tampa and anywhere that there is great barbecue.
Speaker A:We would like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker A:You can check them out at Painted Hill beef dot com.
Speaker A:Well, there's an interesting story about our guest today.
Speaker A:Last fall, I did.
Speaker A:I went to Oregon State.
Speaker A:I finished at Oregon State, I should say.
Speaker A:And I did a.
Speaker A:They had a big home game, football game against Stanford, the new stadium, all all kinds of cool stuff.
Speaker A:They had a barbecue contest.
Speaker A:And our guest today, Tori Campbell, was one of the organizers of that contest.
Speaker A:I didn't put two and two together.
Speaker A:And that's my bad because for the last two years, I have won a package of Tori's Felton and Mary's barbecue sauces and seasonings, as you see behind him there at a benefit golf tournament I play in.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And I was looking at that box on my shelf and I thought this would be a great interview.
Speaker A:And so I called Tory, not knowing that not only did I talk with him and work with him at Oregon State, but I had met him and knew who he was and all that.
Speaker A:And I went to the name of the restaurant, the name of the Pit was Campbell's from his grandfather.
Speaker A:And we were.
Speaker A:We will get into that during the show.
Speaker A:But I felt like such a dunce that I couldn't put 2 and 2 together.
Speaker A:You know, I understand any numbers above 10 I have problems with.
Speaker A:But Tori, I apologize for that.
Speaker A:But it is a funny story.
Speaker A:But I will tell you that way back when I was in high school, my brother took me to Campbell's.
Speaker A:If you're in the Portland area, it was off at 92nd and Powell there.
Speaker A:And I had never had that type of barbecue before, okay?
Speaker A:It was real, the real deal.
Speaker A:And your grandfather waited on me, us.
Speaker A:And I remember I looked at the little menu and my brother told me what to order.
Speaker A:And he was.
Speaker A:Had a little card on the table about the sauces, right?
Speaker A:And there was sweet, mild, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:And then there was one like.
Speaker A:And I don't remember what the phraseology was, but it's like, you Better be sure you want to do this.
Speaker A:So I. I said, I want to try your sauces.
Speaker A:So he brought out these little samplers of sauces.
Speaker A:And he goes, what about the hot one?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:He goes, you sure?
Speaker A:And I said, yeah.
Speaker A:And then about five minutes later, I knew why he said, are you sure?
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Because it lit you up.
Speaker A:It had great flavor, but it lit you up.
Speaker A:So there.
Speaker A:There's the perimeter to the show today.
Speaker A:But anyway, Tori, welcome.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker A:Interesting background.
Speaker A:Your grandparents came from Southern California, I believe, or Central California.
Speaker B:Yep, the Bay Area.
Speaker A:The Bay Area.
Speaker A:And then, yeah, came up here.
Speaker A:What prompted their move to.
Speaker A:To get out of there?
Speaker B:It was pretty spontaneous, as the story goes.
Speaker B:My grandfather had a sister that lived in Portland for many years, and they loved to get in their VW van and just travel and just go.
Speaker B:And so the story goes, they were intending just to go to Sacramento that day, and they kept driving, made their way up here, spent some time with her that weekend, and turned to each other and says, do you want to move?
Speaker B:And yeah, let's do it.
Speaker B:Bought a house that weekend right off of 87th and Powell and came back home and told their young adult kids at the time that were still living with them.
Speaker B:You've got 90 days before we moved to Portland, Oregon, you know, at the time.
Speaker B:And obviously it's Portland, Oregon, and that's how it started.
Speaker B:And their intent was to come here to retire in some ways get away from the hustle and bustle of the Bay Area and their kids.
Speaker B:But eventually everybody followed, with the exception of just one of their children.
Speaker B:And I was included in that.
Speaker B:A number of other grandkids as well, eventually made our way up to Portland.
Speaker B:And that was in the mid-80s.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now, did.
Speaker A:Did your grandfather have a restaurant in Oakland?
Speaker B:So he helped.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:He loved us to barbecue.
Speaker B:So we always had a big smoker in his backyard in Oakland.
Speaker B:And you don't have big backyards, so they do.
Speaker B:I remember as a kid going over and they always are smoking meats.
Speaker B:A lot of different big pots on the stove.
Speaker B:We did have family that actually did have a barbecue restaurant in Berkeley for, Gosh, man, over 30 years now.
Speaker B:I think it recently just closed called Casey's Barbecue.
Speaker B:And my grandpa was.
Speaker B:And our.
Speaker B:My uncles were really helpful in the kitchen in terms of helping my Uncle Vern dial in their smoked meats there.
Speaker B:So he always tinkered, always helped and loved to cook.
Speaker B:And my grandmother loved to host.
Speaker A:Did he know how much work it was going to be once he actually opened up a restaurant.
Speaker A:I mean, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, I think that for them, because they were retired, but still, they obviously had some juice in them.
Speaker B:And I remember living with them at that time.
Speaker B:He sat down with my grandmother and my uncles who were there, and he put out a little bit of a little napkin or drawing he had.
Speaker B:He says, I want to build a brick pit.
Speaker B:We have a house on the corner on 87th and Powell that they had purchased as well.
Speaker B:And he said, this is what I'd like to do.
Speaker B:Everybody said, let's do it.
Speaker B:I think they were bored in some respects.
Speaker B:My grandpa was definitely an extrovert.
Speaker B:And they loved just to be around people.
Speaker B:And it made sense for them to lean into something that they had done for many, many years in their home to open it up and see what happens.
Speaker B:Doing it in Southeast Portland.
Speaker B:Not the most conventional place to do it at that time.
Speaker B:No reasons.
Speaker B:And also, Portland wasn't known for being a strong barbecue city.
Speaker B:It's spiritually strong now in terms of just a foodie city, but for sure back then.
Speaker B:But they just believed.
Speaker B:And we opened it up and it was wildly successful over 18 years that we had it.
Speaker B:It became a beloved institution, as you well know.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I know your grandpa wasn't shy.
Speaker B:No, not at all.
Speaker B:Not at all.
Speaker A:I probably more for him.
Speaker B:I think my grandmother was tired of him at times, and the restaurant was a good way for him to just go be him and be out extroverted and talking.
Speaker B:She was a sweet host as well.
Speaker B:I mean, she definitely could talk with you and love on you as well.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I remember that.
Speaker A:And you're right, Portland at that time was pretty vanilla as it came to restaurants.
Speaker A:We had a lot of, you know, Asian and Chinese restaurants, a lot of steakhouses, a lot of just, if you will, Americanized food.
Speaker A:You know, steak, burgers, what have you, chicken, that type of thing on the restaurants menus.
Speaker A:But they weren't really.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:If he went someplace and they.
Speaker A:And you ordered some barbecue, like ribs, they were boiled or steamed and slathered in sauce.
Speaker A:There wasn't really any rubs on them.
Speaker A:And it was a messy, messy business.
Speaker A:I know that because I've always loved to eat ribs.
Speaker A:And so I think my first real taste of barbecue was at Campbell's back then.
Speaker A:So I. I owe my addiction to you and your family.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:That's pretty profound, admittedly.
Speaker B:I think when I hear these stories, it brings a lot of joy to my heart and recognizing and helps me just grow My awareness of the unique space my grandparents carved out with the love for barbecue.
Speaker B:I mean, how many people enjoyed it?
Speaker B:I think for me, growing up as a kid, I didn't always, like, spending, like, brisket going to school every day when I worked there.
Speaker B:But now that I look back, I'm like, wow, they were really on to some.
Speaker B:And we had a really special thing going.
Speaker C:Did.
Speaker A:Did you, the family, eat a lot of barbecue?
Speaker B:We did, yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think.
Speaker B:You know what's funny is that so much of what we ate and served at the restaurant I grew up eating.
Speaker B:So it just was always funny to me that, wow, the potato salad, the way we cook, the collard greens, the sauce, it was all the same.
Speaker B:And we brought it to the restaurant and shared it with folks.
Speaker C:I feel like there had to be some sort of influence, though, because you don't go from California to Portland and have any, you know, experience of being Kansas City, Texas, you know, Memphis, whatever.
Speaker C:But they obviously learned how to do it.
Speaker C:But was there some sort of influence or something from that terror, one of those territories that got them going?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So my grandfather, he's originally from Texas, small town in East Texas, and my grandmother's from Arkansas, so they definitely had Southern roots.
Speaker B:And, you know, barbecuing was in their blood.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I mean, it was just a communal activity.
Speaker B:And they also love to cook, too.
Speaker B:So he really took it to the next level and really honed his craft over those 20 or 30 years.
Speaker B:Just cooking at home for friends and family, but they were known as.
Speaker B:My great aunts and uncles would tell me, you would go to Felton and Mary's house to get some amazing food.
Speaker B:You didn't always know what was in the pots, but you knew it was going to be some of the mystery meat.
Speaker B:You didn't question them.
Speaker B:I remember my earliest memories, three and four years old, sitting at the kitchen counter on a little stool and watching my grandfather with his grinder grind and make sausages and put it in the casings.
Speaker B:And I just remember those smells and aromas.
Speaker B:So that was really who they were as people outside of wanting to be small business owners in a restaurant.
Speaker B:And the restaurant was an extension of their home.
Speaker A:Yeah, it sure was.
Speaker A:I can.
Speaker A:I can vouch for that, Tori, because I'd never forgotten that.
Speaker A:I. I may have forgotten the exact date and time, but I still remember going there and walking in and kind of looking around.
Speaker A:It wasn't a huge place.
Speaker A:And went and sat at a table and pretty soon wasn't very long.
Speaker A:Your grandfather came over and the whole thing started and we were probably in there for close to two hours just talking to him and eating.
Speaker A:And they're probably at that.
Speaker A:I don't remember, like I said, but it was a quiet day.
Speaker A:It was probably before noon or something, if I remember right.
Speaker A:And the, the rush hadn't come in yet.
Speaker A:And so it was just me and my brother and talking to him and getting the great food and listening to him tell stories and like that sauce, brother, you still make that sauce?
Speaker B:We do, yeah.
Speaker B:So it's one of our featured barbecue sauces again.
Speaker B:I, in starting this food company, I changed nothing other than taking out the corn syrup.
Speaker B:Everything else is the same recipe.
Speaker B:So we have the smoky brown sugar, which is a nod to more of a Kansas City style.
Speaker B:That molasses flavor profile.
Speaker B:Then the medium and the hot are similar flavor profiles.
Speaker B:More of a Texas style.
Speaker B:So you get the strong kind of tomato paste notes in the cumin and garlic and in the heat.
Speaker B:And we don't really like to build it up like, oh, it's hot, hot, extra habanero.
Speaker B:It's just hot, you know.
Speaker B:But as you noted in your opening, it has a great flavor and I think that was always important.
Speaker B:My grandpa just didn't want to make it hot for the sake of being hot.
Speaker A:And, well, he got my attention.
Speaker A:Anyway, we're going to take a break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with Tori Campbell from Felton and Mary's Artisan Foods in Portland.
Speaker A:Tori's also, like I said, a OSU guy.
Speaker A:So we're going to talk about that a little bit.
Speaker A:Stay with us.
Speaker A:We'll be back in just a minute.
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Speaker D: ales of New Kias from January: Speaker A:Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
Speaker A:I want to tell you about something really cool.
Speaker A:Heritage steel cookware.
Speaker A:I just got mine.
Speaker A:I do a lot of cooking and it's got five ply construction.
Speaker A:Stay cool handles.
Speaker A:It's titanium strengthened.
Speaker A:It's got all the great stuff.
Speaker A:Just go to HeritageSteel us and find out more.
Speaker A:You'll love it.
Speaker A:I guarantee it.
Speaker A:This is Noncore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm JT along with Ms. Whippen, hall of famer.
Speaker A:If you'd like to follow us on any of the social media stuff, feel free to do so between the show, Leanne and myself, I don't know how many different platforms we have, but we have a lot.
Speaker A:And then you can, if you can't hear the show on the radio, it's on every podcast platform out there.
Speaker A:Just go to Barbecue Nation or Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:Jt.
Speaker A:I know it changes on a couple of them, but you'll get the right one and follow us on Facebook and all that stuff.
Speaker A:We're talking with Tori Campbell from Felton and Mary's Artisan Foods here in Portland.
Speaker A:I don't do too many shows, even though I live here.
Speaker A:I don't do too many shows about restaurants and creators here in Portland.
Speaker A:But I think you've got such an interesting story in your family.
Speaker A:Leanne and I are both very much into family stuff, so that's very cool.
Speaker A:But I want to talk real quick, Tori, about your work at osu, which is where I originally met you.
Speaker A:And you're also a pastor, so I'll try to keep my language kind of cool.
Speaker C:This resume is very large.
Speaker C:It is very diverse, I might say.
Speaker C:When I was reading it, I was extremely impressed.
Speaker C:I was like, how does one person do all this?
Speaker C:So talk about that.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I've.
Speaker B:I have lived quite a few different lives.
Speaker B:I think the through line to everything that I've done, whether it be pastoring for almost 15 years, no longer pastor now, but I.
Speaker B:That was definitely a part of my life early and still is.
Speaker B:So much of who I am in terms of love and care for people and faith and spirituality, entrepreneurship has always been in my blood.
Speaker B:And so there was a number of years where I work in economic development.
Speaker B:At one point being the director of Economic development for the city of Portland, really enjoyed that work up until Covid.
Speaker B:And then I made the transition just over three years ago back to my alma mater, Oregon State University, really with a desire to want to connect with the next generation.
Speaker B:So I did some instructing work with the College of Business on entrepreneurship for a year and a half or so, and then my main job was working within the Alumni association, where I'm the senior Associate Executive Director of Experiences.
Speaker B:Very long title, sometimes unnecessary, but the main goal here is I work with a wonderful team and we create experiences to reconnect alumni back to the university, everything from nostalgic homecomings to really helping them connect with the next generation of Beaver alum with career mentorship opportunities.
Speaker B:So we have over 200,000 alumni and growing.
Speaker B:So it's fun work.
Speaker B:And that's how I actually connected with Jeff initially, was I invited him to be a part of a tailgating experience that we did.
Speaker B:As he mentioned earlier, again, Stanford, it was on Veterans Day weekend, and I thought nothing better to honor our vets and to create a real dope experience than to bring beavers together with barbecue and beer.
Speaker B:So we had a wonderful.
Speaker B:It was all inaugural event and I thought it was a great success.
Speaker B:Had a good turnout.
Speaker B:I think we had five barbecue pitmasters actually come on site, spend the night and cook through the night.
Speaker B:We had painted heels, donate brisket, Carlton Farms donated pork belly, and they did their thing.
Speaker B:It was magical.
Speaker B:Jeff showed up the next day and did a podcast from there.
Speaker B:Music.
Speaker B:We had beer From Trails to the Land from Oregon Agricultural Trust.
Speaker B:So really a fun experience that brought a ton of people together and I think we want to do it again this coming year.
Speaker B:And as you know, like you said, Jeff, barbecue is synonymous in so many different regions.
Speaker B:But the Northwest, you don't really always think about it, but there is a strong community here that loves barbecuing, as you well know.
Speaker B:And so we were grateful to be able to host that event this past fall and look forward to doing it again.
Speaker A:That was a great party.
Speaker A:Yeah, it really was.
Speaker A:I didn't get to quote, unquote, party too much because I was busy, but looking out at it and watching all the people and talking to you and Will and the other guests we had on the show, that was excellent.
Speaker A:But to see the enthusiasm of the people that attended and of course, then we whomped Stanford, which was really good, but.
Speaker A:And I got to go up in the skyboxes, so that was really cool, too.
Speaker B:Glad you enjoyed that.
Speaker A:I did, I did.
Speaker A:I had a heck of a good time up there.
Speaker A:But really, that had been the first time I'd been back to campus in years.
Speaker A:And so of course, the renovation of Research Stadium was new, but even the alumni center and the.
Speaker A:The offshoot of the bookstore there and those different things, the plaza, they've got a land.
Speaker A:They've got a really cool plaza out in front of the stadium.
Speaker A:And the marching band kind of warms up there and comes through there.
Speaker A:And then they have some not so efficient civilian marching bands go through there, their instruments and stuff.
Speaker A:But it's really a great setting and everybody just had a wonderful time.
Speaker A:I know by the time I got done with the show and got down to the barbecue, folks, there wasn't too much left.
Speaker A:It was pretty picked over, which is what you wanted.
Speaker A:But I was like, I think I got two samples, but that's okay.
Speaker A:I get enough barbecue like that.
Speaker A:But you think OSU would ever consider putting together a program like Texas A and M does on their, you know, they do a short course on brisket cooking.
Speaker A:Brisket.
Speaker A:A and M does like that.
Speaker A:I could see OSU doing that, too.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, you know, they have a couple great programs already within the College of Agriculture.
Speaker B:They actually have a meat lab on campus where they walk students through who are.
Speaker B:Who are wanting to pursue that type of field, and they show them how to cut up the meat.
Speaker B:It's really fairly sophisticated.
Speaker B:And then they even get to a point where they sell that meat.
Speaker B:You can buy it just in the public.
Speaker B:It's open to the public.
Speaker B:And I just think that was great.
Speaker B:They actually helped us in curating some of the meats that we got from Painted Hills and Carlton Farms.
Speaker B:But I definitely think that there's more opportunity, because we are an agricultural college through and through, to tie in more ways to associate kind of the farm to table experiences that we have.
Speaker A:Not everybody wants to stare at a computer screen all day in their career.
Speaker A:And so there's more people going.
Speaker A:I don't want to call it backwards.
Speaker A:It's not backwards.
Speaker A:It's going into a different genre and going forward.
Speaker A:And then the cooking and the culinary aspect of that is really growing too, is what I see.
Speaker B:Definitely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:There's Oregon Classic Foods on campus where they have a line of products that they include students in, from cheeses to ice creams to smoked meats that they sell.
Speaker B:And again, it's that connectivity of farm to table incorporating, ag, incorporating business, all the different elements that you'd want in a viable ecosystem that really showcases the university's role not only in our, our state's economy, but regionally as well.
Speaker A:We're going to take another break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with Tori Campbell from Felton and Mary's Artisan Foods.
Speaker A:Don't go away.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, it's JT and I have eaten.
Speaker A:If you've ever looked at me, you know that.
Speaker A:But I have eaten seafood all over the world, and I can tell you there's no place better than here in Oregon and our Dungeness crab.
Speaker A:If you want to learn more about Oregon Dungeness crab, just go to oregondungeness.org find out how to cook it, how to catch it, where to buy it, and the sustainability of what they're doing there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Speaker A:Check it out.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Hey, welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm JT along with Leanne Whippen.
Speaker A:We want to thank the folks at Painter Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:You can go online and go to Painter Hills Beef.
Speaker A:They've got an online store you can order.
Speaker A:Not their whole line there, but they've got a lot of stuff and excellent beef and wonderful people.
Speaker A:So go to paintedhills beef.com and also pig powder.
Speaker A:Best rub on the planet.
Speaker A:So it's so I'm told.
Speaker A:And I will tell you that it's pretty dang good.
Speaker A:And of course, pig powder was developed by Leanne's father, trimcab Jim, for his.
Speaker C:You know, I just had, I had a team reach out to me and they're from the Midwest and they told me that they knew about pig powder.
Speaker C:They tried it and ever since then they use it on their pork.
Speaker C:And they went first.
Speaker C:A lot of the time.
Speaker C:He even, he gave me the, all the awards that he's won with it.
Speaker C:He goes, I feel like it's the best kept secret, but it really shouldn't be a secret.
Speaker A:No, it's, it's good stuff.
Speaker A:It is really good.
Speaker A:It's very good stuff.
Speaker A:I, I've actually been experimenting with it and I used it in some stuffed mushrooms the other day, had some sausage and put the pig powder in there and then, you know, filled the mushrooms and baked them and all that stuff for a football party we had here.
Speaker A:It's very well rounded.
Speaker A:So go to pigpowder.com and Ms. Whippen will personally make sure you get an autographed picture of her.
Speaker A:So there you go.
Speaker C:Oh, that was a big one.
Speaker C:You got me into trouble on that one.
Speaker A:I did, I did.
Speaker A:We're talking with Tori Campbell today from Felton and Mary's Artisan Foods, and also from osu, Oregon State, not Ohio State.
Speaker A:What have you learned, Tori?
Speaker A:I mean, that's kind of a very broad question.
Speaker A:But since you started Felton and Mary's Artisan Foods, Leanne is in the food business.
Speaker A:I used to be in the rubs and spice business.
Speaker A:It's a steep learning curve at times.
Speaker A:And so what have you learned and what has been your greatest achievement so far and also your greatest obstacle?
Speaker B:I would say the couple things that I've learned, one is the value of building off of the shoulders of giants that come before me.
Speaker B:So even though I founded our food company, my grandparents were the original ones that really brought all of these amazing flavors.
Speaker B:And our kind of our ethos of our company, our love for people, for community, for urban farm before it was all the rage.
Speaker B:And starting that barbecue restaurant was their expression of that when I.
Speaker B:And I also learned, like, be bold, right?
Speaker B:They step out in retirement to do this and.
Speaker B:And be vulnerable with an idea and see what happens.
Speaker B:And I think the other thing was my aunt, for about 10 years of the restaurant, really was the driving force of the growth of that business.
Speaker B:And seeing her just be scrappy, be brilliant in who she was, really modeled for me so much of the.
Speaker B:The things that are benefiting us and helping me continue to lead our food company.
Speaker B:So in high school, I saw her taking these bottles, like, let's.
Speaker B:Let's, you know, bottle these up, the sauce, and let's sell it.
Speaker B:And we started selling it in stores.
Speaker B:And I remember doing demos.
Speaker B:And so for me, even though I started the company, this is not like, oh, I'm the originator of it.
Speaker B:I'm building off of what has been now three generations.
Speaker B:And now my kids participate.
Speaker B:They don't.
Speaker B:They never met their great grandparents, but they know who they are in many ways because of the foods and the story that we.
Speaker B:That we say.
Speaker B:And I think that, to me, is huge, is.
Speaker B:It is totally okay and actually is of great treasure to be a part of something that's, you know, three or four generations old.
Speaker B:And I think that that shows legacy, that shows heritage and a level of connectivity that I feel very rich in.
Speaker B:I think other lessons is even though barbecue is a very saturated market, as, you know, true, there's still room for.
Speaker B:For products that come and have a really important, original story and showcase the way.
Speaker B:I mean, I often tell people our barbecue sauces, the ingredients you have in your kitchen cupboard, but it was just a way in which my grandfather harmonized them, that there's some different flavor notes and a different approach.
Speaker B:And so I think when people taste it, you know, you have to get them to taste it.
Speaker B:Because it's such a saturated market, everybody and their mom already has their own go to barbecue sauce.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, they buy.
Speaker B:It's technically not their barbecue sauce until they doctor it up.
Speaker B:So everyone does that.
Speaker B:And so once we allow people to taste it, people go, wow, there is something unique about this.
Speaker B:And I just love that.
Speaker B:I think, wow, as much as I thought no one would want to taste it, no one would be interested.
Speaker B:There's still room.
Speaker B:I kind of tell people in the same way that how many love songs have been started in the key of C or E, Right?
Speaker B:And yet there's still love songs being created in those same notes.
Speaker B:It's just how you put it together that makes the difference.
Speaker B:I would say our biggest accomplishment and then I'll get to our biggest struggle.
Speaker B:Big accomplishment was probably this last summer where Burgerville, which is a local burger chain here in the Pacific Northwest, called us up and says, hey, the chef, Chef Becky, she loves our barbecue sauce, our smoky brown sugar.
Speaker B:And she says, we'd love to pair your barbecue sauce with our Walla Walla onion rings, which is what we have annually during the month of August.
Speaker B:And so they had a.
Speaker B:We had a Walla Walla barbecue cheeseburger, and they featured our barbecue sauce, and that was huge for us.
Speaker B:I think we've done a lot of things over the years, but I think anytime you can partner with a great partner like Burgerville, as you know, like that validation and help us, too, to.
Speaker B:To continue to help us make strides to not just be in retail or eat online where you can purchase, but now in food service, which I think for us is expand and grow our business.
Speaker B:I would say that the biggest challenge is being patient.
Speaker B:I think it's just being patient with the ideas you have and seeing them through.
Speaker B:Our company this year, it's 10 years old, and there's so many things that we want to continue to be and grow into, and yet you have to be patient and all of that.
Speaker B:And so I think that, to me, is.
Speaker B:Oftentimes the greatest challenge is knowing that you might have a solid idea, but it might take a few years for it to really come to fruition and being patient to walk and see it through.
Speaker A:It's not going to happen overnight.
Speaker A:Leanne and I can attest to that, both personally and professionally seeing things.
Speaker A:Because in this show, we.
Speaker A:I don't know, Leanne, how many?
Speaker A:A dozen a year.
Speaker A:We talk to folks that have created a rub or something, and they're.
Speaker A:They're always very kind, and they send it to us, and the product is fine, it's very good.
Speaker A:But it's that shelf space that they gotta, you know, elbow their way into and then stay on top of it the whole time.
Speaker A:That's the hard part of the business.
Speaker C:It's patience, but it's also tenacity at the same time.
Speaker C:You can't sit there and wait for it to happen.
Speaker C:It's just too competitive.
Speaker C:You have to, like you said, you were out sampling, and you've gotta get it in people's mouths.
Speaker C:And then, you know how word travels, and it just.
Speaker C:It goes like that.
Speaker C:I mean, bad Byron, he started really in retail before anybody else that I know of, getting his product butt rub out there, and he's turned it into a kingdom and, and he, he, he hasn't sat back.
Speaker C:He just keeps going, going, going with it.
Speaker C:And it, It's.
Speaker C:It's so important.
Speaker C:But, yeah, patience is right, because a lot of people think they're going to make money out of the gate, and they find out that they aren't, and then they lose it.
Speaker C:They just, they don't lose.
Speaker C:They lose their drive, and then it just goes by the wayside.
Speaker C:And so the ones that are making it, it's not only.
Speaker C:It's a whole.
Speaker C:It's the whole ball of wax.
Speaker C:It's marketing, it's everything else.
Speaker C:But, yeah, you do have to be patient.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, I, I thought I was going to light the world on fire.
Speaker A:And I got some big accounts right out of the, Right out of the gate.
Speaker A:And then within about two weeks, I learned a really valuable lesson because I was getting calls from these accounts.
Speaker A:There were retailers, and they would say, I want six bottles.
Speaker A:Not six cases, six bottles of.
Speaker A:I had a rub called Happy Camper Kid Spice.
Speaker A:We want six kids.
Speaker A:We want two, you know, running iron, which was a spicy one.
Speaker A:We want three steak ones.
Speaker A:They wanted all these busted cases.
Speaker A:And I was just one guy.
Speaker A:And so I was in the back room of my studio putting these together and then having to drive 50 miles or whatever, one way to get them there.
Speaker A:And after a while, because I was doing radio and TV at the time, too still.
Speaker A:And I had to give up because I couldn't fulfill them.
Speaker A:I couldn't.
Speaker A:There wasn't enough time in the day for me to do it, and so I backed out of it.
Speaker A:But I did it for a couple of years, and I don't think I lost more than 50,000.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:But, no, I'm joking.
Speaker A:I'm joking.
Speaker A:But I just.
Speaker A:There just wasn't enough time.
Speaker A:And as Leanne said, I not getting on a soapbox here, but I think you have to have the tenacity to stay with it, you know, ship those what we would call broken cases and that and get them out to people and follow up on it.
Speaker A:And, And I just didn't.
Speaker A:I didn't have the time.
Speaker C:So I feel like you're an expert in small business development and what kind of.
Speaker C:What are your feelings on how social media plays into your small business?
Speaker C:How important is it?
Speaker C:And marketing?
Speaker C:Like, if you're putting together a marketing plan, what do you think are the first three things that should be at the top?
Speaker B:Yeah, marketing.
Speaker B:There's so many ways that we can engage our ideal customer, and I think that's the trick I would say first as a business owner is knowing your market and dialing it down.
Speaker B:I think you can oftentimes gain more traction with a solid thousand followers who buy your stuff regularly and love you than you can by spending $10,000 just shooting everywhere, on every platform, on every channel, trying to get traction.
Speaker B:And I think oftentime that's the tension for small business owners is they don't have enough time to have a full blown marketing strategy.
Speaker B:But what they are good at and should be good at is telling their story, identifying their audience and serving them well both with their product, but also keeping them engaged and finding ways to celebrate, to share their story.
Speaker B:People want to be brought into the growth of your business.
Speaker B:They don't always want you to show up perfect.
Speaker B:They love the journey.
Speaker B:They love this highs and lows.
Speaker B:They feel connected and drawn and so to you when you are able to articulate that.
Speaker B:And so I always encourage small business owners.
Speaker B:Find at least one platform that you feel most skilled at and your audience is oftentimes the most at and nurture those relationships.
Speaker B:And if you can build community, they eventually become, as you know, Leanne, your champions.
Speaker A:We got to take another break, but I want to pick that up on the other side.
Speaker A:We're talking with Tori Campbell here from Felton and Mary's and OSU and Ms. Whippen and I will be right back.
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Speaker A:I want to tell you about the Hammer Stahl knives.
Speaker A:Hammerstall combines German steel with beautiful and functioning designs.
Speaker A:They're part of the Heritage Steel Group, which also does their pot and pans.
Speaker A:So go to heritagesteel us.
Speaker A:Check out the Hammer Stahl knives.
Speaker A:If you're really into cooking, I think you're really gonna like them.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:We want to thank the Oregon Crab Commission for supplying Leanne with enough crab to keep her happy for about 20 minutes.
Speaker A:Actually, they supplied us with a lot of crab, but she ate all of it.
Speaker A:Ate all.
Speaker A:The end of the shoot, at the end of the day, she'd like had this little bag in the bottom of it.
Speaker A:She was hiding these bags of crab legs.
Speaker A:Go back to the hotel and she'd send me pictures from the hotel room where they had.
Speaker A:They had dinner and they used like the, the toilet paper roll as a vase.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, release those to the public someday.
Speaker A:But those are pretty good.
Speaker A:But you can go to oregon crabcommission.org and, and find out more about Dungeness crabs.
Speaker A:Great stuff.
Speaker A:I want to follow up on what you were talking about.
Speaker A:We got a few minutes left here, Tori, as far as the marketing aspect from the, from the manufacturer side, and they hire influencers and Leanne knows some of my thoughts on those.
Speaker A:A lot of them and, and a lot of them are good and they work.
Speaker A:And it's kind of inexpensive vis a vis versus conventional marketing for the manufacturers to do that.
Speaker A:But sometimes the manufacturers will kind of insist what you were just talking about.
Speaker A:You can't hit all of the different platforms continually.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There's not enough time in the day to do it because you've got to constantly be creating new content.
Speaker A:You can't put the same stuff out there 15 times in a row.
Speaker A:Nobody's gonna pay attention.
Speaker A:So in your experience, what platforms do you work with the most?
Speaker B:Yeah, I would say the.
Speaker B:The two that we spend our most time on is our newsletters.
Speaker B:So which we have a growing list of followers.
Speaker B:Either they come to our website, want to follow the newsletters, or they've purchased a product.
Speaker B:And that's a way that we continue to tell our story.
Speaker B:We find that email still, you know, as much as they feel old school these days, they still a responsiveness that is unmatched.
Speaker B:And then second to that is Instagram.
Speaker B:I think for us, that's just been a platform that's easy to work with and we integrate it.
Speaker B:When you post something, you can post it on Instagram.
Speaker B:It can also go to Facebook as well.
Speaker B:And so I think it's more about integration and knowing where you feel the most comfortable with your platform and then using that to springboard off to a few others that are automatically integrated into it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:No, I agree because.
Speaker C:I'm one of the same belief.
Speaker C:I'm an Instagram person too.
Speaker C:And it goes right to Facebook and people say, well, why aren't you doing TikTok?
Speaker C:Well, because I'm only one person and I just like to focus and give my all to one rather than little bits here and there.
Speaker C:I think it has a better response.
Speaker A:Yeah, see, I'm a twit guy.
Speaker A:X, you know, but I also, I do the Facebook and then sometimes that, you know, that gets.
Speaker A:Because I. I basically promote the shows.
Speaker A:I don't have a product anymore other than the media.
Speaker A:Stuff that Leanne and I do, but I know that you put it on Facebook and it can and it'll.
Speaker A:Or LinkedIn because I, I'm more on the business side of things and so you can get those and those spread out pretty well too.
Speaker A:But you know, I'm not a tick tocker, I'm not a Reddit or whatever they are.
Speaker A:I mean I, I think there's a limit, like you said Tori, to what you can do and do efficiently and well and get your message out there.
Speaker B:And also trust that people will find you.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I think you might have someone that has those six platforms on their phone.
Speaker B:But if you're consistent, as you said Leanne, they'll find you something.
Speaker B:We have to trust.
Speaker B:So the, our work is just be consistent and people will.
Speaker A:So where are you headed now with Felton and Mary's?
Speaker A:I mean you've got a base, you're expanding that base.
Speaker A:But if we had you back a year from now and said Tori, what have you done this last year?
Speaker A:What's your goal there?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's great.
Speaker B:I would say our goal would be to continue to make our products available in retail, which we have a pretty good footprint in Oregon, but we want to expand that.
Speaker B:So we have aspirations and plans to grow that into hopefully Washington this year.
Speaker B:Also food service, I mean food service is great, just to be honest with you, from a standpoint of like labor, it's nice.
Speaker B:So in two weeks the Beaverton school district will be using our smoky brown sugar for one of their meals during the month of February.
Speaker B:So that's like 54 schools.
Speaker B:That's a great, a great account.
Speaker B:And I think it's those kinds of relationships we want to continue to build.
Speaker B:Burgerville because we were so successful last year, they wanted to sell 52,000 hamburgers in 45 days.
Speaker B:It was a new product to market featuring our barbecue sauce and those Walla Walla Onion onions.
Speaker B:We ended up selling 53,253 just minute who's count, you know.
Speaker B:So as you know, a product like that one, it met the goal and exceeded it and they typically will want to run it back a few more years.
Speaker B:So that's another relationship that we want to continue to nurture and grow.
Speaker B:So I think for us, food service is a place 10 years into it.
Speaker B:We've loved the markets and doing farmers markets here locally and we'll continue to be present in those as well.
Speaker C:Who manufactures like all of your sauces and rubs?
Speaker B:Yeah, so we have a couple local co packers that work with Us from the beginning, which has been great for us.
Speaker B:So that allows me to sleep at night.
Speaker B:And then we also have Fortunate.
Speaker B:Portland has a really cool food ecosystem.
Speaker B:So we have a number of distributors that are local that get our products to the stores.
Speaker B:Also New Seasons and Market of Choice as an example.
Speaker B:They really do a great job of creating really viable on ramps for local food companies to get started.
Speaker B:So you'll drop it off at say, Market of Choice's main store and then they ship it out.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Their Mojo program to all their stores throughout Oregon.
Speaker B:So I think it's those things that I know that we really are fortunate to be in a food ecosystem here that supports small businesses in that way.
Speaker B:But I've learned how to do distribution and as you know, you gotta, you know, have a PhD in that stuff.
Speaker B:After a while you're doing enough.
Speaker A:So what do you think your, your grandpa and your grandmother would say right now, Tori, looking at what you're doing?
Speaker A:We got about a minute left here, but I wanted to kind of get your take on that.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think they would say, keep doing it.
Speaker B:You got it, son.
Speaker B:You got it.
Speaker B:That's what they would say.
Speaker B:Both being able to honor their way of living and traditions, but also making good on being innovative.
Speaker B:To continue to bring a product that's over half a century old into new spaces in ways that they couldn't imagine.
Speaker B:That cars deliver food to your house and everyone's okay with that?
Speaker B:Yeah, that's how it works, you know, so you can go online.
Speaker B:The intranet.
Speaker B:What is that?
Speaker B:Amazon?
Speaker B:They have your product now.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, we want to be a national company.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Go, baby.
Speaker B:Keep doing it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I bet your grandpa, wherever he is, he's still talking.
Speaker B:That much is true.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Angel in heaven again Earful of him.
Speaker B:He spends yarn like nobody's business.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I got up to St. Peter and he put his arm around.
Speaker A:He said, let me tell you about our brisket.
Speaker B:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker A:He did that.
Speaker A:How can people find your products, Tori, real quick.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Our website, feltonandmary.com is the best place to start.
Speaker B:And from there you can order and also find products that might be close to where you live.
Speaker A:Okay, very good.
Speaker A:Tori Campbell, everybody from Felton and Mary's Artisan Foods, Oregon State University.
Speaker A:Great guy.
Speaker A:Again, my apologies.
Speaker A:I didn't remember who you were when I called you up to do this interview.
Speaker A:It's like brain dead, but get out there and try some Felton and Mary's.
Speaker A:And Tori's going to stick around for after hours.
Speaker A:He has no idea what he's stepping into there, but we'll get him squared away.
Speaker A:So for Leanne and myself, we'll be back next week with another edition of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:And remember our motto, turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
Speaker A:Barbecue Nation is produced by jtsv, LLC Productions in association with Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserved.
