August 6, 2024 • 44 mins
What if you could transform a simple love for cooking into a thriving multi-faceted business empire? Tune in as Carrie Bailey Morey, founder of Callie's Hot Little Biscuit, takes us on an incredible journey from her mother Callie's kitchen to becoming a culinary powerhouse. Carrie shares how she navigated the early challenges of launching a mail-order biscuit business in 2005, long before the convenience of today's digital age. Her story of resilience, innovation, and unwavering passion for food has led to an impressive array of achievements, including multiple restaurants, an extensive e-commerce platform, wholesale distribution, a TV show, and even cookbooks.
In this episode, Carrie recounts the serendipitous success of her first store in Charleston, where the local appetite for hot biscuits led to long lines and sold-out days. Her PBS show "How She Rolls," acclaimed for its authentic storytelling and Peabody award recognition, is another testament to her hard work and dedication. Carrie also opens up about the personal challenges she's faced, such as her youngest daughter's illness, and how these experiences have shaped her approach to balancing a booming business with family life. Her story is a compelling mix of entrepreneurial spirit and heartfelt commitment to both her craft and her loved ones.
Listeners will discover how Carrie has kept the essence of Callie's alive with innovative products, like biscuit crackers, and a company culture rooted in 10 core values. From the unexpected growth of her catering business to the invaluable advice she offers budding entrepreneurs about starting small and pacing business growth, Carrie provides a wealth of insights. She emphasizes the importance of customer service and preserving the rich heritage of biscuit making, making this episode a must-listen for anyone passionate about food and entrepreneurship. Join us for a heartfelt and inspiring conversation that showcases the powerful connection between food, family, and business.
UPDATE** Callie's biscuit crackers are now in all Whole Foods and The Fresh Markets**
Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions
Production Sponsor: RMBO.co
Design Sponsor: DK Design
Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Immediate Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Ben Nesvold | Co-host | In-coming President | Edward Jones
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I'm just kidding.
All right, you ready everybody,very exciting.
Well, hello and welcome to theBuilding Business Podcast
powered by the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
We're here in our favoriterecording studio with Charleston
Radio Group and Brian Cleary,both huge supporters of the
chamber.
Thanks to you both, uh, kathyherman, here I am the current
(00:25):
president of the chamber ofcommerce.
I am also the marketingdirector at mount pleasant town
center.
Uh, so thank you all forjoining us listeners.
Um, I'm here today with myguest co-host, michael cochran.
Michael is our current mountpleasant chamber of commerce
foundation chair.
Michael, introduce yourself yep, so mich.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So, michael Cochran, I'm a local Mount Pleasant
resident.
I'm past president of theChamber of Commerce and sit as
the chairman of the foundationnow and glad to serve, happy to
serve, love our chamber, loveour business community, but more
importantly, I love the peoplein our community and so it's
just fun to be here and do theseconversations that we have.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Well, we have a good one for you today, michael, and
everybody else that's listeningout here today, if you love our
community so much, I'm justgoing to read just a little bit
of this, okay, before Iintroduce her.
Touted by Oprah Wow, food andWine, Southern Living, the New
York Times, bake from Scratchand Good Morning America.
That's all in one sentence,okay, among others, our guest
(01:26):
has established herself as anauthority on entrepreneurship
and is committed to helpingwomen build their own empires in
ways that feel most authenticand most in alignment with who
they aspire to be.
I mean, how amazing is that?
And when we're talking aboutthis, we are talking about
biscuits.
Everybody, the most deliciousthing in the world biscuits.
(01:50):
So we are so excited andhonored to have Kari Mori,
founder of Kali's Hot LittleBiscuit, with us today.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Thank, you Welcome Welcome.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Thanks for asking me and of course, Kari was smart
and showed up with a hot thingof biscuits for all of us.
We haven't eaten them yet.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Two are missing, maybe a couple missing.
Two are missing.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Two are missing already.
That was pretty fast, guys.
That was pretty fast, guys.
Carrie, thank you again so muchfor being here.
It's such an interesting story,such an interesting person.
I think this is the first timeyou and I have ever met.
I think so, which is a shame,but I have had your biscuits.
Well, I'm glad to hear that Ihave had your biscuits, so tell
(02:34):
us a little bit about how youstarted, where the inspiration
for Cowleys came from.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Sure, well, I'm a native of Charleston, grew up
almost all my life in MountPleasant, in the old village,
and I have always had a strongpassion for cooking and
entertaining, and from a veryyoung age, and my mother, callie
, for whom the business is named.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, scratch that question off.
Scratch that question off.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Had a small catering business and I was always the
one serving her delicious foodand the number one product that
was always asked to be served atany party was her hand biscuits
.
So you know, starting doingthat in early teens all the way
through college, then graduatingfrom college, going to New York
(03:22):
, living in New York, justfalling in love with the food
scene, I worked for an Internetcompany and kind of putting all
those things togetherunintentionally, as I went along
and grew up and came home, gotmarried, had our first daughter.
I just wanted to figure out away to work within my passion
(03:46):
but also have the lifestyle thatI wanted to have, which was to
really be a really present momand and not have a nine to five
job where I was working all thetime.
So I created Callie's biscuitsas a mail order only biscuit
company, which most people don'tknow because in 2005, there was
no internet, really there's nosocial media, and so we were
(04:08):
just selling online andabsolutely nobody was buying
them.
We really did, and I, you know,of course.
I think this is a testament toany entrepreneurial passion that
you have is that it neveroccurred to me that I would have
problems selling them, becauseI grew up with them.
(04:30):
I watched people's reactions, Iknew how great they were and I
wanted it to fit into mylifestyle.
I wanted to be in the foodbusiness but I didn't want to
own a restaurant.
Now I have two.
See how things change.
And it wasn't that I didn't wantto have a restaurant.
It was that I was really tryingto have that balance, and I
think for women it's so hard tofind the balance.
In the last 15 years it'sbecome a lot easier because just
(04:53):
careers have come up that aredifferent than in 2005 and
before that.
Traditional careers were go tothe office nine to five.
It's very different now, whichis great.
But so I created this idea tosell her ham biscuits, which I
didn't bring you today I'm sorry, but think about that.
For a second an internetbusiness, a mail order internet
(05:14):
business, only in 2005, createdwith one product country ham
biscuits which not many peopleeven know what country ham is we
do in the south.
But it was a horrible businessplan, you know.
It wasn't about me building andscaling this business and I
knew that biscuits were going tobe in favor.
I felt that charleston was onthis, on the cusp of something
(05:35):
which those were just luckyguesses they were really good
guesses, they were good guessesuh
and I think our timing was greatand and we had a lot of luck on
our side.
But what has happened in thelast 10 years I never dreamt
about until you know.
You just go through and you'relike, well, what if we did this?
Well, what if we did this?
And you don't even realize thatyou've.
(05:57):
You know, at one point beforeCOVID, we had 80 something
employees for restaurants inthree states, ecommerce,
wholesale distribution, a TVshow, cookbooks, I mean and it's
a little bit more calm now, butit's still insane and growing a
business is incrediblydifficult and we're just
weathering the storm and tryingto solve the daily problems.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
So what was the first after your initial startup and
mail order in 2005,?
What was the next step?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
that you did.
So.
Every step of the business thathas been created after that was
a reaction to well, how do Igrow the business?
And so, because there was nosocial media and no way to get
the word out, I started lookingfor ways to broaden the horizon.
So I started with Ted's ButcherBlock downtown Charleston and I
(06:49):
said, okay, well, maybe I canjust create this little
wholesale program where I go inand I sell them biscuits and
then they put them in theirfreezer and sell them to their
customers.
And so that started.
Very simply, six stores inCharleston.
And then, when I got that downpat, I was like, well, let's go
to Somerville, let's go toColumbia.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
And then it just kind of grew.
Piggly Wiggly called Isn't thatnice to think about Piggly
Wiggly.
They called put us in all theirstores when Piggly Wiggly
transferred to Harris Teeter.
Then Harris Teeter took us onand it just kind of slowly,
organically grew and then wehave a mail order and a
(07:30):
wholesale program.
And then we got into a165-store chain, the Fresh
Market, and they called and saidwe're going to order nine
pallets and I said, awesome,what's a pallet?
I had no idea right.
Thank goodness by then googlewas underway and I could google
what is a pallet then you had tofigure out how to bake.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I had to figure out how to bake it?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
how to ship it.
I didn't have a.
I hadn't had one walk-infreezer that carried all of our
products.
So I went across the street atthe time all of our products.
So I went across the street Atthe time we were on Meeting
Street.
I went across the street to thePiggly Wiggly, talked to my
friend, the manager there, and Isaid hey, I just got a
nine-pallet order for biscuits.
I have no idea how to get itthere.
And he said Just bring themover to our warehouse.
(08:09):
We'll keep them in our freezerand tell your truck driver to
come pick them up.
Them in our freezer and tellyour truck driver to come pick
them up.
Well, I didn't know what apallet count was going to be.
So I took all the car seats outof my Suburban, laid them down
flat and I could fit 63 boxes,which created our first pallet.
So, you know, I think that I'mnot very good at business, but
I'm really good at figuring outproblems on the fly.
(08:30):
So that was our first pallet,and that was that was in 2006
and where'd you bake them all?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
and I mean well, we had.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
We rented a space in 2006 downtown on meeting street,
right next to church's friedchicken, because we were renting
kitchens.
We were renting cateringkitchen space from.
I'm gonna really remind y'allof the old days on Coleman
Boulevard.
Oh, my gosh, what's the name ofthe old restaurant that's now
Cantina?
Oh, I'll remember it.
(09:01):
I'll remember it.
Are y'all from Charleston?
Yeah, okay, I'll remember it ina minute, anyway, jb Stroh, jb
Stroh.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
JB.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Stroh had a catering kitchen, which is now the surf
shop, and that was where wewould bake the biscuits.
We'd bake them once a month.
Department of agriculture camein they said okay, if you bake
them and package them here, youcan keep them in a freezer in
your house.
I had babies like not evencrawling, so I would fill the
one or two orders a week thatwere that were going out and
take them to the fedex center.
(09:28):
So we did have a commercialkitchen but it was small and it
used to be an office and nobodywould initially give me a lease
because they had never heard ofwhat is a biscuit business.
You know nobody, right?
I mean, they think aboutPillsbury.
Pop the can on the counter.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Okay, these are not Pillsbury pop.
The can biscuits let me tellyou.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Thank you.
So question for you on thetiming.
So you started in 05.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
End of 05.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
End of 05.
05 was good financially in thecountry and then the fourth
quarter kind of took a dip.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
So 06 was good.
Then we have 08.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yes.
So you got a new business, noteven five years old.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
That was a long time ago.
I do remember being veryworried about.
These are very expensivebiscuits and at the time we only
sold them by the dozen.
So we're talking $ 15 to $19for a dozen biscuits.
How is this going to work?
And at that time we didn't havefull-time employees.
It was myself.
My mom had actually left.
(10:25):
She started the business withme.
That was a disaster on bothsides.
We couldn't even be in the sameroom.
So we decided it was best forour relationship to part ways.
But you know, at that time Iwas able to really keep things
lean and say, okay, guys, I needyou two days this week and they
would fill the freezer and I'dsay I'll call you when I need
(10:46):
you again.
So it was all about keepingyour costs really low and
because our product has such along shelf life, you know that
really benefited us that we wereable to, you know, have not
regular and I was doing all thedelivering, the, the.
You know every part of thebusiness I was doing.
And my best friend, amy, who hasbeen with me since the very
(11:07):
beginning, was, you know, wewere both, our kids were in
preschool and we were both likeworking two to three hours a
week and I was paying her hourly.
I wasn't paying myself, but youknow we made it, we made it
through.
We also were really blessedwith having great press and that
(11:29):
was something from thebeginning that we hired LeapFrog
, who has been with me since thebeginning, and they were able
to send biscuits to the TodayShow, to Bon Appetit magazine,
to all the magazines, and thatwas how we kind of started
getting a following of people onour email list and you know.
So then you can email peopleand say do you want to buy?
You know, this is everybodyknows this now, but back in the
(11:50):
day there was no template forthis and we were just kind of
flying by the seat of our pantsand I felt bad emailing people
every week saying, hi, buy myham biscuits, sure.
And a friend said well, you cookall the time, why don't you
give them a recipe?
It gives you a reason to reachout to them and you're giving
them something and not justalways asking to buy.
(12:10):
And I said, okay, I'll do that.
And so I think I wrote, youknow, a chicken salad recipe.
I just wrote about what I wascooking.
And then we got on the todayshow in 2008 and Hoda.
This is back in Hoda and KathyLee days and we showed them how
to make the biscuits and webrought a warm crab dip to eat
(12:31):
with the biscuits and they tookthe bite of the biscuit and put
a little crab dip and they wentoh my gosh, that is the best
crab dip I've ever had.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And we were like, oh no, where's that biscuit?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
we had, we did.
We were very blessed withhundreds and hundreds of orders.
We also got over 400 phonecalls and emails for the crab
dip recipe right so then Icreated a blog on the website,
and so then that started a tonof recipes, because I would have
to write a recipe every week oronce a month, I can't even
remember now.
And then that was how I got acookbook deal.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Did you ever expect to be on the Today Show by
baking biscuits?
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
No, I had no.
What a journey.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, it's been an amazing journey it is.
And it's been an amazingjourney it is, and you know, as
an entrepreneur, you don'treally sit around and think
about oh wow.
Somebody asked me just lastnight what is the coolest thing
you've ever done?
I couldn't even begin to tellyou that Sure, and I hate that I
haven't done a better job ofchronicling chronicling is that
the right word the journey I?
(13:33):
I mean, I have a journal that Iwrite in.
But you know, just like top 10things that were, you know,
being on top chef definitely atop 10 thing.
Meeting martha stewart beingnamed as one of her finalists
for uh dreamers and the doersbeing on the today show those
are all things that are pinch memoments, right, having our own
television show on pbs so Iguess I could name them if I
(13:54):
really sat down and thoughtabout it, but I'm always too
busy thinking about what's thenext thing.
Stop and write all those downand then send them to Carrie.
Okay, can you send them to meplease?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But you mentioned earlier that at the time when
you started, you didn't wantrestaurants.
Yes, so what changed that?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Okay, so we started the wholesale program, still
really small but got into somegrocery stores so we had mail
order and wholesale.
Then I wrote a cookbook and Iwent on a cookbook tour and the
four or five people during thecookbook tour that came to see
me would say when we come toCharleston, where can we get
your biscuits hot?
(14:28):
And I didn't have an answer.
So I'm like how do I, how do,where do they get the hot little
biscuits?
This is the question that I'minternally asking myself.
So I went back to all myfriends in in the culinary
community, knocked on doors atHigh Cotton and, like, met with
all my old bosses in inCharleston.
I said and and you're going tonot believe this, but at the
(14:48):
time nobody had biscuits on ontheir menus in Charleston.
Now everybody.
There are biscuit restaurantseverywhere.
There were no biscuits.
And I said you need to putthese biscuits on your, on your
menu and people will pay forthem.
Like a basket of Callie'sbiscuits for $5.
And I showed them the pricelist and they're like absolutely
not, that's ridiculous.
And I said but you could chargefor them.
No, so I couldn't get thebiscuits to be hot and be able
(15:11):
to tell people where to go.
And then I went to listen to aseminar I don't even know where,
maybe at the Fancy Food Show inNew York, and the executive VP
for Stonewall Kitchens, which isa big CPG brand in Maine, spoke
and they said well, everybodyknows our stores, just like
William Sonoma's, don't makemoney.
(15:32):
And I thought, what, and whoknows if that's really true?
But his point was these arethis is the way we market our
business and this is because wehave a brick and mortar.
Then people will then go andtry to search and find us online
.
And I thought, oh, I need tohave a store and it's going to
be called the Hot Little, hotlittle biscuit.
(15:53):
And then a restaurant was bornand I'm like, but I said I
didn't want to be in arestaurant business.
And at this time I had threedaughters under the age of.
They were six, five and four.
I mean really close together.
And when the youngest, sarah,went into kindergarten, I all of
a sudden had, from seven 3030in the morning to 2 pm, where I
(16:15):
could work for the first time, afull block of working hours.
And I said, okay, I'm going toopen this store and it's going
to be open from 8 to 2 because Ican drop off and pick up if I'm
the only one in the store.
And I never wrote a formalbusiness plan, but I did write
down all of my expenses and howmany transactions I would need
to have in order just to breakeven, because I wasn't
(16:39):
interested.
I just wanted to market thebusiness and we had no idea what
we were getting ourselves into.
This space is an alley.
It's 8 feet wide and 80 feetlong and we have a galley
kitchen that is 36 inches wideand we are cooking, cooking
frying eggs to order on a hotplate and we're you know.
I mean it's.
(16:59):
It's calmed down now, but inthe height of the craziness, I
mean we would have people waitin line for an hour and a half
and that's a wonderful thing,but also like talk about a
stress creator, looking at allthese people standing in
100-degree rain heat waiting forbiscuits to get to the front of
the line.
We're sold out.
It was a wonderful thing, butthere was also an enormous
(17:23):
amount of stress associated withthat, which we're obviously
very grateful for.
Every experience it's been awild ride.
This July we'll celebrate 10years on King King Street, which
is crazy to think that we'vebeen open a decade that's
fantastic
Speaker 2 (17:37):
yeah yeah, tell us a little bit about the show.
I think it's called how sheRolls.
Tell us a little bit about that, because you're in season two
now, correct?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
we have filmed season two and it is out there and, as
of right now, we're not doing aseason three.
Okay, it has.
It was a wonderful.
We were approached by aproducer and I honestly, even at
the premiere of season one, Ithought this isn't really
happening.
Like it's not going to reallyair and it aired in 96% of the
(18:08):
country.
I just I went through themotions and I love the concept
and I love that I was able tofeel safe with PBS and I was
able to be my authentic self andnot make things up and there
wasn't this dramatic play to itlike a lot of reality television
shows and it was my true storyand hopefully not only did it
(18:31):
put eyes on the business buthopefully it also inspired other
women and people to do theirdream.
So we started filming inSeptember of 19 and really got
into the meat of filming rightas COVID hit and it just takes
you through the whole year andwe won a Peabody for the season
(18:53):
one, which I didn't know what aPeabody was, but apparently
that's a cool thing and TV justadd that to your list of
accomplishments that's right.
And uh, then we did a season twoand then our our youngest
daughter got really sick and itwas just something had to give.
And you know we were still inCOVID and we just said, you know
, we need to probably take alittle bit of a break and focus
on making sure everybody's COVID.
And we just said, you know, weneed to probably take a little
(19:14):
bit of a break and focus onmaking sure everybody's healthy.
And we ended up closing two hotlittle biscuits that we had
opened, one in Atlanta and onein Charlotte, which was sad but
also really great from aperspective of if you're going
to grow the business, youprobably need to not be so wide
and be a little bit more focusedon what areas.
(19:34):
And you know I learned that thehard way.
I had no business experience,so we're kind of on that track
now.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Well, I think off the top of my head.
I would think that Atlanta andCharlotte are two pretty good
places.
They were great, but they arefar from here.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
They were great and it was just what I have learned
the hard way is that it isreally hard.
Even if you have I had anamazing team it's really hard to
make restaurants work outsideof you touching them every day,
and so it gave us greatvisibility as a brand and so
many people, so many new eyes onus, and we were open in Atlanta
(20:08):
for seven years and it wasamazing, Charlotte, we opened
two weeks before COVID, so itnever got off the ground but,
there were great lessons tolearn, expensive lessons, but
that's how you learn right.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
That's right.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
It was funny this morning, as I'm preparing and
I'm having my coffee.
My wife and I are chattingabout our days.
She said so what are you doingtoday?
And I told her, and she saidwell, who are you going to?
have a conversation with who'sgoing to be interviewed.
And I told her and she left theroom very quickly and she came
back and, for those of you thatare listening, I'm holding up a
bag of hot little biscuit cheesecrisps and she holds this up
(20:47):
and they're empty.
Yes, it's empty, an empty bag.
And she holds it up and shepoints it at me and she goes you
tell, carrie that I am aGod-fearing woman, but I am
sinning because I'm covetingwhat is in this bag.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Well, you tell her that I had two handfuls of those
today before I came here,because that's what they were
baking today.
And it is the death of me.
These are my weakness, becauseI'm a snacky kind of person and
they're so good, so we were onvacation last year and we went
to Freshfields for breakfast andall of a sudden I look back and
(21:18):
I see my wife coming with thisbag.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I'm like she's got pimento cheese and she's got
these.
It was just absolutelyfantastic.
So she actually has in her cartto buy for our vacation this
year.
She has biscuits for that.
Oh, tell her, thank you.
So as I was doing my research,I see this big following that
you have, that you've createdthis huge following of folks
with stories like that.
(21:41):
Do you have any fun storieslike that that you can share
with us?
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I don't know if I can pull off a specific story, but
I will tell you that one of mygreatest joys is working down at
our Hot Little Biscuit shop,specifically at the register,
because I meet so many peoplethat have followed us, have
watched the show and have comespecifically to eat our food,
which is such an incrediblecompliment, knowing all the
(22:07):
amazing restaurants we have herein Charleston.
And when somebody tells me andthis happens often that they've
come to eat breakfast with usevery day of their vacation, I
am completely blown away.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Because I love food and I travel just to eat and
even if it's the best meal I'veever had, I don't think I've
ever been back twice in the samevacation, just because you're
trying to experience everything.
So that is just such an amazingcompliment.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
That's more than a compliment, karen.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
That's more than a compliment, it's not even enough
to say it's a compliment.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So I do love when that happens.
That's a badge of honor, yeah,and so, speaking of the crisps,
we know you're known for yourbiscuits.
What are your other favoritefoods that you're either serving
at the restaurant and or haveavailable for customers?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Well, other than the biscuits, we serve slow-cooked
overnight grits so you can getthem in a biscuit bowl or a
regular cup and you can have anytoppings, like roasted tomatoes
, avocados, green onions,cheddar cheese, chopped bacon,
all the things.
And that is a nod to like mygrowing up and being in my
grandmother's house on JohnsIsland.
There was always grits on thestove and you just kind of
(23:15):
rummaged through to put whateverwas in there, fold in a little
egg, just comfort food, rightSausage gravy, which has been
super popular.
And then we package the cheesecrisps, which have just gone
through a new packaging changeand we now call them cheese
wafers and people seem tounderstand them more.
The cheese crisps.
People think there's no flourin them because you know the
(23:36):
parmesan crisps.
So cheese wafers.
And then we just created thisnew product along with our
pimento cheese that we've hadfor years.
We just created biscuitcrackers.
So there was this alwaysleftover dough, because you know
we make all the biscuits byhand and so once you get to the
second rollout there's alwayslike a ball of dough and we were
throwing it away for years andyears and I said what it's crazy
(23:58):
to throw this away.
It's too tough to make into abiscuit.
What can we do with it?
And so we started rolling itreally thin, cutting it, poking
holes in it and using it on ourcatering platters to serve as a
cracker.
And people would say what isthat?
So it's a biscuit cracker.
Like what is a biscuit cracker?
Well, we were creating a newproduct and we had no idea.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Like not just a new product for Callie's.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
No idea like not just a new product for Callie's, but
it's like the pretzel chip.
It didn't exist before.
The pretzel chip exists now,and so we just came out in
February with a line of threeflavors of crackers biscuit
crackers, and they're going intoWhole Foods in a month and the
fresh market and we're workingon more distribution.
But they come in sea salt,sharp cheddar and everything
well, apparently they're goingto go into Michael's wife's
(24:42):
shopping cart and hopefullythey'll go into your shopping
cart.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
That goes along with the biscuits and everything else
that she's going to buy.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
That's right.
That's right, absolutely that'sright.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
So during my search through your website a lot of
great information I saw the 10ingredients that you have listed
.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
And they're really amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You, you have listed and they're really amazing.
You know hard work, listenbetter, community, artisan, and
the list goes on all through the10 of them.
But I love the way you've putin here, like for hard work.
It says a pinch of motivation.
Um, can you talk a little bitabout those 10 ingredients?
Because what I'm seeing andwhat we've, we've seen in your,
your growth as a business owner,as an entrepreneur now it's a
leadership role to teach into,far more than just a great
(25:24):
biscuit.
Can you talk to us a little bitabout this recipe, these 10
ingredients?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
So that is our manifesto that we came up with
as a company years ago, and itstarted by interviewing our
current staff and saying youknow, what does this mean to you
?
What does Callie's mean to you?
Why do you do this?
For whom do we do it?
And as a result of that auditand you know whatever you want
(25:49):
to call it poll we came up with.
These are the things that areimportant to us and how do they
relate to what we're doing andjust trying to create a culture
within our company which, as aleader, has been such an
unexpected surprise that Ididn't know I needed to do that
until I did, and then I did itand I really love it.
(26:12):
I mean, it is one of my favoritethings about being a business
owner is being able to work withpeople and try to motivate them
and build them up and push themto do better and take
initiative, and there needed tobe kind of like this standard of
this is how we do it, this iswhy we do it, this is for whom
we do it, and these signs arehanging up in all of our
(26:36):
eateries to remind our team.
We have shirts that say it.
To remind our team, we haveshirts that say it that the
whole goal is to be kind toeveryone, from the mailman to
the delivery driver, to thegarbage man, to ourselves.
Don't just be nice to customers.
Be nice to your coworkers, benice to your boss, everything.
(26:57):
Because you spend so much timeat work, you might as well enjoy
it, that's right.
And it is not easy that creatingthe culture and creating the
culture is easier than keepingthe culture, because as you grow
, you have more people come andgo, and not everybody subscribes
to that, and that's okay.
And not everybody stays withyou for more than a season, and
some people stay for a lotlonger and you know, somebody
(27:19):
described it to me one time as atree.
So you have your roots.
Those are your people that aregoing to be with you forever.
You've got your base and thoseare your strong people that you
know are really there.
Then you've got your limbs.
They come and go and yourleaves are seasoned, and that
made so much sense to me.
But to try to create a culturewhen you have a growing company
(27:39):
is a daily challenge, and sothis kind of just grounds us.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
And you still work in the day-to-day operations of
the company, correct?
I do you haven't just passedthat off yet.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
There was a time that I did, and what I have learned
is that it's better to stayreally close to it.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Well, especially when it's grandma's biscuits, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
I'm sorry, mom's biscuits, mom's biscuits, I
apologize.
They all had a part in it.
I'm sure they all had a hand init.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I'm sure there's a little bit of all the women in
your family in that biscuitrecipe.
And then Mount Pleasant are youever going to come here?
No, I can't ask that.
Can I ask that question?
You can ask that question.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
You know we have looked at many spaces, but after
COVID I made a consciousdecision to not, at this time,
open any more Hot Little BiscuitBake Shops, because it gets
really exciting to go oh, I wantto be here.
I want exciting to go.
Oh, I want to be here.
I want to be here, I want to behere and that's the fun part
and putting it together andopening day, but then at the end
(28:49):
of the day, like there's onlyso many hours in the day and I
have to go back to my shiningbeacon light and my goal in life
is to have a lifestyle with myfamily, but also be in the food
world, and so that's hardbecause you have to put your
blinders on and we have ourhands full with king street and
market.
We're still in a staffingcrisis.
(29:10):
It has not gotten better, nomatter what, anybody says it's
not any better in mount pleasanteither yeah, and I want to be.
I actually want to be everywhere.
I think that hot little biscuitis the best franchisable
concept.
But I'm not going to do that onmy own.
I'm going to wait until I findthe perfect partner, and that
may happen tomorrow, it mayhappen next year, it may not
(29:32):
happen.
But if it's going to happen,it's not going to be just me,
because I have to focus onmaking sure that I don't get
distracted with, as my husbandsays, the shiny things.
She's like you're such anentrepreneur.
You're like, oh, let's do this,let's do this, let's do this.
And yeah, because you get bored, like once something is
underway, you're like, okay,what's next?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
And you have to.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I have to learn how to just enjoy not being in chaos
at all times.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Well, it sounds like your husband's the perfect
partner, then he your husband'sthe perfect partner, then he's
the one who keeps yeah, I don'talways listen to him.
Well, I don't think I listen tomine very often either, but it
sounds like he's got some reallygreat advice for you know,
making sure that you keep yourfocus straight, because, of
course, it is your family first.
That's right um and when I saidabout muslin I just wanted to
tell everybody the ride downtownis worth it for the biscuits.
(30:18):
So you know, do not let thatbridge stand in the way of the
best biscuit you're ever goingto have.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Do not, and if you don't like to come downtown, you
can Uber eats the biscuits toyour house.
Can you make it any?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
easier for us to get biscuits.
Does your wife know that shedoes not?
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Okay, she's learning something new today we have a
whole catering division.
We will cater and bring to youdrop off staff.
Give me something new today.
We have a whole cateringdivision.
We will cater and bring to youdrop off staff, whatever you
like.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
So fun fact, fun question If your biscuits could
tell a story.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
What would it be?
Any story?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Any story.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Well, I hope that if the biscuits could tell a story,
they would talk about the 19years and the wild ride in which
we've been on.
I mean, we've got some crazystories and I've always said, if
somebody asked me to write abook about my journey, the title
would be you Cannot Make thisBeep Up Because they're so.
You know, I think especially weall know that social media
(31:21):
makes it look like it's thisbooming empire and everything's
going great.
And it's not like that at all.
It is.
It's an S show on the inside.
You know, we are happy andworking easier, but it actually
just keeps getting harder,because as you grow, the
(31:44):
problems continue to mount andthe problems are harder to solve
and you can't just throw peopleat it, because then you get
further away from it and thenyou're not really knowing
exactly what the problems are,because you're trying to let
your people handle the problems,but if they don't handle them
the right way, then you find outabout it after the fact.
(32:05):
So it's a struggle and that'spart of why I wanted to downsize
a little bit and then focus ongrowing one area, because it is.
It's difficult and this economythat we're in has made it with
staffing and then just inflation, making it very hard to make
(32:25):
money.
Before a pandemic it was a loteasier.
It's very hard to make moneyright now.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
And then you mentioned earlier your catering
business.
Not many people know that youhave a catering business.
You do everything.
I know I've been to a couple ofevents where you've been, and
it was the pimento cheese.
What was on that, Amanda?
It was the pimento cheesebiscuit.
I just ate like 14 of them, oh.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I just couldn't stop.
I believe it was almost when Ifirst moved here too, so I was
still getting my taste of thisdelicious southern food.
You've certainly embraced that,for sure, but tell us a little
about the catering businessthough.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
It was not our intention to have a catering
business, but people keptcalling the restaurants and
saying I want to order 10 bakers, dozens and you know grits for
20.
And then the restaurantscouldn't support that and
support the line they had.
So we moved the catering out toour production facility which
is in the Navy base.
And it's been great because ourteam of bakers that make for
(33:27):
our wholesale, we can pull oneor two off and they can make the
catering orders like thishappened this morning and they
can prep it and then it doesn'taffect the service in the
restaurants.
But you know there's deliveringissues, like just last week one
of the girls locked her keys inher car and she can't get the
food to the person.
(33:48):
You know there's always aproblem, there's always a hurdle
to get over and it's very small.
But I don't like to tell peopleno, and when they call and say
we need this and that and that,I'm like okay, let's make it
happen.
You know that's just my way.
So, yeah, it's not a big partof our business, but I think
(34:08):
that it helps elevate and spreadthe word about the brand and a
lot of the caterings that we'redoing are Saturday morning,
bridal luncheons, bacheloretteparties, that kind of thing.
So those are usually peoplefrom, not from Charleston, and
(34:31):
so every chance I get to get abiscuit into somebody's mouth
that's never had them, that tome is the best advertising,
because I believe that once youtaste them you'll realize that
this is not just your averagebiscuit and hopefully they'll
remember that.
I feel very strongly that mostpeople associate food with
comfort and memories and youknow, going back to your
question, what's the bestcompliment I've ever received is
(34:53):
when somebody takes a bite ofone of our biscuits and they say
that reminds me of my mother,my grandmother, my aunt, who
used to make biscuits by handand we don't have the recipe
anymore.
And that, again, is anotherincredible compliment of my
mother, my grandmother, my aunt,who used to make biscuits by
hand and we don't have therecipe anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
That again is another incredible compliment.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
I guarantee you that bride's going to go back to
where they came from and thenstart ordering Hopefully order
online or go to Whole Foods andget them in the freezer.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
You always talk about your time here in Charleston,
right?
So let's add ordering biscuitsto the get-home-to-do list, for
sure.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
That's the goal.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Another fun question for you.
All right, so if you could havea biscuit party and invite any
three people who are still hereor gone, who would you invite?
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Oh, what a great question.
Okay, if I could have a biscuitparty, I would probably invite
both of my grandmothers who havepassed, because they both made
biscuits, and I would inviteNatalie Dupree, who is still
alive, and I would probablyinvite someone like Edna Lewis,
(35:52):
who I've always looked up to andread her books and she was a
Southern, amazing Southern cook,but an icon, and I don't know.
I think that would be my four.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
That sounds like a fun party yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
We'll have fantastic and you'll have biscuits.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
And we will have biscuits.
We'll have a biscuit bar, abiscuit board, biscuit making
classes, all the things that'sperfect, perfect.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
So quick question on your husband's side has he been
active in the business or has hejust been like an advisor?
Speaker 3 (36:23):
He is the official martini maker.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Okay, that's a very important job.
Very nice yes.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
And he is the official complaint register.
He listens to me complain.
Got it, which is a horrible job,but he's really good at it and
he always is quick to remind me.
I don't feel sorry for you.
You keep going and you knowhe's really good about.
Uh, no, he's not officially inthe business, but I think we.
He has his own business, sowe're constantly talking about
(36:51):
either our children or ourbusinesses and the problems and
how do we solve that and whatshould we do about that.
So I'm very grateful to havesomebody that is always willing
to help me solve the problems,but also it's fun to know that
you're supported equally by yourpartner and vice versa, and I
don't know.
it just makes life fun.
(37:12):
It makes life fun to have anentrepreneurial family.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
So you obviously done business in the Charleston area
for a while and we are abusiness organization, the
Chamber, so can you give ourlisteners, who are perhaps just
starting out or thinking ofstarting out, some advice about
doing business in the area?
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Well, one thing that I'm really bad about is
networking, so I think that thatis super important.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
And that's what we do good.
I know the Chamber does somevery good networking things.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
You do that very well , and that is definitely
something I should work on.
I'm not sure I will take thaton in this stage of my life, but
I love doing things like thisbecause I can talk about my
business without having to.
I don't like to ask people forthings, and so that's where I
have a weird thing aboutnetworking.
But anyway you should network.
You should get out into thecommunity and talk to as many
(38:02):
people as you can.
If you have a product-basedbusiness, you should give out
your product and try and get theword out.
But I think the one thing thathas helped me in the beginning
was starting out small and beingokay with being small and not
spending money until you make it.
That gets a little bit harderto do as you grow, but just
(38:27):
taking it slow.
You know, I get a lot of phonecalls from people that want to
start this ranch salad dressingbusiness or a cookie company and
I say you know there's no rush.
I know that you're excited andthat's a hard thing because you
have all that momentum, but goto the farmer's market, sell it
there, like, don't kill yourself.
There's plenty of business androom for everybody and there's
(38:49):
plenty of time, unless you'rejust trying to scale it and sell
it.
So take it easy, take it slow,enjoy your life.
I am a huge believer inbuilding a business around your
lifestyle, not building yourlifestyle around your business,
and I think it's easy as anentrepreneur to get caught up in
doing the other.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
No, that's some great advice there.
We obviously have a lot ofsmall businesses in our chamber
and of course we are here tohelp support them.
But I see what you mean.
I've talked to some of ourmembers who have opened a
location that's doing great,which of course, we all want,
and I hear little whisperingsabout maybe do a second one.
I'm like you know, let's beopen a day and see how it goes,
(39:31):
and I'm only saying this becauseI actually care about you and
your business and your family.
So I think that's a reallygreat piece of advice.
And so, before we let you go,because I really want to eat
that platter of biscuits that'ssitting in front of me, if you
could eat only one of yourbiscuits for the rest of your
life, which biscuit is it goingto be?
Speaker 3 (39:54):
It's definitely the buttermilk, because the
buttermilk is the base foreverything.
It's kind of like a blankcanvas.
It's four ingredients, it'swhole buttermilk, salted butter,
cream cheese and our flour, andit can be anything and
everything.
And so growing up, I atebiscuits more for supper than I
did for breakfast, and I feellike America has conditioned
(40:18):
everyone to think that biscuitsare for breakfast, which I love
biscuits for breakfast, but Ithink they're for every meal,
and so a buttermilk biscuit canbe breakfast, lunch, dinner,
dessert.
It can be sweet, it can besavory, it can be topped with,
filled with anything right.
And I think I love biscuitsspecifically the buttermilk,
(40:43):
because they can be served atthe finest cocktail parties at
the White House and be served onsilver platters and they're the
best things you've ever tasted.
But they can also be served atthe Bowman Interstate gas
station and be 59 cents and beone of the best biscuits that
you've ever had, and for me,biscuits hold no economic
(41:07):
barriers and they speak toeverybody, and they're not just
the bread of the South, they arethe bread of our country.
They're one of the first breadsthat came over and there's just
something so important aboutthis bread.
It has such great history andreally one of the reasons that I
said to my mom when we firststarted we, this handmade art of
(41:30):
biscuit making, is dying.
I grew up at my grandmother'syou know, right by her side and
watched her make biscuits everyday and we had them hot coming
out of the oven and they.
We never had a meal withoutbiscuits and nobody does this
anymore.
And so we need to revive thisart of biscuit making because
it's a part of our heritage andour culture and the biscuits
that are available to us now arejust not what they should be
(41:53):
well.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Every time my husband opens one of those pop cans, I
want to say who they are,because he loves biscuits.
Um, and, like you said, he'lldo it for breakfast, lunch,
dinner, doesn't matter.
I literally, I just literally.
My eyes roll to the back of myhead.
I'm like you live in Charlestonand you are popping that can of
biscuits, are you out of yourmind?
So I've been working on him.
(42:13):
Thank you, I appreciate it, I'mgoing to work on him to get in
the car or get online and orderthem.
But you're right, I meanthey're a staple.
They're a staple of so manypeople's.
They're a staple.
They're a staple of so manypeople's tables and stories and
histories and stuff.
Well, we obviously wish youcontinued continued success on
this amazing business of yours.
(42:34):
Yes, If you have not watchedyour PBS show On a Roll, how she
Rolls.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
How she Rolls, I apologize.
Wherever TV is available AmazonPrime, pbs, of course you can
just type it in.
You can probably pull it up onYouTube too.
I don't know anything aboutthat, but yes.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Probably, Probably.
Make sure you check that outyour cookbooks real quick.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
Yes, we have Callie's Biscuits and Southern
Traditions.
They're available wherevercookbooks are.
And then we have Hot LittleSuppers and they both have
chapters on biscuits, butthey're really story-focused
recipes about either my growingup and my grandmothers and my
mothers and my dad, or HotLittle Suppers is really more of
(43:15):
a modern version of what I'vefed my family for the last 20
years.
And all the stories that comealong with it, which, to me, is
the best part of the cookbook.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Well, that's it because they're made with love.
I can already.
Oh yeah, when I eat them, Irealize it.
When I sit here and talk to you, I realize about it, and it's
so refreshing to me becausethere's so many big businesses
and things out there and I thinka lot of them have lost that
None in Mount Pleasant None ofour chamber, of course, but you
(43:45):
all know what I mean.
They've lost.
There's so many ways of doingcustomer service and speaking
with their customers these daysand there are so many big
companies that were so bad at itand just sitting here listening
to you.
Honestly, when you go and youtake a bite of this, you feel
the love, the history, thetradition, and so you've done
(44:06):
just really an incredible job,thank you.
So thank you for taking timeout of your busy day to be here
with us today, and there arequite a few left on this plate
and they're going to be gone inabout five minutes, folks, so
you are out of luck.
I want to again thank oursponsors Charleston Radio Group
and, of course, our friend BrianCleary great supporters of the
(44:29):
Mount Pleasant Chamber ofCommerce.
If you want to be a sponsor ofour podcast or be a guest on our
show, just reach out to us andwe'll get back to you.
Be sure to subscribe to all ofour media channels.
We will be on Spotify, itunes,youtube, instagram, facebook and
LinkedIn.
So thank you for being with ustoday.
Until next time, mount Pleasant.
(44:50):
Until next time, listeners.
I'm just kidding.
All right, you ready everybody,very exciting.
Well, hello and welcome to theBuilding Business Podcast
powered by the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
We're here in our favoriterecording studio with Charleston
Radio Group and Brian Cleary,both huge supporters of the
chamber.
Thanks to you both, uh, kathyherman, here I am the current
(00:25):
president of the chamber ofcommerce.
I am also the marketingdirector at mount pleasant town
center.
Uh, so thank you all forjoining us listeners.
Um, I'm here today with myguest co-host, michael cochran.
Michael is our current mountpleasant chamber of commerce
foundation chair.
Michael, introduce yourself yep, so mich.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So, michael Cochran, I'm a local Mount Pleasant
resident.
I'm past president of theChamber of Commerce and sit as
the chairman of the foundationnow and glad to serve, happy to
serve, love our chamber, loveour business community, but more
importantly, I love the peoplein our community and so it's
just fun to be here and do theseconversations that we have.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Well, we have a good one for you today, michael, and
everybody else that's listeningout here today, if you love our
community so much, I'm justgoing to read just a little bit
of this, okay, before Iintroduce her.
Touted by Oprah Wow, food andWine, Southern Living, the New
York Times, bake from Scratchand Good Morning America.
That's all in one sentence,okay, among others, our guest
(01:26):
has established herself as anauthority on entrepreneurship
and is committed to helpingwomen build their own empires in
ways that feel most authenticand most in alignment with who
they aspire to be.
I mean, how amazing is that?
And when we're talking aboutthis, we are talking about
biscuits.
Everybody, the most deliciousthing in the world biscuits.
(01:50):
So we are so excited andhonored to have Kari Mori,
founder of Kali's Hot LittleBiscuit, with us today.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Thank, you Welcome Welcome.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Thanks for asking me and of course, Kari was smart
and showed up with a hot thingof biscuits for all of us.
We haven't eaten them yet.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Two are missing, maybe a couple missing.
Two are missing.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Two are missing already.
That was pretty fast, guys.
That was pretty fast, guys.
Carrie, thank you again so muchfor being here.
It's such an interesting story,such an interesting person.
I think this is the first timeyou and I have ever met.
I think so, which is a shame,but I have had your biscuits.
Well, I'm glad to hear that Ihave had your biscuits, so tell
(02:34):
us a little bit about how youstarted, where the inspiration
for Cowleys came from.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Sure, well, I'm a native of Charleston, grew up
almost all my life in MountPleasant, in the old village,
and I have always had a strongpassion for cooking and
entertaining, and from a veryyoung age, and my mother, callie
, for whom the business is named.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, scratch that question off.
Scratch that question off.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Had a small catering business and I was always the
one serving her delicious foodand the number one product that
was always asked to be served atany party was her hand biscuits
.
So you know, starting doingthat in early teens all the way
through college, then graduatingfrom college, going to New York
(03:22):
, living in New York, justfalling in love with the food
scene, I worked for an Internetcompany and kind of putting all
those things togetherunintentionally, as I went along
and grew up and came home, gotmarried, had our first daughter.
I just wanted to figure out away to work within my passion
(03:46):
but also have the lifestyle thatI wanted to have, which was to
really be a really present momand and not have a nine to five
job where I was working all thetime.
So I created Callie's biscuitsas a mail order only biscuit
company, which most people don'tknow because in 2005, there was
no internet, really there's nosocial media, and so we were
(04:08):
just selling online andabsolutely nobody was buying
them.
We really did, and I, you know,of course.
I think this is a testament toany entrepreneurial passion that
you have is that it neveroccurred to me that I would have
problems selling them, becauseI grew up with them.
(04:30):
I watched people's reactions, Iknew how great they were and I
wanted it to fit into mylifestyle.
I wanted to be in the foodbusiness but I didn't want to
own a restaurant.
Now I have two.
See how things change.
And it wasn't that I didn't wantto have a restaurant.
It was that I was really tryingto have that balance, and I
think for women it's so hard tofind the balance.
In the last 15 years it'sbecome a lot easier because just
(04:53):
careers have come up that aredifferent than in 2005 and
before that.
Traditional careers were go tothe office nine to five.
It's very different now, whichis great.
But so I created this idea tosell her ham biscuits, which I
didn't bring you today I'm sorry, but think about that.
For a second an internetbusiness, a mail order internet
(05:14):
business, only in 2005, createdwith one product country ham
biscuits which not many peopleeven know what country ham is we
do in the south.
But it was a horrible businessplan, you know.
It wasn't about me building andscaling this business and I
knew that biscuits were going tobe in favor.
I felt that charleston was onthis, on the cusp of something
(05:35):
which those were just luckyguesses they were really good
guesses, they were good guessesuh
and I think our timing was greatand and we had a lot of luck on
our side.
But what has happened in thelast 10 years I never dreamt
about until you know.
You just go through and you'relike, well, what if we did this?
Well, what if we did this?
And you don't even realize thatyou've.
(05:57):
You know, at one point beforeCOVID, we had 80 something
employees for restaurants inthree states, ecommerce,
wholesale distribution, a TVshow, cookbooks, I mean and it's
a little bit more calm now, butit's still insane and growing a
business is incrediblydifficult and we're just
weathering the storm and tryingto solve the daily problems.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
So what was the first after your initial startup and
mail order in 2005,?
What was the next step?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
that you did.
So.
Every step of the business thathas been created after that was
a reaction to well, how do Igrow the business?
And so, because there was nosocial media and no way to get
the word out, I started lookingfor ways to broaden the horizon.
So I started with Ted's ButcherBlock downtown Charleston and I
(06:49):
said, okay, well, maybe I canjust create this little
wholesale program where I go inand I sell them biscuits and
then they put them in theirfreezer and sell them to their
customers.
And so that started.
Very simply, six stores inCharleston.
And then, when I got that downpat, I was like, well, let's go
to Somerville, let's go toColumbia.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
And then it just kind of grew.
Piggly Wiggly called Isn't thatnice to think about Piggly
Wiggly.
They called put us in all theirstores when Piggly Wiggly
transferred to Harris Teeter.
Then Harris Teeter took us onand it just kind of slowly,
organically grew and then wehave a mail order and a
(07:30):
wholesale program.
And then we got into a165-store chain, the Fresh
Market, and they called and saidwe're going to order nine
pallets and I said, awesome,what's a pallet?
I had no idea right.
Thank goodness by then googlewas underway and I could google
what is a pallet then you had tofigure out how to bake.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I had to figure out how to bake it?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
how to ship it.
I didn't have a.
I hadn't had one walk-infreezer that carried all of our
products.
So I went across the street atthe time all of our products.
So I went across the street Atthe time we were on Meeting
Street.
I went across the street to thePiggly Wiggly, talked to my
friend, the manager there, and Isaid hey, I just got a
nine-pallet order for biscuits.
I have no idea how to get itthere.
And he said Just bring themover to our warehouse.
(08:09):
We'll keep them in our freezerand tell your truck driver to
come pick them up.
Them in our freezer and tellyour truck driver to come pick
them up.
Well, I didn't know what apallet count was going to be.
So I took all the car seats outof my Suburban, laid them down
flat and I could fit 63 boxes,which created our first pallet.
So, you know, I think that I'mnot very good at business, but
I'm really good at figuring outproblems on the fly.
(08:30):
So that was our first pallet,and that was that was in 2006
and where'd you bake them all?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
and I mean well, we had.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
We rented a space in 2006 downtown on meeting street,
right next to church's friedchicken, because we were renting
kitchens.
We were renting cateringkitchen space from.
I'm gonna really remind y'allof the old days on Coleman
Boulevard.
Oh, my gosh, what's the name ofthe old restaurant that's now
Cantina?
Oh, I'll remember it.
(09:01):
I'll remember it.
Are y'all from Charleston?
Yeah, okay, I'll remember it ina minute, anyway, jb Stroh, jb
Stroh.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
JB.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Stroh had a catering kitchen, which is now the surf
shop, and that was where wewould bake the biscuits.
We'd bake them once a month.
Department of agriculture camein they said okay, if you bake
them and package them here, youcan keep them in a freezer in
your house.
I had babies like not evencrawling, so I would fill the
one or two orders a week thatwere that were going out and
take them to the fedex center.
(09:28):
So we did have a commercialkitchen but it was small and it
used to be an office and nobodywould initially give me a lease
because they had never heard ofwhat is a biscuit business.
You know nobody, right?
I mean, they think aboutPillsbury.
Pop the can on the counter.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Okay, these are not Pillsbury pop.
The can biscuits let me tellyou.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Thank you.
So question for you on thetiming.
So you started in 05.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
End of 05.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
End of 05.
05 was good financially in thecountry and then the fourth
quarter kind of took a dip.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
So 06 was good.
Then we have 08.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yes.
So you got a new business, noteven five years old.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
That was a long time ago.
I do remember being veryworried about.
These are very expensivebiscuits and at the time we only
sold them by the dozen.
So we're talking $ 15 to $19for a dozen biscuits.
How is this going to work?
And at that time we didn't havefull-time employees.
It was myself.
My mom had actually left.
(10:25):
She started the business withme.
That was a disaster on bothsides.
We couldn't even be in the sameroom.
So we decided it was best forour relationship to part ways.
But you know, at that time Iwas able to really keep things
lean and say, okay, guys, I needyou two days this week and they
would fill the freezer and I'dsay I'll call you when I need
(10:46):
you again.
So it was all about keepingyour costs really low and
because our product has such along shelf life, you know that
really benefited us that we wereable to, you know, have not
regular and I was doing all thedelivering, the, the.
You know every part of thebusiness I was doing.
And my best friend, amy, who hasbeen with me since the very
(11:07):
beginning, was, you know, wewere both, our kids were in
preschool and we were both likeworking two to three hours a
week and I was paying her hourly.
I wasn't paying myself, but youknow we made it, we made it
through.
We also were really blessedwith having great press and that
(11:29):
was something from thebeginning that we hired LeapFrog
, who has been with me since thebeginning, and they were able
to send biscuits to the TodayShow, to Bon Appetit magazine,
to all the magazines, and thatwas how we kind of started
getting a following of people onour email list and you know.
So then you can email peopleand say do you want to buy?
You know, this is everybodyknows this now, but back in the
(11:50):
day there was no template forthis and we were just kind of
flying by the seat of our pantsand I felt bad emailing people
every week saying, hi, buy myham biscuits, sure.
And a friend said well, you cookall the time, why don't you
give them a recipe?
It gives you a reason to reachout to them and you're giving
them something and not justalways asking to buy.
(12:10):
And I said, okay, I'll do that.
And so I think I wrote, youknow, a chicken salad recipe.
I just wrote about what I wascooking.
And then we got on the todayshow in 2008 and Hoda.
This is back in Hoda and KathyLee days and we showed them how
to make the biscuits and webrought a warm crab dip to eat
(12:31):
with the biscuits and they tookthe bite of the biscuit and put
a little crab dip and they wentoh my gosh, that is the best
crab dip I've ever had.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And we were like, oh no, where's that biscuit?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
we had, we did.
We were very blessed withhundreds and hundreds of orders.
We also got over 400 phonecalls and emails for the crab
dip recipe right so then Icreated a blog on the website,
and so then that started a tonof recipes, because I would have
to write a recipe every week oronce a month, I can't even
remember now.
And then that was how I got acookbook deal.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Did you ever expect to be on the Today Show by
baking biscuits?
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
No, I had no.
What a journey.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, it's been an amazing journey it is.
And it's been an amazingjourney it is, and you know, as
an entrepreneur, you don'treally sit around and think
about oh wow.
Somebody asked me just lastnight what is the coolest thing
you've ever done?
I couldn't even begin to tellyou that Sure, and I hate that I
haven't done a better job ofchronicling chronicling is that
the right word the journey I?
(13:33):
I mean, I have a journal that Iwrite in.
But you know, just like top 10things that were, you know,
being on top chef definitely atop 10 thing.
Meeting martha stewart beingnamed as one of her finalists
for uh dreamers and the doersbeing on the today show those
are all things that are pinch memoments, right, having our own
television show on pbs so Iguess I could name them if I
(13:54):
really sat down and thoughtabout it, but I'm always too
busy thinking about what's thenext thing.
Stop and write all those downand then send them to Carrie.
Okay, can you send them to meplease?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But you mentioned earlier that at the time when
you started, you didn't wantrestaurants.
Yes, so what changed that?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Okay, so we started the wholesale program, still
really small but got into somegrocery stores so we had mail
order and wholesale.
Then I wrote a cookbook and Iwent on a cookbook tour and the
four or five people during thecookbook tour that came to see
me would say when we come toCharleston, where can we get
your biscuits hot?
(14:28):
And I didn't have an answer.
So I'm like how do I, how do,where do they get the hot little
biscuits?
This is the question that I'minternally asking myself.
So I went back to all myfriends in in the culinary
community, knocked on doors atHigh Cotton and, like, met with
all my old bosses in inCharleston.
I said and and you're going tonot believe this, but at the
(14:48):
time nobody had biscuits on ontheir menus in Charleston.
Now everybody.
There are biscuit restaurantseverywhere.
There were no biscuits.
And I said you need to putthese biscuits on your, on your
menu and people will pay forthem.
Like a basket of Callie'sbiscuits for $5.
And I showed them the pricelist and they're like absolutely
not, that's ridiculous.
And I said but you could chargefor them.
No, so I couldn't get thebiscuits to be hot and be able
(15:11):
to tell people where to go.
And then I went to listen to aseminar I don't even know where,
maybe at the Fancy Food Show inNew York, and the executive VP
for Stonewall Kitchens, which isa big CPG brand in Maine, spoke
and they said well, everybodyknows our stores, just like
William Sonoma's, don't makemoney.
(15:32):
And I thought, what, and whoknows if that's really true?
But his point was these arethis is the way we market our
business and this is because wehave a brick and mortar.
Then people will then go andtry to search and find us online
.
And I thought, oh, I need tohave a store and it's going to
be called the Hot Little, hotlittle biscuit.
(15:53):
And then a restaurant was bornand I'm like, but I said I
didn't want to be in arestaurant business.
And at this time I had threedaughters under the age of.
They were six, five and four.
I mean really close together.
And when the youngest, sarah,went into kindergarten, I all of
a sudden had, from seven 3030in the morning to 2 pm, where I
(16:15):
could work for the first time, afull block of working hours.
And I said, okay, I'm going toopen this store and it's going
to be open from 8 to 2 because Ican drop off and pick up if I'm
the only one in the store.
And I never wrote a formalbusiness plan, but I did write
down all of my expenses and howmany transactions I would need
to have in order just to breakeven, because I wasn't
(16:39):
interested.
I just wanted to market thebusiness and we had no idea what
we were getting ourselves into.
This space is an alley.
It's 8 feet wide and 80 feetlong and we have a galley
kitchen that is 36 inches wideand we are cooking, cooking
frying eggs to order on a hotplate and we're you know.
I mean it's.
(16:59):
It's calmed down now, but inthe height of the craziness, I
mean we would have people waitin line for an hour and a half
and that's a wonderful thing,but also like talk about a
stress creator, looking at allthese people standing in
100-degree rain heat waiting forbiscuits to get to the front of
the line.
We're sold out.
It was a wonderful thing, butthere was also an enormous
(17:23):
amount of stress associated withthat, which we're obviously
very grateful for.
Every experience it's been awild ride.
This July we'll celebrate 10years on King King Street, which
is crazy to think that we'vebeen open a decade that's
fantastic
Speaker 2 (17:37):
yeah yeah, tell us a little bit about the show.
I think it's called how sheRolls.
Tell us a little bit about that, because you're in season two
now, correct?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
we have filmed season two and it is out there and, as
of right now, we're not doing aseason three.
Okay, it has.
It was a wonderful.
We were approached by aproducer and I honestly, even at
the premiere of season one, Ithought this isn't really
happening.
Like it's not going to reallyair and it aired in 96% of the
(18:08):
country.
I just I went through themotions and I love the concept
and I love that I was able tofeel safe with PBS and I was
able to be my authentic self andnot make things up and there
wasn't this dramatic play to itlike a lot of reality television
shows and it was my true storyand hopefully not only did it
(18:31):
put eyes on the business buthopefully it also inspired other
women and people to do theirdream.
So we started filming inSeptember of 19 and really got
into the meat of filming rightas COVID hit and it just takes
you through the whole year andwe won a Peabody for the season
(18:53):
one, which I didn't know what aPeabody was, but apparently
that's a cool thing and TV justadd that to your list of
accomplishments that's right.
And uh, then we did a season twoand then our our youngest
daughter got really sick and itwas just something had to give.
And you know we were still inCOVID and we just said, you know
, we need to probably take alittle bit of a break and focus
on making sure everybody's COVID.
And we just said, you know, weneed to probably take a little
(19:14):
bit of a break and focus onmaking sure everybody's healthy.
And we ended up closing two hotlittle biscuits that we had
opened, one in Atlanta and onein Charlotte, which was sad but
also really great from aperspective of if you're going
to grow the business, youprobably need to not be so wide
and be a little bit more focusedon what areas.
(19:34):
And you know I learned that thehard way.
I had no business experience,so we're kind of on that track
now.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Well, I think off the top of my head.
I would think that Atlanta andCharlotte are two pretty good
places.
They were great, but they arefar from here.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
They were great and it was just what I have learned
the hard way is that it isreally hard.
Even if you have I had anamazing team it's really hard to
make restaurants work outsideof you touching them every day,
and so it gave us greatvisibility as a brand and so
many people, so many new eyes onus, and we were open in Atlanta
(20:08):
for seven years and it wasamazing, Charlotte, we opened
two weeks before COVID, so itnever got off the ground but,
there were great lessons tolearn, expensive lessons, but
that's how you learn right.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
That's right.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
It was funny this morning, as I'm preparing and
I'm having my coffee.
My wife and I are chattingabout our days.
She said so what are you doingtoday?
And I told her, and she saidwell, who are you going to?
have a conversation with who'sgoing to be interviewed.
And I told her and she left theroom very quickly and she came
back and, for those of you thatare listening, I'm holding up a
bag of hot little biscuit cheesecrisps and she holds this up
(20:47):
and they're empty.
Yes, it's empty, an empty bag.
And she holds it up and shepoints it at me and she goes you
tell, carrie that I am aGod-fearing woman, but I am
sinning because I'm covetingwhat is in this bag.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Well, you tell her that I had two handfuls of those
today before I came here,because that's what they were
baking today.
And it is the death of me.
These are my weakness, becauseI'm a snacky kind of person and
they're so good, so we were onvacation last year and we went
to Freshfields for breakfast andall of a sudden I look back and
(21:18):
I see my wife coming with thisbag.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I'm like she's got pimento cheese and she's got
these.
It was just absolutelyfantastic.
So she actually has in her cartto buy for our vacation this
year.
She has biscuits for that.
Oh, tell her, thank you.
So as I was doing my research,I see this big following that
you have, that you've createdthis huge following of folks
with stories like that.
(21:41):
Do you have any fun storieslike that that you can share
with us?
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I don't know if I can pull off a specific story, but
I will tell you that one of mygreatest joys is working down at
our Hot Little Biscuit shop,specifically at the register,
because I meet so many peoplethat have followed us, have
watched the show and have comespecifically to eat our food,
which is such an incrediblecompliment, knowing all the
(22:07):
amazing restaurants we have herein Charleston.
And when somebody tells me andthis happens often that they've
come to eat breakfast with usevery day of their vacation, I
am completely blown away.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Because I love food and I travel just to eat and
even if it's the best meal I'veever had, I don't think I've
ever been back twice in the samevacation, just because you're
trying to experience everything.
So that is just such an amazingcompliment.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
That's more than a compliment, karen.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
That's more than a compliment, it's not even enough
to say it's a compliment.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So I do love when that happens.
That's a badge of honor, yeah,and so, speaking of the crisps,
we know you're known for yourbiscuits.
What are your other favoritefoods that you're either serving
at the restaurant and or haveavailable for customers?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Well, other than the biscuits, we serve slow-cooked
overnight grits so you can getthem in a biscuit bowl or a
regular cup and you can have anytoppings, like roasted tomatoes
, avocados, green onions,cheddar cheese, chopped bacon,
all the things.
And that is a nod to like mygrowing up and being in my
grandmother's house on JohnsIsland.
There was always grits on thestove and you just kind of
(23:15):
rummaged through to put whateverwas in there, fold in a little
egg, just comfort food, rightSausage gravy, which has been
super popular.
And then we package the cheesecrisps, which have just gone
through a new packaging changeand we now call them cheese
wafers and people seem tounderstand them more.
The cheese crisps.
People think there's no flourin them because you know the
(23:36):
parmesan crisps.
So cheese wafers.
And then we just created thisnew product along with our
pimento cheese that we've hadfor years.
We just created biscuitcrackers.
So there was this alwaysleftover dough, because you know
we make all the biscuits byhand and so once you get to the
second rollout there's alwayslike a ball of dough and we were
throwing it away for years andyears and I said what it's crazy
(23:58):
to throw this away.
It's too tough to make into abiscuit.
What can we do with it?
And so we started rolling itreally thin, cutting it, poking
holes in it and using it on ourcatering platters to serve as a
cracker.
And people would say what isthat?
So it's a biscuit cracker.
Like what is a biscuit cracker?
Well, we were creating a newproduct and we had no idea.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Like not just a new product for Callie's.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
No idea like not just a new product for Callie's, but
it's like the pretzel chip.
It didn't exist before.
The pretzel chip exists now,and so we just came out in
February with a line of threeflavors of crackers biscuit
crackers, and they're going intoWhole Foods in a month and the
fresh market and we're workingon more distribution.
But they come in sea salt,sharp cheddar and everything
well, apparently they're goingto go into Michael's wife's
(24:42):
shopping cart and hopefullythey'll go into your shopping
cart.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
That goes along with the biscuits and everything else
that she's going to buy.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
That's right.
That's right, absolutely that'sright.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
So during my search through your website a lot of
great information I saw the 10ingredients that you have listed
.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
And they're really amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You, you have listed and they're really amazing.
You know hard work, listenbetter, community, artisan, and
the list goes on all through the10 of them.
But I love the way you've putin here, like for hard work.
It says a pinch of motivation.
Um, can you talk a little bitabout those 10 ingredients?
Because what I'm seeing andwhat we've, we've seen in your,
your growth as a business owner,as an entrepreneur now it's a
leadership role to teach into,far more than just a great
(25:24):
biscuit.
Can you talk to us a little bitabout this recipe, these 10
ingredients?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
So that is our manifesto that we came up with
as a company years ago, and itstarted by interviewing our
current staff and saying youknow, what does this mean to you
?
What does Callie's mean to you?
Why do you do this?
For whom do we do it?
And as a result of that auditand you know whatever you want
(25:49):
to call it poll we came up with.
These are the things that areimportant to us and how do they
relate to what we're doing andjust trying to create a culture
within our company which, as aleader, has been such an
unexpected surprise that Ididn't know I needed to do that
until I did, and then I did itand I really love it.
(26:12):
I mean, it is one of my favoritethings about being a business
owner is being able to work withpeople and try to motivate them
and build them up and push themto do better and take
initiative, and there needed tobe kind of like this standard of
this is how we do it, this iswhy we do it, this is for whom
we do it, and these signs arehanging up in all of our
(26:36):
eateries to remind our team.
We have shirts that say it.
To remind our team, we haveshirts that say it that the
whole goal is to be kind toeveryone, from the mailman to
the delivery driver, to thegarbage man, to ourselves.
Don't just be nice to customers.
Be nice to your coworkers, benice to your boss, everything.
(26:57):
Because you spend so much timeat work, you might as well enjoy
it, that's right.
And it is not easy that creatingthe culture and creating the
culture is easier than keepingthe culture, because as you grow
, you have more people come andgo, and not everybody subscribes
to that, and that's okay.
And not everybody stays withyou for more than a season, and
some people stay for a lotlonger and you know, somebody
(27:19):
described it to me one time as atree.
So you have your roots.
Those are your people that aregoing to be with you forever.
You've got your base and thoseare your strong people that you
know are really there.
Then you've got your limbs.
They come and go and yourleaves are seasoned, and that
made so much sense to me.
But to try to create a culturewhen you have a growing company
(27:39):
is a daily challenge, and sothis kind of just grounds us.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
And you still work in the day-to-day operations of
the company, correct?
I do you haven't just passedthat off yet.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
There was a time that I did, and what I have learned
is that it's better to stayreally close to it.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Well, especially when it's grandma's biscuits, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
I'm sorry, mom's biscuits, mom's biscuits, I
apologize.
They all had a part in it.
I'm sure they all had a hand init.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I'm sure there's a little bit of all the women in
your family in that biscuitrecipe.
And then Mount Pleasant are youever going to come here?
No, I can't ask that.
Can I ask that question?
You can ask that question.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
You know we have looked at many spaces, but after
COVID I made a consciousdecision to not, at this time,
open any more Hot Little BiscuitBake Shops, because it gets
really exciting to go oh, I wantto be here.
I want exciting to go.
Oh, I want to be here.
I want to be here, I want to behere and that's the fun part
and putting it together andopening day, but then at the end
(28:49):
of the day, like there's onlyso many hours in the day and I
have to go back to my shiningbeacon light and my goal in life
is to have a lifestyle with myfamily, but also be in the food
world, and so that's hardbecause you have to put your
blinders on and we have ourhands full with king street and
market.
We're still in a staffingcrisis.
(29:10):
It has not gotten better, nomatter what, anybody says it's
not any better in mount pleasanteither yeah, and I want to be.
I actually want to be everywhere.
I think that hot little biscuitis the best franchisable
concept.
But I'm not going to do that onmy own.
I'm going to wait until I findthe perfect partner, and that
may happen tomorrow, it mayhappen next year, it may not
(29:32):
happen.
But if it's going to happen,it's not going to be just me,
because I have to focus onmaking sure that I don't get
distracted with, as my husbandsays, the shiny things.
She's like you're such anentrepreneur.
You're like, oh, let's do this,let's do this, let's do this.
And yeah, because you get bored, like once something is
underway, you're like, okay,what's next?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
And you have to.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I have to learn how to just enjoy not being in chaos
at all times.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Well, it sounds like your husband's the perfect
partner, then he your husband'sthe perfect partner, then he's
the one who keeps yeah, I don'talways listen to him.
Well, I don't think I listen tomine very often either, but it
sounds like he's got some reallygreat advice for you know,
making sure that you keep yourfocus straight, because, of
course, it is your family first.
That's right um and when I saidabout muslin I just wanted to
tell everybody the ride downtownis worth it for the biscuits.
(30:18):
So you know, do not let thatbridge stand in the way of the
best biscuit you're ever goingto have.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Do not, and if you don't like to come downtown, you
can Uber eats the biscuits toyour house.
Can you make it any?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
easier for us to get biscuits.
Does your wife know that shedoes not?
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Okay, she's learning something new today we have a
whole catering division.
We will cater and bring to youdrop off staff.
Give me something new today.
We have a whole cateringdivision.
We will cater and bring to youdrop off staff, whatever you
like.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
So fun fact, fun question If your biscuits could
tell a story.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
What would it be?
Any story?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Any story.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Well, I hope that if the biscuits could tell a story,
they would talk about the 19years and the wild ride in which
we've been on.
I mean, we've got some crazystories and I've always said, if
somebody asked me to write abook about my journey, the title
would be you Cannot Make thisBeep Up Because they're so.
You know, I think especially weall know that social media
(31:21):
makes it look like it's thisbooming empire and everything's
going great.
And it's not like that at all.
It is.
It's an S show on the inside.
You know, we are happy andworking easier, but it actually
just keeps getting harder,because as you grow, the
(31:44):
problems continue to mount andthe problems are harder to solve
and you can't just throw peopleat it, because then you get
further away from it and thenyou're not really knowing
exactly what the problems are,because you're trying to let
your people handle the problems,but if they don't handle them
the right way, then you find outabout it after the fact.
(32:05):
So it's a struggle and that'spart of why I wanted to downsize
a little bit and then focus ongrowing one area, because it is.
It's difficult and this economythat we're in has made it with
staffing and then just inflation, making it very hard to make
(32:25):
money.
Before a pandemic it was a loteasier.
It's very hard to make moneyright now.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
And then you mentioned earlier your catering
business.
Not many people know that youhave a catering business.
You do everything.
I know I've been to a couple ofevents where you've been, and
it was the pimento cheese.
What was on that, Amanda?
It was the pimento cheesebiscuit.
I just ate like 14 of them, oh.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I just couldn't stop.
I believe it was almost when Ifirst moved here too, so I was
still getting my taste of thisdelicious southern food.
You've certainly embraced that,for sure, but tell us a little
about the catering businessthough.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
It was not our intention to have a catering
business, but people keptcalling the restaurants and
saying I want to order 10 bakers, dozens and you know grits for
20.
And then the restaurantscouldn't support that and
support the line they had.
So we moved the catering out toour production facility which
is in the Navy base.
And it's been great because ourteam of bakers that make for
(33:27):
our wholesale, we can pull oneor two off and they can make the
catering orders like thishappened this morning and they
can prep it and then it doesn'taffect the service in the
restaurants.
But you know there's deliveringissues, like just last week one
of the girls locked her keys inher car and she can't get the
food to the person.
(33:48):
You know there's always aproblem, there's always a hurdle
to get over and it's very small.
But I don't like to tell peopleno, and when they call and say
we need this and that and that,I'm like okay, let's make it
happen.
You know that's just my way.
So, yeah, it's not a big partof our business, but I think
(34:08):
that it helps elevate and spreadthe word about the brand and a
lot of the caterings that we'redoing are Saturday morning,
bridal luncheons, bacheloretteparties, that kind of thing.
So those are usually peoplefrom, not from Charleston, and
(34:31):
so every chance I get to get abiscuit into somebody's mouth
that's never had them, that tome is the best advertising,
because I believe that once youtaste them you'll realize that
this is not just your averagebiscuit and hopefully they'll
remember that.
I feel very strongly that mostpeople associate food with
comfort and memories and youknow, going back to your
question, what's the bestcompliment I've ever received is
(34:53):
when somebody takes a bite ofone of our biscuits and they say
that reminds me of my mother,my grandmother, my aunt, who
used to make biscuits by handand we don't have the recipe
anymore.
And that, again, is anotherincredible compliment of my
mother, my grandmother, my aunt,who used to make biscuits by
hand and we don't have therecipe anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
That again is another incredible compliment.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
I guarantee you that bride's going to go back to
where they came from and thenstart ordering Hopefully order
online or go to Whole Foods andget them in the freezer.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
You always talk about your time here in Charleston,
right?
So let's add ordering biscuitsto the get-home-to-do list, for
sure.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
That's the goal.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Another fun question for you.
All right, so if you could havea biscuit party and invite any
three people who are still hereor gone, who would you invite?
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Oh, what a great question.
Okay, if I could have a biscuitparty, I would probably invite
both of my grandmothers who havepassed, because they both made
biscuits, and I would inviteNatalie Dupree, who is still
alive, and I would probablyinvite someone like Edna Lewis,
(35:52):
who I've always looked up to andread her books and she was a
Southern, amazing Southern cook,but an icon, and I don't know.
I think that would be my four.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
That sounds like a fun party yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
We'll have fantastic and you'll have biscuits.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
And we will have biscuits.
We'll have a biscuit bar, abiscuit board, biscuit making
classes, all the things that'sperfect, perfect.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
So quick question on your husband's side has he been
active in the business or has hejust been like an advisor?
Speaker 3 (36:23):
He is the official martini maker.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Okay, that's a very important job.
Very nice yes.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
And he is the official complaint register.
He listens to me complain.
Got it, which is a horrible job,but he's really good at it and
he always is quick to remind me.
I don't feel sorry for you.
You keep going and you knowhe's really good about.
Uh, no, he's not officially inthe business, but I think we.
He has his own business, sowe're constantly talking about
(36:51):
either our children or ourbusinesses and the problems and
how do we solve that and whatshould we do about that.
So I'm very grateful to havesomebody that is always willing
to help me solve the problems,but also it's fun to know that
you're supported equally by yourpartner and vice versa, and I
don't know.
it just makes life fun.
(37:12):
It makes life fun to have anentrepreneurial family.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
So you obviously done business in the Charleston area
for a while and we are abusiness organization, the
Chamber, so can you give ourlisteners, who are perhaps just
starting out or thinking ofstarting out, some advice about
doing business in the area?
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Well, one thing that I'm really bad about is
networking, so I think that thatis super important.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
And that's what we do good.
I know the Chamber does somevery good networking things.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
You do that very well , and that is definitely
something I should work on.
I'm not sure I will take thaton in this stage of my life, but
I love doing things like thisbecause I can talk about my
business without having to.
I don't like to ask people forthings, and so that's where I
have a weird thing aboutnetworking.
But anyway you should network.
You should get out into thecommunity and talk to as many
(38:02):
people as you can.
If you have a product-basedbusiness, you should give out
your product and try and get theword out.
But I think the one thing thathas helped me in the beginning
was starting out small and beingokay with being small and not
spending money until you make it.
That gets a little bit harderto do as you grow, but just
(38:27):
taking it slow.
You know, I get a lot of phonecalls from people that want to
start this ranch salad dressingbusiness or a cookie company and
I say you know there's no rush.
I know that you're excited andthat's a hard thing because you
have all that momentum, but goto the farmer's market, sell it
there, like, don't kill yourself.
There's plenty of business androom for everybody and there's
(38:49):
plenty of time, unless you'rejust trying to scale it and sell
it.
So take it easy, take it slow,enjoy your life.
I am a huge believer inbuilding a business around your
lifestyle, not building yourlifestyle around your business,
and I think it's easy as anentrepreneur to get caught up in
doing the other.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
No, that's some great advice there.
We obviously have a lot ofsmall businesses in our chamber
and of course we are here tohelp support them.
But I see what you mean.
I've talked to some of ourmembers who have opened a
location that's doing great,which of course, we all want,
and I hear little whisperingsabout maybe do a second one.
I'm like you know, let's beopen a day and see how it goes,
(39:31):
and I'm only saying this becauseI actually care about you and
your business and your family.
So I think that's a reallygreat piece of advice.
And so, before we let you go,because I really want to eat
that platter of biscuits that'ssitting in front of me, if you
could eat only one of yourbiscuits for the rest of your
life, which biscuit is it goingto be?
Speaker 3 (39:54):
It's definitely the buttermilk, because the
buttermilk is the base foreverything.
It's kind of like a blankcanvas.
It's four ingredients, it'swhole buttermilk, salted butter,
cream cheese and our flour, andit can be anything and
everything.
And so growing up, I atebiscuits more for supper than I
did for breakfast, and I feellike America has conditioned
(40:18):
everyone to think that biscuitsare for breakfast, which I love
biscuits for breakfast, but Ithink they're for every meal,
and so a buttermilk biscuit canbe breakfast, lunch, dinner,
dessert.
It can be sweet, it can besavory, it can be topped with,
filled with anything right.
And I think I love biscuitsspecifically the buttermilk,
(40:43):
because they can be served atthe finest cocktail parties at
the White House and be served onsilver platters and they're the
best things you've ever tasted.
But they can also be served atthe Bowman Interstate gas
station and be 59 cents and beone of the best biscuits that
you've ever had, and for me,biscuits hold no economic
(41:07):
barriers and they speak toeverybody, and they're not just
the bread of the South, they arethe bread of our country.
They're one of the first breadsthat came over and there's just
something so important aboutthis bread.
It has such great history andreally one of the reasons that I
said to my mom when we firststarted we, this handmade art of
(41:30):
biscuit making, is dying.
I grew up at my grandmother'syou know, right by her side and
watched her make biscuits everyday and we had them hot coming
out of the oven and they.
We never had a meal withoutbiscuits and nobody does this
anymore.
And so we need to revive thisart of biscuit making because
it's a part of our heritage andour culture and the biscuits
that are available to us now arejust not what they should be
(41:53):
well.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Every time my husband opens one of those pop cans, I
want to say who they are,because he loves biscuits.
Um, and, like you said, he'lldo it for breakfast, lunch,
dinner, doesn't matter.
I literally, I just literally.
My eyes roll to the back of myhead.
I'm like you live in Charlestonand you are popping that can of
biscuits, are you out of yourmind?
So I've been working on him.
(42:13):
Thank you, I appreciate it, I'mgoing to work on him to get in
the car or get online and orderthem.
But you're right, I meanthey're a staple.
They're a staple of so manypeople's.
They're a staple.
They're a staple of so manypeople's tables and stories and
histories and stuff.
Well, we obviously wish youcontinued continued success on
this amazing business of yours.
(42:34):
Yes, If you have not watchedyour PBS show On a Roll, how she
Rolls.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
How she Rolls, I apologize.
Wherever TV is available AmazonPrime, pbs, of course you can
just type it in.
You can probably pull it up onYouTube too.
I don't know anything aboutthat, but yes.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Probably, Probably.
Make sure you check that outyour cookbooks real quick.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
Yes, we have Callie's Biscuits and Southern
Traditions.
They're available wherevercookbooks are.
And then we have Hot LittleSuppers and they both have
chapters on biscuits, butthey're really story-focused
recipes about either my growingup and my grandmothers and my
mothers and my dad, or HotLittle Suppers is really more of
(43:15):
a modern version of what I'vefed my family for the last 20
years.
And all the stories that comealong with it, which, to me, is
the best part of the cookbook.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Well, that's it because they're made with love.
I can already.
Oh yeah, when I eat them, Irealize it.
When I sit here and talk to you, I realize about it, and it's
so refreshing to me becausethere's so many big businesses
and things out there and I thinka lot of them have lost that
None in Mount Pleasant None ofour chamber, of course, but you
(43:45):
all know what I mean.
They've lost.
There's so many ways of doingcustomer service and speaking
with their customers these daysand there are so many big
companies that were so bad at itand just sitting here listening
to you.
Honestly, when you go and youtake a bite of this, you feel
the love, the history, thetradition, and so you've done
(44:06):
just really an incredible job,thank you.
So thank you for taking timeout of your busy day to be here
with us today, and there arequite a few left on this plate
and they're going to be gone inabout five minutes, folks, so
you are out of luck.
I want to again thank oursponsors Charleston Radio Group
and, of course, our friend BrianCleary great supporters of the
(44:29):
Mount Pleasant Chamber ofCommerce.
If you want to be a sponsor ofour podcast or be a guest on our
show, just reach out to us andwe'll get back to you.
Be sure to subscribe to all ofour media channels.
We will be on Spotify, itunes,youtube, instagram, facebook and
LinkedIn.
So thank you for being with ustoday.
Until next time, mount Pleasant.
(44:50):
Until next time, listeners.
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