Turning Deviled Eggs into a Shark Tank Success Story with Raechel Van Buskirk

Send us a text

A slow Sunday at a neighborhood lounge turned into the spark for a national brand. Raechel Van Buskirk shares how a grumpy regular, a tray of sriracha bacon deviled eggs, and pure curiosity unlocked a simple truth: everyone loves deviled eggs, no one wants to make them. That insight carried her from bar brunches to trailers, a mall push-cart next to a missing Santa, a full-service restaurant, and now a franchise model with nationwide shipping and high-protein bowls built around eggs.

We get into the gritty details operators care about: testing flavors with real customers, pricing a labor-heavy product, making the line a show instead of a secret, and turning a nostalgic side into a year-round habit. Raechel breaks down the Shark Tank journey from the first email to a deal with Barbara and Mark, and the moment Damon called her food the best he’s eaten in 16 seasons. More important than TV praise, she explains the systems that let a humble egg travel well: chilled whites, sealed fillings, toppings, and instructions that land a “deviled egg bar” in your kitchen.

This is also a story of cost and courage. Raechel and her husband sold assets, reinvested relentlessly, and kept building through a cancer diagnosis. The leadership lessons are simple and sharp: hire for strengths, trust quickly, let experts work, and fail fast without shame. We look ahead to a Dallas-area shop where guests watch their deviled eggs, egg salads, and hot protein bowls assembled Chipotle-style—think egg whites instead of rice, big flavor, and serious protein for GLP-1 era appetites.

If you’re hungry for resilient entrepreneurship, category reinvention, and the craft of turning a commodity into culture, you’ll feel right at home here. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves bold ideas and better snacks, and leave a review so more builders can find this conversation.

Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com

Episode Transcript

Brandon Mulnix (00:30):
I'm your host, Brandon Mulnix, and I am really
excited to talk to you guystoday.
Yeah, I've got to startbringing in some puns.
Some of my audience wascomplaining there's not enough
bad egg puns.
So today, we're gonna actuallytalk about eggs.
And this is a prettyinteresting one because not
every day do I get to talk aboutdeviled eggs.

(00:53):
And as a very good consumer offood, one of my favorite dishes
is Deviled Eggs.
And so I just so happened at arecent event run into the owner
and founder of Deviled EggCompany.
And man, did she not let usdown.
She served us samples of someof the most amazing eggs deviled

(01:16):
eggs I've ever tasted.
So I had to get her on thepodcast.
She's also a really good friendof one of our other guests,
Bruce Doima.
And so if you haven't went backand listened to Bruce's story,
just think of deviled eggs theentire time you listen to
Bruce's story because I thinkhe's addicted.
But with no further ado, I'dlike to introduce Rachel Van
Buskirk to the show.
Welcome, Rachel.

Raechel Van Buskirk (01:38):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
It's nice to be here.

Brandon Mulnix (01:41):
So, Rachel, tell our audience a little about who
Rachel Buskirk is.

Raechel Van Buskirk (01:45):
Well, so I am 36 years old.
I was born and raised in Omaha,Nebraska.
That's how I met Bruce, um,being a little closer to center.
I currently reside in Denison,Texas.
It's about an hour north ofDallas.
And I founded the Devil ACompany back in uh 2017,
actually.
I've been in food and beveragefor over 20 years.

(02:07):
I've done everything from bustables, served, bartended,
managed, and then ended uppartnering on a few concepts.
I did some consulting work andactually did attend culinary
school as well.
You name it, I've done it infood and beverage.
So it was kind of natural forme to combine my entrepreneurial
spirit with a food product likeDeviled Eggs.
Yeah, that's me in a nutshell.

Brandon Mulnix (02:27):
Well, what's interesting about you is, you
know, it's you were you got toshare the stage on UE at UEP as
one of the speakers.
And regarding your story on howDeviled Eggs company got
started.
So will you share your storywith the audience?

Raechel Van Buskirk (02:44):
Sure.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, that was such anhonor too.
I mean, uh seriously, ahighlight of my career is, you
know, you you dream of a worldwhere you can be just plopped
right in the middle of a couplehundred people that have the
same passion and excitement forsomething so specific.
It's like this really doesexist.
There's there is a heaven, youknow.
Um, we I just had such a blastthere.

(03:06):
It was so much fun.
But yeah, so uh Devil A Companystarted back in 2017.
I um you know, I mentioned I'mI've been in the food and
beverage industry a long time.
Well, back then I was thegeneral manager of a lounge
called the VIP Lounge.
If you're from Omaha, you'veprobably heard of it.
It's a staple, it's been therefor, I don't know, a very long
time.
I think it I think it opened inthe early 60s.

(03:28):
But it uh it was on 90th andcenter, and it was kind of like
it was like the the like likecheers.
If you've ever watched thatshow, you know, it was like but
a little a little like a littlemore depressing, I guess.
I don't know.
But you had the same guyssitting in the same seat every
day for 25 years and they'd tellall their stories, and you
know, they all had these huge,crazy big careers, and I mean

(03:48):
they just they there was never alack of interesting topics to
discuss with them, especiallyafter a few scotches.
But yeah, so back then I wasrunning that bar and uh a lot of
people don't know it, but Idon't know.
I I had actually the the yearleading up to starting the Devil
Day Company, I was trying tostart the Jell O Shot Company.

(04:09):
So I'll tell you a little bitabout how different my life is
now from where maybe could havegone.
But I was, you know, I was inbars and and it was really the
same kind of concept.
It was, you know, I was makingall these different flavored
cello shots for about two years.
I mean, I had done like crazyflavors.
Now they're much more commonthat you can buy them at like
different grocery stores andstuff.
But, anyways, that the youknow, that's actually the

(04:30):
Facebook page that's Deviled EggCo's originally was the Jell O
Shot Company.
It's funny, I I forgot about itand I was looking at when we
founded our Facebook page alittle while back.

Brandon Mulnix (04:38):
They're the same shape about the same size, just
a little bit different productsinvolved.

Raechel Van Buskirk (04:44):
Same type of like weird obsession of these
little things tastingdifferently.

Brandon Mulnix (04:48):
But it could give you some new flavors for
your deviled deviled eggs.

Raechel Van Buskirk (04:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So I yeah, I'd been I'd beenmeticulously, you know, doing
doing the same process, I guess,longer than I realized.
But so in 2017, I had alreadygone to culinary school at the
time.
Prior to me running this bar,my husband and I had looked at
purchasing an existing, anotherexisting bar in town.
And when we were doing that,I'd realized that, you know, I

(05:13):
didn't really know how to managea kitchen.
I've always been passionateabout food, but I didn't want to
have my hands tied by, youknow, any employee.
I wanted to jump in and be ableto run it, you know, end to
end.
So I thought, okay, I'll go toculinary school.
I'm gonna learn about running akitchen.
And so that's actually why Iwent to culinary school to start
with.
Ended up loving every second ofit.
It was the only, you know,culinary classes were the only

(05:34):
classes I'd ever thrived in, youknow, ever in my life.
I always struggled a lot inschool, unless it was to be
creative or artistic.
Yeah.
So so I really enjoyed culinaryschool, ended up not buying the
bar, working at the DIP lounge,and Sunday business was slow.
So so I started making theseelaborate catered brunches for
all of our regulars.
And it was effective.

(05:55):
You know, they were these guysare like, you know, 70s, 60s,
70s, they don't have a lot goingon.
And so it was like, oh, I was Iwas making like really
over-the-top stuff because therewas only like 10 guys that
would sit at the bar.
So after a couple of weeks, itturned into them and then some
buddies they'd call.
And then their wives startedshowing up and then other
friends, and it went from like10 guys to 30.
And then I had like 50, 60people I was trying to feed.

(06:15):
They're waiting in the parkinglot outside on a Sunday morning,
just like ready to get in thereand eat their free lunch.
And, you know, while I wasgrowing that customer base, I
was always making deviled eggs.
And I had noticed, you know,very often they would talk about
how much they love deviledeggs.
You know, everybody wanted themand no one wanted to make them.
And these guys are like, mywife will only make them during

(06:36):
the holidays, or I only gotthem.
And they and then they tellstories about how much they
loved their mom's deviled eggs.
And it was this likeheart-wrenching, nostalgic
thing, but also just they justloved them.
And and so I continued to makethem.
Well, very quickly, you know,when that customer base jumped
to what it was, I had to getreally creative with what I

(06:57):
could make to feed, you know,with the budget I had to feed
all of them.
One Sunday I was gonna do ataco bar and it just hit me.
I'm like, they love deviledeggs.
You know, eggs at the time werelike two cents a piece on the
consumer side.
They were nothing.
You know, just like before allthe bird flu stuff that before I
was really aware of it, or youknow, it wasn't going on at that
time.
And so I bought a couple, youknow, the 60-count cases of eggs

(07:18):
from Walmart, and I boiled andhand-peeled them all, and I made
this 200-count spread of allthese deviled eggs.
I did a sriracha bacon one, Ihad sriracha hot sauce in my
fridge, and then I did a chorizoavocado and like a taco
flavored egg.
So it was like a taco bar.
And I put them all out.
I had these like weirdcontainers.
I don't know, I bought them, Idon't know where I bought them.
They all showed up that day,and like I'll never forget, I

(07:41):
had this one customer, his namewas Wilson.
He was a big guy, loved foodthat he was a huge foodie, but
he had that like kind of likepermanently frowning face, you
know, kind of that like bulldoglooking face.
And he also had no filter andhad no problem telling me what
he thought.
So he showed up that daythinking he's gonna get a taco
bar, and all he saw were someeffing deviled eggs, and he was
not happy.

(08:01):
And I was like, just give him atry, give him a try, let me
know what you think, you know.
And so I'm sitting behind thebar and he grabs his little
flimsy paper plate and he putslike nine deviled eggs on it,
and he's just just like glaringat me, like staring into my
soul.
And he sits down in his seatand gets his doors on the rocks,
and he starts to eat them.
And the whole bar is kind oflike staring at him.
All these guys are like waitingto see what he has to say

(08:23):
because he was not happy.
He doesn't say anything, he'sjust looking at me and he's
chewing.
And all of a sudden, he pullsout a cell phone, a cellular
phone.
We so just so you know, likenobody that came to that bar
knew that Wilson owned a phone.
Like he had never used a cellphone, the guy didn't use
technology, and this thing waslike it like flipped down with
an antenna, like it looked likeit survived the Clinton

(08:44):
administration.
Like this thing was it wasoutdated.
He flips it open and he callssomebody and it's like this guy,
Dave, or something.
I mean, he's like, Yeah, no,you gotta get down here.
These are the best freakingdeviled eggs I've ever had in my
life.
And he's telling some randomperson that we didn't know that
these eggs were amazing.
And he was like, kid, I thinkyou're on to something here.
He gave me like that nod ofapproval, and I was like, Okay,

(09:04):
all right, there is somethinghere.
And I, you know, I got him, youknow, I got that approval I was
looking for.
And the whole bar just kind ofwent crazy.
And that whole day, alleverybody did was talk about how
they all love deviled eggs andthey can't get them anywhere,
and these are so good, and Inever thought to put these
toppings on them, and and it wasjust so invigorating for me.
Like it, it just it was justthat it lit that fuse, and I'm
like, okay, there's somethinghere.

(09:24):
And immediately, you know, forthe next probably week, I'm
Googling deviled egg businesses,deviled eggs for sale, deviled
eggs shipped, deviled eggs innothing.
The only thing that would popup was like, you know, Paula
Dean puts bacon on deviled eggs.
And that was like the wildestthings that had ever happened to
deviled eggs at the time.
And so I'm like, you know,there's something to this.

(09:45):
If if I can do this, if honeybaked hams can create what
they've created around hams,right?
And there's competition allover for ham.
You can buy at the grocerystore, you can get it anywhere.
If honey-baked hams can do it,why not deviled eggs?
Why are deviled eggs just aChristmas or a Thanksgiving food
or Easter?
Like, why not have them anytime of the year?

(10:06):
And if we can make these eggstaste like other foods or have
them emulate these other foodsthat are so, you know,
consistently consumed in oursociety, like why not?
So I had this really rareopportunity where I had found
maybe the only thing left on theplanet that everybody loves and
understands and wants and noone wants to make.
There was truly no one elsedoing that.

(10:28):
And it was just this likefireworks went off.
I'm like, there, I'm the rightperson.
I'm here.
This is the thing that I shouldbe doing.
And it was also thisopportunity where, you know, I
had this vehicle that I realizedreally quickly I could, I could
make an egg taste likeanything.
I mean, there was, there was mycreativity had no limit.
It was just even now, still, Iget so excited when, you know, I

(10:52):
have a little bit of free timeand that that excited, you know,
creative spark hits me.
And like I get to spend sixhours in the kitchen and just
trial and error, you know, itlooks like a bomb went off.
But those are those are thebest days still, you know,
almost 10 years later.
And so it was just, it was justthe perfect opportunity at the
perfect time.
And uh yeah, so I decided likethat week, you know, I came

(11:13):
home.
I'm like, honey, I'm gonnastart a deviled egg business.
And he's like, Oh, you'reyou're gonna do that.
I was like, Yeah, I think so.
He's like, Okay, you're crazy,but whatever.
I'm not, I've never told you nobefore.
I'm not gonna start doing itnow.
I literally just like signed upthrough legal doc or something.
I made my LLC and I had noclue, you know, how the world
worked in business.
I just knew I liked makingdeviled eggs, and I really am
the great salesperson when I'mpassionate about something.

(11:35):
That was about September of 17,October, November.
I used those next coupleSundays to do focus groups with
our customers and I tried outdifferent flavors and you know,
asked them what they'd pay forthis.
Is it too salty?
You know, I took all of thatcriticism without filter and
made it constructive so itwouldn't be as painful when I
had to hear them all talk aboutuh what I'd made for them, the

(11:57):
guys.
And um, I rented a little divebar kitchen in Omaha from this
lovely couple who wasn't usingtheir kitchen.
And uh they ran it to me fornext to nothing.
It was just the sweetest,kindest thing.
For that Thanksgiving, myhusband and I, without any
recipes, it was all like fromscratch, essentially made to
order because I was it was allover the place.
Uh, we made 2,500 deviled eggs.

(12:19):
And then at Christmas, we made5,000, him and I.
And I had 30 followers onFacebook.
I had the word of mouth by, youknow, my cheers regulars.
These guys were coming in injust herds during the holidays,
picking up bags of eggs inside abar that wasn't even open.
It was at this dark bar, youknow, and that was where it all
started.
And it was, you know, we knew,I knew there was something more

(12:43):
to this.
I knew it.
There has to be.
And unfortunately at the time,not unfortunately, my husband
and I were, you know, just beenmarried, we just bought a house,
and it really, really weren'tin a financial position for me
to just jump off the ledge andgo all in.
And so it remained from 2017until 2020.
It just remained a passion, youknow, kind of an obsession in
the back of my mind, you know,and we'd drive by a certain

(13:05):
establishment that was for rent.
I'm like, oh, that'd be a greatdevil take place, you know, and
then just played around withflavors and did a lot of
research over the next couple ofyears.
And also, you know,simultaneously, I was given some
really great opportunities topartner on a few concepts, get
my feet wet in business, youknow, learn, start to learn all
the things I had no clue about.

(13:25):
And it, it just, it, it allworked out.
The timing was all really whatit was what it should have been.
So in 2020, when when COVID hitand the world shut down, you
know, that was the first timethat I'd really stopped and
slowed down or been forced toslow down, probably since I was
14 years old.
I've been a workaholic forever,you know, I've got a lot of
energy.

(13:46):
And so it was just, and it waskind of really never, just never
an option to not not stay busy.
And um, it was at that timethat, you know, I kind of
started to reflect on where Iwas at in life and and that, you
know, think more about that,that obsession that had been
back there.
I'm thinking, you know, I I'veI know how to manage high volume

(14:06):
restaurants, I know how todevelop food menus, I understand
food costs.
I've I've gotten my, I'vereally gotten an understanding
of like how to manage what Ithought at the time, how to
manage a business.
It's very different when it'sall on your shoulders.
So I've been humbled uh forsure since then.
But I thought, you know, nowit's now or never.
And so in 2020, that was whenwe got the first little food

(14:27):
trailer from a little town nearGrand Island, I think, and got
it wrapped.
And because no one was going,you know, there weren't people
gathering really, we only didoutside events that year.
And actually, we did outsideevents, but the malls were
supposed to open back up.
So we did sign a lease andended up pushing our little
trailer during the holidaymonths into the Westroads Mall
by Santa Claus.

(14:47):
Well, Santa never showed, butwe were required to stay open
and operate in this, you know,and in the mall.
And oh, it was like torture, itwas like being a caged animal
and that little thing.
But as brutal as it was, westill have people to this day
that say, I had you for thefirst time at Westroads Mall.
And it's like, you know, that'syou know, that's marketing,

(15:07):
that's branding, and that'sgrowing the business, is that
you know, sometimes when whenyou're in the middle of the
grind, it's really hard to likesee the forest of the trees, and
and it can feel you knowoverwhelming or defeating, or
you know, like it's not, itdoesn't matter, it's not making
an impact, but ultimately it is,you know, those impressions
last.
So it's just been, you know,now five years later, think

(15:30):
about how many people have said,oh, I've, you know, where
they've seen it or how they'veheard about it, or it was their
cousin from Alaska shared itwith them and they lived up the
street here in Denison.
And it's just, it's such a sucha big but small world.
And so those efforts they doadd up and they do pay off.
And it's just, you know, howlong are you willing to
withstand the storm and how hardare you wanting to work?
So 2020 got the food trailer,tested the market out, even in

(15:54):
the midst of COVID and you know,really slow attendance for
these outdoor events.
We we it was proved, it wasproven that that people loved
these and people wanted them.
You know, having the backgroundin food and beverage that I
did, you know, and probably alittle ego there were that mixed
in there, you know, I wanted, Iwanted to have a home base, I
wanted a restaurant, I wanted todo the full, the full thing.

(16:16):
I don't know if it was more tokind of prove to myself that
that that I could do it, butdecided to open a full
restaurant based around deviledeggs.
And, you know, the way Ijustified it at the time was if
I can draw, I have a bigfollowing in Omaha at the time I
did.
If I could draw people in foramazing cocktails and appetizers
that maybe wouldn't usually eata deviled egg, I can also get

(16:37):
them to try the deviled eggs.
I wanted a reason beyond thedeviled eggs to get butts and
seats.
And uh, and that was theapproach that we took.
So we started selling it likeit was a sushi restaurant.
It's like, come get a roll ofdeviled eggs and have a martini
and get an awesome appetizer.
And and it, and it it took off.
I mean, it did well.
We had a lot of fun with a lotof trial and error back at that

(17:01):
at that store.
I mean, that's where wediscovered, you know, the deep
deep frying the eggs.
That was like a crazymonumental day where we're all
looking at each other like, whyhaven't we been doing this the
whole time?
And and all these customers arepouring through the door for
the deep-fried deviled eggs.
You know, we we did wholesalingfrom that location to a couple
restaurants, coffee shops, andthen we did wholesale from 2020

(17:24):
to a chain of high V grocerystores.
They're not common down here inTexas, no one knows what that
is, but did that for about sixmonths and then figured out
nationwide shipping from there.
You know, we we we learned andperfected our food truck
operations from our Omahalocation, acquired some of the
best employees that are stillwith me now.
I mean, it was just such a sucha such a great couple years.

(17:48):
It's it's just sometimes in themiddle of growing, I guess in
the middle of growing thecompany, like if you think about
it at the time, it feels liketime's going by slow for someone
like me who's reallyfuturistic, and you know, you
want so bad to see it be, Idon't know, some big company
that the whole world knows.
Like you're just so determinedto make sure that everybody has

(18:10):
this thing that you forget tostep back and really appreciate
what's going on at the time.
And and I look back just in thein the short, not even five
years, you know, what we've beenable to accomplish with the
small team that we have has beenmiraculous.
And so it's just uh it's justuh yeah, I get emotional because
I I I don't I don't think aboutit that often until I have an

(18:32):
opportunity, like you've given,you know, to really reminisce
and talk and and say it all outloud.
Just it's amazing.
It's amazing.

Brandon Mulnix (18:40):
What's interesting is in your story as
you go through it, I remember myfirst Deviled Egg from the
Deviled Egg Company, and it wasat a golf outing out in Sioux
Center, Iowa.
And I just remember the passionof Bruce presenting them to
people.
I mean, he was like, This isthe best.
And and I don't know, did hesit at that bar in Omaha,

(19:03):
Nebraska those years?
I mean, was that where he washiding?
Okay, I just want to make surebecause he's just in love with
your with the deviled eggs,yeah.

Raechel Van Buskirk (19:10):
He's and he's you know, and I've never
truly never met anybody aspassionate about the deviled egg
as I have as Bruce.
Like I've met my match, likewe, I mean, when it comes to
deviled eggs, that is like Icould call him up and be like, I
got this idea.
And he'd be like, I'm here, uhdrop everything, cancel my
meetings, we gotta talk deviledeggs.
Yeah, you know, Bruce.
So Bruce, I met Bruce.

(19:32):
He was my very first customeron our grand opening day of
November 2nd, 2021, is NationalDeviled Egg Day.
And we opened at the time, sowhen we first started, we were
gonna be kind of a coffee shopuntil we could get our liquor
license, which is gonna take afew months.
And so we opened up with coffeeand just to go deviled eggs,

(19:53):
and the store was just barren.
There was nothing in it.
I mean, we were all just solittle teeny boppers.
We had no clue, you know, whatthe what was in store for us in
the next couple of years.
But so I opened at 7 a.m.
It's still dark outside.
It was cold that morning.
I mean, it was like 20.
I mean, I swear it was probably20 degrees outside.
And boop, here in walks Bruce,first first customer.
I'm like, oh, somebody's here.

(20:14):
We're so excited.
You know, people actually knewwe were open.
He starts asking me all thesequestions about deviled eggs and
about our operations and how dowe make them and how do we peel
them and how do we cook them?
And I'm like, that's ourproprietary like trade.
Those are our trade secrets.
I'm not gonna share those withthis guy.
I don't know what this is.
And he knew so much aboutdeviled eggs and he done
research about us.
And I'm like, who is this guy?
He wanted to see our kitchen.
So and the space we were in wasan it was previously a smoothie

(20:38):
shop.
So the front kind of had like abar where you'd make smoothies,
and then there's a door to theback, and then they would make
smoothies and they wouldwholesale them out the back
door, so it was divided up.
So our kitchen was private, ithad a big wooden door on it.
And you know, I, you know, Iwas very proud of what we had,
where we what we had been ableto accomplish.
And I also was very paranoid atthe time, thinking someone was

(20:58):
gonna knock us off.
And so I thought I didn't know,I didn't know what Bruce
wanted, but he was wanting tosee my kitchen, and I'm like,
well, no, he's like, Well, let'sjust do a video together for
National Devil Bag Day.
He's like, I'm in the eggbusiness, and I'm thinking,
okay, like egg business, like,do you have a farm?
Like, I don't, I don't know.
He didn't talk anything aboutwhere he comes from, anything
like that, which is fine.
You know, he wanted to go get avideo selfie of us in front of

(21:20):
my food trailer, and I was like,sure, I'll celebrate National
Devil Egg.
Hey, look, we're open, this isgreat.
But I made him walk to thetrailer around the whole
building, like the big outdoor,like outside our in our complex.
I didn't want him to see mykitchen.
So I was like, no, no, no,we'll just walk around.
And so I'm like in high heels,it's negative, I don't know how
many degrees out.
And I don't know if Bruce had acoat on.
I don't think he did.

(21:41):
And I'm we're like, it's theit's a it's kind of an awkward
video.
I don't know, but he's like,it's National Devil Egg Day, and
I'm here with Rachel VanBuskirk with the Deviled Egg
Company.
And I'm like, okay, and thenyou know, we then that was kind
of it.
He got his eggs and and heleft.
And I remember thinking, thatwas such an interesting
interaction.
Like, who is that person?
Is he gonna open a deviled eggcompany?
Like, like he has any time todo.

(22:02):
I mean, now knowing him andlike knowing who he is, I'm
like, oh my gosh, so funny.
So, you know, that's where Imet Bruce.
He followed up just a fewmonths later and he invited, you
know, our company and thetrailer out to cater.
I think it was a, I think thefirst thing was a political
event possibly out there attheir in Sioux Center, Iowa, or

(22:22):
maybe it was a golf tournament.
I can't remember which one, butwe quickly learned that Bruce,
Bruce had a significant impactin in the egg industry.
And I remember meeting, youknow, you know, and Bruce
introduced me to Jim Dean andhis wife, Marilyn, and you know,
seeing seeing what Center Freshand Farms was and Versova and
like learning about all of thiswhole world I had never been

(22:43):
exposed to.
You know, I didn't grow up inag.
My family doesn't farm.
I I just didn't know anything.
And they were so sweet and sohumble and kind and excited to
have us there, and you know,really wanted to just encourage
me as a small business owner andentrepreneur.
And I remember that day, thatfirst day we finished up.
I had been the golf course, andI'm with my husband, and I were

(23:07):
on our drive home, and I'm justover the moon, excited.
I'm like, maybe one day they'llwant to partner with us, maybe
they'll want to invest in thiscompany.
Like, these guys are just thebest.
They're I I can you imaginelike they know everything about
eggs.
Like, I just I just was like soit was like a schoolgirl.
I don't even know.
It was, it was just, it waslike I'd found my people for the

(23:29):
first time since the companystarted.
I was like, these are the kindof people I want to be around.
So anyway, that's how I metBruce.
That's how he introduced me,you know, opened the doors to
this American egg board, thisUEP egg world.
And, you know, even early on,there was a lot of support there
that I was just not ready for.
You know, I was I was too earlyin business.
I couldn't really grasp whatwas being offered, I think.

(23:52):
So yeah, Bruce is Bruce was myconnection to to all of that.
And and we've met a lot ofreally amazing people and here
five years later speaking at aconference, which for someone
who's terrified of publicspeaking is a full 180 from
where we started.

Brandon Mulnix (24:09):
Well, the egg industry is special, and it's
not every day that a productlike yours gets to rise to the
top and get national attention,get the American Egg Board, you
know, invests so much in whatthey do to promote the egg.

(24:29):
And here this product that's uhit's got a life.
It was I I did some researchmyself.
When did this this wholedeviled egg start?
It was like the 13th century,is according to Wikipedia.
It was called the stuffed egg.
Uh Rome, right?
Yeah, Rome.
And it's like okay, this iscrazy that this food has been
around and it's just been yeah,it's it's good.

(24:52):
You know, grandma's you'reputting grandma out of business,
is what I'm understanding here.
Or you're just giving grandmasomething else that you know,
some other ideas to somethingshe can take off her plate.
She can get the she can get thehoney ham and then she gets the
eggs, and now Shelly needs tomake the cranberry, cranberry
jam or jelly or whatever thatstuff is.
But this egg industry special.

(25:13):
One thing that you didn't sharein your story, but in research
and part of your story is youactually were on Shark Tank.
Can you tell me tell us aboutthat?

Raechel Van Buskirk (25:25):
Yeah, I can.
You know, I am under NDA, sothere's quite a bit that I I
can't disclose.
But yes, I'm one of the verylucky few that not only got a
pitch to the sharks, meet thesharks, but you know, be be
offered, you know, get multipleoffers and actually air.
Um, so for those who don't whodon't know, there's you know, 40

(25:46):
to I think some years a hundredthousand businesses, I think
that might be an overshot, butI've read that that apply to be
on Shark Tank.
Out of that, you know, theyselect, I think it's they
whittle it down over the courseof a few months to about a
hundred people that get topitch.
And then out of those hundredthat pitch over the course of

(26:06):
these two pitch weeks or youknow, multiple weeks of
pitching, only about 60% ofthose people air.
So your chances are really,really slim.
Um, what was really special forus is you know, I had heard
plenty of times, you know, sincethe beginning of, you know,
since the start of the companythat, you know, this is so
unique, you should go on SharkTank.

(26:27):
And my response was always,well, you know, that sounds
great.
I mean, I would love to, butyou know, there's nothing
proprietary about it.
And I think deep down, youknow, I I wasn't, I was nowhere
near prepared.
I still feel like I wasn't, youknow, when we went up there to
pitch, how do you prepare forsomething like that, you know,
fully.
But I was, I was, you know, Iwasn't, I wasn't, I just wasn't

(26:48):
ready.
And and there was fear that,you know, somebody else who had
the infrastructure could see howgreat this idea is and you
know, get to the finish line wayquicker than I would have been
able to back then.
So I was like, oh, I'd say,yeah, well, maybe one day if
they reach out to us and theygo, everybody would laugh, like,
yeah, right, you know, likegood luck with that.
And um, you know, sure as heck,February of 2024, it's 25,

(27:11):
yeah, February of 24, I get thisemail.
The subject line said SharkTank.
And I was sitting in thisrestaurant, I'm in Denison at
our headquarters here on MainStreet, but I was out in the
main dining area.
My mom was sitting down becausewe did this, it was a full
dining, this wasn't an officeback then where I'm sitting.
But uh, she's sitting down at atable, and I just was gasped.
And she looked up at me, like,what happened?

(27:33):
And I was like, Shark Tank.
And she's like, What do youmean?
I'm like, I think I just got anemail from Shark Tank.
And she's like, It's probablyan ad.
I'm like, Yeah, no, it'stotally probably just some kind
of spam.
And I click it and I startreading, and it was like, hey,
saw your stuff on TikTok.
It was clearly like not somemass email that was sent out.
And it said, you know, I'd loveto set up a call if you're
interested in raising funds.

(27:53):
You know, I'm a producer on theshow, Max Swedlo, where I look
this guy up and he's theexecutive producer.
Like, this is the guy.
He was traveling or something,and and I get on a phone call
with him just a few, a littlewhile later.
And of course, my mom'sfreaking out.
I'm freaking out.
I call my sister, she's here,and we're all just like huddled
around listening to that.
I'm you know, I've got it onspeakerphone, and my sister's

(28:13):
like tears coming out of hereyes, and my mom's crying, and
I'm like trying to keep ittogether because I can't believe
this is happening.
Because every entrepreneur,whether you want to admit it or
not, you wants to be on SharkTank.
That is like the that's thegoal.
Like, who doesn't want thatkind of exposure and that kind
of validation and that, youknow, all of those the ego side
of it, right?
Yeah, and so we talked, and andhe's like, I was scrolling in

(28:37):
the middle of the night, and Isaw some video of deviled eggs,
and and I know who posted thevideo.
I gotta send her a thank yougift.
So just some young girl thatpopped in and loved deviled eggs
and made this cute little reel,and she doesn't even realize
the impact she had, you know, onus.
It's just amazing.
But yeah, so at that point intime, you know, we had some
discussions amongst our team anddecided that yes, you know,

(28:57):
good or bad, whether we get adeal, whether they make us look
terrible, it's worth the press.
It's worth it.
You know, we're at this pivotalmoment.
We knew we wanted a franchise,it was kind of the kick in the
butt that we needed to get itgoing.
That's that's why we movedheadquarters to Texas was a
larger market, you know, betteryear-round, just traffic with
the weather.
And so as soon as we startedgoing through that process,

(29:19):
that's when we opened up oursecond, our our first to go
location, our first rendition ofthat franchise model in
McKinney, Texas.
The first we opened that Julyof 24.
We ended up filming Septemberof 24.
And then we were that seasonfinale, May of 25.
So, you know, you film and itall happens, and you got to keep
your mouth shut.
And I I I'm telling you, Imean, there were times where I

(29:43):
thought I dreamt it.
Like you, you, you're you justlike can't believe that that
really happened and and no oneknows, and you can't tell
people.
And it it was just, I mean, itwas the whole thing was just a
dream come true.
And it was it was great.

Brandon Mulnix (29:57):
So that is super.
Exciting.
I mean, I can only imagine it.
I can I can imagine it.
It's I I used to watch thatshow a lot when I was I owned my
own business years ago when itwas early.
And it's like, man, what wouldwhat would what's that product
that would make it on SharkTank?
That idea, that entrepreneuridea that would just get enough

(30:20):
glamour to just make it.
And I've I've got one otherperson in my life that's
actually been on Shark Tank witha toy that she made.
And that was really cool.
You know, it was it wasmonumental for her.
I don't think she got an offer,but at the time it was, it was
it's really cool to have that asseen on Shark Tank kind of
moment.

(30:41):
But it's something that youshould be proud of.
I mean, to make it, to pitch,and then to get an to get an
offer, not one offer, but two.

Raechel Van Buskirk (30:51):
Yeah.

Brandon Mulnix (30:51):
And you can share that, right?

Raechel Van Buskirk (30:53):
Because it's yeah, yeah.
So so you know, we we did ourpitch and and you know, we most
most pitches they range in therebetween you know 15 minutes and
a half hour.
You're in there as long as youneed to be in the tank to get
your point across.
You know, they're gonna ask asmany questions as they want
until they fully understand oryou know, whatever.
It's it you really truly, forthose who do not believe that

(31:17):
it's real, it is real.
The the negotiations betweenthe sharks and what you and you
and your business, 100% real.
And then, you know, you gotABC, the show side.
But the ABC doesn't, doesn'tthere's no coaching, there's
none of that.
Is if either you fall on yourface, you fall on your face,
good for TV.
You do great, good for T.
No, I'm kidding.
They were really, they werereally encouraging, actually.

(31:37):
ABC, it was great to work with,work with them.
And but yeah, we, you know, I Iit went it went by so fast, and
you can't, you know, you don'tsee it for months.
And so there was pieces that Ithought I remembered a certain
way.
Alexi, who's my my partnerpitched with me, he remembered
certain things.
And so it was just so we had somuch anticipation to see like

(32:00):
what it was, what was it gonnalook like.
But but yeah, we ended up, youknow, every shark praised us.
Damon even said it, you know,on the show.
He says it's the best thingI've ever eaten in 16 years on
Shark Tank on the show.
And I had forgotten that.
So when we saw it on TV, likewhen they were advertising the
show, you know, it showed melike tearing up on a couple
clips leading up because wedon't know, we don't know what

(32:21):
what it's gonna look like.
And I thought, what was Icrying for?
Like, I can't even remember.
Like, did we did I?
I had no idea.
I'm like, oh my gosh, what why?
And uh it was something reallypositive, which was great.
So, so yeah, um, hearing thatfrom all of them was the
confidence, you know, boosterthat I needed.
That was the validation that Ithink I was seeking, whether we

(32:41):
ended up getting a deal or not.
It was like that first, youknow, you just you gotta feed
these people, this influential,amazing, successful group of
people, your food, you know,that's like the the best love.
That's like, I don't know, itwas it was amazing.
It was really amazing.
But yeah, so first offer wasmade by Kevin.

(33:01):
It was fair.
I mean, they were all fair withtheir offers with what they
bring to the table and stuff.
And then, you know, Barbara andBarbara made an offer, and then
Mark and Barbara went in, andthat's the offer that we
accepted on camera.
And so um, it was it was adream, it was a dream come true,
and they're all great people,super, super nice, and it was
fun.

Brandon Mulnix (33:21):
Well, what I can tell is they're probably buying
your passion and your purposemore than anything, because you
know, seeing you in personmultiple times now, even a
couple years ago, last year,this year, at the different
events, your passion for yourproduct is amazing.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Oh, thank you.

Brandon Mulnix (33:41):
It's it's well deserved of what you've been
able to accomplish for yourbusiness.
So as you move forward, it'sgotta be hard to do what you've
done.
What kind of toll has thattaken on you or your your family
or anything like it like that?
What have you sacrificed forthis?

Raechel Van Buskirk (34:01):
You know, that's another one of those
things that you just you don'tyou don't think about while
you're in it.
I'm not, I don't, I just don't.
You just keep going, you putyour head down and you just keep
moving forward.
I mean, when you step back,it's like all the things we've
accomplished, they didn't, theydidn't come without sacrifice,
they didn't come without theirown challenges.

(34:21):
You know, from you know, todate, you know, my husband and I
have invested $100,000 of ourown money that came from, you
know, selling our first, thesecond home that we had to put
in the business.
You know, we sold a car at onepoint when we needed cash, we've
cashed 401ks in.
I mean, bless my husband'sheart.
You know, he's he's a riskanalyst.

(34:42):
And his world is so opposite ofmine.
And I always joke around andsay that I'm a helium-filled
balloon and he's holding thestring.
And not only to be a supportivehusband and partner, but also
to be so risk adverse and thento be just jumping off a cliff
every other moment with me andtrying, you know, and also
having to be my backbone andsupport when things don't go

(35:03):
right.
I mean, that's a hard positionto be in.
And, you know, I try to step, Itry to recognize that and and
you know, give him the praise hedeserves because he's always in
the shadows.
He's always the one behind thescenes peeling the eggs while
he's on meetings, making surethat we have income so that we
can pay our bills.
You know, it's it's I would saythat, you know, there's been
the financial sacrifice, time.

(35:24):
I've missed every wedding,every baby shower, holidays.
I mean, you name it.
There's there's not, we are theholiday food product.
That is where that that's ourtime.
And so, you know, I missed, Imissed a lot of of those
moments, you know, and in hopesthat in the future I have all
the time that I want to do whatI want with it when I want to to

(35:48):
invest the time.
You know, health-wise, I I uh Iwas diagnosed with actually
diagnosed with breast cancer in2022.
So October of 22, I wasdiagnosed with breast cancer.
It was uh just before ourone-year anniversary for our
first restaurant.
And I don't think that thecancer was because of the stress

(36:08):
of work.
You know, there's a lot offactors and reasons why people
get it, and none of us reallyknow exactly why.
But you already add the timecommitment, the financial
stress, and then you you putsomething like cancer on top of
it, it only adds to all of that.
So it was like it was, it was ait was a tough, it was a tough
year for sure.

(36:28):
But we survived, you know, wegot through it.
You know, I I consider thatwhole portion of my life, that
that piece.
It's so weird to think aboutbecause when you're in it, man,
it's like it's never gonna end.
And then all of a sudden I lookback and I'm like, that was two
years ago.
It feels so real.
It feels like it was yesterdaythat I, you know, I put my wig
on for the first time and andall that.

(36:49):
But what it what it reallytaught me was like, if you can
get through growing a businessin that those early phases of
startup while fighting cancerand keep a marriage, you know,
going, there's nothing you can'tdo.
I think I just really thinkthat that experience early on,
you know, getting sick preparedme for some of the future

(37:12):
challenges and things that aregoing to happen, you know, as we
grow this company that are outof my hands and out of my
control.
And it's how do you, how do youkeep yourself composed?
How do you, you know, remain agood leader?
And there may be people withinthe company that experience
those kinds of things, you know,to be able to have that kind of
compassion and empathy forothers going through that.
I I just I do as as much as itsucks and I and I wouldn't wish

(37:34):
it on anybody and I wish itwouldn't have happened, it did,
and I think that a lot ofpositive came from it.
So that that was, you know,there was a lot of sacrifice
made during treatment and duringthat time where, you know,
typically I might have had alittle more self-care during
that.
And instead, it was just nope,put your head down just to get
chemo, go to the store and work.

(37:56):
I mean, that was that wasliterally what it was.
And the times I couldn't, youknow, back to having a
supportive partner who who just,you know, he he showed up and
he did it.
He just ran it, he worked hisjob and he just did what he had
to do to keep keep it going.
So it was it was it's crazy tothink about, but yeah, here I
am, cancer free, been inremission.
So I'm I'm super blessed andgrateful to be here.

Brandon Mulnix (38:19):
I hadn't heard that portion of your story, and
it just amazes me that goingthrough tough things and then
going through tough things bychoice because you didn't really
have a choice on the cancer,yeah.
But you had a the ability tochoose how tough you wanted your
life to be outside of that.
Do you ever look at that andsay the tough life that you

(38:43):
chose was what helped get youthrough and take your mind away
from the tough thing you didn'tchoose?

Raechel Van Buskirk (38:52):
For sure.
Yeah, for sure.
Work's always been my escape,you know, even even young.
After I found, you know, myniche, I I found this area, you
know, in the service industry orwhatever it was, where I really
shined, like I and it broughtme a lot of confidence and
security.
And so, you know, knowing thatI could just work, it always

(39:17):
just seemed to fix problems, youknow.
Just just keep working, justkeep working harder, just keep
going.
And and opportunities justpresented themselves over the
years, and and you look back andit's like you just don't stop,
you just keep keep going andyou'll get through it.
And yeah, I think that it was,I think it was an escape.
I think it was partiallytherapy, you know.
I I don't know, but but it'show I dealt with it.

Brandon Mulnix (39:37):
So when it comes to the egg industry, your
product is a result of a lot ofhard work by a lot of people.
I I'm always proud of ourindustry and how much work goes
into the product of making anegg.
Everything that it takes.
It starts well before thechicken.
I mean, it starts with thefeed, it starts with the

(39:59):
housing, it starts with thebuilding, it starts with the
hard work of the farmer, thededication, and all of that
typically goes pretty it'sunnoticed.
Eggs really, you know, eggs arejust kind of a commodity at
sometimes, but you've actuallymade a commodity so much like a
focus.
Has that reality hit like whereeverything that goes into

(40:22):
making the product that you getto deliver, where your I guess
where your role is in the in theyeah, you know, I don't know.

Raechel Van Buskirk (40:30):
I don't know if it's really, you know,
it not until I was at thisconference did I really think
about or realize the level orthe impact that we could
potentially have, you know, inthe industry.
It's you know, making eggs coolagain, you know, making eating
eggs for dinner.
You know, how do you how do youinnovate this product so that

(40:50):
you know people are consumingmore eggs?
That's the point, right?
That's we're around all thesepeople, they just want to
promote the consumption of eggs.
And so I hadn't really thought,you know, I I love to create
and I like to feed people theseeggs, but I it didn't really
sink in until we went to thisconference and you know,
discussing all these ideas withAlexi.
And then, like, you know, themore stores we open and if we

(41:13):
franchise and if we're able to,you know, beyond shipping, if we
can get back into wholesalingin it, it's like you start doing
the math and thinking what kindof a positive impact you're
gonna have, you know, on theindustry.
And the support that's there isjust really, really unique.
Getting to learn more aboutthat process and really what
goes into it and and thedevastation that it's you know

(41:34):
that the egg industryexperiences every time bird flu
hits and you know, how much isbeing done, how much research is
being done, and and how theindustry is, you know, attacking
that, how how they're gonnamitigate that in the future.
I mean, we heard a lot abouteggs and GLP1s.
I mean, there's just there's somany things that you don't

(41:54):
think about.
And I'm like, that's a hugehuge thing, and that is on the
rise, and there's a lot ofpeople taking these drugs.
And we do have this reallycool, you know, tasty, high
protein product that I mean,it's just a natural, it's
hitting me.
That's the answer, I guess.
I I've just just now startingto realize, you know, what what

(42:14):
an impact we we really couldmake.
And that's so exciting.
It's just so cool.

Brandon Mulnix (42:19):
I've taken the egg for granted sometimes, even
though that's the productindustry that I'm in.
I, you know, I really love thefarmers.
I love being able to providefor you know good housing or
good equipment and goodautomation for their their
farms.
I see you and I see what you'reyou're you're doing for your
community and and just bringingaccess to food that I really
enjoy that nobody else, nobodyelse has done in in this way.

(42:45):
And you just think, you know,there's no this is a this is
something that just continues togrow and more more ideas out of
this.
So let's turn and speak to thisgrowing industry of leaders in
our industry.
That's what this podcast isabout.
It's for the leaders.
Do you have any advice if forany of them that may have an

(43:07):
entrepreneurial itch orsomething, some idea that
they've just been just beensitting on for years?
And just what advice do youhave for them?

Raechel Van Buskirk (43:17):
Man, first off, well, I think the the
biggest one, you know, and and II love getting this question
asked when I'm with Alexi, theone who I spoke with, because
she her background, she's inshe's an angel investor, she's
been super supportive in thestartup community in Nebraska.
She's got her corporatebackground, she just she sees

(43:39):
she can objectively see it andand she knows what it's gonna
take to get you from you knowone to 10 to 20 or whatever that
is.
I say that, and and it and Iknow that there's there's paths
to success no matter what wouldhave happened, but I don't know
that I would have gotten thereif it hadn't been for people

(43:59):
like Alexi.
I have a lot of really amazing,influential people that have
just kind of accumulated alongthe way.
Most of the time, I was I wastoo naive or just oblivious to
to the impact that they may haveor the value that they might
bring because I just didn'tknow.
You know, I just have beenlearning so much along the way.

(44:21):
So, first piece of advice isyou do not know what you don't
know, and there's so much youdon't know.
If somebody is willing to giveyou advice, take it.
Like don't don't trip.
Like if they they've got apathway that's you know gonna
help you avoid some of thosepitfalls, like do it.
Like let let the people whohave done it help, you know, but

(44:43):
also don't be so scared oftripping and falling and failing
that you never start becauseit's not gonna be perfect.
I've had all kinds of, I mean,all kinds of failures, lots and
lots of things, not just recipefailures, but I mean whole
locations that you open up astore and you're like, well,
this probably wasn't a goodidea, you know, because you you

(45:05):
no one has a crystal ball andyou and no one's done this
before.
There's been people that haveopened food and beverage
establishments, and there'speople who farm eggs, but this
is this is new.
And so, you know, you got togive yourself grace.
Alexi likes to say, if you'regonna fail, just fail fast, just
get over it and move on.
You know, don't sit there anddwell upon what you should have
or could have or whatever done.

(45:26):
Just do it, suck it up, andmove on.
If this is the life life thatyou want and you're willing to
continue on, you know, you can'tbeat yourself up for it, you
just gotta keep going.
And so, yeah, it's it's who yousurround yourself, who not how,
fail fast and trust quickly.
That is something I've reallystruggled with until recently.

(45:47):
You know, we're bringing on newpeople all the time.
If you have somebody, if youput somebody in a position to do
their job, let them do it.
Trust that they're going to doit, let them do it.
Because coddling ormicromanaging them along the
way, to ultimately have themeither succeed or fail is only
exhausting you, right?

(46:07):
And so that's something that'sbeen really hard is to let go of
some of these areas that I amnot the best at.
You know, I I'm not, Ishouldn't be doing some of these
jobs.
You know, let somebody whoreally enjoys it uh do them.
So I guess those are the thethree three big pieces I would I
would say.
There's a million things.

Brandon Mulnix (46:26):
That is great advice.
That is great advice.
I love the fail fast mentalitybecause too many, too many
people live in the mantra of myfailures are going to be
permanent.
Yeah, and in business, they'renot really permanent.
I think you can fail inbusiness and get right back up.
I know I did.
This is one of the things thatmany people don't know is I

(46:48):
actually was in a photo, I owneda photography studio 2009.
I was shooting 52 weddings ayear, had all kinds of income
coming in, and bought abuilding, paid lots of money in
marketing, and 2009 happened.
And every every laid-off personin my community became a

(47:09):
wedding photographer, seniorportrait taker, all of these
things.
And what I learned is I wentbankrupt.
But it was the best education Icould have gotten because I
know I tried and I failed, and Iended up rebuilding the
business, keeping the name,keeping the brand, which is a
lot of people just close andwalk away to the point I could

(47:30):
actually sell it.
I end up selling that businessafter I took it through
bankruptcy and back.
And I realized that therearen't too many problems in
business that money can't solve.

Raechel Van Buskirk (47:41):
Bingo.

Brandon Mulnix (47:42):
Because you can you can hire somebody to do
something and that takes money.
You can not do it all yourselfbecause you're gonna kill
yourself doing it, or risk yourmarriage, or do everything that
a lot of the mistakes that Iwent through in business.
But what it was is there'snothing permanent, and that's
actually helped me fail fasterbecause I want to try.

(48:02):
It yeah, it didn't work thattime.
It actually did work, I justhad the hard hard learning curve
of it.
But it was if I I don't knowwhere I'd be if I didn't try.
Yeah, I never I wouldn't havestarted this podcast if I
probably hadn't failed backthen.
Yeah, because I actually did avideo blog thing on a little
video recorder thing back yearsago, and I found some of those

(48:25):
old videos recently doing aGoogle search.
I'm like, that's right, I didthose, I totally forgot I'd done
those.
But the idea was it's okay tofail, and but you got to try.
And I I'm already thinkingabout like an innovation or two
for you as you try to processthose eggs.
I'm like, there's gotta be amachine to help you with that.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
I want to hear about them.

Brandon Mulnix (48:44):
Again, I would be searching, and that's just my
brain going because I reallylove your passion.
I love the fact that you'relike you, you're very clear,
you're very aware of yourselfwhen it comes to you know bull
straight ahead, your good saleswhen you're passionate.
All those things have comethrough, and just you know, the
time I've gotten to see you.
So what's next, Rachel, for youand for the Devil Day Company?

Raechel Van Buskirk (49:08):
Well, we are in the build out, finished.
We're getting close, actually.
We're about six, six, sevenweeks out from our fourth
location near, it's in uh Capel,Texas.
So it's Dallas County.
So we're technically right nearDallas.
Um, this is the secondrendition of the franchise
model.
So the first model we tried inRockwell and in McKinney.

(49:31):
They're very small.
They just do deviled eggs, eggsalads, open face bagel, egg
salad bagels.
Well, we thought, okay, back tothe point of how do we make
eggs breakfast, lunch, anddinner?
How do we innovate thisproduct?
I mean, how do we use all thesetoppings?
How do we keep customersordering?
How do we make this a meal?
You know, like deviled eggs arestill a side.
They're still, we're stillhaving a hard time sell selling

(49:51):
this six-pack as a as lunch,right?
And there's a lot of laborwrapped up in them.
You know, it's it's a premiumproduct.
We we charge, we charge morethan most people would expect
for a deviled egg because of thelabor that goes into it.
We use a good quality product,great toppings, anyway.
So we wanted something that's alittle more affordable, maybe a
little more filling.
And so, you know, this newlocation is going to be a hybrid

(50:12):
of what we very first startedwith when I told you that coffee
shop, right?
So we actually team alreadyknows how to run coffee and all
that, which is, you know, abusiness in itself.
So we're able to take thatpiece of knowledge from five
years ago, combine that with ouramazing deviled eggs and egg
salads and bagels, but we'realso adding bowls.
So we're doing a protein bowl.
And those think, I mean, it'sit's, and we've realized that

(50:38):
people are there for the show.
We are our our first twofranchises, that those first two
stores of that first rendition.
We wanted to keep the way webuild and the way we'd set up
our prep tables moreproprietary, which to us made
sense at first.
But the reality was is, youknow, people aren't doing this
because it's so labor intensive.
It's not because they don'tknow how.
And every time people wouldorder, they would be peeking

(50:59):
around the counter to see ourprep table.
And I thought, you know what,let's give them a show.
This is this is backwards.
They want to see us make them.
So this new model has, youknow, that similar Chipotle line
with the sneeze guard all theway down.
And so um, not only do you getto watch your doubled eggs and
your egg salads get made toorder, which is just fun to
watch in general.

(51:20):
Um, we're also gonna be makingthose bowls to order just like
you would give it like aChipotle.
So instead of everything beingcold, we're actually gonna serve
some bowls hot with hot, youknow, hot egg whites instead of
rice.
And so it'll be a really highprotein, really low calorie.
You know, we have we haveeight, eight different
renditions of bowls that you canchoose from.

(51:40):
You can also build your ownbowl or you can modify the bowls
that we've offered.
So, an example of one of ourbowls would be our, let's see,
uh, we have a chicken avocadoBLT bowl.
And it's got under 500calories, 66 grams of protein.
I mean, it's it weighs over apound, literally.
Like it's it's a massivefilling amount of food that most

(52:03):
people can probably break intotwo meals.
And we're able to sell that for$14, you know, and and it's
high quality, good protein,nothing fried.
So that's just one example ofyou know all the flavors of
bowls we're gonna be offering.
There's, of course, there's aNashville hot chicken that's got
the crispy chicken, and thenwe've got a poke bowl, and
that's gonna have crab andavocado.
And so, you know, there's gonnabe a huge variety for people to

(52:25):
choose from, but still keepingit egg-centric, literally.
So we're so excited.
I think it's gonna be a hugehit, and we can't wait to test
it out here this this December.

Brandon Mulnix (52:35):
I am so excited to get back to Dallas.
I usually get down there atleast once a once a year, and I
know where I'm stopping thisnext time.
But you guys have figured outthe shipping because on your
website you can order orderproduct.
What can you order off yourwebsite?

Raechel Van Buskirk (52:52):
So you can order most of our flavors.
So we ship, we do shipnationwide, we've shipped as far
as Alaska.
We and shipping, we actuallygot it all ready and teed up to
go back in 2022.
It was right during mydiagnosis.
And so we were like, that waswhich is still it was fine.
It just we just took a littlebit of a, you know, we turned

(53:12):
off the road for a minute and wegot back on it.
But a lot of that legwork hadbeen done.
So when we had this amazingopportunity with Shark Tank and
we're gonna get nationalexposure, it was like, thank God
we did all that back then.
You know, all of those, youknow, little things that felt
like failures here and therebecause it never really took
off.
It's like, oh no, we did thisfor a reason, and now we have
this platform to use all thison.
I mean, like so serendipitous.

(53:34):
But shipping.
So shipping's come a long wayfrom when we first started, but
now we ship kits.
So what it'll come with is ayou'll get to go packaging with
egg whites already halvedperfectly pristine and clean and
cold.
Um, you'll get us in six packssealed with like a like a vacuum
sealed six pack of whites.

(53:54):
You get all the differentyolk-flavored fillings with
piping tips, all of thedifferent toppings, and then
really cute step-by-stepinstructions on how you put them
together.
All you need is a pair ofscissors.
We ship them overnight orsecond-day air, depending on the
time of the year.
So they'll arrive with icepacks, simply transport them
into your fridge.
And then whenever you're readyto make them, you fill them, you
pipe them, top them, you canstore them or pipe them, top

(54:16):
them and serve them.
It's uh it's a really fun, youknow, family entertaining night,
I guess.
I mean, my my niece and nephew,they've they've done it a bunch
of times and they really enjoyputting them together and they
turn out beautiful and you getdeviled egg company deviled eggs
in your home.
You can get them for theholidays.
We ship all of our deviled eggflavors and deviled egg salads
and different different types ofkits too.

(54:38):
So you can get up to 18two-ounce containers, all
different flavored egg saladsshipped right to your door.
So you can sample all of thembefore you commit to maybe what
you want to order for theholidays.
So you can taste test them.
They're they're a great gift.
I mean, we just had an order.
I was gonna put something onsocial media about it.
We just had an order of someonethat mailed these deviled eggs
to their friend who had losttheir grandmother.

(54:58):
And it was like, we're thinkingof you, you know, they had some
sweet, really like sentimental,like egg, egg puns in there.
And was just like, you know, wewe know you love this.
We hope that it can brightenyour day and you know, maybe
even crack a smile.
Like it just, it's just reallysweet, you know, the kind of
thing it's just such a nostalgicthing, you know, and it's not
sweets that are bad for you,it's something relatively

(55:20):
healthy too, you know.
And and to just be able tobring that warm like feeling to
somebody, it's just a it's justa really, really cool thing.
We're we're excited that peopleare finding us.

Brandon Mulnix (55:32):
Well, I know what I'm bringing to
Thanksgiving this year.
So that's unquestionably.
I know I better, I better getmy order in.
So, Rachel, any last advice forthe listeners or leadership
advice, or just anything youwant to say?

Raechel Van Buskirk (55:50):
Something I've I've always said and truly
felt was that your employees andyour team is the most valuable
asset that you will ever have.
And lean on them, trust them,and just be the kind of leader
that you would want to be ledby.
You know, think of think of allthe people that motivated you

(56:11):
to be one way or or the otherside of the fence, you know, in
your experience working forother people and and try to
emulate what what you would wantthe next leaders to to be.

Brandon Mulnix (56:20):
That's great advice.
That's great advice.
It doesn't need to be a lot ofwords.
Yeah, it's actually very, verypowerful.
And listeners, I am soappreciative of Rachel joining
us today and just sharing herstory, sharing some of the the
hard details of life and howshe's overcome it.
And we're so thankful thatshe's she's doing it.

(56:41):
She's actually representing theegg industry really well on the
front lines, providing healthyfoods into a space that sorry,
it's easy to pick a you knowunhealthy breakfast product, but
man, we've got some amazing,amazing deviled eggs.
And I know my favorite is CrabRangoon.
I've had it a few times.
It's my go-to when I get to theevents that I get to eat these

(57:06):
at.
So, listeners, if you want moreinformation, you can check out
deviledegcompany.com.
Search, find the YouTube.
I'll have the YouTube video ofShark Tank in the in the show
notes as well as contactinformation for Rachel.
But thank you again, Rachel,for being here.

Raechel Van Buskirk (57:23):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate theopportunity.

Brandon Mulnix (57:26):
Thank you.
And also, listeners, I can't gowithout thinking Prism
Controls.
Without Prism Controls, thispodcast wouldn't be possible.
As I've learned the last coupleof weeks, just hearing from the
listeners across at differentevents, that this show is really
important to the industry.
And I can't ask you enough toshare this with other people.

(57:49):
The amount of information thatwe've been able to provide is
only possible because of PrismControls allowing me to do this.
And also just the you aslisteners sharing this with
others.
So please support PrismControls in whatever way if
possible.
Look them up online,PrismControls.com, and share

(58:10):
this with others.
So that way, one, people knowthat they don't have to prepare
devil eggs for Thanksgiving thisyear.
And also that there are peoplelike Rachel starting businesses,
and you too could be likeRachel and have an idea that
you've been boiling for yearsfinally come to fruition and
become a product in theindustry.
So have a great day.