August 15, 2024 • 28 mins
Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ?
Stephanie Stuckey shares the inspiring story of reviving her grandfather's iconic roadside chain, Stuckey's Corporation, in 2019. In this episode, we explore the challenges she faced and how she balanced honoring the past with innovative strategies to breathe new life into the beloved brand. You'll learn about the concept of "now-stalgia" and why the universal allure of road trips, freedom, and adventure makes Stuckey's revival such a compelling story.
But it's not just about pecan log rolls and road trips. Stephanie also reveals how Stuckey's leverages storytelling and the patriotic pecan to create genuine connections with customers. From the historical significance of pecans to using LinkedIn posts to drive B2B sales, this episode covers the intricate effort behind getting products on store shelves. You'll also hear about Stephanie's personal journey, culminating in her book "Unstuck," and discover the secrets behind substantial growth, authentic branding, and the soul of a business rooted in American history. Tune in for valuable lessons on building a brand with authenticity and heart.
Always growing.
Benno Duenkelsbuehler
CEO & Chief Sherpa of (re)ALIGN
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, welcome to the third Growth Officer Podcast,
where we talk about all thingsgrowth yes, even and especially
those hard parts where you shedsome skin and pick yourself up
by the bootstraps.
Hey, I'm Benno Dunkelspüler,growth Sherpa and OG Hashtag
Growth Nerd.
We're on a mission to redefinesuccess inside and outside the
(00:23):
business, one TGO episode at atime.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hey, this is Stephanie Stuckey.
I am the chair of Stuckey'sCorporation.
I am in beautiful Rims, Georgia.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
All right, stephanie.
I'm so glad we finally madethis happen.
We've tried a bunch ofdifferent times.
I am benno host of third growthoption podcast um, and this is
a wonderful.
It's sort of a corporatecomeback story, a very american
story of second chances, I think, for the brand stuckies um.
You know you from what I knowabout you, stephanie, or what
(01:04):
I'm reading about you otherpodcasts I've watched.
You did not need to do this.
I mean, you've had a successfulcareer as a Georgia Bar
certified attorney for a coupleof decades.
You were in the Georgia StateAssembly House of
(01:24):
Representatives for 14 years.
You've been executive director,sustainability director, of a
number of cool organizations,but then in 2019, something
happened where you said, hey,I'm going to buy my
grandmother's business, right?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Something happened, something happened.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Something happened, and it's Stucky's is this
roadside chain you know, home ofthe original pecan log roll.
So I want to I want to ask youquestions around the you know
the brand, this retro brandfamily business a little bit
(02:06):
about your sales distributionstrategy and successes that
you've had since 2019.
So let's just start this.
What happened in 2019?
What the heck made?
You buy your grandfather'sbusiness.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I love the way you said that, Like something
happened.
My life changed overnight.
Literally Made you buy yourgrandfather's business.
I love the way you said that,Like something happened.
My life changed overnight.
Literally the company was forsale.
That's what happened and I gota phone call from one of the
owners who owned Stuckey's atthat point and asked if I was
interested in buying the company.
So very high level, if I wasinterested in buying the company
, so very high level.
(02:42):
My grandfather started Stucky'sduring the Great Depression,
built it into a nationwideroadside retail chain that sold
candy and pecan snacks thatwe've always had branded as the
Stucky's name, and fun kitschyroadside souvenirs and gas and
clean restrooms.
So we were a roadside retailchain.
Before there was TA or Love'sor Bucky's, there was Stucky's.
(03:04):
We were the first nationalchain of that magnitude.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh G of of that roadside stores yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, At our peak we were in 40 States, almost 400
stores and he sold the companyand he sold it in the in the mid
seventies.
He completely was out ofcontrol of the brand and there
were decades of outsideownership and sadly, sometimes
mergers and acquisitions worksgreat and helps a brand scale
(03:35):
and grow and sometimes itdoesn't.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Sometimes it just looks great on an Excel sheet
but not in reality.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, and you know what I think usually is reality
is it doesn't.
Comebacks don't happenovernight, as I am learning, but
companies declining.
That doesn't happen overnight,very rarely.
I mean, sometimes you mighthave some major crises, but in
general this is a process.
And so our company had declinedover decades of outside
(04:02):
ownership to the point that itwas for sale and really in
distress at that point.
Six figures in the red and Ihad no background in business.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
But that's what happened.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I got a phone call and it was for sale and it was
the company my grandfatherfounded, so I had an emotional
connection to the brand.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The company had your last name has my last name yeah.
So you know I talk about, Ithink of Sturkey's as a retro
brand, right, because you guysare embracing that.
You know, 1940s, 50s, 70s roadtrip, the American road trip.
(04:43):
Why is that America?
You know, why is that nostalgiaso important and how did you
figure out that it appears to bea major component of the
comeback story?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, we're very respectful of the past at
Stucky's, but we're also lookingtowards the future.
So we know where we came from.
We know that nostalgia is partof our brand, but we're also
embracing what we callnow-stalgia.
And how do we create newmemories for a whole generation
of consumers that didn't grow upwith Stucky's on the roadside
(05:23):
when they would travel acrossAmerica?
So we love our legacy customerswho remember the brand, but
we're also very excited aboutgetting to know new customers
and how we're embracing that is.
We certainly talk a lot aboutwhat our history is, but we talk
even more about what makes usrelevant to today's consumers
(05:47):
and today's road trippers.
And the road trip really issomething that we found that
people connect with of all ages.
You can be eight or you can be80 and you enjoy getting in a
car and seeing America, and sothat's part of what our brand is
, and not just the physical actof taking a road trip.
But what does a road triprepresent?
It represents freedom andindependence and fun.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Adventure.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, adventure, exploring new and different
places.
So all of that is part of ourbrand.
And then the other thing that'sreally an important part of our
brand is the comeback story,which I think is the greatest
story ever told.
There are so many derivationsof stories that we all love and
movies we love that are based onthe idea of the underdog
winning and coming out on topand making a comeback, and so
(06:35):
that is very much who we are.
We want to show that comebacksare indeed possible and we want
that to be a big part of ourstory, that we're gonna we're
reviving this brand and peopleare cheering for us to do that.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And people are cheering for you right.
I mean, I see your posts onsocial media and on LinkedIn.
It's crazy the amount of likesand views and reactions you get.
You know, I looked at yourwebsite, Stucky I think it's
Stucky'scom, Stucky'scom,Stucky'scom there you go?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, you know, and I looked at the website.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I think it's stuckiescom, Stuckiescom,
Stuckiescom.
There you go, and I looked atthe guest you have a guest book
that has 500 entries of peoplereminiscing about road trips,
right?
Yes, again, I'm fascinated byan attorney, a representative,
(07:25):
politician representative.
Is that a part-time thing, bythe way?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It's really full-time .
Officially most statelegislatures are part-time, but
they're a full-time job.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Got it, got it.
So attorney representative inthe State Assembly becomes
fascinated by branding andconnecting this American road
trip story to selling candy.
Yeah, how did that happen?
How did you figure out that?
(07:59):
How did you figure out toconnect your story, your passion
, to what I'm guessing isthousands of people out there
that are just consumers.
And then you know, yeah, just,I'll stop there.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's all about storytelling, right, and we
didn't have a budget.
We still don't have a budget.
It's been four years into thisjourney and we're still very
scrappy and lean with ouroperations.
So we don't have bigadvertising dollars to throw at
commercials or influencers onsocial media.
So I just get out there everysingle day and tell my story.
(08:38):
People ask me why am I thesocial media ambassador for
Stucky's?
And the answer is quite simpleI can afford myself, you can
afford yourself, I can affordmyself.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
By the way, I'm sorry to interrupt, but that noise in
the background, it was a big18-wheeler truck coming by A big
18-wheeler truck.
I think it's only on brandStephanie.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, I mean we love 18-wheeler trucks and I am at
our candy plant and I'll walk bythe road trip mural while I'm
talking.
And so people can see.
We had this great mural.
That was a partnership with ourChamber of Commerce and the
University of Georgia Lamar DoddSchool of Art.
Students from the school, alongwith a professor, put this
(09:23):
together for us, and so it wasvery much a community-led
project.
And it's all about taking aroad trip in Georgia and there's
wonderful scenes from Georgia,places that you can go visit on
the side of the road, includinga lot of film locations, because
our state is one of the numberone states for filming in the
(09:43):
country because of our taxcredits that I worked on when I
was a legislator.
See, it's all coming full circleit all comes full circle, but
all of the careers I've had areabout connecting people.
You know, whether it's inpolitics where obviously you
need to connect with people toget elected or to get
legislation passed, being alawyer I was a trial lawyer, so
(10:06):
you had to connect with juries,you had to connect with the
judge, you had to connect withyour clients.
So it's all about how do youconnect with people on an
emotional level, because that'sreally the only way to have
sticking power, and that's whatmarketing and branding is at its
heart.
And the number one way toconnect with people is telling a
(10:27):
story.
Yeah Right, and a story needsto have authenticity, it needs
to be interesting and it needsto be relevant.
And so that gets down tounderstanding who is your
audience, because unless youknow your audience, you're not
going to say something that isinteresting and relevant to them
.
And so for us, our audience,anyone who would like road
(10:50):
tripping, right.
Anyone who likes to explorethis wonderful country and, by
the way, while you're doing it,get some pecans in the car with
you and snack on them and pullover at a Stucky's or pull over
at any one of the thousands ofstores across the country that
now carry our product.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Stephanie, you really got to work on that
authenticity thing, I think.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Well, yeah, well, to be authentic, it's got to be
real, right, it's got to be real, so it's got to be your story.
You can't you can't tell anyoneelse's story, it's got to be
yours.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
There's only one of you, so go tell your story
decades ago, before mergers andacquisitions and private equity,
or God knows what happened, andnow you're down to like 60 or
so licensed 12 original stores12 original 12 original stores,
(11:48):
40 licensed stores and then therest of our sales, which is the
majority of our sales like 80plus percent of our sales is
other retailers.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
So grocery channels, channels, convenience stores,
specialty stores, hotels,hospitality, and I am getting
inside where it'll be quiet andno trucks.
So this is my hidey hole of anoffice and you can see there you
go, some stuckies memorabiliaaround and, in 1970s, wood
paneling oh yeah, this is a thisright.
(12:19):
This candy plant that we now ownwe bought two years ago, two
and a half years ago and thereally fun thing is, my
grandfather did business withthe man who founded the candy
plant that we bought, andthere's an old Stuckey store
across the street.
It's a vacant building now.
But one of those 400 storesacross the street.
I's a vacant building now, butone of those 400 stores across
(12:41):
the street.
I look at it every day.
One of these days I'm going tobuy it and renovate it and it'll
be a Stuckey's again.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Awesome, awesome, yeah, so tell me.
So you're in the lastinformation I have.
It's probably outdated.
You were in like 5,000 retaildoors.
You were in like 5,000 retaildoors, retail locations, as of
last year.
Tell me, how are you making thebrand come alive and resonate
(13:09):
on retail shelves that you havelimited control over?
It's not your shelf, it's theretailer's shelf.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
It's hard.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
How do you do it?
We think our value propositionis we are a pecan snack brand
and if you go to the nut aislesof America, what do you see?
You see peanuts, which actually, technically, peanuts are not a
nut, they're a legume.
But I'll give them a pass.
They are just saying so you getpeanuts.
You find almonds, cashews, morerecently pistachio has been the
(13:43):
it nut.
But you will be very hardpressed to find a snack bag of
pecans on the snack shelves ofamerica, unless it's like
fighting for space and a mixednut bag.
So how we differentiateourselves and set ourselves
apart is we are selling a nutthat you normally don't see on
(14:06):
the shelves in a standalone pack, and we have delicious flavors.
We have five, what we call ourcore flavors, so sea salt, honey
, roast honey, roasted maple,kettle glaze.
But what I think is alsoimportant to stress is we are
made locally.
I think people more and morecare about where their food
(14:28):
comes from our state where weproduce, the state of georgia,
and where stuckies has beenheadquartered since 1937, we're
the number one place in theentire world for pecan
production.
The state of Georgia growsalmost a third of the world's
pecan crop.
(14:50):
I did not know that?
Yeah, it's the only snack nutnative to our country, yet you
cannot find pecans on the snackaisles of America.
I mean, I think we're almost at4th of July when we're taping
this, that's next week.
It's unpatriotic, right?
It should be illegal.
(15:10):
It's unpatriotic, and GeorgeWashington snacked on pecans
during the Revolutionary War.
It's a fact, look it up.
And so why are we not all justsnacking on the patriotic nut
and so, all right.
That's my post right now forthe 4th of July.
We are the patriotic nut, darnit.
(15:32):
There you go so that's our valueproposition is we're something
different that you'll see on thesnack aisles, even though
people have been familiar withpecans for decades.
But we usually think of pecansas Thanksgiving and pies, so
pecans are not just for pies.
We don't want to only be in theproduce aisle during the
(15:53):
holiday season.
We want to be on the snackaisle every single day and we
want, when you look at pecans,we want the go-to snack brand to
be Stucky's.
So that's our value proposition.
That's how we want to grow.
That's how we want todifferentiate ourselves on the
aisles.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Tell me about your distribution strategy in terms
of people versus digital efforts.
Your sales efforts versus doyou have sales people?
Do you have sales reps?
Do you have multi-line reps?
All of that how did you getinto 5,000 retail doors?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Well, we have a small but mighty sales team led by
our sales director, arlenePaquette, and then she's got two
sales reps who physically visitstores and then she's got a
third person on her team whohelps with customer service and
marketing along with me.
So we do a lot of the marketingand the branding and the
promotion.
(16:51):
But that's how we do it.
We just get our reps physicallygo and visit and check on the
licensed stores that bear theStucky's name and then our sales
director manages the largedistribution.
So a lot of our growth isthrough getting through
distributors and thedistributors get us in
(17:12):
individual stores right, sowe're in grocery channels and
convenience, so you get in thosechains, channels and
convenience, so you get in thosechains.
So if you get in a large chainlike we're in at home, which is
in I think I'm right that it'sin like 35 States and at home
has, you know, a thousand pluslocations, so that gets you a
lot of stores right there.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Right, right, right.
How important, how important arole has social media played in
getting buyers to find you?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Being found instead of you finding them.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Critical.
It's very important.
Linkedin is my jam.
That's where you'll see themost of my engagement because
that's where we find ourpotential customers.
We're B2B is most of our growth.
We do have some consumer facing, which is mostly just our
online portal, but we're reallyabout driving sales to other
(18:13):
retailers third party retailersand I'll give you an example.
I recently did a post about howwe love a great niche for us is
hardware.
Hardware chains like an AceHardware.
Ace is a great one, true Valueis a great one, and I can't say
the chain just yet, because wehaven't officially landed on
(18:34):
their shelves yet.
But a CEO of a large chain sawmy post and reached out to me
and said why aren't you in ourstores?
And I said why aren't we inyour stores?
But here's why you have to havea team.
If it was just me, it neverwould have gone anywhere.
I handed it over to my salesdirector, who then talked to
(18:55):
their buyer, who then handed itto our sales rep, who physically
went to the store and talked tothe regional director.
And then we had to get ourcandy plant operator to make
sure he could churn out all thelog rolls to fill the order.
And then our shippingdepartment had to actually pack.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Was that the big order last?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
week.
That was a huge order last week.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Because we were going to record last Friday and we
moved it to this Friday, slammedwe were slammed.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
We're talking pallets and pallets.
We filled up an entire truckthat baby's launched, but it'll
take another two weeks beforeit's physically on the shelves
and stocked.
And all that.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So that to me is fascinating, right?
That a CEO of a large potentialcustomer saw your posts on
LinkedIn and reached out andsaid what the heck, why am I not
buying your stuff?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, but here's the key thing Landing the order is
just the beginning.
Now we have to get the productsold.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Right Now the real problem starts, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
So that's a lot of what I see as my role.
I'm tip of the spear andgetting these accounts and then,
thank God, we have an amazingteam, they make it happen and
then, once it's on the shelves,a large part of my job is to say
go to at home.
In fact, my, my post onLinkedIn today was all about at
home, go to at home for for the4th of July weekend and load up
(20:25):
on some great home and gardengear and get our snacks while
you're at it.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
So you're helping.
A tip of the spear is to sellinto the store and and you're
the post today, uh, is whatsells through, right and sell
through.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, I'm on both ends, but I'm.
I'm at the tip on both ends,Right and then in the middle.
That's where all the magichappens that you gotta have a
team to make to make that allwork.
And it's hard, I will tell youit is hard.
We are not perfect.
I've been dealing all morningwith making sure all the
different pieces talk to oneanother and coordinate, and
(21:05):
we're far from 100% where weneed to be, but we're getting
there.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
How would you describe you know I don't want
to ask for proprietary financialinformation here, but how would
you describe sort of thescaling up from when you bought
the business?
Yeah, 2019, 2020, you know,over the last four or five years
it's grown substantially,hasn't it?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yes, so sales have grown over 10 million.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
That's gross.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
So, yeah, that's what I can share publicly, but, you
know, privately I would say it'shard making everything work
because you've got to scale.
There are so many things thatgo into play as far as we're
expanding our manufacturingcapacity, but you've got to make
(21:59):
sure you're controlling yourcost and you're controlling your
sales in a way that everythingis working.
Yeah, and I've learned thatthis is what the growth chart
looks like.
It's an up and down.
I would love to say it's just-.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
The history you know.
When you talk about it in 10years you'll say you know we
went from here to.
You know we grew over 10million in the first five years
and probably I bet you you'llgrow 20 or 50 million in the
next five or 10 years.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Our goal is 50 in the next five years.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, that's our goal .
This is the storyline and thisis reality.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
It's more like this right Like the trend is.
You know you want to go, youwant to.
We're trending in the rightdirection, perfect, but it is
not without those peaks andvalleys.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Stephanie, final question to you about your book.
I love the book title UnstuckUnstuck.
I have not yet read it, so I doneed to read it.
I will read it now that I'mgetting to know you a little bit
better today, but just tell meabout what was your favorite
(23:15):
part about writing that book?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Getting to know my grandfather.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It really was a love letter to my grandfather.
I discovered his archives whenI bought the company.
That was the greatest gift Igot.
It was the one thing of valuewas the trademark and his story,
which are really all sort ofwrapped up into one, and I got
cases and cases of his papersthat no one had looked at in 50
(23:44):
years, and so I'd spend myevenings reliving what he went
through to grow this company andit gave me so much comfort and
hope and strength, and so I juststarted writing it all down,
hope and strength.
And so I just started writingit all down, almost as being a
catharsis.
But the more I wrote I thought,well, this is a great story, so
(24:06):
I would share little snippetsof it on social media.
I do less of that now becauseour team and I agree with the
strategy is like we need to moveforward.
But initially, as I was growingthe company, I would just share
his story.
And a publisher reached out tome and company I would just
share his story, and a publisherreached out to me and said that
would make a great book.
So I got a publisher and itwent from there.
By the way, I want to add, yousaid you hadn't read it yet I
read this interview with LarryKing, who I just thought was one
(24:28):
of the best interviewers ever.
I still watch him, even thoughhe's been gone for a while.
And he said the secret tointerviewing authors was to not
read the book.
And I think it's because maybeyou ask questions, you tend to
be less bogged down into whatthe book actually says and more
high level and asking questionsthat might really provoke a
(24:51):
conversation and invite peopleto read the book.
And I do invite people to readthe book.
You can order it on Amazon orBooks.
A Million sells it, so we're inone nationwide chain.
It's distributed throughPenguin Books.
My publisher has been Bella,but they distribute to Penguin,
so it's in quite a fewbookstores and then you can get
it on the Stuckey's website andif you order it on the Stuckey's
(25:13):
website you'll get a signedcopy.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
All right, yeah there you go.
I love the way you answered thequestion that you know it gave
you an opportunity to learnthings about your grandfather
you didn't know.
Yeah, I'll just share with youthat over the last couple months
I've been, for some strangereason, I've been thinking a lot
(25:35):
about my grandfather on mymother's side, who had a
fascinating story that I thinkit's so important.
You know parents, grandparents,great grandparents stories that
(25:58):
you know we might have had.
You know two or three littledots of information, but we
couldn't connect the dots.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Because we didn't have enough right of information
.
So good for you that now I wantto read the book.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So important connecting the dots because they
are connected Right exactly orconnectable.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And connected to you.
Know, throughout our ancestrythings are connected from
ancestors to us, from us to ourkids, in ways that we don't
always grasp.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I'll just leave it at that.
Look for those patterns.
The patterns are there.
The past is there to guide usand teach us, and so I really
enjoy understanding where wecame from, because it helps
guide the future of this company, and we are going to have a
future.
It hasn't been an easy journeyever.
Even when my grandfather was atthe top, it was a lot of work.
(27:00):
But, just like so manyentrepreneurs out there who,
hopefully, are listening to yourpodcast.
As long as you're trending inthe right direction, just keep
on climbing, you're going to getthere.
Keep on trucking.
Yeah, keep on trucking.
Keep on rolling.
Keep on log rolling.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Stephanie, this was awesome.
Thank you so much for taking alittle bit of time on a Friday
morning here.
We'll make sure to get this outto all of your peeps and my
peeps.
Congratulations on what you'redoing.
Keep enjoying the journey, theups and the downs.
(27:39):
And I know you guys will hit$50 million before you know it.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
We're going to get there, we're going to make it.
Yes, pk on All right.
Thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Bye, take care, stephanie.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of TGO Podcast.
You can find all episodes onour podcast page at
wwwrealign4resultscom.
You can find me, benno, host ofTGO Podcast, there as well.
(28:10):
Just email benno B-E-N-N-O atrealign4resultscom.
Let's keep growing.
Email Benno B-E-N-N-O atrealignforresultscom.
Let's keep growing.
Hey, welcome to the third Growth Officer Podcast,
where we talk about all thingsgrowth yes, even and especially
those hard parts where you shedsome skin and pick yourself up
by the bootstraps.
Hey, I'm Benno Dunkelspüler,growth Sherpa and OG Hashtag
Growth Nerd.
We're on a mission to redefinesuccess inside and outside the
(00:23):
business, one TGO episode at atime.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hey, this is Stephanie Stuckey.
I am the chair of Stuckey'sCorporation.
I am in beautiful Rims, Georgia.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
All right, stephanie.
I'm so glad we finally madethis happen.
We've tried a bunch ofdifferent times.
I am benno host of third growthoption podcast um, and this is
a wonderful.
It's sort of a corporatecomeback story, a very american
story of second chances, I think, for the brand stuckies um.
You know you from what I knowabout you, stephanie, or what
(01:04):
I'm reading about you otherpodcasts I've watched.
You did not need to do this.
I mean, you've had a successfulcareer as a Georgia Bar
certified attorney for a coupleof decades.
You were in the Georgia StateAssembly House of
(01:24):
Representatives for 14 years.
You've been executive director,sustainability director, of a
number of cool organizations,but then in 2019, something
happened where you said, hey,I'm going to buy my
grandmother's business, right?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Something happened, something happened.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Something happened, and it's Stucky's is this
roadside chain you know, home ofthe original pecan log roll.
So I want to I want to ask youquestions around the you know
the brand, this retro brandfamily business a little bit
(02:06):
about your sales distributionstrategy and successes that
you've had since 2019.
So let's just start this.
What happened in 2019?
What the heck made?
You buy your grandfather'sbusiness.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I love the way you said that, Like something
happened.
My life changed overnight.
Literally Made you buy yourgrandfather's business.
I love the way you said that,Like something happened.
My life changed overnight.
Literally the company was forsale.
That's what happened and I gota phone call from one of the
owners who owned Stuckey's atthat point and asked if I was
interested in buying the company.
So very high level, if I wasinterested in buying the company
, so very high level.
(02:42):
My grandfather started Stucky'sduring the Great Depression,
built it into a nationwideroadside retail chain that sold
candy and pecan snacks thatwe've always had branded as the
Stucky's name, and fun kitschyroadside souvenirs and gas and
clean restrooms.
So we were a roadside retailchain.
Before there was TA or Love'sor Bucky's, there was Stucky's.
(03:04):
We were the first nationalchain of that magnitude.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh G of of that roadside stores yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, At our peak we were in 40 States, almost 400
stores and he sold the companyand he sold it in the in the mid
seventies.
He completely was out ofcontrol of the brand and there
were decades of outsideownership and sadly, sometimes
mergers and acquisitions worksgreat and helps a brand scale
(03:35):
and grow and sometimes itdoesn't.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Sometimes it just looks great on an Excel sheet
but not in reality.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, and you know what I think usually is reality
is it doesn't.
Comebacks don't happenovernight, as I am learning, but
companies declining.
That doesn't happen overnight,very rarely.
I mean, sometimes you mighthave some major crises, but in
general this is a process.
And so our company had declinedover decades of outside
(04:02):
ownership to the point that itwas for sale and really in
distress at that point.
Six figures in the red and Ihad no background in business.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
But that's what happened.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I got a phone call and it was for sale and it was
the company my grandfatherfounded, so I had an emotional
connection to the brand.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The company had your last name has my last name yeah.
So you know I talk about, Ithink of Sturkey's as a retro
brand, right, because you guysare embracing that.
You know, 1940s, 50s, 70s roadtrip, the American road trip.
(04:43):
Why is that America?
You know, why is that nostalgiaso important and how did you
figure out that it appears to bea major component of the
comeback story?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, we're very respectful of the past at
Stucky's, but we're also lookingtowards the future.
So we know where we came from.
We know that nostalgia is partof our brand, but we're also
embracing what we callnow-stalgia.
And how do we create newmemories for a whole generation
of consumers that didn't grow upwith Stucky's on the roadside
(05:23):
when they would travel acrossAmerica?
So we love our legacy customerswho remember the brand, but
we're also very excited aboutgetting to know new customers
and how we're embracing that is.
We certainly talk a lot aboutwhat our history is, but we talk
even more about what makes usrelevant to today's consumers
(05:47):
and today's road trippers.
And the road trip really issomething that we found that
people connect with of all ages.
You can be eight or you can be80 and you enjoy getting in a
car and seeing America, and sothat's part of what our brand is
, and not just the physical actof taking a road trip.
But what does a road triprepresent?
It represents freedom andindependence and fun.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Adventure.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, adventure, exploring new and different
places.
So all of that is part of ourbrand.
And then the other thing that'sreally an important part of our
brand is the comeback story,which I think is the greatest
story ever told.
There are so many derivationsof stories that we all love and
movies we love that are based onthe idea of the underdog
winning and coming out on topand making a comeback, and so
(06:35):
that is very much who we are.
We want to show that comebacksare indeed possible and we want
that to be a big part of ourstory, that we're gonna we're
reviving this brand and peopleare cheering for us to do that.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And people are cheering for you right.
I mean, I see your posts onsocial media and on LinkedIn.
It's crazy the amount of likesand views and reactions you get.
You know, I looked at yourwebsite, Stucky I think it's
Stucky'scom, Stucky'scom,Stucky'scom there you go?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, you know, and I looked at the website.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I think it's stuckiescom, Stuckiescom,
Stuckiescom.
There you go, and I looked atthe guest you have a guest book
that has 500 entries of peoplereminiscing about road trips,
right?
Yes, again, I'm fascinated byan attorney, a representative,
(07:25):
politician representative.
Is that a part-time thing, bythe way?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It's really full-time .
Officially most statelegislatures are part-time, but
they're a full-time job.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Got it, got it.
So attorney representative inthe State Assembly becomes
fascinated by branding andconnecting this American road
trip story to selling candy.
Yeah, how did that happen?
How did you figure out that?
(07:59):
How did you figure out toconnect your story, your passion
, to what I'm guessing isthousands of people out there
that are just consumers.
And then you know, yeah, just,I'll stop there.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's all about storytelling, right, and we
didn't have a budget.
We still don't have a budget.
It's been four years into thisjourney and we're still very
scrappy and lean with ouroperations.
So we don't have bigadvertising dollars to throw at
commercials or influencers onsocial media.
So I just get out there everysingle day and tell my story.
(08:38):
People ask me why am I thesocial media ambassador for
Stucky's?
And the answer is quite simpleI can afford myself, you can
afford yourself, I can affordmyself.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
By the way, I'm sorry to interrupt, but that noise in
the background, it was a big18-wheeler truck coming by A big
18-wheeler truck.
I think it's only on brandStephanie.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, I mean we love 18-wheeler trucks and I am at
our candy plant and I'll walk bythe road trip mural while I'm
talking.
And so people can see.
We had this great mural.
That was a partnership with ourChamber of Commerce and the
University of Georgia Lamar DoddSchool of Art.
Students from the school, alongwith a professor, put this
(09:23):
together for us, and so it wasvery much a community-led
project.
And it's all about taking aroad trip in Georgia and there's
wonderful scenes from Georgia,places that you can go visit on
the side of the road, includinga lot of film locations, because
our state is one of the numberone states for filming in the
(09:43):
country because of our taxcredits that I worked on when I
was a legislator.
See, it's all coming full circleit all comes full circle, but
all of the careers I've had areabout connecting people.
You know, whether it's inpolitics where obviously you
need to connect with people toget elected or to get
legislation passed, being alawyer I was a trial lawyer, so
(10:06):
you had to connect with juries,you had to connect with the
judge, you had to connect withyour clients.
So it's all about how do youconnect with people on an
emotional level, because that'sreally the only way to have
sticking power, and that's whatmarketing and branding is at its
heart.
And the number one way toconnect with people is telling a
(10:27):
story.
Yeah Right, and a story needsto have authenticity, it needs
to be interesting and it needsto be relevant.
And so that gets down tounderstanding who is your
audience, because unless youknow your audience, you're not
going to say something that isinteresting and relevant to them
.
And so for us, our audience,anyone who would like road
(10:50):
tripping, right.
Anyone who likes to explorethis wonderful country and, by
the way, while you're doing it,get some pecans in the car with
you and snack on them and pullover at a Stucky's or pull over
at any one of the thousands ofstores across the country that
now carry our product.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Stephanie, you really got to work on that
authenticity thing, I think.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Well, yeah, well, to be authentic, it's got to be
real, right, it's got to be real, so it's got to be your story.
You can't you can't tell anyoneelse's story, it's got to be
yours.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
There's only one of you, so go tell your story
decades ago, before mergers andacquisitions and private equity,
or God knows what happened, andnow you're down to like 60 or
so licensed 12 original stores12 original 12 original stores,
(11:48):
40 licensed stores and then therest of our sales, which is the
majority of our sales like 80plus percent of our sales is
other retailers.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
So grocery channels, channels, convenience stores,
specialty stores, hotels,hospitality, and I am getting
inside where it'll be quiet andno trucks.
So this is my hidey hole of anoffice and you can see there you
go, some stuckies memorabiliaaround and, in 1970s, wood
paneling oh yeah, this is a thisright.
(12:19):
This candy plant that we now ownwe bought two years ago, two
and a half years ago and thereally fun thing is, my
grandfather did business withthe man who founded the candy
plant that we bought, andthere's an old Stuckey store
across the street.
It's a vacant building now.
But one of those 400 storesacross the street.
I's a vacant building now, butone of those 400 stores across
(12:41):
the street.
I look at it every day.
One of these days I'm going tobuy it and renovate it and it'll
be a Stuckey's again.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Awesome, awesome, yeah, so tell me.
So you're in the lastinformation I have.
It's probably outdated.
You were in like 5,000 retaildoors.
You were in like 5,000 retaildoors, retail locations, as of
last year.
Tell me, how are you making thebrand come alive and resonate
(13:09):
on retail shelves that you havelimited control over?
It's not your shelf, it's theretailer's shelf.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
It's hard.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
How do you do it?
We think our value propositionis we are a pecan snack brand
and if you go to the nut aislesof America, what do you see?
You see peanuts, which actually, technically, peanuts are not a
nut, they're a legume.
But I'll give them a pass.
They are just saying so you getpeanuts.
You find almonds, cashews, morerecently pistachio has been the
(13:43):
it nut.
But you will be very hardpressed to find a snack bag of
pecans on the snack shelves ofamerica, unless it's like
fighting for space and a mixednut bag.
So how we differentiateourselves and set ourselves
apart is we are selling a nutthat you normally don't see on
(14:06):
the shelves in a standalone pack, and we have delicious flavors.
We have five, what we call ourcore flavors, so sea salt, honey
, roast honey, roasted maple,kettle glaze.
But what I think is alsoimportant to stress is we are
made locally.
I think people more and morecare about where their food
(14:28):
comes from our state where weproduce, the state of georgia,
and where stuckies has beenheadquartered since 1937, we're
the number one place in theentire world for pecan
production.
The state of Georgia growsalmost a third of the world's
pecan crop.
(14:50):
I did not know that?
Yeah, it's the only snack nutnative to our country, yet you
cannot find pecans on the snackaisles of America.
I mean, I think we're almost at4th of July when we're taping
this, that's next week.
It's unpatriotic, right?
It should be illegal.
(15:10):
It's unpatriotic, and GeorgeWashington snacked on pecans
during the Revolutionary War.
It's a fact, look it up.
And so why are we not all justsnacking on the patriotic nut
and so, all right.
That's my post right now forthe 4th of July.
We are the patriotic nut, darnit.
(15:32):
There you go so that's our valueproposition is we're something
different that you'll see on thesnack aisles, even though
people have been familiar withpecans for decades.
But we usually think of pecansas Thanksgiving and pies, so
pecans are not just for pies.
We don't want to only be in theproduce aisle during the
(15:53):
holiday season.
We want to be on the snackaisle every single day and we
want, when you look at pecans,we want the go-to snack brand to
be Stucky's.
So that's our value proposition.
That's how we want to grow.
That's how we want todifferentiate ourselves on the
aisles.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Tell me about your distribution strategy in terms
of people versus digital efforts.
Your sales efforts versus doyou have sales people?
Do you have sales reps?
Do you have multi-line reps?
All of that how did you getinto 5,000 retail doors?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Well, we have a small but mighty sales team led by
our sales director, arlenePaquette, and then she's got two
sales reps who physically visitstores and then she's got a
third person on her team whohelps with customer service and
marketing along with me.
So we do a lot of the marketingand the branding and the
promotion.
(16:51):
But that's how we do it.
We just get our reps physicallygo and visit and check on the
licensed stores that bear theStucky's name and then our sales
director manages the largedistribution.
So a lot of our growth isthrough getting through
distributors and thedistributors get us in
(17:12):
individual stores right, sowe're in grocery channels and
convenience, so you get in thosechains, channels and
convenience, so you get in thosechains.
So if you get in a large chainlike we're in at home, which is
in I think I'm right that it'sin like 35 States and at home
has, you know, a thousand pluslocations, so that gets you a
lot of stores right there.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Right, right, right.
How important, how important arole has social media played in
getting buyers to find you?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Being found instead of you finding them.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Critical.
It's very important.
Linkedin is my jam.
That's where you'll see themost of my engagement because
that's where we find ourpotential customers.
We're B2B is most of our growth.
We do have some consumer facing, which is mostly just our
online portal, but we're reallyabout driving sales to other
(18:13):
retailers third party retailersand I'll give you an example.
I recently did a post about howwe love a great niche for us is
hardware.
Hardware chains like an AceHardware.
Ace is a great one, true Valueis a great one, and I can't say
the chain just yet, because wehaven't officially landed on
(18:34):
their shelves yet.
But a CEO of a large chain sawmy post and reached out to me
and said why aren't you in ourstores?
And I said why aren't we inyour stores?
But here's why you have to havea team.
If it was just me, it neverwould have gone anywhere.
I handed it over to my salesdirector, who then talked to
(18:55):
their buyer, who then handed itto our sales rep, who physically
went to the store and talked tothe regional director.
And then we had to get ourcandy plant operator to make
sure he could churn out all thelog rolls to fill the order.
And then our shippingdepartment had to actually pack.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Was that the big order last?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
week.
That was a huge order last week.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Because we were going to record last Friday and we
moved it to this Friday, slammedwe were slammed.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
We're talking pallets and pallets.
We filled up an entire truckthat baby's launched, but it'll
take another two weeks beforeit's physically on the shelves
and stocked.
And all that.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So that to me is fascinating, right?
That a CEO of a large potentialcustomer saw your posts on
LinkedIn and reached out andsaid what the heck, why am I not
buying your stuff?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, but here's the key thing Landing the order is
just the beginning.
Now we have to get the productsold.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Right Now the real problem starts, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
So that's a lot of what I see as my role.
I'm tip of the spear andgetting these accounts and then,
thank God, we have an amazingteam, they make it happen and
then, once it's on the shelves,a large part of my job is to say
go to at home.
In fact, my, my post onLinkedIn today was all about at
home, go to at home for for the4th of July weekend and load up
(20:25):
on some great home and gardengear and get our snacks while
you're at it.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
So you're helping.
A tip of the spear is to sellinto the store and and you're
the post today, uh, is whatsells through, right and sell
through.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, I'm on both ends, but I'm.
I'm at the tip on both ends,Right and then in the middle.
That's where all the magichappens that you gotta have a
team to make to make that allwork.
And it's hard, I will tell youit is hard.
We are not perfect.
I've been dealing all morningwith making sure all the
different pieces talk to oneanother and coordinate, and
(21:05):
we're far from 100% where weneed to be, but we're getting
there.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
How would you describe you know I don't want
to ask for proprietary financialinformation here, but how would
you describe sort of thescaling up from when you bought
the business?
Yeah, 2019, 2020, you know,over the last four or five years
it's grown substantially,hasn't it?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yes, so sales have grown over 10 million.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
That's gross.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
So, yeah, that's what I can share publicly, but, you
know, privately I would say it'shard making everything work
because you've got to scale.
There are so many things thatgo into play as far as we're
expanding our manufacturingcapacity, but you've got to make
(21:59):
sure you're controlling yourcost and you're controlling your
sales in a way that everythingis working.
Yeah, and I've learned thatthis is what the growth chart
looks like.
It's an up and down.
I would love to say it's just-.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
The history you know.
When you talk about it in 10years you'll say you know we
went from here to.
You know we grew over 10million in the first five years
and probably I bet you you'llgrow 20 or 50 million in the
next five or 10 years.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Our goal is 50 in the next five years.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, that's our goal .
This is the storyline and thisis reality.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
It's more like this right Like the trend is.
You know you want to go, youwant to.
We're trending in the rightdirection, perfect, but it is
not without those peaks andvalleys.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Stephanie, final question to you about your book.
I love the book title UnstuckUnstuck.
I have not yet read it, so I doneed to read it.
I will read it now that I'mgetting to know you a little bit
better today, but just tell meabout what was your favorite
(23:15):
part about writing that book?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Getting to know my grandfather.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It really was a love letter to my grandfather.
I discovered his archives whenI bought the company.
That was the greatest gift Igot.
It was the one thing of valuewas the trademark and his story,
which are really all sort ofwrapped up into one, and I got
cases and cases of his papersthat no one had looked at in 50
(23:44):
years, and so I'd spend myevenings reliving what he went
through to grow this company andit gave me so much comfort and
hope and strength, and so I juststarted writing it all down,
hope and strength.
And so I just started writingit all down, almost as being a
catharsis.
But the more I wrote I thought,well, this is a great story, so
(24:06):
I would share little snippetsof it on social media.
I do less of that now becauseour team and I agree with the
strategy is like we need to moveforward.
But initially, as I was growingthe company, I would just share
his story.
And a publisher reached out tome and company I would just
share his story, and a publisherreached out to me and said that
would make a great book.
So I got a publisher and itwent from there.
By the way, I want to add, yousaid you hadn't read it yet I
read this interview with LarryKing, who I just thought was one
(24:28):
of the best interviewers ever.
I still watch him, even thoughhe's been gone for a while.
And he said the secret tointerviewing authors was to not
read the book.
And I think it's because maybeyou ask questions, you tend to
be less bogged down into whatthe book actually says and more
high level and asking questionsthat might really provoke a
(24:51):
conversation and invite peopleto read the book.
And I do invite people to readthe book.
You can order it on Amazon orBooks.
A Million sells it, so we're inone nationwide chain.
It's distributed throughPenguin Books.
My publisher has been Bella,but they distribute to Penguin,
so it's in quite a fewbookstores and then you can get
it on the Stuckey's website andif you order it on the Stuckey's
(25:13):
website you'll get a signedcopy.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
All right, yeah there you go.
I love the way you answered thequestion that you know it gave
you an opportunity to learnthings about your grandfather
you didn't know.
Yeah, I'll just share with youthat over the last couple months
I've been, for some strangereason, I've been thinking a lot
(25:35):
about my grandfather on mymother's side, who had a
fascinating story that I thinkit's so important.
You know parents, grandparents,great grandparents stories that
(25:58):
you know we might have had.
You know two or three littledots of information, but we
couldn't connect the dots.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Because we didn't have enough right of information
.
So good for you that now I wantto read the book.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So important connecting the dots because they
are connected Right exactly orconnectable.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And connected to you.
Know, throughout our ancestrythings are connected from
ancestors to us, from us to ourkids, in ways that we don't
always grasp.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I'll just leave it at that.
Look for those patterns.
The patterns are there.
The past is there to guide usand teach us, and so I really
enjoy understanding where wecame from, because it helps
guide the future of this company, and we are going to have a
future.
It hasn't been an easy journeyever.
Even when my grandfather was atthe top, it was a lot of work.
(27:00):
But, just like so manyentrepreneurs out there who,
hopefully, are listening to yourpodcast.
As long as you're trending inthe right direction, just keep
on climbing, you're going to getthere.
Keep on trucking.
Yeah, keep on trucking.
Keep on rolling.
Keep on log rolling.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Stephanie, this was awesome.
Thank you so much for taking alittle bit of time on a Friday
morning here.
We'll make sure to get this outto all of your peeps and my
peeps.
Congratulations on what you'redoing.
Keep enjoying the journey, theups and the downs.
(27:39):
And I know you guys will hit$50 million before you know it.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
We're going to get there, we're going to make it.
Yes, pk on All right.
Thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Bye, take care, stephanie.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of TGO Podcast.
You can find all episodes onour podcast page at
wwwrealign4resultscom.
You can find me, benno, host ofTGO Podcast, there as well.
(28:10):
Just email benno B-E-N-N-O atrealign4resultscom.
Let's keep growing.
Email Benno B-E-N-N-O atrealignforresultscom.
Let's keep growing.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!