September 5, 2024 • 63 mins
What if you could transform everyday dishes into culinary masterpieces with just a splash of hot sauce? Join us on this flavorful journey as we catch up with co-host Putra Vera and delve into our latest food adventures, family moments, and creative projects. This episode features a mouthwatering chorizo and crab dip sandwich, perfectly balanced with creamy avocado, and a simple yet flavorful ceviche enhanced by Brandon Clark's Florida hot sauce. With stunning food photography by John from Ibis Images, each dish is elevated to a visual feast, making your mouth water just by looking at them.
Our special guest, award-winning hot sauce creator Brandon Clark, shares his inspiring journey from a food service professional to a hot sauce entrepreneur. He reveals the origin of his company, the creative process behind developing region
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
hello food fam.
This is the walk and talkpodcast where you will find the
perfect blend of food fun andcooking knowledge.
I'm your host, carl fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country.
We're recording on site atibisages Studios, where food
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
Here's a humble request to giveus a follow on Instagram at
(00:29):
walkintalkshow, please, andthank you, and don't forget Ibis
Images as well.
I'm into quality made smokedfish dips and spreads.
I know you are too.
Check out our friends over atCrab Island Seafood Company.
We're using the jalapeno popperspread in one of the dishes
today and you know I'm excitedabout that.
Visit them atcrabislandseafooddipcom to order
(00:51):
yours.
Last week we had food insecuritytrailblazer, tyler White, on
the show.
If you're not checking him out,you're doing the wrong thing.
If you're into helping those inneed to eat, go back and listen
up Our beloved co-host and nowself-help cookbook author,
(01:11):
jeffrey Schlissel.
He's off playing hooky today.
But fear not, putra Vera hoppedon a plane from the Big Easy
early this morning and is herein studio to pick up the slack
Slacking ass slackers.
On today's show, sophie,award-winning hot sauce creator,
entrepreneur Brandon Clark,will share his story on how he
went from J-Woo to hot sauce.
(01:33):
Guru Chef Brandon Clark is ondeck.
Finally, the pooch has comeback to Tampa.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Can you?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
smell what the pooch is cooking.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
What's happening to food world?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
What have you been up to, brother?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Dude, I've been up to so much man, so many good
things, but really just relaxingman, spending a lot of time
with my family and getting to becreative, you know, and kind of
getting the juices flowingagain and taking every blessing
as it comes and making sure thatI definitely keep time,
spending time with my kids thebiggest thing, but lots of other
things.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, we're doing a lot ofstuff together, right that we
are.
Why don't you get into a littlebit of that?
Nah, but before you do get intowhat you made today Because,
frankly, I'm over the top rightnow on the actual food quality
that we had in the show today,wow- Wow, wow, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
You know, and you know what.
Shout out to Jeffrey Schlissel,my boy Love you, bro, I hope
you're having a good time upthere in Boston being creative
with Keith Saracen.
We, you know, in homage to youknow, good old Jeffrey, who
loves a good sandwich, and Iknow John loves photographing
those sandwiches pun intended wewent ahead and used some
Crescent City Meats, chorizo,which in New Orleans is called
(02:47):
hot sausage, but in the rest ofthe world it's called chorizo.
And Spain at one time owned NewOrleans.
Spain at one time owned Florida.
Actually, ironically, newOrleans was a part of all of
Florida at one time.
And so we went ahead and kind ofdid a little homage to Florida
and New Orleans and used thatchorizo, hot sausage.
And we used some crab dip fromyour boys over at Crab Island
(03:12):
Superb, superb, superb.
We used that jalapeno popper.
One smeared that on the toast.
Nothing fancy, not like it wasmelted or anything like that.
Just go ahead and smear that ona toast and heat it up.
That chorizo, it heated up thecrab dip on there.
And a phenomenal sandwich,simple, add a little.
Uh, john actually recommended Ihad some avocado to it because
(03:33):
he's such a good culinarypalette there and I did some
avocado for aesthetics,obviously for the photo, but,
and in that fattiness of thatthe chorizo kind of mellowed out
with the avocado yeah, but howabout that photo?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
like the photo was plural, right, it's sick crazy,
it's sick, it is crazy.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I'm so amazed every time I come here.
You know just well.
You know every time I come herespecifically for john's cuban
coffee because it's the best inflorida.
No bullshit, but it is.
It is amazing.
But at the end of the day, hisphotography is just killing the
game.
If you guys haven't checked itout, go check out Ibis Images.
But it's just something.
You can turn something assimple as a sandwich with crab
(04:09):
dip and chorizo on it into amasterpiece.
It is absolutely amazing.
But the other thing we did was Iwanted to showcase Brandon's
sauce.
Brandon Hopkins from ClarkHopkins and Don Hopkins I may as
well include his name in thereas well.
They are the founders of thesauce of of clark and hopkins.
But I wanted to show howversatile his sauce is or their
(04:30):
sauce, should I say and we use.
He has an array of differentsauces and when he comes on he
can definitely explain all ofthem or a few of them.
But he has a florida sauce andit has.
It basically embodies all theflavors of what you would find
in florida and kind of goes withanything you're doing in
Florida as far as cuisine.
So I said he had mentioned tome one time.
You can open up that bottle andpour it on some fish and you
have ceviche because it haseverything that you would need.
(04:51):
He's like, you know, just throwsome few fresh you know fresh
things in fresh vegetables orwhat have you in for texture and
whatnot, but the flavor isthere and I was like, well, you
know what, I'm going tochallenge you on that and I'm
going to challenge you that onthe podcast.
So I did that today and boy washe right.
So we I mean it was very simpleAvocado, tomato, red onion.
Go ahead, talk about thisceviche.
Okay, you're right, you're right, I'm getting caught up on
(05:14):
myself, I'm forgetting all thegood nuances of it.
So, carl being, I told Carl,give me a good white fish.
He was like you know what, howabout you bring some white fish
from Louisiana?
So I brought some catfish andthat's a Bayou to you.
Shout out to Troy Mathernewould buy you to you.
He hooked me up with some goodcatfish, sent it overnight and
the boys over at Crescent CityMeats sent over some.
(05:35):
Well, they sent over thechorizo, but they also sent over
some taso, and taso is a Cajuncured ham.
So I chopped that up, real,real nice, did a little fine
dice on that and threw that intothe ceviche as well, which
really paired well, gave it alittle bit of saltiness, a
little bit of spice and kind ofrounded out all of that that was
in there.
The only thing that was reallycutting the fat once again was
the avocado.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Well, all right.
So check this out, man.
First of all, the dish looksgorgeous.
It did it.
When you, the dish looksgorgeous, it did it.
Really it's beautiful.
But when we first tried it, itwas good.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
It was like all right , this is cool.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
No biggie, you know, okay, what ended up happening?
About 40 minutes later or so.
We got back into it, just likeyou know, picking around the
kitchen After the shoot, afterthe photo shoot, yeah, and man,
it had time to kind of like Idon't know, congenial permeate,
permeate and it was fire, yeahit was fire it really brought it
(06:32):
to a whole another level.
So I want to make sure that weget the ingredient list of what
you did there, because I want toput that on the social.
Yeah, attach it.
I want to attach it to theimagery that we're going to put
out from john gotcha.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So I mean both of these dishes.
Really I wanted to bringlouisiana bayou to florida and
kind of mesh them up.
So with the crab dip, with thechorizo was amazing, and then
obviously with the florida sauceand louisiana tasso and
louisiana catfish.
Nobody's ever really thinkingof using catfish and the quality
that troy mathernes has hisfarms in the Zamas of Louisiana,
which is the catfish capital ofthe world.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Ladies and gentlemen, that was pretty chef-y of you,
by the way.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
To pick catfish to go with ceviche I've never heard
of that before, well you know,somebody gave me a little hint
and a little nudge, you know,and I won't admit who that
person is, but they are a greatculinary mind.
But I won't admit who thatperson is, but they are a great
culinary mind, but yeah, it was.
It was very, very chefy.
I'm glad somebody gave me thatheads up on that Cause you know,
I need somebody to give methose heads up from now on.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Well, I can tell you this having a heads up and
actually putting it together andexecution, you're pulling off
the execution.
That's really where it counts.
So for you, my brother hats off.
Thank you, sir.
Sir, I appreciate that.
Yes, so you know you, for Idon't know, a couple of few
months at least you've been.
(07:52):
You've been saying, hey, youknow, clark and hopkins, clark
and hopkins, hey, you know,brandon, you kind of get them on
show, get them on show, getthem on show.
And I'm, and I'm like, okay,you know, because we're on a
backlog, legit backlog, which isan awesome problem to have.
And you know, I finally, and,by the way, I got the sample box
(08:13):
, I don't know a few weeks back,of the variety of different hot
sauces and I'm so impressed thelook, the feel, the flavor, the
whole nine yards, it's like a,it's a fastball strike on on a
hot sauce.
And I think you, you wereantagonizing me, you know, to
(08:36):
the point where I'm like, allright, dude, take it easy, right
, like slow, pump the brakes,okay.
But I'm really glad that we didthis because, as it turns out,
doing some diving on Brandon,he's got a pretty interesting
story.
Yeah, so it isn't just hey,there's another hot sauce, or
whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Hot sauce doesn't give it justice.
The word hot sauce does notgive it justice.
Yeah, it's different.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
I mean, I'm sure it's in that category, but it
doesn't seem that way to me.
It's not a hot.
I mean, I'm sure it's in thatcategory, but it doesn't seem
that way to me.
So well, you know what?
Before I get any further onthis, let's get Brandon on the
show.
Got you, brandon?
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Hey guys, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
If I was any better.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I'd be you Doing really good, brandon doing
really good.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I'm glad to have you on the show, man.
Well, I'm honored.
You guys love the sauces.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Shockingly.
Yes, you know.
I mean, there's a couple ofsauces out there that are my
go-to and in fact there's aLouisiana, you know brand called
Dats.
I just want to throw them outthere.
I don't want them to, you know,think I'm forgetting about them
.
Great product, but yours is not.
It's not a hot, it's a hotsauce, but it's not a hot sauce,
it's, it's, it's.
It's a culinary sauce that hassome heat, swiss army knife of
(09:50):
sorts.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Something like that.
Yeah, it's different, it'selevated, it's definitely chef
inspired.
Why don't you, brandon, if youcould take a minute and give the
the the airplane view of youknow who you are, and give the
airplane view of who you arewhere you came from?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
and how you ended up becoming a hot sauce guru?
Sure, yeah, so I was actuallyborn in Northern Virginia, where
I am now, but I grew up on theGulf Coast in Fairhope, Alabama,
which is about two hours fromNew Orleans, and went to Auburn
University for a couple of years, but I'm from a family that
discusses dinner plans overbreakfast.
(10:30):
So after two years at Auburn,I'm declared major.
All I can do is think aboutfood.
So I went to Johnson and Walesin Charleston.
I lived there for three and ahalf years and then did my
internship in Providence at thehome campus.
So, yeah, so I worked in thefood service industry for
(10:51):
several years, got tired of thecorporate food environment.
I actually became a realtor fora while and I was bringing
random hot sauces out to thetennis courts and one of my
buddies is from Kerala, which isthe southern tip of India, and
I said Brijesh, what is your hotsauce like down there?
And he said we don't have one.
(11:13):
So I went home, studied thecuisine, put it in a bottle and
he told me it tasted like ham.
So my doubles partner, DonHopkins, said hey, I think we
have something here.
And that's how the companystarted.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You know.
So before we jump into the hotsauce, you know our typical
normal co-host of the show,jeffrey Schlissel.
Chef Jeffrey, he's out of towntoday.
He's cooking somewhere up inthe Northeast and I invited
Pooch to be the co-host for abunch of reasons.
You know, pooch does a lot offill-in work with us and he does
(11:50):
a lot behind the scenes, butbecause of the relationship that
you guys have, I, the host, I'mkind of giving the reins over
to Pooch today.
So Pooch is large and in charge.
He's the field general today.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I lost a few pounds.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, a little bit.
But you know I'm giving you thepole position, so rock and roll
, baby.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Gotcha.
Well, you know, honestly, Imean, brandon, the reason I
really think that you should beshowcased on this show is number
one because we're an industryshow.
We're not so much a cookingshow, which we are, but we are
an industry show backed by a lotof people who are in the
industry, from sales on to, youknow, brokerage on to actual
culinary, on the scene, chefs.
But do you, I've never tastedsomething so brilliant and I'm
(12:41):
not here to to to you know, kissyour butt Like I.
Really I've never tastedsomething so brilliant in the'm
not here to to you know, kissyour butt like I.
Really I've never tastedsomething so brilliant in the
array of sauces that you havethat you really pull off in a,
just a dab of piece of liquid.
You can give someone a wholetire entree of everything in
that it's just so complex andit's so.
It's just so good and anotherreason why you're such a good
(13:03):
guy and I'm glad we're friends.
But I mean, you are the chef'sdream and chefs sit there after
a bad 16 hour day in theiroffice, surrounded by four walls
, dreading having to do it thenext day again and wishing that
they had a sauce.
Get them out of the office outof the closet.
You know, and you have that.
(13:25):
And not only do you have that,but it's one for Sophie award.
So like you are really the, thesuperhero to chefs all over and
if they know your story or ifthey haven't heard your story,
like they need to hear yourstory and that's why I was so
adamant about getting you onhere, because you are literally
every chef's dream man.
Like, everybody wants out of theindustry sooner than later to
(13:45):
be able to pursue something thatthey feel that really showcases
their creativity.
And you are blessed with thatopportunity.
And you know and thank you toDon Hopkins for you know saying
I believe in you because youknow everybody needs one of
those as well.
Everybody needs a Don Hopkins,absolutely.
So I mean, what?
What fuels your creativepassion?
Passion, what fuels the?
(14:05):
What's the next sauce?
What's the next flavor profile?
What keeps you up at nightwondering?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
what your next thing is going to be Well, I mean, you
know, speaking from the tenniscourt story, you know this
company is a happy accident andit began at the southern tip of
India, kerala.
So we decided to go on thattheme.
So Don said, hey, can you makesomething for our region?
So I made Chesapeake Bakes.
I thought Old Bay was overratedand salty, and we did one for
(14:34):
Virginia that's based on an1850s Virginia barbecue recipe
using Virginia peaches andbourbon.
But the latest so that's whatI've been doing theme-wise is
just, you know, being authenticto these regions.
So I actually just made a newone yesterday called Vermont,
(14:54):
and it's going to be a breakfasthot sauce, so it's made with
maple mustard and sage and itreally turned out fantastic.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, that would make .
That would make us really good.
Top your eggs and actuallymaybe even talk to crescent city
meats about making a sausageout of that that'd be, oh
perfect on sausage.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
But yeah, I mean, like what you guys were saying,
these really are more of aculinary sauce than just a
topical hot sauce, which is, youknow, 95 plus percent of the
hot sauces out there, andthere's some great ones, and
I've got some of those topicalsin my fridge, but I have a lot
of turnkey recipes associatedwith my sauces.
(15:35):
So if you take a Somme that wason the show Hot Ones and then
also won, excuse me, the SophieAward in 2019.
Won the Sophie Award in 2019.
So that is from Northeast India.
So if you take a can of coconutmilk, reduce it three or four
minutes and add a tablespoon orso of Assam, you have a turnkey
(15:57):
curry in less than five minutes,with no prep work, no knives,
and that's what makes usdifferent.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Very, very, very different.
And what made you think to goto that realm, like, did you
think I want to help out chefsand I want to make sure that
it's just a dash of this or youknow, or a teaspoon or a cup of
that?
Did you want to, like, simplifyit on a high quality level?
Or were you just saying this ishow my brain thinks and I want
(16:23):
to apply it this way?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it just really began again
with, you know, with Kerala,and then everything became
themed.
And then you know, looking atthe different recipes that can
be done with these, that arecrazy turnkey.
They're almost non-recipes.
When you have a can of coconutmilk and a bottle of Assam to
create something, or simplyhaving lentils, water and
(16:48):
Ethiopia and you have an amazinglentil stew and, again, no prep
work involved.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Gotcha.
Well, tell us about how do youget involved, for instance, with
hot ones and things like that.
You know every chef, especiallypeople who have their own hot
sauce out there is looking for away to get in there.
And has this entrepreneurialpath been paved with gold?
Or have you had to have hurdlesand then triumphs and then
hurdles again?
You know, it seems like you'rethis rock star superstar with
(17:16):
all these awards, but I'm sureit's not that glamorous, and you
know all the chefs out therereally would love to hear about
that.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Oh yeah, it's hard and you know it's.
It's a shark tank life.
If y'all have ever seen thatshow and you know I worked out
of my garage, you know, for acouple of years, as many makers
have.
And yeah, hot Ones is truly thegift that keeps on giving.
And yeah, hot Ones is truly thegift that keeps on giving.
(17:44):
And we've been on two episodes,which means you have 24
celebrities and obviously youdon't have to pay for it, but
you send your samples into theheat nest in Brooklyn and they
don't care who you are or whatthe deal is.
It does need to be a cleansauce and if they like it,
they'll put it on the show.
Does need to be a clean sauceand if they like it, they'll put
it on the show and like.
What's amazing is is we'll have, like, our Sophie trophies.
(18:04):
You know, we went to the foodshow in Dubai last year and I've
got the trophies out and thenI've got a framed picture of
Jack Black on Hot Ones eatingour hot sauce and people from
all over the world.
They're not pointing to thetrophies, they're pointing to my
picture of hot ones.
So it's, it's really a global,a global thing, and you know,
(18:27):
now, celebrities go on there andthey get more hits promoing
their movies than they do onJimmy Fallon at night.
So it's really an incredible,incredible boost.
So it's really an incredible,incredible boost.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's super interesting, brandon, you know
you've got.
I would like you to talk,expand on the Sophie Awards a
little bit, because you knowwe're the Walk Talk podcast.
Is we made the final slate forthe People's Choice Awards in
podcasting?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
It's super cool.
Yeah, it's super cool, and Iknow that there's an air of
excitement that goes along withit and I know how I'm feeling
about it and naturally you knowthere's no guarantee of a win or
anything like that, but we madeit to the table.
Tell me how that, tell me thefeeling.
And you guys won four rightFour Sophies.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yeah, we won four.
So it's essentially OprahWinfrey called the Sophie Awards
the Oscars of the food world,like 10 years ago, and it stuck.
So that's essentially what itis, and the great part is you
send your samples into New York.
You have writers from the NewYork Times, food and Wine, etc.
Chefs, and it's all blind.
(19:43):
They can't see my label oranything.
And I was told that there'sover 150 hot sauce entries each
year and we've entered fivetimes and we've won four, which
is really crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Is that unprecedented ?
Are there any other brands thathave done something similar?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
We're the only hot sauce company to win it more
than once, and we've won it four.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, that's pretty amazing it really is.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
We still pinch ourselves to this day,
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Right, I mean because it's something.
It's an unbelievable feeling tothink that something you
created, you and your partnerput this together and all of a
sudden it's, it's got accolade.
You know, people are aware ofit, yeah, and and really there's
no ceiling on where you'regoing to go with this.
I mean you're still young inthe history of the company, you
(20:35):
know lifespan of the company, soI mean it's pretty amazing.
So what is next, like what areyou trying to achieve?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, I mean ultimately what we would love to
see.
If you take, like McCormick,for example, they bought Cholula
, they liked what Cholula wasdoing and, you know, paid a
pretty penny for them, but nowthey have infrastructure,
marketing teams, etc.
And that's what I would want.
I would want a larger companyto buy us, give me a position
(21:03):
with the company.
Clearly I'm, you know, acreator, so there's some value
there.
And, by the way, I also endedup creating Crave Food Design
because all these companies withthe Sophie Awards have asked me
to make you know sauces andother things for them.
So that's been a nice side gigfrom the Sophie Awards.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I'm not aware of what .
That?
What is that?
What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I'm designing food products.
For some it's under NDA, butsome pretty big companies have
asked me to make things for them.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
And surprisingly you know as a chef, like it's
shocking, like there's a bunchof white lab coats that charge a
fortune to create things forfor customers and it's like
empty.
It's like an empty market inthe US.
I kept hearing you know ittakes too long, they're not very
(21:55):
good at what they do, it's veryexpensive.
So there is opportunity therewhen I have time to focus on it.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Well, you know, it's a funny thing.
I uh, I had a I've had severalconversations with a spice
producer not just a label or aco-pack or something like that,
and they do a lot.
They do a lot of the sciencework behind it and it does.
It takes a very long time andit's really nuts and bolts, it's
(22:23):
all it's, you know, ones andzeros.
The creativity aspect I mean,obviously there is a creativity
spectrum there that thesecompanies and scientists in the
food sector work within, butthey're not.
I wouldn't say that they'recreatives first.
They're ones and zeros first,Absolutely correct.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
They are nudging their glasses up on their nose
and they're into science and notcreativity.
You're absolutely correct,which is what created the end
game of all these customers orclients that are coming to me
complaining about the industryout there.
And it would you know, if I hadthe time, I would get some
(23:04):
other folks like Pooch to joinme and we create things for
these other companies, but Idon't have time to do that right
now.
But there's a huge opportunityout there.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Well, I'm looking at some data points here and in
relationship to this part of theconversation.
How are you making 23 hotsauces in a weekend?
What is that all about?
How do you wrap your headaround that?
And it's hot sauces, so is yourpalate just destroyed by the
end of the day?
Talk about that.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, yeah.
So when, literally after thatinterlude at the tennis courts,
I took a Saturday and Sunday andI sat in front of my computer
and I just started looking upcuisines and picked some
interesting ones and then wentto the international market and
(23:55):
got a bunch of ingredients.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
And yeah, I made 23 sauces over the weekend.
That's sure freaking bananas,dude.
I mean I wish I had thatcreative fortitude because I
would have made one and calledit a weekend or maybe got
halfway through the recipe book,you know, and then got on the
weekend.
But, dude, yeah, not to.
I mean I want to segue intothis because you point on
something and not to violate any.
You know, ndas, what have you?
But I mean I want to segue intothis because you point on
something and not to violate any.
You know, ndas, what have you?
(24:21):
But I mean, like, what are yourthoughts on the current trend
trends in the hot sauce industry?
And like what are the emergingflavors?
Because you see, you know, whenI, when I look at all your
sauces and I look at everything,it's like where does he go next
?
And I know maybe you might notbe able to say some things
because of the people you'reworking with, but you know, like
, where do you see theseemerging trends?
What do you see up next?
Because hot sauce has beensomething that's you know,
(24:44):
especially coming from as a neworleanian.
Hot sauce is, like you know,red beans and rice.
You need hot sauce.
You add it to certain things asa flavor enhancer, but never as
like the actual component rightnext to the dish like last year
at the fancy food show, theyalways list the the top five
food trends.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
So last year at the Fancy Food Show, they always
list the top five food trends.
So last year it wasinternational cuisine, spicy
foods, cooking at home andsomething else, and we hit all
five of them.
You know what are the trends.
I would say cooking at home andinternational flavors isn't
really a trend.
I think it's permanent.
I think hot sauces arepermanent.
(25:20):
You know, are we in some sortof a hot sauce renaissance right
now?
Yes, but I still.
But it's also beating up onthings like mayo, mustard,
ketchup and these other standard, you know, condiments that are
flatlining.
So I would say, you know, dosomething different.
You know, that would be.
My recommendation to a maker isto do something truly unique
(25:44):
and turnkey.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
What are some specific ingredients that you're
excited about?
I really want the world to hearhow your brain works and what
you're thinking right now.
Not any secrets, not anyrecipes you're working on, but
like where should a youngaspiring chef go right now to be
20 steps ahead of everybodyelse?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah, I mean I would say knowing the market.
You know, understanding the hotsauce market.
Ours was a happy accident, butI spent a lot of time learning
about other companies andfollowing them and, and you know
, seeing what they were doing,and it was great to see that we
were doing something different.
And I've got some friends outthere that make some great
(26:23):
sauces and do things for nichemarkets.
And as far as individualingredients, I know Tamarind was
in the list this year andthere's a barbecue sauce a
company that won the barbecuesauce Sophie this year.
It's called Tamarind Heads andit's a killer sauce and I think
they're brand new.
(26:43):
So congratulations to them.
But tamarind is definitely abig, big ingredient this year.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Brandon, how instrumental was Don Hopkins
getting involved in this thingto getting where you are today.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
I mean completely.
He has been absolutelyessential all the way down to
the guy that said hey, can youmake some other sauces besides
Kerala?
This company wouldn't be aroundif it wasn't for Tennis or Don.
So Don is the COO of a plasticinjection mold company out of
(27:19):
Canada and they have a warehousein Charleston, south Carolina.
So he's essentially gone everyother week and what he says
about Clark and Hopkins is ateam of 1.5, because the guy has
a beyond full-time job,non-full-time job.
(27:42):
So when I say Shark Tank, Imean it.
We roll our sleeves up and wehave a huge PO from
Williams-Sonoma and Don's garagethree-car garage is filled with
three packs that hisgrandchildren have been helping
him fill.
That's what it's like on theground with us.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
That's pretty amazing , and you know what else is very
cool.
I have to say that you know, upin Canada the Walk Talk podcast
is ranking number 36, eh, Eh,let's get it to number 1, eh.
Yeah, we're working on number 1.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I just wanted to throw that out there.
Since you brought up Canada.
We popped up on the chartsthere over the last couple of
days number 37 today, as ofright now.
Just wanted to put that outthere, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Yeah, Don and I went back and forth on this Vermont
sauce because it has maple in it, but we stuck with the States.
But we thought about Quebecbecause they're the number one
producer of maple in the world.
So we went back and forth butwe decided on Vermont.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I mean you got to throw this guy a bone.
I think real soon, but wedecided on.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Vermont.
I mean, you got to throw thisguy a bone, I think real soon,
right?
Well, if anybody's looking atthat, I'm looking on the
chessboard and saying, okay,tamarind very, very popular in
Mexico, obviously, throughoutLatin America and in Asia.
But you know, Mexico City isbecoming the forefront of
culinary progress in the UnitedStates.
Oh, absolutely.
And now if you say Quebec, hey,hey guys, maple wink, wink, you
(29:02):
know, maybe that could besomething trend that kind of
gets started and maybe youstarted here on the show.
But you know, I was going toelaborate a little bit more on
just you and Don's relationshipis something that I've seen.
I've had a lot of businesspartners in my life.
I've had, you know it's usuallythe odd couple in my life.
I've had, you know it's usuallythe odd couple freaking frack
and somebody's the brains andsomebody's the culinary uh, you
(29:22):
know brains and somebody's thepaperwork brains.
But you guys work so, so welltogether and I think that's why
you guys are so triumphant, youknow it's it's just very
communicative and veryappreciative of each other and
that is very much the punintended, the recipe to success,
especially in the culinaryworld.
You have to have the food, youhave to have the culinary
(29:43):
knowledge and the spice andflavor.
But you have to have thechemistry of the partnership to
really really be able to get towhere you need to be.
And to you know, knock on wood,let's say five Sophie Awards
next year, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I just want to say something real quick.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
That would be awesome .
I just want to say somethingreal quick.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
That would be awesome .
When Pooj just now brought upthe word triumphant, what nobody
saw and I wish I was recordingit is he put his hands like
fists on his hips and he pokedhis chest out.
He looked like Superman when hesaid it Nice, yeah, I just
wanted to be clear.
I wanted to paint that picturefor everyone, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, we can buy the portrait online at
walkingtalkcom.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
What to transition from a corporate lifestyle to
this independent,entrepreneurial sort of?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
you know environment, what?
What was that like?
Oh my gosh.
Well, number one.
Being a chef and moving intoanother food world, I'm thinking
I've got this right.
No Working with co-packers, andyou know having to use this
ingredient instead of that onebecause it'll process better at
the plant, and things like that.
Rolling your sleeves up, youknow wearing many hats.
(30:57):
That's not something I'm usedto, but I love the control of it
all.
I love the fact that it's mycreation and it's up to me every
day, you know, to increasesales and and highlights for
Clark and Hopkins.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
So, yeah, when you're , when you go from having to,
let's say, punch a clock, rightyou know, when you're a chef,
when you're a chef, you're incharge.
But at the end of the day, youeither have a let's just say,
some chefs have a gm or an ownerthat you know is is in the
building and and you're kind ofright, you're tethered to that
(31:32):
once you go off on your own.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
you are and you're, yeah, and you're tethered to
what I call adult daycare.
So the last I worked acorporate position and you know
I had 115, 120 employees andseveral kitchens and several
managers, and I do not missmanaging people as an
entrepreneur.
Now I don't miss it at all, I'msure.
(31:53):
I'm sure Pooch would say thesame thing.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Amen, I'm very blessed I can actually.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I can give a third.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
As a VP of sales.
Yes, sir, yes, still to thisday.
Yes, but it's different now.
No slight at his currentemployee.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
No, no, no, because it's no.
It's so very different now.
And what he's talking about,brandon, is you know I was in
produce sales and distributionfor I don't know 20 plus 25
years, whatever.
Okay, and yeah.
So I've been involved in a lotof sales teams, managing sales
teams, managing sales andcustomer service and whatever.
(32:29):
When the opportunity came up andthis whole walk and talk media,
food media company, you knowkind of this divine sort of you
know happenstance, everythingchanged and one of our largest
vendor partners, or a sponsor,you know whatever you want to
call peninsula food service, isa, they're a, they're a meat,
we're a meat supplier.
(32:50):
And you know they were asponsor.
Well, what their vp of sales,something happened and,
family-wise, you had to split,leave town and the owner of the
company kind of understood whatmy background was and he said,
hey, man, you want to take thisover.
And I was like, well, let'swork something out.
So I was able to build a team,hire a wonderful sales manager,
(33:14):
Veronica Rodriguez, and and kindof you know, steer the vision
and strategy, but not really bein the day to day per se, and it
allows me to still court, youknow, prospects, but those
prospects get folded into intoour media operation.
So it's an interesting, it'ssuch an interesting different
(33:36):
dynamic now.
So, while I'm still, you know,in management per se, it's, it's
different, it's a, it's a wholedifferent chemical makeup now.
And, yeah, and I'm, I'm, I'mthoroughly enjoying it.
I will say that, having you know, being in this, this
entrepreneurial uh boat, youknow there's always water coming
(33:58):
in, there's always a hole,there's a you know and, and and
there's, and there doesn't seemto be enough buckets or hands
for the buckets to get the waterout, and there's definitely not
a uh, a uh bilge pump.
So, you know, there you are.
That's what, that's kind ofwhat, that's what, that's what
uh Butch was referring to.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
So, brandon, I want to, yeah, but it feels good
being yours, though you know.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Well, yeah, well it, yes.
But then, how this is set up.
And it's interesting because,like John Hernandez, who's to my
left right now, he's aphotographer by trade, dear
friend, brother, for I don'tknow 30, 30, 30 something years,
I don't know A long time, morethan that, probably you know
we've.
Do you remember the movie?
Do you remember the, uh, thecartoon voltron?
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I do all right of the universe yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
So that's, that's walk and talk.
Voltron, it's we're.
Voltron is because we all, likeyou know, jeffrey is is amazing
in culinary, john is amazing inphotography.
I do what I do on the, you know, networking, networking,
business vision side and andit's a thing that we all kind of
come together on and and makehappen.
(35:05):
So we're because, because ofthe job that we do, we're able
to get, you know, four timesSophie winning.
You know, chef entrepreneurs onthe show.
You know it's, it's, it'spretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
It really is Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
And to segue into teamwork and you, I mean to me
the biggest thing that you, thatyou're doing right now, is
working with a national team andthe wizards and being in the
capital one arena.
Your sauce, district sauce, whois probably your most notable
sauce, is it?
is now it is now and I mean I'llbe honest, it's my favorite one
(35:41):
.
I mean, I always opening abottle is another exploration
and another, you know, week oftrying to pair with so many, so
many different things.
But the district sauce isreally where, you know, I'll
give somebody a bottle and, likeyou mean another bottle, let me
get another bottle.
I was like, well, you mean youmight need to buy this bottle,
but it's that good, it's thataddictive, it's really amazing.
And obviously the owners of theWizards and the Capital One
(36:05):
Center said, hey, we want tohave your sauce here as a wing
sauce.
And now, so you have thecapital, you have the district
wings at the Capital One CenterAnother triumphant win as a chef
that you know most chefs sitand daydream about having.
You know you have all these onein a million things happening,
(36:25):
brandon, like go buy a lottoticket right now, dude, because
I mean it's just like you reallyare the success story that
keeps on giving man.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
It's been a great couple of years and, yeah, I'll
give you the backstory realquick.
So the marketing director atCapital One Arena works for
Monumental and Monumental ownsthe individual teams in the
building out of this fridge andput it on a sandwich and he said
(36:59):
, wow, this is the best hotsauce I've ever had.
And he looks at the label andhe's like, oh my God, these guys
are local.
So when he got back to DC, hesent me an email and asked for a
lunch meeting.
Maybe he thought we were hugeor what have you, but he ended
up giving us a nice deal to getinto the arena and supporting
locals.
So good on him.
And the basis of the districtsauce is we have the highest
(37:23):
population of Ethiopians in theworld outside of Ethiopia.
So I used Burberry, which istheir curry blend, and then this
is my first honey-based sauce.
So one of my customers actuallycalled it hot honey, elevated
or an elevated hot honey.
I said, okay, I'm going tosteal that tagline, but that's
(37:46):
what makes it DC and it's been ahell of a success.
As you know, you were up in NewYork with us and the great part
about district sauce is we camein second place for it being
the number one product of theyear, and that's globally I
think it's over 80 countries ofproducts that they turn in and
(38:06):
District almost won that- Jeez,I'm pizza.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
That's magnificent.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
What a story.
It's crazy what a story.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
It's crazy.
And you know, to add to thatstory, one of our partners is
the Virginia Department ofAgriculture and they spent
$25,000 marketing us for ourfourth win in New York.
So we had a 10-foot by 30-footbanner in the Javits Center
(38:36):
bigger than life and then at theSophie Gala, which is where
they do New York Fashion Weekit's a fancy room or whatever,
with digital walls.
So we had digital videos of us,you know, throughout the
evening and this and that thatVirginia paid for.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Also magnificent.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Right, yeah, you know .
So they are very much a partnerand and that's one of the cool
things I'm glad you said itbecause we were going to
elaborate on that as well and wenormally don't lab.
You know, coming from a verybig culinary state like
louisiana, you know I have tolet the world know that they do
a very poor job of taking careof their chefs and taking care
of their people, who are reallywinning awards and leading at
(39:17):
doing things, and the Virginiaagriculture department is really
going behind their gems andmaking sure they shine bright to
the world.
And you know you guys are goingto France, you guys are going
to Dubai.
You guys have, you know, madesauces for the Ukrainian
consulate.
Yeah, ukrainian consulate.
I mean, you guys are justfreaking the the.
You guys are the success storyman people need to learn about
(39:40):
you and really it's the truth.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Facts are facts, man I think the proof is in the
pudding.
I think I am gonna go playlotto after this, you know,
definitely.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
I mean I feel like I gotta get a jump on the wave man
, yeah so we're going to Parisin October for Seattle Paris,
which is the largest specialtyfood show in Europe, and two
days prior to that we're doingan event with United Airlines
because they have our productsat the Polaris Lounge at Dulles.
(40:13):
So VDACs invited us to thisevent at the ambassador's
residence in Paris.
So we're going to have, youknow, our products set up and
CEOs from United Airlines etcetera will be there.
But it's a program to promoteVirginia.
When people fly to Dulles cometo Virginia instead of going to
(40:34):
DC, so we're excited about that.
Nothing goes on in DC andVirginia pays for our booth
there in Paris and all of thatis crazy.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
It is crazy.
Do you ever make it to Florida?
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yes, actually, our co-packer is in St Augustine,
florida.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Oh, that's not far from.
I mean, it's about three hoursfrom us.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, endorphin Farms , and I think they're, they're
the best co-packed.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
That's where you get the, the, the, the datil pepper
from from over there, Right.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Literally.
Yeah, so exactly.
So the datil pepper is from StAugustine and they use it for
weird things Like they.
They have a daddle ketchup andthings like that.
But if you taste this pepper onits own, it is my single
favorite pepper on earth.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
There's a cult, it has like a garlicky, citrusy
effect to it.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
It's not quite as hot as a habanero and just so
flavorful.
And I was bottling anotherproduct down there in St
Augustine and I was bottlinganother product down there in St
Augustine and I started askingthe owner about the datil pepper
and does he have some and thisand that that's not fermented?
And he said yes.
I said let's make this trueFlorida.
So I did the four citruses ofFlorida, a bunch of garlic and
(41:52):
it's about 85% datil pepper.
So what you're tasting there ismostly the datil pepper.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
I didn't want to mess with it, and that's that is
amazing too.
I keep and I feel like I'm onthis like fanboy wagon here
because everything's like, oh,magnificent, amazing, but it's,
it's, it's, it's something sodifferent and unique and the
proof is in the hot sauce yeah,100, you know the, the datil
pepper.
The chefs and people from theregion over there, jacksonville,
st hogg, it's like they drinkthe kool-aid and they're getting
(42:21):
, they're waiting for thespaceship.
It's, it's, it's that deep, youknow, in that it is, it really
is so.
And and you know you need kudosfor for picking up on on the
vibe, that vibe and capturingthat and then literally putting
it in a bottle.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
Yeah, and the vibe.
And you got that right.
The vibe was I kept seeingdaddle everywhere on the menus.
When I'm, you know, at somerestaurant down there waiting
for production and there'sdaddle everywhere, I'm like I
need to do something here.
So that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
I had a salesperson who was up in that part of town
when I was in my last, uh, otheroutfit and you know he would if
he was incessant.
Carl, carl, go talk to the dad,get the peppers, bring them in,
I'll.
I promise.
You know, if we bring these inand we're distributing,
everybody's gonna buy from.
And I and I didn't understandit.
(43:14):
I'm not from there, so I don't.
I didn't get the.
You know the weight of it yeahbut yeah, but I I wish I had a.
I wish I did that because thiswas probably all five years ago.
There was a good opportunity todo something and uh alas, you
know, lost uh opportunities.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
But good for you for picking up on that, yeah, it's
brilliant, man, it's just sobrilliant okay, I can't say the
word brilliant more times thanjust saying brilliant, brilliant
, brilliant.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
But how do I get you in, how do I get you in the
studio?
Yeah, that's what I want toknow.
Come cook with us, bro.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
Yeah, next time I'm, next time I'm down in St
Augustine, I can definitely doit.
It's guys, is it?
Speaker 1 (43:53):
no, it's like three hours, man, it's quick.
And yeah, when you're in thesouth.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
You may as well come over to new orleans, you know so
yeah, that would be cool to dosome you know turnkey stuff in
the studio.
For sure I'd love to do thatyeah, you got a little taste of.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I know that, I saw I think you posted some, some,
some pictures that pooch sentyou from from production yes,
yeah, amazing, yeah, amazingjohn hernandez guys so.
But here's the here's the thing, Brandon, you will cook and you
will create something beautiful, and then John will take it and
(44:27):
enhance it and make it justforever.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
I would love that.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
Yeah, I would love it too, my, my, my whole thing is
I get to eat the stuff you knowwhat I mean?
Speaker 2 (44:36):
That's the lotto ticket right there.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
That's my other lotto .
It's a secondary lotto Food.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
Brandon, let me ask you this you guys you've dove
into the Bloody Mary mix nowthings like that, but they still
kind of fall into the lines ofhot sauce.
You and Don have anything that.
Obviously, if it's secretive,know, we can't hear it.
But, like you know, are thereother types of food or other.
You know, someone asked me likeask him if he's gonna do a ice
(45:02):
cream.
It's like, well, you know what,that's kind of funny and
whatever, and you know witty.
But at the same time it's likeyou know what I kind of want to
know, if Brandon Clark could doan ice cream.
You know I don't think that youwould mess that up and there's
much thought and pizzazz thatyou would put into that.
I really think it'd probably bea brilliant ice cream.
But what are some of the?
Speaker 3 (45:22):
things that you've got going on.
There's a gelato yeah, there'sa gelato shop in Richmond that
wants to do a district gelatoand I think it'll work.
I'll be interested to see whatcomes back there.
So I'm on the board of theVirginia Specialty Food
Association, vasfa, and I workwith.
(45:42):
You know I'm on the board there.
I work with several othermembers and board members and
one of our board members ownsBelmont Peanuts.
I was going to ask about thatand we were talking, and I was
asking him because they haveseveral flavors over there.
Talking, and I was asking himbecause they have several
flavors over there and I said ifwe could get my hot sauces
emulated into dry form, wouldyou be interested in doing this?
(46:05):
And immediately he said yes.
So Belmont Peanuts is in SouthVirginia.
They're on 4,000 acres andthey're farming it and then they
also have their own facilitythere as well and you're also
teaming up with jody's as wellyeah, we are.
So, yeah, jody's popcorn aswell.
(46:26):
And then we're also workingwith cookie company and they
made a district cookie.
That is insane and it's madewith a local virginia company
called route 11 potato chips.
Sounds odd, but it's made witha local Virginia company called
Route 11 Potato Chips.
Sounds odd, but it's a hell ofa product.
And he's in all three airportshere in the region.
So immediately the districtcookie will be going into all
(46:48):
three airports that we'reexcited about that.
So we began with Belmont,Excuse me.
So we began with Belmont,Excuse me.
We did Assam District, Arizona,Virginia and Chesapeake Bay.
And as a chef, I'm working withthis company called Elite Spice
out of Maryland, and as a chef,you know we don't think this way
(47:11):
.
I'm like are you guys going tobe able to dry peaches and
whiskey and all of these otherthings that I have in my sauces?
And they sent me the firstround and immediately I was
impressed and we had a couple ofexchanges and we finally got
the powders where we want themand they turned out incredible.
(47:36):
They really did.
So Jody is on the board with meas well.
That owns Jody's Popcorn andthey're all over the place.
They're international.
They'll actually be in Dubaiwith us.
So they work with Costco andCostco said that they were going
to bring in the districtpopcorn and they haven't even
tasted it yet.
But that's the relationshipthat Jody's has with them.
(47:58):
But anyway, I took the peanutsto New York, as you know, Pooch,
for the first time for thepublic to see them, and the
writer for the Wall StreetJournal comes into my booth you
know I see his badge I'm like ohmy God, and so let me walk you
through my hot sauces.
You know I have the trophies infront of me and he said I'm
here for snacks, Tell me aboutyour peanuts.
(48:20):
So I told him about them.
He started tasting them and,you know, got a little animated
and he said I would love tofeature you in the Wall Street
Journal.
This is the best snack I've hadtoday at the Javits Center.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
If I can encourage anybody to go out and get any
product but those Assam peanuts,you will not be able to stop.
You will not be able to stop.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
Wait, I think I've been saying his name wrong.
It's Midas Clark.
It's not Brandon, it's MidasClark.
What are we talking about here?
And Don too?
Speaker 2 (48:53):
Don as well.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
I'll send you some peanuts to check out, carl.
They really I mean they reallyturned out fantastic.
I was surprised Like I did notthink they would be able to to
do the powders that way, butthey did.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
And Brandon, you don't understand, you don't?
You're not aware of this yet,but we're going to be doing some
stuff together.
I just want you to know that.
You're not you, you haven'tthought of it, but, as as we're
having this conversation and I'mjust thinking about all the
funky stuff that we do in termsof you know bad-ass video and
you know audio and all thisstuff, we, we will do some stuff
together and I'm not puttingyou on the spot so you don't
(49:27):
have to answer.
But yeah, there, there's somethings, man.
I mean, there's some someconversations to be had.
I'm, I'm so, I'm, I'm, I'm soexcited behind the mic right now
.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
Just put me to count me in.
Man, absolutely, I would loveto certainly explore doing
something together, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
Yeah, there's definitely some opportunities
and we can talk about thoseoffline.
Speaker 3 (49:51):
But OK, all right so that sounds good.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
We need to figure out when it is that you're going to
be able to make it to Tampa,and that's something I'd love to
kind of like over the nextcouple of weeks, figure out a
timeline to get you here.
Weinary Open, and that wascreated by chefs Nick and Polly
Barrington a couple and there'sa show it's called the NAFM show
(50:25):
.
It's basically the largest foodequipment trade show in the
country.
They alternate.
Speaker 3 (50:32):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Yeah, it's pretty badass.
They alternate between Georgiaand Orlando, the convention
centers.
So this, this coming February,it's going to be in Georgia and
we are the official.
Yeah, we're the officialpodcast of this event Now here.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Before you say that's awesome, let me tell you this
there's 12 contestants.
About every one of thesecontestants comes from some
Michelin or beard establishment,by and large Right Like.
It's just like this herd ofjust bad-ass culinarians and
(51:10):
we're going to end up coveringall of them on the show at some
point in time.
You know, obviously, schedulingand whatnot.
That's one thing.
That's one cool thing, and I'mnot going to put a period now,
it's a comma and there's.
So there's a one of thegodfather celebrity chefs,
(51:33):
norman Van Aken, who yes, andthen Norman, mr Florida.
Man, I'll tell you what.
You ain't lying.
So we've been having a lot ofconversations and one of my good
friends, kurt Hicken, got usconnected through some channels.
Whatever, long story short,he's in partner.
He's partnering with a galnamed Stacey Archer and they're
(51:53):
doing these food insecurity sortof demos where they have people
log in and they have these, youknow, like a video chat sort of
thing, and they have theseultra uber high-end chefs teach
these families how to createmeals for you know, let's say,
they have six people in thehousehold.
Well, how do you feed sixpeople on 20 bucks?
(52:15):
Okay, right, so here you know,enter in more michelin, more
badass high profile chefs whoyou know we're going to usher in
through the, through thepodcast, because number one we
so the the whole food insecuritything and and and being part of
some sort of help is, you knowwe want to be there, you know,
(52:36):
however, and being part of somesort of help is, you know we
want to be there.
You know, however, we can helpwith charitable sort of um
situations.
We want to be included and andthat's what we're doing.
So, over the next three monthsor so, we're going to be
inundated with, like, ultrahigh-end chefs.
Now, we've always had ultrahigh-end chefs, but these are
like the next creep up level ofof it.
It's super exciting and thereason I'm saying this one, I'm
(53:01):
I'm speaking all of this intoexistence right, because it's
all happening, but now it's now,we're talking about it.
Yeah, and I, but I, but I wantto get you here, I want to
figure this out.
You know, even if we havesomebody that's a call in, I I'd
love to still have you instudio so we can do our thing.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 3 (53:20):
Yeah, that would be fun, man.
And yeah, so I am bottlingVermont, we're going.
I literally sent the samples toSt Augustine yesterday and what
they do is they make thatrecipe and it's based on a half
gallon and then they make itthere in their little lab and
send it back to me and I give ita thumbs up or thumbs down or,
(53:43):
you know, add more salt,whatever.
And then I get a date and I flyto Florida for first run.
Only because they're incrediblyconsistent, you know, I may say
more salt, let's add some morevinegar.
Okay, we're good.
So I, I will be in saintaugustine and then that in
probably about two months orsomething like that okay that
(54:04):
that actually might jive reallywell yeah, like late october is
probably where it's gonna landokay.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
Yeah, that's cool man .
We have some dinners that we'regoing to be doing coming up
into the cooler months as well.
We get involved with a lot ofdinners, we record them, we do a
bunch of cool stuff withcameras and everything, so maybe
we can get you to swing by oneof those too.
Speaker 2 (54:30):
Yeah, you'd have a good time geeking out with food
with us man and JeffreySchlissel and you should meet
Because I think y'all would havesome really good combo and
create some really really goodfood.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Oh, you should meet, so I think y'all would have some
really good combo and createsome really really good phone.
Speaker 2 (54:39):
Oh man, the, the, the creative juices you get.
You know, two dorks in thekitchen should be the podcast.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
You know, and I just want to put it out there,
jefferson, when you're listeningto this, shame on you.
Shame on you for not being here.
This is, you know here.
This is you know he should be.
You know, I'm just going to sayslack and I slack even though
he's not slacking.
He's actually out therehustling and working, but man, I
don't.
I'm not going to let him forgetit.
All right, brandon, how dopeople find you on the internet,
(55:07):
baby?
What do they look for?
Speaker 3 (55:09):
Yeah, so we're at Clark and Hopkinscom and then at
Clark and Hopkins on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
Excellent.
I want to just thank you forbeing on the show today and,
pooch, thank you for coming outand thank you for connecting us
with Brandon and the whole.
Nine yards, jerry, fromCrescent City Meats, appreciate
you.
Speaker 2 (55:31):
Jerry and Damien and Damien, whole Hanford family.
We love y'all.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
Yep, tom over at Crab Island Seafood, appreciate you
as well.
What a day, man.
I can't wait to go back and eat.
Now I'm going to eat morebecause I am a fat ass.
That's just what this is.
Alright, gentlemen, pooch, john, you guys are beautiful people.
Thank you kindly, and we areout.
hello food fam.
This is the walk and talkpodcast where you will find the
perfect blend of food fun andcooking knowledge.
I'm your host, carl fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country.
We're recording on site atibisages Studios, where food
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
Here's a humble request to giveus a follow on Instagram at
(00:29):
walkintalkshow, please, andthank you, and don't forget Ibis
Images as well.
I'm into quality made smokedfish dips and spreads.
I know you are too.
Check out our friends over atCrab Island Seafood Company.
We're using the jalapeno popperspread in one of the dishes
today and you know I'm excitedabout that.
Visit them atcrabislandseafooddipcom to order
(00:51):
yours.
Last week we had food insecuritytrailblazer, tyler White, on
the show.
If you're not checking him out,you're doing the wrong thing.
If you're into helping those inneed to eat, go back and listen
up Our beloved co-host and nowself-help cookbook author,
(01:11):
jeffrey Schlissel.
He's off playing hooky today.
But fear not, putra Vera hoppedon a plane from the Big Easy
early this morning and is herein studio to pick up the slack
Slacking ass slackers.
On today's show, sophie,award-winning hot sauce creator,
entrepreneur Brandon Clark,will share his story on how he
went from J-Woo to hot sauce.
(01:33):
Guru Chef Brandon Clark is ondeck.
Finally, the pooch has comeback to Tampa.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Can you?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
smell what the pooch is cooking.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
What's happening to food world?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
What have you been up to, brother?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Dude, I've been up to so much man, so many good
things, but really just relaxingman, spending a lot of time
with my family and getting to becreative, you know, and kind of
getting the juices flowingagain and taking every blessing
as it comes and making sure thatI definitely keep time,
spending time with my kids thebiggest thing, but lots of other
things.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, we're doing a lot ofstuff together, right that we
are.
Why don't you get into a littlebit of that?
Nah, but before you do get intowhat you made today Because,
frankly, I'm over the top rightnow on the actual food quality
that we had in the show today,wow- Wow, wow, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
You know, and you know what.
Shout out to Jeffrey Schlissel,my boy Love you, bro, I hope
you're having a good time upthere in Boston being creative
with Keith Saracen.
We, you know, in homage to youknow, good old Jeffrey, who
loves a good sandwich, and Iknow John loves photographing
those sandwiches pun intended wewent ahead and used some
Crescent City Meats, chorizo,which in New Orleans is called
(02:47):
hot sausage, but in the rest ofthe world it's called chorizo.
And Spain at one time owned NewOrleans.
Spain at one time owned Florida.
Actually, ironically, newOrleans was a part of all of
Florida at one time.
And so we went ahead and kind ofdid a little homage to Florida
and New Orleans and used thatchorizo, hot sausage.
And we used some crab dip fromyour boys over at Crab Island
(03:12):
Superb, superb, superb.
We used that jalapeno popper.
One smeared that on the toast.
Nothing fancy, not like it wasmelted or anything like that.
Just go ahead and smear that ona toast and heat it up.
That chorizo, it heated up thecrab dip on there.
And a phenomenal sandwich,simple, add a little.
Uh, john actually recommended Ihad some avocado to it because
(03:33):
he's such a good culinarypalette there and I did some
avocado for aesthetics,obviously for the photo, but,
and in that fattiness of thatthe chorizo kind of mellowed out
with the avocado yeah, but howabout that photo?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
like the photo was plural, right, it's sick crazy,
it's sick, it is crazy.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I'm so amazed every time I come here.
You know just well.
You know every time I come herespecifically for john's cuban
coffee because it's the best inflorida.
No bullshit, but it is.
It is amazing.
But at the end of the day, hisphotography is just killing the
game.
If you guys haven't checked itout, go check out Ibis Images.
But it's just something.
You can turn something assimple as a sandwich with crab
(04:09):
dip and chorizo on it into amasterpiece.
It is absolutely amazing.
But the other thing we did was Iwanted to showcase Brandon's
sauce.
Brandon Hopkins from ClarkHopkins and Don Hopkins I may as
well include his name in thereas well.
They are the founders of thesauce of of clark and hopkins.
But I wanted to show howversatile his sauce is or their
(04:30):
sauce, should I say and we use.
He has an array of differentsauces and when he comes on he
can definitely explain all ofthem or a few of them.
But he has a florida sauce andit has.
It basically embodies all theflavors of what you would find
in florida and kind of goes withanything you're doing in
Florida as far as cuisine.
So I said he had mentioned tome one time.
You can open up that bottle andpour it on some fish and you
have ceviche because it haseverything that you would need.
(04:51):
He's like, you know, just throwsome few fresh you know fresh
things in fresh vegetables orwhat have you in for texture and
whatnot, but the flavor isthere and I was like, well, you
know what, I'm going tochallenge you on that and I'm
going to challenge you that onthe podcast.
So I did that today and boy washe right.
So we I mean it was very simpleAvocado, tomato, red onion.
Go ahead, talk about thisceviche.
Okay, you're right, you're right, I'm getting caught up on
(05:14):
myself, I'm forgetting all thegood nuances of it.
So, carl being, I told Carl,give me a good white fish.
He was like you know what, howabout you bring some white fish
from Louisiana?
So I brought some catfish andthat's a Bayou to you.
Shout out to Troy Mathernewould buy you to you.
He hooked me up with some goodcatfish, sent it overnight and
the boys over at Crescent CityMeats sent over some.
(05:35):
Well, they sent over thechorizo, but they also sent over
some taso, and taso is a Cajuncured ham.
So I chopped that up, real,real nice, did a little fine
dice on that and threw that intothe ceviche as well, which
really paired well, gave it alittle bit of saltiness, a
little bit of spice and kind ofrounded out all of that that was
in there.
The only thing that was reallycutting the fat once again was
the avocado.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Well, all right.
So check this out, man.
First of all, the dish looksgorgeous.
It did it.
When you, the dish looksgorgeous, it did it.
Really it's beautiful.
But when we first tried it, itwas good.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
It was like all right , this is cool.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
No biggie, you know, okay, what ended up happening?
About 40 minutes later or so.
We got back into it, just likeyou know, picking around the
kitchen After the shoot, afterthe photo shoot, yeah, and man,
it had time to kind of like Idon't know, congenial permeate,
permeate and it was fire, yeahit was fire it really brought it
(06:32):
to a whole another level.
So I want to make sure that weget the ingredient list of what
you did there, because I want toput that on the social.
Yeah, attach it.
I want to attach it to theimagery that we're going to put
out from john gotcha.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So I mean both of these dishes.
Really I wanted to bringlouisiana bayou to florida and
kind of mesh them up.
So with the crab dip, with thechorizo was amazing, and then
obviously with the florida sauceand louisiana tasso and
louisiana catfish.
Nobody's ever really thinkingof using catfish and the quality
that troy mathernes has hisfarms in the Zamas of Louisiana,
which is the catfish capital ofthe world.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Ladies and gentlemen, that was pretty chef-y of you,
by the way.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
To pick catfish to go with ceviche I've never heard
of that before, well you know,somebody gave me a little hint
and a little nudge, you know,and I won't admit who that
person is, but they are a greatculinary mind.
But I won't admit who thatperson is, but they are a great
culinary mind, but yeah, it was.
It was very, very chefy.
I'm glad somebody gave me thatheads up on that Cause you know,
I need somebody to give methose heads up from now on.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Well, I can tell you this having a heads up and
actually putting it together andexecution, you're pulling off
the execution.
That's really where it counts.
So for you, my brother hats off.
Thank you, sir.
Sir, I appreciate that.
Yes, so you know you, for Idon't know, a couple of few
months at least you've been.
(07:52):
You've been saying, hey, youknow, clark and hopkins, clark
and hopkins, hey, you know,brandon, you kind of get them on
show, get them on show, getthem on show.
And I'm, and I'm like, okay,you know, because we're on a
backlog, legit backlog, which isan awesome problem to have.
And you know, I finally, and,by the way, I got the sample box
(08:13):
, I don't know a few weeks back,of the variety of different hot
sauces and I'm so impressed thelook, the feel, the flavor, the
whole nine yards, it's like a,it's a fastball strike on on a
hot sauce.
And I think you, you wereantagonizing me, you know, to
(08:36):
the point where I'm like, allright, dude, take it easy, right
, like slow, pump the brakes,okay.
But I'm really glad that we didthis because, as it turns out,
doing some diving on Brandon,he's got a pretty interesting
story.
Yeah, so it isn't just hey,there's another hot sauce, or
whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Hot sauce doesn't give it justice.
The word hot sauce does notgive it justice.
Yeah, it's different.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
I mean, I'm sure it's in that category, but it
doesn't seem that way to me.
It's not a hot.
I mean, I'm sure it's in thatcategory, but it doesn't seem
that way to me.
So well, you know what?
Before I get any further onthis, let's get Brandon on the
show.
Got you, brandon?
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Hey guys, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
If I was any better.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I'd be you Doing really good, brandon doing
really good.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I'm glad to have you on the show, man.
Well, I'm honored.
You guys love the sauces.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Shockingly.
Yes, you know.
I mean, there's a couple ofsauces out there that are my
go-to and in fact there's aLouisiana, you know brand called
Dats.
I just want to throw them outthere.
I don't want them to, you know,think I'm forgetting about them
.
Great product, but yours is not.
It's not a hot, it's a hotsauce, but it's not a hot sauce,
it's, it's, it's.
It's a culinary sauce that hassome heat, swiss army knife of
(09:50):
sorts.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Something like that.
Yeah, it's different, it'selevated, it's definitely chef
inspired.
Why don't you, brandon, if youcould take a minute and give the
the the airplane view of youknow who you are, and give the
airplane view of who you arewhere you came from?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
and how you ended up becoming a hot sauce guru?
Sure, yeah, so I was actuallyborn in Northern Virginia, where
I am now, but I grew up on theGulf Coast in Fairhope, Alabama,
which is about two hours fromNew Orleans, and went to Auburn
University for a couple of years, but I'm from a family that
discusses dinner plans overbreakfast.
(10:30):
So after two years at Auburn,I'm declared major.
All I can do is think aboutfood.
So I went to Johnson and Walesin Charleston.
I lived there for three and ahalf years and then did my
internship in Providence at thehome campus.
So, yeah, so I worked in thefood service industry for
(10:51):
several years, got tired of thecorporate food environment.
I actually became a realtor fora while and I was bringing
random hot sauces out to thetennis courts and one of my
buddies is from Kerala, which isthe southern tip of India, and
I said Brijesh, what is your hotsauce like down there?
And he said we don't have one.
(11:13):
So I went home, studied thecuisine, put it in a bottle and
he told me it tasted like ham.
So my doubles partner, DonHopkins, said hey, I think we
have something here.
And that's how the companystarted.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You know.
So before we jump into the hotsauce, you know our typical
normal co-host of the show,jeffrey Schlissel.
Chef Jeffrey, he's out of towntoday.
He's cooking somewhere up inthe Northeast and I invited
Pooch to be the co-host for abunch of reasons.
You know, pooch does a lot offill-in work with us and he does
(11:50):
a lot behind the scenes, butbecause of the relationship that
you guys have, I, the host, I'mkind of giving the reins over
to Pooch today.
So Pooch is large and in charge.
He's the field general today.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I lost a few pounds.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, a little bit.
But you know I'm giving you thepole position, so rock and roll
, baby.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Gotcha.
Well, you know, honestly, Imean, brandon, the reason I
really think that you should beshowcased on this show is number
one because we're an industryshow.
We're not so much a cookingshow, which we are, but we are
an industry show backed by a lotof people who are in the
industry, from sales on to, youknow, brokerage on to actual
culinary, on the scene, chefs.
But do you, I've never tastedsomething so brilliant and I'm
(12:41):
not here to to to you know, kissyour butt Like I.
Really I've never tastedsomething so brilliant in the'm
not here to to you know, kissyour butt like I.
Really I've never tastedsomething so brilliant in the
array of sauces that you havethat you really pull off in a,
just a dab of piece of liquid.
You can give someone a wholetire entree of everything in
that it's just so complex andit's so.
It's just so good and anotherreason why you're such a good
(13:03):
guy and I'm glad we're friends.
But I mean, you are the chef'sdream and chefs sit there after
a bad 16 hour day in theiroffice, surrounded by four walls
, dreading having to do it thenext day again and wishing that
they had a sauce.
Get them out of the office outof the closet.
You know, and you have that.
(13:25):
And not only do you have that,but it's one for Sophie award.
So like you are really the, thesuperhero to chefs all over and
if they know your story or ifthey haven't heard your story,
like they need to hear yourstory and that's why I was so
adamant about getting you onhere, because you are literally
every chef's dream man.
Like, everybody wants out of theindustry sooner than later to
(13:45):
be able to pursue something thatthey feel that really showcases
their creativity.
And you are blessed with thatopportunity.
And you know and thank you toDon Hopkins for you know saying
I believe in you because youknow everybody needs one of
those as well.
Everybody needs a Don Hopkins,absolutely.
So I mean, what?
What fuels your creativepassion?
Passion, what fuels the?
(14:05):
What's the next sauce?
What's the next flavor profile?
What keeps you up at nightwondering?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
what your next thing is going to be Well, I mean, you
know, speaking from the tenniscourt story, you know this
company is a happy accident andit began at the southern tip of
India, kerala.
So we decided to go on thattheme.
So Don said, hey, can you makesomething for our region?
So I made Chesapeake Bakes.
I thought Old Bay was overratedand salty, and we did one for
(14:34):
Virginia that's based on an1850s Virginia barbecue recipe
using Virginia peaches andbourbon.
But the latest so that's whatI've been doing theme-wise is
just, you know, being authenticto these regions.
So I actually just made a newone yesterday called Vermont,
(14:54):
and it's going to be a breakfasthot sauce, so it's made with
maple mustard and sage and itreally turned out fantastic.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, that would make .
That would make us really good.
Top your eggs and actuallymaybe even talk to crescent city
meats about making a sausageout of that that'd be, oh
perfect on sausage.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
But yeah, I mean, like what you guys were saying,
these really are more of aculinary sauce than just a
topical hot sauce, which is, youknow, 95 plus percent of the
hot sauces out there, andthere's some great ones, and
I've got some of those topicalsin my fridge, but I have a lot
of turnkey recipes associatedwith my sauces.
(15:35):
So if you take a Somme that wason the show Hot Ones and then
also won, excuse me, the SophieAward in 2019.
Won the Sophie Award in 2019.
So that is from Northeast India.
So if you take a can of coconutmilk, reduce it three or four
minutes and add a tablespoon orso of Assam, you have a turnkey
(15:57):
curry in less than five minutes,with no prep work, no knives,
and that's what makes usdifferent.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Very, very, very different.
And what made you think to goto that realm, like, did you
think I want to help out chefsand I want to make sure that
it's just a dash of this or youknow, or a teaspoon or a cup of
that?
Did you want to, like, simplifyit on a high quality level?
Or were you just saying this ishow my brain thinks and I want
(16:23):
to apply it this way?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it just really began again
with, you know, with Kerala,and then everything became
themed.
And then you know, looking atthe different recipes that can
be done with these, that arecrazy turnkey.
They're almost non-recipes.
When you have a can of coconutmilk and a bottle of Assam to
create something, or simplyhaving lentils, water and
(16:48):
Ethiopia and you have an amazinglentil stew and, again, no prep
work involved.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Gotcha.
Well, tell us about how do youget involved, for instance, with
hot ones and things like that.
You know every chef, especiallypeople who have their own hot
sauce out there is looking for away to get in there.
And has this entrepreneurialpath been paved with gold?
Or have you had to have hurdlesand then triumphs and then
hurdles again?
You know, it seems like you'rethis rock star superstar with
(17:16):
all these awards, but I'm sureit's not that glamorous, and you
know all the chefs out therereally would love to hear about
that.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Oh yeah, it's hard and you know it's.
It's a shark tank life.
If y'all have ever seen thatshow and you know I worked out
of my garage, you know, for acouple of years, as many makers
have.
And yeah, hot Ones is truly thegift that keeps on giving.
And yeah, hot Ones is truly thegift that keeps on giving.
(17:44):
And we've been on two episodes,which means you have 24
celebrities and obviously youdon't have to pay for it, but
you send your samples into theheat nest in Brooklyn and they
don't care who you are or whatthe deal is.
It does need to be a cleansauce and if they like it,
they'll put it on the show.
Does need to be a clean sauceand if they like it, they'll put
it on the show and like.
What's amazing is is we'll have, like, our Sophie trophies.
(18:04):
You know, we went to the foodshow in Dubai last year and I've
got the trophies out and thenI've got a framed picture of
Jack Black on Hot Ones eatingour hot sauce and people from
all over the world.
They're not pointing to thetrophies, they're pointing to my
picture of hot ones.
So it's, it's really a global,a global thing, and you know,
(18:27):
now, celebrities go on there andthey get more hits promoing
their movies than they do onJimmy Fallon at night.
So it's really an incredible,incredible boost.
So it's really an incredible,incredible boost.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's super interesting, brandon, you know
you've got.
I would like you to talk,expand on the Sophie Awards a
little bit, because you knowwe're the Walk Talk podcast.
Is we made the final slate forthe People's Choice Awards in
podcasting?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
It's super cool.
Yeah, it's super cool, and Iknow that there's an air of
excitement that goes along withit and I know how I'm feeling
about it and naturally you knowthere's no guarantee of a win or
anything like that, but we madeit to the table.
Tell me how that, tell me thefeeling.
And you guys won four rightFour Sophies.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yeah, we won four.
So it's essentially OprahWinfrey called the Sophie Awards
the Oscars of the food world,like 10 years ago, and it stuck.
So that's essentially what itis, and the great part is you
send your samples into New York.
You have writers from the NewYork Times, food and Wine, etc.
Chefs, and it's all blind.
(19:43):
They can't see my label oranything.
And I was told that there'sover 150 hot sauce entries each
year and we've entered fivetimes and we've won four, which
is really crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Is that unprecedented ?
Are there any other brands thathave done something similar?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
We're the only hot sauce company to win it more
than once, and we've won it four.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, that's pretty amazing it really is.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
We still pinch ourselves to this day,
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Right, I mean because it's something.
It's an unbelievable feeling tothink that something you
created, you and your partnerput this together and all of a
sudden it's, it's got accolade.
You know, people are aware ofit, yeah, and and really there's
no ceiling on where you'regoing to go with this.
I mean you're still young inthe history of the company, you
(20:35):
know lifespan of the company, soI mean it's pretty amazing.
So what is next, like what areyou trying to achieve?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, I mean ultimately what we would love to
see.
If you take, like McCormick,for example, they bought Cholula
, they liked what Cholula wasdoing and, you know, paid a
pretty penny for them, but nowthey have infrastructure,
marketing teams, etc.
And that's what I would want.
I would want a larger companyto buy us, give me a position
(21:03):
with the company.
Clearly I'm, you know, acreator, so there's some value
there.
And, by the way, I also endedup creating Crave Food Design
because all these companies withthe Sophie Awards have asked me
to make you know sauces andother things for them.
So that's been a nice side gigfrom the Sophie Awards.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I'm not aware of what .
That?
What is that?
What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I'm designing food products.
For some it's under NDA, butsome pretty big companies have
asked me to make things for them.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
And surprisingly you know as a chef, like it's
shocking, like there's a bunchof white lab coats that charge a
fortune to create things forfor customers and it's like
empty.
It's like an empty market inthe US.
I kept hearing you know ittakes too long, they're not very
(21:55):
good at what they do, it's veryexpensive.
So there is opportunity therewhen I have time to focus on it.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Well, you know, it's a funny thing.
I uh, I had a I've had severalconversations with a spice
producer not just a label or aco-pack or something like that,
and they do a lot.
They do a lot of the sciencework behind it and it does.
It takes a very long time andit's really nuts and bolts, it's
(22:23):
all it's, you know, ones andzeros.
The creativity aspect I mean,obviously there is a creativity
spectrum there that thesecompanies and scientists in the
food sector work within, butthey're not.
I wouldn't say that they'recreatives first.
They're ones and zeros first,Absolutely correct.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
They are nudging their glasses up on their nose
and they're into science and notcreativity.
You're absolutely correct,which is what created the end
game of all these customers orclients that are coming to me
complaining about the industryout there.
And it would you know, if I hadthe time, I would get some
(23:04):
other folks like Pooch to joinme and we create things for
these other companies, but Idon't have time to do that right
now.
But there's a huge opportunityout there.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Well, I'm looking at some data points here and in
relationship to this part of theconversation.
How are you making 23 hotsauces in a weekend?
What is that all about?
How do you wrap your headaround that?
And it's hot sauces, so is yourpalate just destroyed by the
end of the day?
Talk about that.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, yeah.
So when, literally after thatinterlude at the tennis courts,
I took a Saturday and Sunday andI sat in front of my computer
and I just started looking upcuisines and picked some
interesting ones and then wentto the international market and
(23:55):
got a bunch of ingredients.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
And yeah, I made 23 sauces over the weekend.
That's sure freaking bananas,dude.
I mean I wish I had thatcreative fortitude because I
would have made one and calledit a weekend or maybe got
halfway through the recipe book,you know, and then got on the
weekend.
But, dude, yeah, not to.
I mean I want to segue intothis because you point on
something and not to violate any.
You know, ndas, what have you?
But I mean I want to segue intothis because you point on
something and not to violate any.
You know, ndas, what have you?
(24:21):
But I mean, like, what are yourthoughts on the current trend
trends in the hot sauce industry?
And like what are the emergingflavors?
Because you see, you know, whenI, when I look at all your
sauces and I look at everything,it's like where does he go next
?
And I know maybe you might notbe able to say some things
because of the people you'reworking with, but you know, like
, where do you see theseemerging trends?
What do you see up next?
Because hot sauce has beensomething that's you know,
(24:44):
especially coming from as a neworleanian.
Hot sauce is, like you know,red beans and rice.
You need hot sauce.
You add it to certain things asa flavor enhancer, but never as
like the actual component rightnext to the dish like last year
at the fancy food show, theyalways list the the top five
food trends.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
So last year at the Fancy Food Show, they always
list the top five food trends.
So last year it wasinternational cuisine, spicy
foods, cooking at home andsomething else, and we hit all
five of them.
You know what are the trends.
I would say cooking at home andinternational flavors isn't
really a trend.
I think it's permanent.
I think hot sauces arepermanent.
(25:20):
You know, are we in some sortof a hot sauce renaissance right
now?
Yes, but I still.
But it's also beating up onthings like mayo, mustard,
ketchup and these other standard, you know, condiments that are
flatlining.
So I would say, you know, dosomething different.
You know, that would be.
My recommendation to a maker isto do something truly unique
(25:44):
and turnkey.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
What are some specific ingredients that you're
excited about?
I really want the world to hearhow your brain works and what
you're thinking right now.
Not any secrets, not anyrecipes you're working on, but
like where should a youngaspiring chef go right now to be
20 steps ahead of everybodyelse?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah, I mean I would say knowing the market.
You know, understanding the hotsauce market.
Ours was a happy accident, butI spent a lot of time learning
about other companies andfollowing them and, and you know
, seeing what they were doing,and it was great to see that we
were doing something different.
And I've got some friends outthere that make some great
(26:23):
sauces and do things for nichemarkets.
And as far as individualingredients, I know Tamarind was
in the list this year andthere's a barbecue sauce a
company that won the barbecuesauce Sophie this year.
It's called Tamarind Heads andit's a killer sauce and I think
they're brand new.
(26:43):
So congratulations to them.
But tamarind is definitely abig, big ingredient this year.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Brandon, how instrumental was Don Hopkins
getting involved in this thingto getting where you are today.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
I mean completely.
He has been absolutelyessential all the way down to
the guy that said hey, can youmake some other sauces besides
Kerala?
This company wouldn't be aroundif it wasn't for Tennis or Don.
So Don is the COO of a plasticinjection mold company out of
(27:19):
Canada and they have a warehousein Charleston, south Carolina.
So he's essentially gone everyother week and what he says
about Clark and Hopkins is ateam of 1.5, because the guy has
a beyond full-time job,non-full-time job.
(27:42):
So when I say Shark Tank, Imean it.
We roll our sleeves up and wehave a huge PO from
Williams-Sonoma and Don's garagethree-car garage is filled with
three packs that hisgrandchildren have been helping
him fill.
That's what it's like on theground with us.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
That's pretty amazing , and you know what else is very
cool.
I have to say that you know, upin Canada the Walk Talk podcast
is ranking number 36, eh, Eh,let's get it to number 1, eh.
Yeah, we're working on number 1.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I just wanted to throw that out there.
Since you brought up Canada.
We popped up on the chartsthere over the last couple of
days number 37 today, as ofright now.
Just wanted to put that outthere, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Yeah, Don and I went back and forth on this Vermont
sauce because it has maple in it, but we stuck with the States.
But we thought about Quebecbecause they're the number one
producer of maple in the world.
So we went back and forth butwe decided on Vermont.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I mean you got to throw this guy a bone.
I think real soon, but wedecided on.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Vermont.
I mean, you got to throw thisguy a bone, I think real soon,
right?
Well, if anybody's looking atthat, I'm looking on the
chessboard and saying, okay,tamarind very, very popular in
Mexico, obviously, throughoutLatin America and in Asia.
But you know, Mexico City isbecoming the forefront of
culinary progress in the UnitedStates.
Oh, absolutely.
And now if you say Quebec, hey,hey guys, maple wink, wink, you
(29:02):
know, maybe that could besomething trend that kind of
gets started and maybe youstarted here on the show.
But you know, I was going toelaborate a little bit more on
just you and Don's relationshipis something that I've seen.
I've had a lot of businesspartners in my life.
I've had, you know it's usuallythe odd couple in my life.
I've had, you know it's usuallythe odd couple freaking frack
and somebody's the brains andsomebody's the culinary uh, you
(29:22):
know brains and somebody's thepaperwork brains.
But you guys work so, so welltogether and I think that's why
you guys are so triumphant, youknow it's it's just very
communicative and veryappreciative of each other and
that is very much the punintended, the recipe to success,
especially in the culinaryworld.
You have to have the food, youhave to have the culinary
(29:43):
knowledge and the spice andflavor.
But you have to have thechemistry of the partnership to
really really be able to get towhere you need to be.
And to you know, knock on wood,let's say five Sophie Awards
next year, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I just want to say something real quick.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
That would be awesome .
I just want to say somethingreal quick.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
That would be awesome .
When Pooj just now brought upthe word triumphant, what nobody
saw and I wish I was recordingit is he put his hands like
fists on his hips and he pokedhis chest out.
He looked like Superman when hesaid it Nice, yeah, I just
wanted to be clear.
I wanted to paint that picturefor everyone, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, we can buy the portrait online at
walkingtalkcom.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
What to transition from a corporate lifestyle to
this independent,entrepreneurial sort of?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
you know environment, what?
What was that like?
Oh my gosh.
Well, number one.
Being a chef and moving intoanother food world, I'm thinking
I've got this right.
No Working with co-packers, andyou know having to use this
ingredient instead of that onebecause it'll process better at
the plant, and things like that.
Rolling your sleeves up, youknow wearing many hats.
(30:57):
That's not something I'm usedto, but I love the control of it
all.
I love the fact that it's mycreation and it's up to me every
day, you know, to increasesales and and highlights for
Clark and Hopkins.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
So, yeah, when you're , when you go from having to,
let's say, punch a clock, rightyou know, when you're a chef,
when you're a chef, you're incharge.
But at the end of the day, youeither have a let's just say,
some chefs have a gm or an ownerthat you know is is in the
building and and you're kind ofright, you're tethered to that
(31:32):
once you go off on your own.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
you are and you're, yeah, and you're tethered to
what I call adult daycare.
So the last I worked acorporate position and you know
I had 115, 120 employees andseveral kitchens and several
managers, and I do not missmanaging people as an
entrepreneur.
Now I don't miss it at all, I'msure.
(31:53):
I'm sure Pooch would say thesame thing.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Amen, I'm very blessed I can actually.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I can give a third.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
As a VP of sales.
Yes, sir, yes, still to thisday.
Yes, but it's different now.
No slight at his currentemployee.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
No, no, no, because it's no.
It's so very different now.
And what he's talking about,brandon, is you know I was in
produce sales and distributionfor I don't know 20 plus 25
years, whatever.
Okay, and yeah.
So I've been involved in a lotof sales teams, managing sales
teams, managing sales andcustomer service and whatever.
(32:29):
When the opportunity came up andthis whole walk and talk media,
food media company, you knowkind of this divine sort of you
know happenstance, everythingchanged and one of our largest
vendor partners, or a sponsor,you know whatever you want to
call peninsula food service, isa, they're a, they're a meat,
we're a meat supplier.
(32:50):
And you know they were asponsor.
Well, what their vp of sales,something happened and,
family-wise, you had to split,leave town and the owner of the
company kind of understood whatmy background was and he said,
hey, man, you want to take thisover.
And I was like, well, let'swork something out.
So I was able to build a team,hire a wonderful sales manager,
(33:14):
Veronica Rodriguez, and and kindof you know, steer the vision
and strategy, but not really bein the day to day per se, and it
allows me to still court, youknow, prospects, but those
prospects get folded into intoour media operation.
So it's an interesting, it'ssuch an interesting different
(33:36):
dynamic now.
So, while I'm still, you know,in management per se, it's, it's
different, it's a, it's a wholedifferent chemical makeup now.
And, yeah, and I'm, I'm, I'mthoroughly enjoying it.
I will say that, having you know, being in this, this
entrepreneurial uh boat, youknow there's always water coming
(33:58):
in, there's always a hole,there's a you know and, and and
there's, and there doesn't seemto be enough buckets or hands
for the buckets to get the waterout, and there's definitely not
a uh, a uh bilge pump.
So, you know, there you are.
That's what, that's kind ofwhat, that's what, that's what
uh Butch was referring to.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
So, brandon, I want to, yeah, but it feels good
being yours, though you know.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Well, yeah, well it, yes.
But then, how this is set up.
And it's interesting because,like John Hernandez, who's to my
left right now, he's aphotographer by trade, dear
friend, brother, for I don'tknow 30, 30, 30 something years,
I don't know A long time, morethan that, probably you know
we've.
Do you remember the movie?
Do you remember the, uh, thecartoon voltron?
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I do all right of the universe yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
So that's, that's walk and talk.
Voltron, it's we're.
Voltron is because we all, likeyou know, jeffrey is is amazing
in culinary, john is amazing inphotography.
I do what I do on the, you know, networking, networking,
business vision side and andit's a thing that we all kind of
come together on and and makehappen.
(35:05):
So we're because, because ofthe job that we do, we're able
to get, you know, four timesSophie winning.
You know, chef entrepreneurs onthe show.
You know it's, it's, it'spretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
It really is Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
And to segue into teamwork and you, I mean to me
the biggest thing that you, thatyou're doing right now, is
working with a national team andthe wizards and being in the
capital one arena.
Your sauce, district sauce, whois probably your most notable
sauce, is it?
is now it is now and I mean I'llbe honest, it's my favorite one
(35:41):
.
I mean, I always opening abottle is another exploration
and another, you know, week oftrying to pair with so many, so
many different things.
But the district sauce isreally where, you know, I'll
give somebody a bottle and, likeyou mean another bottle, let me
get another bottle.
I was like, well, you mean youmight need to buy this bottle,
but it's that good, it's thataddictive, it's really amazing.
And obviously the owners of theWizards and the Capital One
(36:05):
Center said, hey, we want tohave your sauce here as a wing
sauce.
And now, so you have thecapital, you have the district
wings at the Capital One CenterAnother triumphant win as a chef
that you know most chefs sitand daydream about having.
You know you have all these onein a million things happening,
(36:25):
brandon, like go buy a lottoticket right now, dude, because
I mean it's just like you reallyare the success story that
keeps on giving man.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
It's been a great couple of years and, yeah, I'll
give you the backstory realquick.
So the marketing director atCapital One Arena works for
Monumental and Monumental ownsthe individual teams in the
building out of this fridge andput it on a sandwich and he said
(36:59):
, wow, this is the best hotsauce I've ever had.
And he looks at the label andhe's like, oh my God, these guys
are local.
So when he got back to DC, hesent me an email and asked for a
lunch meeting.
Maybe he thought we were hugeor what have you, but he ended
up giving us a nice deal to getinto the arena and supporting
locals.
So good on him.
And the basis of the districtsauce is we have the highest
(37:23):
population of Ethiopians in theworld outside of Ethiopia.
So I used Burberry, which istheir curry blend, and then this
is my first honey-based sauce.
So one of my customers actuallycalled it hot honey, elevated
or an elevated hot honey.
I said, okay, I'm going tosteal that tagline, but that's
(37:46):
what makes it DC and it's been ahell of a success.
As you know, you were up in NewYork with us and the great part
about district sauce is we camein second place for it being
the number one product of theyear, and that's globally I
think it's over 80 countries ofproducts that they turn in and
(38:06):
District almost won that- Jeez,I'm pizza.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
That's magnificent.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
What a story.
It's crazy what a story.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
It's crazy.
And you know, to add to thatstory, one of our partners is
the Virginia Department ofAgriculture and they spent
$25,000 marketing us for ourfourth win in New York.
So we had a 10-foot by 30-footbanner in the Javits Center
(38:36):
bigger than life and then at theSophie Gala, which is where
they do New York Fashion Weekit's a fancy room or whatever,
with digital walls.
So we had digital videos of us,you know, throughout the
evening and this and that thatVirginia paid for.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Also magnificent.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Right, yeah, you know .
So they are very much a partnerand and that's one of the cool
things I'm glad you said itbecause we were going to
elaborate on that as well and wenormally don't lab.
You know, coming from a verybig culinary state like
louisiana, you know I have tolet the world know that they do
a very poor job of taking careof their chefs and taking care
of their people, who are reallywinning awards and leading at
(39:17):
doing things, and the Virginiaagriculture department is really
going behind their gems andmaking sure they shine bright to
the world.
And you know you guys are goingto France, you guys are going
to Dubai.
You guys have, you know, madesauces for the Ukrainian
consulate.
Yeah, ukrainian consulate.
I mean, you guys are justfreaking the the.
You guys are the success storyman people need to learn about
(39:40):
you and really it's the truth.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Facts are facts, man I think the proof is in the
pudding.
I think I am gonna go playlotto after this, you know,
definitely.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
I mean I feel like I gotta get a jump on the wave man
, yeah so we're going to Parisin October for Seattle Paris,
which is the largest specialtyfood show in Europe, and two
days prior to that we're doingan event with United Airlines
because they have our productsat the Polaris Lounge at Dulles.
(40:13):
So VDACs invited us to thisevent at the ambassador's
residence in Paris.
So we're going to have, youknow, our products set up and
CEOs from United Airlines etcetera will be there.
But it's a program to promoteVirginia.
When people fly to Dulles cometo Virginia instead of going to
(40:34):
DC, so we're excited about that.
Nothing goes on in DC andVirginia pays for our booth
there in Paris and all of thatis crazy.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
It is crazy.
Do you ever make it to Florida?
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yes, actually, our co-packer is in St Augustine,
florida.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Oh, that's not far from.
I mean, it's about three hoursfrom us.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, endorphin Farms , and I think they're, they're
the best co-packed.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
That's where you get the, the, the, the datil pepper
from from over there, Right.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Literally.
Yeah, so exactly.
So the datil pepper is from StAugustine and they use it for
weird things Like they.
They have a daddle ketchup andthings like that.
But if you taste this pepper onits own, it is my single
favorite pepper on earth.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
There's a cult, it has like a garlicky, citrusy
effect to it.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
It's not quite as hot as a habanero and just so
flavorful.
And I was bottling anotherproduct down there in St
Augustine and I was bottlinganother product down there in St
Augustine and I started askingthe owner about the datil pepper
and does he have some and thisand that that's not fermented?
And he said yes.
I said let's make this trueFlorida.
So I did the four citruses ofFlorida, a bunch of garlic and
(41:52):
it's about 85% datil pepper.
So what you're tasting there ismostly the datil pepper.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
I didn't want to mess with it, and that's that is
amazing too.
I keep and I feel like I'm onthis like fanboy wagon here
because everything's like, oh,magnificent, amazing, but it's,
it's, it's, it's something sodifferent and unique and the
proof is in the hot sauce yeah,100, you know the, the datil
pepper.
The chefs and people from theregion over there, jacksonville,
st hogg, it's like they drinkthe kool-aid and they're getting
(42:21):
, they're waiting for thespaceship.
It's, it's, it's that deep, youknow, in that it is, it really
is so.
And and you know you need kudosfor for picking up on on the
vibe, that vibe and capturingthat and then literally putting
it in a bottle.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
Yeah, and the vibe.
And you got that right.
The vibe was I kept seeingdaddle everywhere on the menus.
When I'm, you know, at somerestaurant down there waiting
for production and there'sdaddle everywhere, I'm like I
need to do something here.
So that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
I had a salesperson who was up in that part of town
when I was in my last, uh, otheroutfit and you know he would if
he was incessant.
Carl, carl, go talk to the dad,get the peppers, bring them in,
I'll.
I promise.
You know, if we bring these inand we're distributing,
everybody's gonna buy from.
And I and I didn't understandit.
(43:14):
I'm not from there, so I don't.
I didn't get the.
You know the weight of it yeahbut yeah, but I I wish I had a.
I wish I did that because thiswas probably all five years ago.
There was a good opportunity todo something and uh alas, you
know, lost uh opportunities.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
But good for you for picking up on that, yeah, it's
brilliant, man, it's just sobrilliant okay, I can't say the
word brilliant more times thanjust saying brilliant, brilliant
, brilliant.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
But how do I get you in, how do I get you in the
studio?
Yeah, that's what I want toknow.
Come cook with us, bro.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
Yeah, next time I'm, next time I'm down in St
Augustine, I can definitely doit.
It's guys, is it?
Speaker 1 (43:53):
no, it's like three hours, man, it's quick.
And yeah, when you're in thesouth.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
You may as well come over to new orleans, you know so
yeah, that would be cool to dosome you know turnkey stuff in
the studio.
For sure I'd love to do thatyeah, you got a little taste of.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I know that, I saw I think you posted some, some,
some pictures that pooch sentyou from from production yes,
yeah, amazing, yeah, amazingjohn hernandez guys so.
But here's the here's the thing, Brandon, you will cook and you
will create something beautiful, and then John will take it and
(44:27):
enhance it and make it justforever.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
I would love that.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
Yeah, I would love it too, my, my, my whole thing is
I get to eat the stuff you knowwhat I mean?
Speaker 2 (44:36):
That's the lotto ticket right there.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
That's my other lotto .
It's a secondary lotto Food.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
Brandon, let me ask you this you guys you've dove
into the Bloody Mary mix nowthings like that, but they still
kind of fall into the lines ofhot sauce.
You and Don have anything that.
Obviously, if it's secretive,know, we can't hear it.
But, like you know, are thereother types of food or other.
You know, someone asked me likeask him if he's gonna do a ice
(45:02):
cream.
It's like, well, you know what,that's kind of funny and
whatever, and you know witty.
But at the same time it's likeyou know what I kind of want to
know, if Brandon Clark could doan ice cream.
You know I don't think that youwould mess that up and there's
much thought and pizzazz thatyou would put into that.
I really think it'd probably bea brilliant ice cream.
But what are some of the?
Speaker 3 (45:22):
things that you've got going on.
There's a gelato yeah, there'sa gelato shop in Richmond that
wants to do a district gelatoand I think it'll work.
I'll be interested to see whatcomes back there.
So I'm on the board of theVirginia Specialty Food
Association, vasfa, and I workwith.
(45:42):
You know I'm on the board there.
I work with several othermembers and board members and
one of our board members ownsBelmont Peanuts.
I was going to ask about thatand we were talking, and I was
asking him because they haveseveral flavors over there.
Talking, and I was asking himbecause they have several
flavors over there and I said ifwe could get my hot sauces
emulated into dry form, wouldyou be interested in doing this?
(46:05):
And immediately he said yes.
So Belmont Peanuts is in SouthVirginia.
They're on 4,000 acres andthey're farming it and then they
also have their own facilitythere as well and you're also
teaming up with jody's as wellyeah, we are.
So, yeah, jody's popcorn aswell.
(46:26):
And then we're also workingwith cookie company and they
made a district cookie.
That is insane and it's madewith a local virginia company
called route 11 potato chips.
Sounds odd, but it's made witha local Virginia company called
Route 11 Potato Chips.
Sounds odd, but it's a hell ofa product.
And he's in all three airportshere in the region.
So immediately the districtcookie will be going into all
(46:48):
three airports that we'reexcited about that.
So we began with Belmont,Excuse me.
So we began with Belmont,Excuse me.
We did Assam District, Arizona,Virginia and Chesapeake Bay.
And as a chef, I'm working withthis company called Elite Spice
out of Maryland, and as a chef,you know we don't think this way
(47:11):
.
I'm like are you guys going tobe able to dry peaches and
whiskey and all of these otherthings that I have in my sauces?
And they sent me the firstround and immediately I was
impressed and we had a couple ofexchanges and we finally got
the powders where we want themand they turned out incredible.
(47:36):
They really did.
So Jody is on the board with meas well.
That owns Jody's Popcorn andthey're all over the place.
They're international.
They'll actually be in Dubaiwith us.
So they work with Costco andCostco said that they were going
to bring in the districtpopcorn and they haven't even
tasted it yet.
But that's the relationshipthat Jody's has with them.
(47:58):
But anyway, I took the peanutsto New York, as you know, Pooch,
for the first time for thepublic to see them, and the
writer for the Wall StreetJournal comes into my booth you
know I see his badge I'm like ohmy God, and so let me walk you
through my hot sauces.
You know I have the trophies infront of me and he said I'm
here for snacks, Tell me aboutyour peanuts.
(48:20):
So I told him about them.
He started tasting them and,you know, got a little animated
and he said I would love tofeature you in the Wall Street
Journal.
This is the best snack I've hadtoday at the Javits Center.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
If I can encourage anybody to go out and get any
product but those Assam peanuts,you will not be able to stop.
You will not be able to stop.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
Wait, I think I've been saying his name wrong.
It's Midas Clark.
It's not Brandon, it's MidasClark.
What are we talking about here?
And Don too?
Speaker 2 (48:53):
Don as well.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
I'll send you some peanuts to check out, carl.
They really I mean they reallyturned out fantastic.
I was surprised Like I did notthink they would be able to to
do the powders that way, butthey did.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
And Brandon, you don't understand, you don't?
You're not aware of this yet,but we're going to be doing some
stuff together.
I just want you to know that.
You're not you, you haven'tthought of it, but, as as we're
having this conversation and I'mjust thinking about all the
funky stuff that we do in termsof you know bad-ass video and
you know audio and all thisstuff, we, we will do some stuff
together and I'm not puttingyou on the spot so you don't
(49:27):
have to answer.
But yeah, there, there's somethings, man.
I mean, there's some someconversations to be had.
I'm, I'm so, I'm, I'm, I'm soexcited behind the mic right now
.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
Just put me to count me in.
Man, absolutely, I would loveto certainly explore doing
something together, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
Yeah, there's definitely some opportunities
and we can talk about thoseoffline.
Speaker 3 (49:51):
But OK, all right so that sounds good.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
We need to figure out when it is that you're going to
be able to make it to Tampa,and that's something I'd love to
kind of like over the nextcouple of weeks, figure out a
timeline to get you here.
Weinary Open, and that wascreated by chefs Nick and Polly
Barrington a couple and there'sa show it's called the NAFM show
(50:25):
.
It's basically the largest foodequipment trade show in the
country.
They alternate.
Speaker 3 (50:32):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Yeah, it's pretty badass.
They alternate between Georgiaand Orlando, the convention
centers.
So this, this coming February,it's going to be in Georgia and
we are the official.
Yeah, we're the officialpodcast of this event Now here.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Before you say that's awesome, let me tell you this
there's 12 contestants.
About every one of thesecontestants comes from some
Michelin or beard establishment,by and large Right Like.
It's just like this herd ofjust bad-ass culinarians and
(51:10):
we're going to end up coveringall of them on the show at some
point in time.
You know, obviously, schedulingand whatnot.
That's one thing.
That's one cool thing, and I'mnot going to put a period now,
it's a comma and there's.
So there's a one of thegodfather celebrity chefs,
(51:33):
norman Van Aken, who yes, andthen Norman, mr Florida.
Man, I'll tell you what.
You ain't lying.
So we've been having a lot ofconversations and one of my good
friends, kurt Hicken, got usconnected through some channels.
Whatever, long story short,he's in partner.
He's partnering with a galnamed Stacey Archer and they're
(51:53):
doing these food insecurity sortof demos where they have people
log in and they have these, youknow, like a video chat sort of
thing, and they have theseultra uber high-end chefs teach
these families how to createmeals for you know, let's say,
they have six people in thehousehold.
Well, how do you feed sixpeople on 20 bucks?
(52:15):
Okay, right, so here you know,enter in more michelin, more
badass high profile chefs whoyou know we're going to usher in
through the, through thepodcast, because number one we
so the the whole food insecuritything and and and being part of
some sort of help is, you knowwe want to be there, you know,
(52:36):
however, and being part of somesort of help is, you know we
want to be there.
You know, however, we can helpwith charitable sort of um
situations.
We want to be included and andthat's what we're doing.
So, over the next three monthsor so, we're going to be
inundated with, like, ultrahigh-end chefs.
Now, we've always had ultrahigh-end chefs, but these are
like the next creep up level ofof it.
It's super exciting and thereason I'm saying this one, I'm
(53:01):
I'm speaking all of this intoexistence right, because it's
all happening, but now it's now,we're talking about it.
Yeah, and I, but I, but I wantto get you here, I want to
figure this out.
You know, even if we havesomebody that's a call in, I I'd
love to still have you instudio so we can do our thing.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 3 (53:20):
Yeah, that would be fun, man.
And yeah, so I am bottlingVermont, we're going.
I literally sent the samples toSt Augustine yesterday and what
they do is they make thatrecipe and it's based on a half
gallon and then they make itthere in their little lab and
send it back to me and I give ita thumbs up or thumbs down or,
(53:43):
you know, add more salt,whatever.
And then I get a date and I flyto Florida for first run.
Only because they're incrediblyconsistent, you know, I may say
more salt, let's add some morevinegar.
Okay, we're good.
So I, I will be in saintaugustine and then that in
probably about two months orsomething like that okay that
(54:04):
that actually might jive reallywell yeah, like late october is
probably where it's gonna landokay.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
Yeah, that's cool man .
We have some dinners that we'regoing to be doing coming up
into the cooler months as well.
We get involved with a lot ofdinners, we record them, we do a
bunch of cool stuff withcameras and everything, so maybe
we can get you to swing by oneof those too.
Speaker 2 (54:30):
Yeah, you'd have a good time geeking out with food
with us man and JeffreySchlissel and you should meet
Because I think y'all would havesome really good combo and
create some really really goodfood.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Oh, you should meet, so I think y'all would have some
really good combo and createsome really really good phone.
Speaker 2 (54:39):
Oh man, the, the, the creative juices you get.
You know, two dorks in thekitchen should be the podcast.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
You know, and I just want to put it out there,
jefferson, when you're listeningto this, shame on you.
Shame on you for not being here.
This is, you know here.
This is you know he should be.
You know, I'm just going to sayslack and I slack even though
he's not slacking.
He's actually out therehustling and working, but man, I
don't.
I'm not going to let him forgetit.
All right, brandon, how dopeople find you on the internet,
(55:07):
baby?
What do they look for?
Speaker 3 (55:09):
Yeah, so we're at Clark and Hopkinscom and then at
Clark and Hopkins on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
Excellent.
I want to just thank you forbeing on the show today and,
pooch, thank you for coming outand thank you for connecting us
with Brandon and the whole.
Nine yards, jerry, fromCrescent City Meats, appreciate
you.
Speaker 2 (55:31):
Jerry and Damien and Damien, whole Hanford family.
We love y'all.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
Yep, tom over at Crab Island Seafood, appreciate you
as well.
What a day, man.
I can't wait to go back and eat.
Now I'm going to eat morebecause I am a fat ass.
That's just what this is.
Alright, gentlemen, pooch, john, you guys are beautiful people.
Thank you kindly, and we areout.
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