We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Priest recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I created Saffron & Salt to honor my Grandma Margret and to unite my passions for food and cooking with my long-standing interest in entrepreneurship in ways that align with my values and allow me to provide unique, high quality products and experiences to customers.

My passion for food and cooking are life-long. I am thrilled by the creative process of exploring and developing new recipes; the sensory elements of smells, textures, and tastes; and the way cooking grounds me as sort of a retreat from the whirr of a busy life.

These passions are intrinsically tied to my love for people and my appreciation for fresh, quality ingredients. My favorite childhood memories center on time spent at my Grandma Margret’s house, where my siblings and I often helped with gardening and canning for the products she and my Grandpa Francis sold at their roadside stand. The best part of those long days was when Grandma served us ice cream with homegrown raspberries. We sat enjoying the flavors and the satisfaction of knowing our hard work contributed directly to the treat. I also noted with great interest how happy Grandma’s products made people outside of our family, as I watched Grandpa connect with and even befriend their customers.

As an adult, food has remained a favorite hobby, whether I’m in the kitchen, enjoying a good meal, or gifting the fruits (pun intended!) of my labors to family and friends.

My interest in entrepreneurship originated partially from watching Grandpa receive the credit for the fresh produce and other products as the “face” of my grandparent’s roadside stand. Both of my grandparents worked full time jobs, but only my Grandma spent long, hot days in the garden and canning produce in the air-conditioningless kitchen. Even as a kid, I knew this had something to do with gender, and it bothered me. I knew if I ran the business I’d do things differently and make sure Grandma Margret received the recognition she deserved.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I created Saffron and Salt as an homage to my grandmother, but also in part for myself. I wanted to create my own space, a place that I can actually call my own. I have spent my entire career working in the automotive industry with both good and bad bosses and I realized that not only do I want to create my own space in the food sector but I also want to create a safehaven for future employees. I want people who work hard and have passions to work with me. When I started down this road I knew nothing of owning a food based business and knew nothing of owning my own business. While my father had his own business I learned nothing about what he was doing or how a business functions. It was not until these adult years that I realized how much time and dedication both of my parents gave to make that business run. I had no idea, and I don’t think the masses know. That fact makes me want to make this business as large as possible. To take the troubles and worries away from people and help them either work for a place that I love, or be customers of a place that I love. I run a business that loves and accepts all people, my way of putting good back into the universe. Something that I don’t think a lot of food based business’s do.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding a business is no joke! It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to being organized. After I recieved the approval from the state of Michigan to be a licensed food based business I realized I needed more then just my financial comings to provide the space for Saffron and Salt to grow. I called several many banks asking for money, and with each application I realized my largest problem was….me. On each and every application I put down the annual income as “$0.00” which I thought in my head I was being honest. As a new company I was making zero dollars, and therefore my request was correct. However it took one lovely banker to shed some simple light on me-the zero is not a zero, at this point I have spent money and made money. Both were true even if they were not quantifiable. With that honest opinion from one wonderful banker I was able to work with that bank and quantify some numbers that I was not prepared to quantify. Mostly-how much money I had mad before signing up for an SBA Loan. As a very detailed project manager by day-I keep close details of how and to who the money has gone to, but i never once accounted for the money coming to me, the owner. If it were not for that kind person I would still be a ball of fear and anxiety struggling to quantify what my time cost and how that is a margin you can count. I am forever grateful for that person, and every person I have ever met in this adventure. Each person has taught me something not only about myself but also about how to be a business owner.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

At this time I do manufacture my own products! Incredible I know! Both my husband and I have full time jobs and in our spare time we make ALL our products and we also sell all of our products! This entire business started out with me making Candied Jalapenos in my kitchen for friends and from that small seed this has started! I still make each and every jar – just now in a larger commercial kitchen. To be fully honest I had no idea how to take the process I had on my grandmother’s recipe card and memory and how to turn that into a large scale operation. I truly thought the entire process would be a continution of her recipe but obviously with the addition of education from the FDA required process I was able to learn how much more complex is. Now I am certified in many FDA regulations and each and every jar is made not only with my grandmother love, but my love and metaphoracle sweat as well.

As we are making our own product it really has brought a large sense of continued education to myself. What was once an eay concept of making this product at a large scale is a reality it takes the suppliers of fresh vegetables, the supplier of the containers and labels, and the kitchen itself and my team to even begin to consider having one jar made. Its a fantastic education in manufacturing to an even more viseral scale then my current day job. While it is frustrating at times its so wonderful to be apart of this.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saffronandsalt.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saffronandsaltcondiments/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saffronandsaltcondiments/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-d-priest/

Image Credits
danielle.kullman@gmail.com tbatts8@gmail.com