We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lora Pegola a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lora, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I’ve always love to cook and be creative in the kitchen, it came very natural to me. I came to realize that it wasn’t always as easy for other people. People are so busy with kids, full time jobs and just other busy life commitments the time to be creative with dinner just wasn’t an option. I wanted to help with that, take the guesswork out of it. I created a line of super flavourful, incredibly unique, all natural and easy to use spices that could be used in multiple ways.
Lora, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My husband and I just got tired of the rat race. In 2016 we sold our house in town, quit our jobs and moved out to country. I have multiple sclerosis, so working a full time job just wasn’t doable for me anymore. The idea for the Smoking Goat Spice Company just kind of evolved out if a need to work from home at my own pace. I have a strong work ethic from my dad, so being motivated to do something was pretty easy.
When we moved we bought 10 acres and started planting gardens, we grow as much of the fresh produce as we can, the rest we source locally when it’s in season. The fresh produce spends a good amount of time being smoked over charcoal & hardwood, hence our name, The Smoking Goat. After smoking it’s dehydrated, ground & mixed into our unique variety of spice blends. The smoking doesn’t change the flavour, it really enhances it. With a large variety, we always say…. we carry everything from the mild to the wild!
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
My cofounder/partner is my husband, Mike. We have been together since high school. We compliment each other well. I say I’m the mad scientist & he’s everything else, quality & inventory control and my label guy.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Well, I started out baking for farmers markets, I still do that, but with my MS it is becoming more difficult to do. I needed a back up plan for the future. That when we came up with the Smoking Goat. It is something we can together and continue to do as we get older and into retirement.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: the_smoking_goat_spice_company
- Facebook: The Smoking Goat Spice Company