We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Bauer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ashley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
We’re a hispanic/white family of 6 and we love dulces enchilados. When I was younger, I used to have fun mixing gummy bears, limes, chamoy, chili powders and kool-aid for my family especially since we’re from South Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, it’s literally a staple in every household. We started venturing out and purchasing products from well known establishments and small businesses all over the states and got inspired to be different such as instead of only having one signature spice but instead we created our own signature spices that ranged from mild, medium to spicy. The very first step was creating our logo and our company name. We wanted it to be catchy but funny. My husband and I are notorious for saying “Ahhh La Madre”, which we thought was so fitting for our company name because we were determined to make you be like “Ahhh La Madre that’s so amazing!” Creating our logo took time, I sketched it out and wanted to have one huge flame to represent me, as I am the fire and fuel that keeps this business running, and 3 flames ranging from mild, medium and spicy as a hint that there would be 3 collections we would have in our business, and a chili mascot to represent my husband as he is the face to a lot of our content, as he is also a Pharmacist and has amazing customer service skills, and he isn’t shy like me. Over the course of time in 2019 we started practicing. It took us one year to come out with our very first signature spice that was called the “Ay, Me Pica” Collection (Medium Spice Collection), she was our baby but we were determined to find 10 candies that fit it perfectly based on the salts and sugars of our spice and the candy itself, so as you can imagine there was lots of trial and error done. When we finalized our 10 candy options, we decided to rename them to protect ourselves from copyrights as we exclusively only use name brand candies, but also have fun with it and make it similar to the Loteria Game that Mexicans love to play with their friends and family, so our names for our candy are very wild and out there but very fun and memorable as each name actually has a story behind it. We love that game (Loteria), so it inspired us too! Our next step was doing everything we needed to do legally and once we got the okay, we started investing into the business and creating pages on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and TikTok followed by then telling all of our friends and family so they could follow us and share our business with their friends and family too and then releasing our very first product in October 2020, which sold out very quickly. It’s been such a wild but exciting ride but what keeps me going is the statement my grandma made when she first tried our products, she said “Ashley, God blessed you with a gift, I can’t believe how amazing every product you make is always spot on, I’m very impressed by your talent and so happy you’ve decided to share your gift with the world.” Through this small business we’ve had the opportunity to meet so many beautiful people who have become a part of our Ahhh La Madre Family, we’re very blessed and excited to see what the future holds.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Our names are Ashley & Bruce Bauer and we are a family of 6, we have 1 daughter and 3 sons. Bruce has a doctorates in Pharmacy and I have a Bachelor’s in Bio-Medical Science with a minor in Chemistry.
We got into this business by our love for creating Mexican products such as Dulces Enchilados in Assortment Bundles (20 oz), Family Platters (40 oz) and Individually in sizes Small (4 oz), Medium (8 oz) and Large Bags (16 oz) with 3 collections to choose from (Mild, Medium & Spicy), Chamoy Pastes (8 oz), Chili Powders (5.5 oz), Grab & Go Keychains (TSA Approved), Variety of Spicy Kool-Aid Pickles (8 oz), Pickles Preparados, Wrapped Watermelons, Wrapped Grapes, Freeze Dried Candies in Medium & Large Bags (Regular & Chili Coated), Fresh Squeezed Lemonades and much more.
The problems we solve for our clients is catering and meeting customer needs such as pricing that accommodates everyone. Our clients also love that we offer free delivery in the La Feria/Harlingen area with orders $35 or greater before taxes so they don’t have to worry about traveling to pickup but only simply enjoying our products. We also offer delivery valley-wide based on current gas prices, our mpg and our travel time there and back. We use a business app that allows us to plug in their location to simplify it for us so we can make sure we get the right price every time. We also offer curbside pickup and offer priority nationwide shipping. Our turnaround time is generally a lot quicker than most businesses, we pride ourselves in customer satisfaction and in doing so we are very particular with our shipping, not only do we properly secure our products, but we also show love back to our customers by adding extra goodies as a special thank you for your purchase that will also include a personalized note on every order.
We are most proud of how far we’ve made it in this industry. The amount of returning customers from day one is a reminder to us that we sell phenomenal products. It’s amazing to us because we’ve been around for nearly 5 years and although we’re a small business located in Harlingen, Texas our products have traveled the world, we laugh sometimes because our products have traveled more than us. Our products have traveled to many locations such as Alaska, Hawaii, Florida (Disney World) & New York to name a few states but we have even traveled overseas with our customers to places like Germany. Some of our customers will even reach out to us just days before they’re about to travel to take a taste of the RGV with them to share with their friends and family all over the world who have then become a part of our Ahhh La Madre Family. It’s a true testament of, you can take a person out of the RGV but you can’t take the RGV out of them, and we’re so proud to be a part of that.
What separates us from others is our background, both Bruce and I have a strong background and knowledge in science as we both graduated with honors so we incorporated that into our products. Our signature spices were created based on calibrating the correct ratio of salts and sugars to give it the perfect balance and to be consistent every time. When we first started our small business, we knew consistency was our primary focus, this way we could stand by our motto “Quality Over Quantity”, everything is always measured in all of our products that we have released since day one. Customer satisfaction has been a true testament for us as we have had a huge success in return rates of customers who not only love our products but are happy to share them with their friends and family on all occasions such as parties, graduations, weddings and more. We have grown so much in over a span of time not only in clientele but products as well because our customers want to have access to our products at any given opportunity for any and all occasions. Our customers even love to share new ideas to create new products for them through our small business. They will even send us TikToks, Reels & Pictures for inspiration because they know we would never sell anything unless we’ve tried it first (Trial & Error). The way we see it, is if we won’t eat it, then we won’t sell it as we stand big on making sure our customers get what they paid for, so if we don’t love it, we won’t sell it, period. We’ve been asked if we plan on branching off into stores, but we’re incredibly very big on freshness, so we make all of our orders fresh based on the order coming in so it’s made exclusively and fresh for our clients every time. There may be a day we change our minds about being in store so we can be attainable for everyone but for right now we stand on business for being exclusively fresh for our customers and we don’t want to change that just yet. We’ve created a platform where our customers are very comfortable with us, we love getting to know them and be a part of all aspects of their lives through our small business, they’re the biggest reason we’re still here, we don’t want to take that away from them because they know they can just reach out to us through a simple DM and we will take care of them right away. We’re so grateful for each and every person we’ve come across on all of our platforms and we’re so eager to continue working hard to grow and create delicious treats for all to enjoy. We’re also extremely big on giving back to our customers, often times we do giveaways throughout our platforms or even give extra products in customers
orders for simply showing love and support. We appreciate all avenues of support whether it be a like, comment, share or purchase, no act of kindness is too small so we show love back all around.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
This journey has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences we have ever experienced thus far. There have been obstacles left and right that have led us to believe that it’s easier said than done, but the moment we walk into a grocery store and walk through a bread isle, it’s a reminder that all of the brands we see on the shelves had the same dream and vision too, and although it may seem over saturated, as there are so many options to chose from, that didn’t stop them from pushing themselves to put out an amazing product for all to enjoy. We’ve personally had to keep that mentality going strong because the area we’re from in the RGV, we’re not the first nor are we the last to create the products we offer but that’s the beauty of business, there’s room for everyone to grow and thrive. In fact when we first started in this business we only came out with Dulces Enchilados and didn’t really think much about coming out with anything else until our DM’s were constantly flooded with questions like “Do you sell Chamoy Pastes?”, “When do y’all plan on selling Chamoy Pastes?”, or “I’ll stick around if you’re going to offer Chamoy Pastes.”, and if I’m being completely honest it never crossed our minds but we knew with this feedback, we would be setting ourselves up for failure if we didn’t branch off into other areas to meet all of our clients needs. The biggest reflection at that moment was knowing it took us one year to come out with our very first spice (“Ay, Me Pica” Medium Spice Collection) that was simply perfection, we knew we had so much to learn and felt like we had a short span to make it happen. We remember when we first started making Chamoy Pastes, they were very good but we weren’t consistent, we tried until we felt comfortable and offered them as a giveaway and people began to spread the word for us that we were now offering them. In the beginning it was a hit or miss with our Chamoy Pastes because we offered a couple flavors at first, then over time we reached 12 flavors. We had it down to measuring everything consistently but because some flavors were different, we had to use different ingredients to make it happen and didn’t account for the timing of all the flavors needing different times. Over the course of time we had quite a few repeat customers but not everyone was coming back so we started to reflect on what we could do better and went back to the drawing board. That’s when we realized we didn’t account for the ingredients being used were different for all of our flavors and the timing for each one being different as a major critical piece for our formulas, with that breakthrough we have improved substantially and have become consistent every time. Thomas Edison once stated “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Some may see this as failure because we potentially lost customers but to us, it’s a learning experience that we’re so grateful we had that pushed us forward in the right direction because now our Chamoy Pastes are perfect, in fact it’s our main focus on our TikTok to promote our Chamoy Pastes by teaching our customers how they can use our products, as we made all of the flavors we offer extremely versatile not only to make amazing drinks but delicious treats too!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
I remember coming out with the idea of the business and knowing how supportive my husband is on any journey I embark on and the moment I told him, he said “You have my full support”, that by itself was the assurance I needed to start this business. I remember thinking to myself how much do I think is it going to cost us financially to get this business started, and what can I do to not touch our money because we were a family of 5 at the time and now currently a family of 6, knowing I didn’t want to fail and bring my family down on money that could’ve been used on something else. I began to ponder and started looking around my house. I saw things we no longer needed or used such as electronics, clothes, and household items that could be sold to help me raise the funds. I cleaned and washed everything to make sure everything was up to par and priced firm prices based on the Marketplace on Facebook and started raising funds from that point on. I gave myself a deadline and worked hard diligently posting, responding to messages, and meeting at local public areas to do the trade off and after a few months I got everything sold and raised funds to get everything started legally and enough to invest into our business without touching a dime of our personal money. The way I saw it was, if I failed in this business at least I didn’t bring my family down because this money wasn’t accounted for until I sold everything and then I saw it as an investment and an opportunity to create something bigger as a resource for our family of 6 to meet our needs. Life is about taking risks, and not knowing what the end result will be, but if you believe in it and work hard, you can achieve it! For us personally, not taking the risk would’ve been the bigger risk of not knowing what we could’ve become. This is a true testament of what we firmly believe in which is “Si Se Puede”, where there’s a will, there’s a way! Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from following your dreams, you got this!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahhhlamadre?igsh=MTZmZGd5MTZ1OWJ5cg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BsGfQPMP7/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: Treads:
https://www.threads.com/@ahhhlamadre?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@ahhhlamadre?_t=ZP-8xqbRx2CS4M&_r=1
Image Credits
Bruce & Ashley Bauer