Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jaden & Erica Peck. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Jaden & Erica, thanks for joining us today. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.
Yes we have made it our mission to donate a portion of our sales to help Veterans fighting homelessness and PTSD. In 2012, after many failed attempts to settle into civilian life we found ourselves homeless with no idea how to remedy our situation. Fortunately, we were able to get ourselves to where we needed to be and find the help we needed, but it was at that point that we realized that we needed to do something for other Veterans dealing with the same situation. No one that fights for our country should ever have to worry about where they are going to sleep at night, what they are going to eat or how they are going to survive. Mississippi River Flavor Company has given us the tremendous opportunity to not only provide our customers with delicious and all-natural spice blends, but to help Veterans in our state and around the country.
Jaden & Erica, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, both of us found ourselves laid off from our jobs in education. Unsure of how we were going to make ends meet and support our 4 children we turned to our military background in culinary and our love of cooking. With both of us being professionally trained chefs with culinary training we thought we had nothing to lose. We created 4 seasoning blend recipes, packaged up over 200 samples and sent them to as many friends and family as we could think of. The response was overwhelming! Shortly after that we started attending local farmers markets and craft shows and built quite a following and customer base. Since then, we have gone from 4 original flavors to 30+ flavor options, Rubs, Dip Mixes, Cheesecake mixes, and Flavored Olive Oils, just to name a few. In 2022 we were chosen as the best new Veteran owned business in the Midwest out of 70 different businesses by MidCountry Bank in Minneapolis and the PenFed foundation out of Virginia. Recently, we received our manufactures license from the state of Minnesota and will be featuring our products in stores all across the Midwest.
One of the pillars of our business is making sure our customers have healthy and all-natural flavor options to use with a variety of different foods. All of our blends are hand-crafted and meticulously created to add as much delicious flavor as possible with out all of the junk. We were tired of seeing options on store shelves filled with ingredients that you can’t pronounce so we developed blends with ingredients you know and that are good for you! On top of that, supporting us helps support Veterans all over this great country struggling with homelessness and PTSD.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Honestly, the thing that helps us grow our customer base the most is that emphasis we put on our product being the healthiest option available. When you look through the grocery store seasoning shelf, there are a lot of options filled with chemical ridden ingredients, artificial preservatives and excess amounts of sodium and sugar. That’s not us and that’s not what we do. Obesity and unhealthy eating has been an epidemic in this country for far too long and we would like to be an option for people to avoid that and create a healthy lifestyle filled with healthy flavor!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
There are 3 principals that we try to focus on as business owners and Veterans that we feel has helped us build a good reputation within our market. These being Compassion, Impermanence and Ethics. Understanding our customers needs and wants is crucial. It is a goal of ours to pinpoint and always keep in mind the genuine issue that our target audience is dealing with, and then we work as hard as we can to address that issue. Most of the time that is eating healthy, looking for unique flavor options and adding healthy flavor to their food. The second being our ability to adapt to change. It’s easy to become stuck with the idea of basic flavor and staying inside the box, but nevertheless, in a continuously changing world filled with a plethora of flavor, we’ve done everything we can to stay up on trends and the options our customers are looking for. The third principal is respecting our customers. The more we appreciate our customers, the more trust and loyalty we receive in return and as a business owner, without your customers continued loyalty and support, it is impossible to stay afloat.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mississippiriverflavorcompany.com
- Instagram: @mississippiriverflavor
- Facebook: @mrfcspice
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mississippi-river-flavor-company