Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to B.J. and Lacey New. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

B.J. and Lacey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

When we opened our first retail location, there was a great deal of skepticism around the longevity of our business, mainly because we chose to open such in niche operation in a smaller town. Even we ourselves were cautiously optimistic. Before opening we had done some fairly extensive research about the population and buying habits of the community, and we felt there was an opportunity for our business, even in a more rural area.

Sterling has population of between 13-14,000, but it is the shopping hub for around 65,000 people from many rural communities. Because of its smaller size, the town is often overlooked by larger companies and lacks many of the unique amenities that are found in larger cities. We believed that this offered us an excellent opportunity to bring high quality products to a consumer base that had previously not had access to them on a local level. Consumers were limited to the products offered by grocery and big box stores, or forced travel to the larger cities in our area if they wished to purchase more specialty items. We believed that our customers deserved high-quality products and unique items that had previously only been available in the city. These things shouldn’t be something citizens of a rural community are forced to give up just because of where they live. We hope that our success will inspire other small businesses to take a chance on smaller, more rural communities just like we did.

Additionally, we chose to open our shop in historic downtown area of Sterling. In the past 10 years, this area had seen great decline as customers chose to spend their dollars at the larger chain stores located in shopping centers on the outside of town, or in the larger cities. We were excited, if not a bit trepidatious, to open a business downtown because we felt the area was a unique part of Sterling and deserved to thrive again.

It was a bit of a tough road at first, but we have been thrilled to see a resurgence in our downtown area. We now have multiple restaurants, shops and even a micro-brewery. We are so happy to see customers spending their dollars with local businesses and bringing tax revenue back to the community.

Our second location is also in a small town, much smaller than Sterling in fact. Flagler has population of 561, but it is a shopping destination for many other small towns and a large rural community. This location is also the base for our online operations, which allows us to expand the reach of our products to even more small communities, and the packages we ship out contribute to funding for our local post office. Both of our locations have allowed us to create two part-time positions in Sterling and multiple seasonable positions in Flagler.

B.J. and Lacey, 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?

We have always had a passion for food, growing it, cooking it, and especially eating it. Our business began at our kitchen table, making seasoning blends to smoke meats on our newly acquired Traeger grill. Slowly, all of our new creations began taking over a room in our house, so we decided to attend a few local vendor shows to test the market for our products. After a very positive reception, we concluded that a retail location would lend legitimacy and increased productivity to the business. We opened our first location in Sterling, CO in October of 2023. We recently opened our second location in September of 2022 in Flagler, CO. In addition to our retail locations, we also sell our products online through our website, www.hpspice.com, as well as multiple third-party platforms and wholesale.

At High Plains Spice Company, we sell spices, seasoning blends, whole bean craft coffee, loose leaf tea, olive oils, balsamic vinegar, specialty foods, and unique kitchen items. We are responsible for the labeling and packaging of nearly all of our products. We make our seasoning blends and many teas in house from our very own recipes. We are constantly creating new seasoning blends, and we are significantly expanding our loose leaf tea selection in the coming months. We also operate a Limited Winery inside our retail stores, where we make and sell our own small-batch wines. Additionally, we partner with local producers to include products like pickles, Bloody Mary mix, barbecue sauces, and local honey.

We are very serious about quality and we strive to make our products with the very best ingredients available. Our goal is to offer unique, unpretentious products that are gourmet and high quality, but still approachable in purpose and price. We love to make delicious products that people love to use.

We believe that great food makes great memories, and we exist to provide our customers with both. We love sharing our passion for food and drink with our customers, and more importantly, helping them pursue their own passion for the same. Our ultimate goal is to empower our customers to create great food and great memories with the people they love.

Have you ever had to pivot?

About a year after we opened our first retail location, we decided we wanted to expand our specialty foods and grocery offerings, with a focus on Colorado-made products. After receiving feedback from customers and doing some extensive product research, we really felt like adding more of these type of products would be a good compliment to what we were already doing with our spices and seasoning blends. We even crafted a 5-year plan and purchased additional display units to help us further expand into the specialty grocery space.

Needless to say, it didn’t go well. We brought in a few different product lines of organic and/or locally grown canned goods and some different sauces and condiments. They simply did not sell. Margins were tight on these products and customers were unwilling to pay the higher prices, regardless of the fact that the brands aligned with the feedback we had previously received. Eventually, we discontinued the product lines and pivoted away from our goal to move more into the grocery space. We refocused on creating our own new products and expanding our current product lines. This experience actually helped to solidify in our minds that we were actually making products people loved, and gave us the courage to keep innovating, creating and moving forward with our own brand.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

(Lacey) Personally, I had to unlearn a lesson taught to me most of my life: that a 9 to 5 career working for a company, university, municipality, etc. was the only way to be successful in life. All throughout my elementary and high school career, this view was constantly reinforced, along with the belief that the only way to accomplish this was to attend a 4-year university after graduation. I knew people who owned their own businesses, but I never considered this to be a path in my own life. I always assumed education in a particular subject and then a career in that discipline was the only way to succeed. I only began to see possibilities beyond this traditional perspective when I took an entrepreneurship class my senior year of college, and even then I wasn’t convinced it was something I could achieve.

I was discouraged when multiple jobs during college and after left me unfulfilled and frustrated. I didn’t understand why the career path I had been indoctrinated with my whole life wasn’t working for me. Thankfully, my husband B.J. has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and was the driving force behind the creation of our business. When I began working in the business full-time it was such an “aha-moment” for me. It was the perfect fit, even if it wasn’t until nearly 2 years in that I gained the confidence to take a more active role in the creative portion of our business. It still seems a bit unreal to me when I look back on everything I do on a daily basis now; most of them are things I never would have envisioned myself having the ability to do.

It was a difficult lesson to unlearn, but I am so thankful that there are so many opportunities for success beyond the conventional 9 to 5 model. We enjoy sharing our business with young people in our community with the hope that it inspires them to look beyond a traditional career to find something that truly fits them as an individual.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hpspice.com
• Instagram: hpspice
• Facebook: high plains spice
• Twitter: high plains spice