We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kevin Jacques a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kevin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?
I think all small, family-owned businesses start with asking for support from friends and family. I’ve found that during the testing phase of products, they are the most honest with their feedback because they want you to succeed just as much as you do. It is helpful to get that feedback as oftentimes, there are different tastes that they link, and in our world, we try to please as many people as possible….keep things very moderate, not too sweet, not too spicy…..because our goal is to always Take Your Taste Buds to School!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
The University of Que L.L.C. started from our love of competing on the Professional BBQ Circuit. We did that for about 10 years and had a lot of success by winning a lot of Grand Championships as well as having the opportunity to teach our craft in the United States and in Europe. We’ve represented some of the largest BBQ companies in the world as Ambassadors and a Sponsored BBQ Team. We decided to venture into the world of BBQ Rubs and Sauces about 6 years ago and have had some good success. We’ve had three of our sauces win Best in the World in their Category, we’ve won awards with our rubs, and we’ve also had products that just did not do well on the market. We are at a point where we are evaluating a smaller line to focus on what people like and what is honestly good on anything.
Recently, we’ve started in the development of a ready mix (just add water) Detroit Style Pizza Dough mix, a Detroit Style Pizza (and Pasta) Sauce, and what we are calling Pizza and Grinder Relish (which honestly may become your favorite condiment….seriously). We’d love to get this to market soon, but we also want to make sure it is Perfect! Kevin worked at a Detroit Style Pizza place while in college, and has always loved that style. He’s now trying to bring his version to the masses!
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
As our business is still small, initial capital was also small….and I did what many small businesses do, I reached out to my dad to see if he’d be interested in supporting my initial idea through a personal loan. He was quick to jump on it (as he was one of my initial product testers). I’m grateful for his help and support as he really does believe in our product.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
As a small mostly web-based retail company, we rely on Social Media and the occasional email blast to our customers. We try to post to our social media accounts a few times a week (but it is hard). We only utilize the email list a few times a year so as not to clutter people’s inboxes. We have a loyalty program on our website and encourage people to tag us on their social media posts as well as use the hashtag #UofQueAlumni or #TakeYourTasteBudsToSchool.
We also have a Recipes page that uses our products. There are some really good (and really unique recipes on there….BBQ Sauce Cookies!). We encourage people to check that out, try the recipes, and let us know what they think. That section can be found at https://www.uofque.com/recipes
Contact Info:
- Website: www.uofque.com
- Instagram: @universityofque
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/universityofque
- Twitter: @universityofque
Image Credits
Taken by author.