We were lucky to catch up with Marisa Figueroa recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marisa, appreciate you joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

Growing up with two parents who were entrepreneurs gave me little choice but to be an entrepreneur myself. I grew up watching both my mother and father running their own businesses and building their businesses from the ground up. Although they may not realize how much of an impact that made on me while I was growing up, I learned so many valuable life lessons from just being in that environment. While I was in high school, I had the opportunity to work alongside both my parents and see first hand what it takes to run a successful business. My mother always said “Its better to make money for yourself than make money for somebody else” and that often played in the back of my head as I was beginning my journey into entrepreneurship. Not only did I get to see all the positive parts of being a business owner, I also got to witness first hand some of the hardships that can occur being a small business owner.

Marisa, 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?

I am the owner and chef of Electric Habitat. We make small batch, hand crafted pickles and hot sauces.

I, like many others, took jobs in restaurants to work my way through college where I was studying music education and I absolutely fell in love with my food industry. Working in kitchens was my calling and I kept working in the industry even after graduating college. Eventually, I had worked my way up the food industry totem pole until I had the opportunity to open my own restaurant, Bloom Bistro. At Bloom Bistro, I made a rotating farm to table menu featuring local ingredients sourced from small farms in the area. Unfortunately, like many other restaurants, Bloom Bistro closed its doors in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My coffee roaster called me after the restaurant closed and said “Hey, I know you are in a tough spot right now but everyone really loves your pickles and hot sauces. You should think about selling those wholesale. It will be less effected by the pandemic.” After dwelling on those words for a few months, Electric Habitat was born in 2021!

My goal with Electric Habitat is to bring restaurant quality preserved products directly to the customer. I try to push the boundaries creating unique flavor profiles while using ingredients found right here in the Pacific Northwest. I am present every step of the way, from picking up produce from small local farms to handing the final product over to a happy customer.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

My most effective strategy for building a client base is to be present. I feel like a lot of business owners try to hire salespeople right off the bat and then have trouble growing their customer base. No one will ever sell your product like you will because customers love to see the passion that comes from the business owners. When I meet a customer and explain the process from square one and take time to meet them, I am able to build bonds with each customer and therefore create a long term customer.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I manufacture all my products by hand. From picking up produce at local farms to preparing all the ingredients to sealing each jar, it is all me. I have been making pickles my for over a decade and made and sold them at my restaurant so I already had the knowledge of how to do it. I had to do a lot of research on how to get permits and find wholesale providers for glass and labels. I did not know anyone in this industry so I had to do a lot of research on my own to figure these things out.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.electric-habitat.com
• Instagram: @electrichabitat
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/electrichabitat

Image Credits
First picture credit: Growing Boy Media Pictures with three products and picture of the zesty dill pickle jar: Moonship Creative (Hunter Boen)