We recently connected with Matthew Cato and have shared our conversation below.

Matthew, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

My wife and brother in law manage our social media pages. We didn’t really have it in budget to hire anyone so we took a chance. So far we have seen major growth with over 10k followers across Facebook and Instagram a little after our first year being in business. If I had any advice for a small business growing socials it would be to brand your product and know your audience. Find out what they like and what works for you and put it out in the world.

Matthew, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We are a family business located in Lee county Alabama that makes fresh boiled peanuts in unique flavors. I’ve boiled peanuts for our family on and off for years. Just the original and Cajun.. the same stuff everyone else does. Until 2020 and my wife (which was pregnant at the time) asked me to boil some peanuts in pickle juice. That’s where the dill pickle boiled peanuts began and so did The Peanut Plug. Once we perfected them we knew we had to share our recipe.
We took a chance, started taking pictures and posted them for sale on Facebook. Word spread like wildfire in our small town and before we knew it we had lines of cars pulled over in our neighborhood and hundreds of customers buying peanuts from our garage. We were showered with support from our community and other local small businesses that have helped us thrive. Now we have a mobile peanut trailer, 7 small businesses in our area with stocked refrigerators and over 20 flavors of boiled peanuts and continuously growing.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

We started out boiling peanuts and selling them from our garage on the weekend. We would find local events to sell at here and There but social media really helped us kick off our brand. We were selling out every weekend and then I realized I had to make a decision. Go all in or get out. being able to retire from my corporate job and sling nuts full time with in a year the advice I would give is stay consistent. Don’t give up and partner with other small businesses in your area. It’s like gaining another family.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Word of mouth. If your customer service is great and your product is great people WILL talk about it!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://ogpeanutplug.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CncmMCUPR9p/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePeanutPlug334/