We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mike Skroch a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mike, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?
We’ve found it necessary to try and plan ahead by keeping things on hand as we try to counter the problem of material shortages. We found a lot of shortages with glass bottles and if not that, then it was caps for the bottles . Very long lead times of labels. It went from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. Everyone was blaming no more workers and truckers to get our materials needed for packaging maple syrup. When covid was peaking, we found that people staying home more. People were eatting more at home and not going to restaurants creating a huge upswing in sales. Also, people wanted the all natural product with the thought of “all natural, nothing added ” product.
Mike, 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 started off attempting to make maple syrup in 2009; just as a hobby and to try something new. Each year, with continued success, we expanded and we were able to grow and get bigger. In 2011, we started producing more than what our family could consume after learning more about the bottling and preservation of pure maple syrup. Our parents introduced us to an individual who they met while vacationing in Wisconsin. His name was Allen. It was him who taught us how to produce maple syrup. Allen made a living by commercially producing pure maple syrup. We continued to stay in touch throughout the years and as each one passed, our bonds became stronger and he entrusted us with more of his knowledge. In 2013, while having a conversation with him, he said he was going to be retiring and wanted to offer all his equipment to us with the hopes of us purchasing it. It was with total shock and caught us completely off guard. We initially thought that his equipment was way too big for the place we were presently making pure maple syrup in. He said, “If you’re going to jump in, you might as well get wet!” So after a lot of thought and discussion with our family, we said yes to purchasing Allen’s equipment.
Making pure maple syrup at The Syrup Ranch began getting more serious. We were blessed to have much support from our families. Our families have always helped when need be. They are always willing to step in and are very detrimental to the success here at The Syrup Ranch. Gathering and collecting maple sap is very much a physically intensive, back breaking job. Our children grew up around producing pure maple syrup since the very beginning and have always been very helpful: Jayda(13), Laken(11), Wyllow(8), and Weston(8). In 2013, we built a shed dedicated to only making pure maple syrup. We then got licensed by the MN Department of Agriculture. For our business, this meant we could start selling our products to commercial stores, as well as the public. In 2014, we made our first pure maple syrup in our new building. We also entered our pure maple syrup into the MN State Fair. Fun fact, the year prior, 2013, we attempted to enter the state fair, but got disqualified because it wasn’t in the correct bottle and cap. We took first place in all 3 grades of maple syrup: light, medium, and dark ambers and we also won the best in show by the MN Maple Syrup Producers Association. After how well we placed at the MN State Fair in 2014, things really began to take off for us. We found ourselves extremely lucky to have customers contacting us from all across MN wanting our syrup!
Each year we continue to grow. We enjoy purchasing new equipment and phasing out Allen’s older equipment as it is becoming outdated and worn. As our business grew, collecting sap pails became too much work and in 2015, we installed gravity tubing in a section of our woods. In 2016, we installed tubing throughout the entire woods along with a vacuum pump. This vacuum pump is connected to the tubing and helps assist the sap in reaching the collection point. In 2016, we were at the Made in MN Expo selling our pure maple syrup and providing samples. It was there that we were approached by an individual who said this was the best pure maple syrup that he has ever tasted. Throughout our conversation, he inquired about whether or not we’d be billing and able to be a part of their brand. This was absolutely exciting for us, but with that came a lot of uncertainty! We were so excited that we instantly called Allen to tell him the news. He said he was so proud of us and our children!
In 2017, we launched our pure maple syrup with the Four Brothers Maple Syrup brand for Coborns, Cashwise, and marketPlace stores throughout MN and the neighboring states. This really was and continues to be an awesome opportunity for us!
We always stayed in touch with Allen. We spoke regularly asking for advice or to just catch up. He always praised us for our hard work and dedication. He always had such great things to say. He made us to strive to do better and to keep going the extra mile. On December 29, 2020, we called Allen and spoke about the holidays, the upcoming sap season that was quickly approaching, and how we couldn’t wait to get back into the woods, again. The next day his wife called and said Allen had passed the very next day. Our hearts were broken and we felt like everything we had done had just stopped. We were in shock, full of disbelief, and wondered, now what? Our mentor and friend was gone. Family, friends, regular customers, and others had great words of encouragement for us; things like “you are living his legacy and he is now watching you” made this difficult time just a little bit easier.
As our business continued to grow, in 2021, we decided to add on to our existing sugar shack. This included a much larger square footage expansion, as well as some newer equipment to make the process of bottling and production more efficient. Pure maple syrup sales and the growth of our business continue to be much more than we had ever imagined and hoped for. This hobby of ours has turned into a prospering business. One in which we could not do without the support and help from our families and especially our mentor; Allen!
Not only do we produce pure maple syrup, we also produce maple sugar, maple cotton candy, maple cream, and maple coated almonds. We are always trying to bring in new maple products. We want our business to stand out and be different. We are the most proud of what The Syrup Ranch brand has become, but due to the sheer size, we are probably the most recognized for The Four Brothers brand. Our pure maple syrup can be found throughout central MN and neighboring cities and states.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
We initially started making pure maple syrup as a hobby when Mike got laid off from work in 2009. We wanted to try something new and learn the process as we were intrigued. Although we haven’t been able to turn this into our full-time business career, yet, we are hoping for this to happen in the near future. Making pure maple syrup has allowed us to do things financially that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do. Aside from making maple syrup we offer many other value added products such as maple cream, maple cotton candy and maple sugar. With these other products this allows people to explore and tey these item as many people never heard of. Trying/selling new things and listen to people what they would like to see next , (made out of maple syrup) is what keep our customers coming back and wanting to come back .
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
We’ve been very fortunate and blessed in that we feel that our product sells itself. Making pure maple syrup can be difficult to perfect as there is a real science behind it. There are many different factors that can change the taste, density, color, etc. of pure maple syrup. Additionally, generally speaking, nutrition and health has become a contribution to our daily living. Pure maple syrup consists of no artificial sweeteners, dyes, or any additives. It is made from 100% maple tree sap and is a great sweetener alternative. The list of using pure maple syrup is endless, especially if we consider including the textures and/or consistency of maple sugar or maple cream.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TheSyrupRanch.com
- Facebook: The Syrup Ranch