We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shanta Tran & Juan Carlos Rodriguez . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shanta / Juan Carlos below.

Alright, Shanta & Juan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

JC: My first few jobs were in the food industry. I worked at wine bars and eventually spent a year working on vineyards in France. There I met many chefs and winemakers which was foundational in influencing this project. I love working with my hands and during the pandemic, I dove into cooking and experimenting with curing meats. It was a creative outlet that quickly became a passion. Around that time, I started dating Shanta. I wanted to do something special for her birthday, so I sent her my first batch of cured duck prosciutto.
ST: I also had an affinity for food, because my mom was the best cook and my grandma was always teaching me her recipes. During the pandemic, I also started cooking a lot and posting my recipes on Instagram. That’s actually how Juan Carlos and I recognized that we had a common love for cooking. Throughout our first years dating, Juan Carlos always gave away his homemade duck prosciutto as holiday gifts! Years later I went to business school and felt inspired to start a business, and I knew I wanted to share Juan Carlos’ duck prosciutto. There clearly was an opportunity, because everyone wanted it! Juan Carlos came up with the name “Poco Pato”, which loosely translates to “a little bit of duck” in Spanish. That’s how Poco Pato started!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

ST: From a career perspective, I never thought I would attempt to go into the food industry. I have always worked on the ecommerce side of fashion and design brands, driving digital strategy and product management. I pursued business school at Cornell last year because I got burnt out working for creative retail brands. I wanted to own my own business eventually, and figured the MBA would be an appropriate next step to hone my business acumen. But when I started to ideate about my dream companies, I still wanted to be adjacent to a creative industry. Food, wine, and hospitality are creative avenues I never intentionally pursued but was always practicing in my life, whether it be sharing my recipes online or hosting a dinner for friends. Juan Carlos and I both already had a lot of natural interest in food and wine, it’s hard not to when you come from amazing food heritages like ours, Vietnamese and Peruvian respectively. And having something in common with your partner is always special, I think it made our love for food stronger.
JC: I definitely think that is true. Sharing our cultures through food, was the easiest way to learn more about each other’s families and heritages. I really am so passionate about food and wine, that I pursue it as my career! I have been working in revenue and pricing strategy for alcohol companies since I graduated college. I started at Total Wine & More, then moved to Pernod Ricard and now I work at Remy Martin. Because of my background, I run the financial and logistics sides of Poco Pato as well as anything related to the duck prosciutto itself. Shanta runs all things operational, tech, and marketing.
JC: Duck prosciutto is an experiential product here in NYC. Most people aren’t familiar with this type of cured meat, however, we both grew up eating duck a lot. So it’s fun that we can introduce duck to consumers through Poco Pato. Our clients typically are true foodies, people who are curious about trying new food and eating what tastes good! We also find that home cooks and entertainers want something different to include in their hosting spread. Poco Pato is a unique product because we cure it ourselves and it’s made with a lot of care and love. Most importantly, it also just tastes fantastic.
ST: What we are trying to do with Poco Pato is showcase a product that is not your typical cured meat. It’s more inclusive because our halal and kosher friends can eat duck prosciutto, unlike pork-cured products. We want to show that you can eat cured meats beyond a charcuterie board. We aim to incorporate Poco Pato in dishes rooted in our heritage, like crispy arroz con pato or tropical fruit burrata with duck prosciutto. You can be as creative and “untraditional” as you want with Poco Pato.
ST: We are proud of staying authentic to us and doing everything organically. Our approach to growing our business is about doing it sustainably. Every event, pop-up, and collaboration has been through amazing people wanting to support Poco Pato. The way we move is about creating a localized community. We do that by locally sourcing our duck from Hudson Valley as well as collaborating with talented friends in our communities.
JC: It’s been so rewarding to do events with chefs who think Poco Pato is a great product. They have come up with ways to incorporate Poco Pato in dishes I’ve never considered. It’s cool to create a product that most people haven’t tried before and convert people to duck lovers.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

ST: We initially considered VC, but feel like our current approach and eventually angel investors is a better fit. VCs would push us to grow faster than we want and this could compromise our creative control.
JC: We are bootstrapping Poco Pato. We invest all profits back into the business and every month we are growing little by little. We are enjoying how we want to run Poco Pato, and its been a great learning experience.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

JC: In-person events have been really effective for us to meet more people in the food industry. Meeting chefs and business owners who are into what we are creating allows us to find natural collaborations. Every event leads to the next.

ST: The food industry has been such a big shift for me! Everyone is so down to help one another out, and no one is gatekeeping anything. And at the events, we take the time to talk to everyone who tries Poco Pato. It’s a great way for us to get feedback on how the product tastes. It’s so fun to meet a consumer in person versus them just being a demographic statistic. Working in ecommerce for almost a decade has made me super curious about consumers, it’s nice to be working offline for a change. And of course, social media is always a great top-of-funnel channel to introduce people to the brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Pocopato.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pocopato.bk/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@pocopato.bk

Image Credits

Photo cred: Michelle Giang
https://www.instagram.com/savoreachbite/