We recently connected with Tony C. and have shared our conversation below.
Tony, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I’ve always had a passion for cooking. My grandfather was a scratch chef, as well as a jack of all trades. So during summer vacations from school, I’d be with him in his garage building patio furniture, or rebuilding a carburetor, or rewiring the electric for the garage, and after lunch, we’d go into the kitchen and start cooking dinner. I would watch in awe as he would measure by taste, by texture. I always joked that we had one measuring spoon in the house and it was for children’s bubble gum flavored medicine. He never had a recipe for anything. Like his pasta sauce, the recipe card said “Tomatoes, Garlic, Herbs, sausage”…no measurements!!
He passed away when I was a senior in high school, and cooking took a back seat in my life. To be honest, I was lost. He was my role model, my hero. He taught me life, how to adapt and survive the basics. I did college, worked meaningless jobs to pay for my schooling.
In my 30’s, the Food Network started becoming huge, and Alton Browns Show “Good Eats” spoke to me. I started getting back into it, studying the scientific aspects of cooking. As a kid, cooking was an art. As an adult, it became a passion. I stated hosting underground dinners for people, doing small catering jobs. When those were becoming to big to handle, a fellow chef said “Yeah, can’t really mention it anymore…getting to big. Like Fight club. Don’t talk about it!”
I said…”No. Bite Club. And we will talk about it.”
From there, I took Bite Club from the underground to legit operations. I’ve always made jerky, but usually just ate it or gave it away. Friends urged me for years to sell it. Now I had an opening product.
We went live with a website Early September, and our first order came through within 10 minutes. Somebody was following the first rule of Bite Club…They were talking about Bite Club.
Later that month, we were invited to host a table at the Galaxy Comic and Art Show. We were going to be the first food vendor in its history. Me, being the hardcore pessimist, did not think we would be accepted in this venue. This was a ComicCon. An Art Show. Cosplay…. Where was jerky going to fit in???
We set up our table, we had produced 75 bags of jerky in 6 flavors. Doors opened at 9. I was sure I was coming back with at least 3/4 of my stock.
I couldn’t of been more wrong. I was sold out within 4 hours. People were buying my jerky, eating it then coming back for more, and buying extra to take home for others. I was taking online orders for the rest of the con. I couldn’t believe it. That day, I realized that Bite Club wasn’t just some Flash-in-the-Pan side hustle. It was something people wanted.
The head of the ComicCon came to me afterwards and basically demanded I return next year…even waived the table cost…because he had so many people come to him to praise Bite Club. The next year, I doubled my stock, had some new additions like Pet Treats and new flavors. Again, sold out in 4 hours. I had attendees coming to my table first to make sure they got their jerky before I sold out.
Since then, Bite Club has expanded to BBQ Sauces, hot sauces, Rubs, Baking Extractions, Snacks, more jerky flavors, and better pet treats. And as of this writing, we have just relocated our business to Indiana, where we will be opening up a local Bakehouse and catering options. We also have a cookbook coming out later this year!
Tony, 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?
Passion in the Culinary Arts has always been a driving force in my life. The science of cooking is what drives me deeper into learning, studying and applying to make a better product. We’ve actually taken that science and applied it to some of the hand crafted goods we offer. I’d love to write about it in great detail here…but it’s a trade secret.
At Bite Club, we hand craft everything. Everything we offer is Made to Order. There’s no sauces sitting out collecting dust or pet treats bagged up hoping to be bought. We do this for many reasons. There’s no waste by discarding goods that were made and never ordered. So it’s better for the environment. We can also offer many more options in the way of flavors and/or styles. But the biggest reason is that it allows us to deliver the absolute freshest, most delicious product we can make.
There’s a saying we have in the Bite Club Kitchens: “There’s a reason gas station jerky can sit on a shelf in the sun for 6 months. And we want nothing to do with that.” We pride ourselves in finding ways around using preservatives and fillers. Sure, our jerky may not last 6 months in the hot sun…but to be honest, from our feedback…the bag is usually empty by day 2! We also don’t boost about our products. Everyone seems to have the “best” or the “hottest”. For us, we let the client decide. And since our business is about 75% repeat customers…
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Growing up, you would watch these professional chefs using $1000 knives to slice up Octopus and arrange it on a plate that probably costs more then a typical mortgage, with a smear of some fruit only found on an acre in some remote island.
I always believed that if you were not using the most expensive cut of meat with the most expensive equipment, then you were bound to fail, or you were not a good chef. I fell into that trap early on, and went for that Japanese style Damascus laser honed perfected weighted hand forged chef knife. Think I dropped about $800 on it. It was beautiful, cut beautifully…But I wasn’t happy with how it sat in my hand, which caused me to readjust my grip every so often. I treated it like a baby. The first time it met a bone…PLING….chipped the blade. I tried re-honing it…it never was a s sharp as when I first received it and that chip remained. I went through a few different knives after that, never finding the right one or balance. One day, I took a chance and bought a solid black one from a new and upcoming company. When my hand first wrapped around that handle, it felt like it was custom made just for me. I know own the entire line of that knife, multiples of some, and they are in no way expensive.
The same goes for ingredients. You don’t need the absolute greatest ingredients at insane prices. True cooking comes from inside. The heart and soul. The knowledge of what you are working with, and how to work around the flaws. The best graffiti artists don’t work on pristine walls. But they make the walls work for them.
I still have that expensive knife with the chip. It reminds me of who I am as a chef.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
Bite Club didn’t start as a side hustle per say…more of a passion project. I just loved to cook, create from scratch and watch people enjoy my works. When I saw the popularity in what I was offering, the excitement from my good from fans, I started building it into a full time career.
I just kinda jumped into it blind when I went public with my offerings from the underground dinners. I had all my food safety licensing, a small professional kitchen to work out of, and trust in knowing that my goods were worthy of being sold.
Having the opportunities to present my goods at trade shows, cons, and cooking competitions have always brought in new fans and customers. Bite Club is not the showy center of attention. Our name and logo, our openness to chat about our goods, friendly demeanor and our goods always make people do a second take. “Oh, like Fight Club…so I shouldn’t talk about it!” We always get that with a wink and we love it. “Nope, the First Rule of Bite Club…is you TALK about Bite Club!”
Our milestones are small, but mean the would to us. Whenever we bring home an award or trophy is great…but our biggest milestone is when you as a customer place your second order with us. That to us means you love what we do, what we make. We will take that over some trophy any day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.biteclubnoms.com
- Instagram: biteclubnoms
- Facebook: biteclubnoms
Image Credits
“Chef Tony & Mr. J” Illustration by Erica Batton