In this episode of The Physical Product Movement, we’re joined by Pelle Jørgensen, CEO and Co-Founder at Good Taste.
At Vera Mexicana, Pelle shares their passion for a socially responsible and transparent supply chain.
He also discusses the importance of choosing the right ingredients from suppliers, whilst building genuine partnerships whilst also detailing how they use the depth and richness of Mexican culture to build an interesting and authentic brand.
Listen on Apple Podcasts here or Spotify here.
Transcript
Ken: Welcome to the Physical Product Movement, a podcast by Fiddle, we share stories of the world’s most ambitious and exciting physical product brands to help you capitalize on the monumental change in how, why and where consumers buy. I’m your host, Ken Ojuka.
In this episode, I talked to Pele Jorgensen, CEO, and Founder of Vera Mexicana, a Mexican food brand. Focused on bringing the experience of Mexican cuisine to you. We talk about their passion for a socially responsible and transparent food supply chain. The importance of choosing the right ingredients, suppliers and building a genuine partnership with them and how they use the depth and richness of Mexican culture to build an interesting and authentic brand.
Paleo was an amazing guest. And I think you’ll learn a lot from this interview. Hi, Paula. Welcome to the physical product movement podcast. Thanks for joining me. I was going to ask about, um, your background. Um, it looks like it was consulting and, and some finance, um, uh, maybe it’s an analytics, you know, correct me if I’m wrong.
Um, and then you’re from Denmark, but now you’re living in San Diego. You’re running a food company. How, how did that all come about?
Pelle: So I wanted to do something else. And I’ve always loved food a lot. And of course that’s not necessarily, it doesn’t mean that you’re, you’re qualified to be a chef or anything like that, but, um, it’s always been something that’s very dear to my heart and, you know, I have the amazing opportunity to go to Mexico when he was just on vacation.
Um, and what I saw there was a truly. Rich and complex, full of history, culture of food in a way that I didn’t know personally. Um, and you know, coming from Europe, uh, of course we have a lot of fine cuisine from Italian to French or Spanish, and we have all these, these rich complex stories around them and everyone knows them and everyone can relate to them.
And then walking around in, you know, these small pueblos in, in, uh, in Mexico, You, you just see that it’s, it’s almost like being in Italy. You know, they have these amazing raw ingredients. They spend hours upon hours, even days sometimes to cook a fantastic sauce or Mola, or, uh, make a fresh salad every morning or, you know, making their own tortillas, whatever it is.
And I feel like there’s so many people that didn’t know about this, and I certainly didn’t. So, you know, the combination of, of finding this kind of very unique flavor profile and food culture that I felt the world needed to know about. And then also seeing a need in the local communities. Um, when I, when I did have the opportunity to visit and of course spend a lot of times since then in Mexico, what I’ve seen is it’s been.
Kind of difficult to deal with because it is, and of course not to for me, but for those that I meet with, for example, you go out and you visit farmers and they’ll tell you the same story over and over again. You know, I, I had this big deal with inserts, American company or insert European company to buy my harvest.
And, um, they made an agreement and now I’m gonna, you know, I’ll do it in nine months from now. They’re going to buy it. And then comes to the actual harvest and the company comes and says, we’ll pay you 20% less than we have agreed to. And. A couple of things happened.
Ken: I’ve heard these, these stories, you know, and, and, um, and, uh, just, just agreeing with you, uh, as somebody who’s traveled to both Italy and Mexico, you know, I’ve also experienced, I think some of what you’re talking about, you know? And so anyway, go on. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.
Pelle: No, no, it’s all right. I can, I can, I can become a little bit, uh, impassioned when I’m talking about this.
Ken: No, I love it. I love it. That’s why we have you on let’s hear it.
Pelle: Well, anyway, you’re, you’re there and you’re, and you’re seeing this, um, you know, again and again and again, and what happens is the fallout for the company is of course, you know, either they get the parts, they don’t, they can probably buy it somewhere else.
If they don’t get it at the price they want, but the farmer may have taken a loan. To actually be able to invest in seeds, maybe expand their, uh, you know, the amount of farmland they have. Maybe they hired hands to help them. And they’re learning the situation, even if they sell products because their margins are razor thin.
Well, they can’t actually make a living. So maybe they have more loans afterwards and they have before, oftentimes either way, it ends up with the farmer. Uh, Being destitute or not having improved their lot after a year or two years, however many years it is.
Ken: Right. Right. Um, and then, and not to mention, it’s just, just, you know, um, call it unethical or dishonest, you know? Um, but the, the farmers are the ones that suffer.
Pelle: Exactly. And, and I, and we actually also want to kind of point out. So the next, the next link in the supply chain often is, is a local. Uh, producer or, you know, factoring. And oftentimes people have this idea that, you know, they are the big guys, but in our case, at least we’re working with these, uh, also small producers.
Um, and, and a lot of things that happened to the farmers happened to them as well, just in different ways. So one of the suppliers we work with, um, Very successful, uh, around a decade ago. Um, and his local community, it was selling well. Um, Walmart in, in Mexico kind of reached out to him and he started selling to them.
But what happened was they didn’t pay him. So they would, they would wait more than six months to pay him because they have all the power in that relationship. Right. So even though his products were selling. He couldn’t get enough cash to actually make things work. And what happened was that he went bankrupt.
He had to start all over. Um, you know, that’s his story, but from, from Walmart’s perspective, in order to improve their own cashflow, you know, they, they push that down. The supply chain.
Ken: Understood understood. It’s interesting. You, you see that in, even in the States, um, you know, you see that where a manufacturer or a supplier is often delayed in their payment or sometimes just not paid.
Um, and they end up in these difficult situations as well. And these are people here in the United States who have a little bit more, um, you know, just say power in the, in the relationship. Um, but a small producer. Um, in, in rural Mexico, you know, it just seems like they, they wouldn’t have very much power at all, um, in that relationship.
So it’s not that surprising. It’s, it’s very sad and, uh, and I hate to hear that it happens. Um, but, but, uh, anyway, I want to know kind of, okay, so you saw this happening, I imagine, you know, major, pretty angry and impassioned to you in some way. So, so what are you guys doing, um, to, to address that. To help out with any of these problems.
Pelle: Well, so, um, we’ve kind of attacked it from a, from a couple of different angles. Um, we are, so we’re working only selectively only with small producers and VSS producers right now. And of course, you know, as for scale, that will have to change. So we’re, we’re kind of thinking a lot about, okay, how do we make sure that we bring all those small producers with us on our journey?
And, uh, so the first kind of initiative we have is it’s always been about, uh, sort of like, like a, you know, an educational relationship. They educate us on the products and the raw ingredients and how wonderful the culture is and the history and new recipes that we can make. And we help them, um, you know, think about business.
Think about the regulatory side of it. Think about, you know, what do I need to do to take the next step? And this takes a lot of investment from us. You spend much more time with our suppliers than almost comparable companies do. Um, but the idea is that we want to help them. So for example, you know, with one of our suppliers, um, he was having trouble figuring out his own books.
Now what’s he making products on the products? Sorry. Was he making profits on the products was sorry. And he trusted us enough to just share everything. And we create a kind of a new system for him and helped him figure out, you know, what do I actually make? What are my inputs for my outputs and what is everything in between?
That’s pretty amazing. Well, it’s, it’s at least something that we take very seriously and it’s not something you can really, um, put a number to, um, it’s more time and investments in relationships.
Ken: Right. I think a lot of people, um, you know, don’t necessarily consider their suppliers as what they really are.
Is there, it’s a partnership. And so I, you know, your, your success is tied to their success. And I think that that’s a very, um, it’s just a very good way of doing business and, um, So, so let’s talk a little bit about how that translates into a difference in your company or in your products. You know, what do you think, you know, this holistic view of that relationship with your supplier?
What, what does that actually do, uh, to, you know, maybe your quality or, or how does that affect your business?
Pelle: Well, I think it does a whole number of things for us. Um, and for them, uh, one, is it just going to be honest, it makes us happy. With what we’re doing. Um, which I think many people take for granted.
Ken: No, it’s not, it’s not a small thing. It really isn’t. I think too many people take that for granted.
Pelle: And that’s, that’s very important for us that everyone who works for us feels that this is a part of it. Um, if we’re talking more about the products, it, it has meant that we’ve had access to. Uh, some products that don’t exist right now in the markets, uh, especially in Northern Europe, but also, uh, when we do launch in the us, um, the, the products that we have are, are made by people who have made them, made them for 50 years.
Maybe they’ve had a farm for a hundred years. Um, each product type is unique in that we’ve worked, we’re working with some people who would almost assuredly not be able to access international markets. And that of course gives us a, you know, a wonderful product and we’re really happy to show it, but it also gives us the opportunity to kind of put them at the forefront.
This brand is not about us. It’s not about me. Who said, Dean, I don’t want to appropriate in any way Mexican culture. I want to show it. And I want other people to experience it. I have had the opportunity to experiences and by working so closely with these people and knowing the importance of these relationships, um, we really have, have experienced tremendous growth in our suppliers in only a couple of years.
And I can’t wait to see what will happen in the next five years and seeing that, um, in, in our new product development, for example, when, when we say, you know, people in X market, they’re really looking for something a little bit different. Um, but we want to stay true to kind of your story. They are the ones who are helping us develop new recipes.
So it’s very, very deeply integrated partnership. Whereas I think. Many many companies in the modern day, uh, kind of like CPG market, um, make a recipe, go to a co-packer sell product. Um, and for us it takes a lot more time. It takes a lot more effort, but we believe that the product that comes out and the story we’re able to tell, and the people we’re able to help along the way, it makes it all worth it.
Ken: Right, but I think it adds a richness and sort of an authenticity too, to your brand, into your story, into your products. Um, so, so, uh, let’s, uh, let’s go back in time a little bit. All right. So you have this idea that you want to launch and it wasn’t hot sauce. Was that the first product that you launched.
Pelle: Yeah, we, we launched with, uh, with hot sauces and fruit salsas.
Ken: Yeah. So you have this idea. What was your path like? What were the first things that you did?
Pelle: Uh, that’s uh, certainly a good question. Um, you know, we were sitting back in Denmark, um, after having both traveled to Mexico and in different sort of like, uh, three different trips and.
I have brought back. And this was even before we, we started the company, I brought back, I don’t know, 15 different sauces or sauces, cooking, sauces, everything, just cause I love this kind of stuff. And I was just looking at all of this and said, you know, if we could just bring these products right here to Denmark, we would have, we would have a business.
So what we did was we looked at these labels that we have bought on the market. And sometimes there was no emails. Sometimes there was, uh, sometimes there was a number, um, And we just started Googling. And then we, um, we found all the people for the hot sauces we had and, you know, we made a list of, I don’t know how many people it was, let’s say 50.
Um, and then we went to Mexico and we visited a whole bunch. And, and it was, you know, that first trip was the craziest experience I’ve ever had in that it was so rich with experiences, but also that, you know, some, some genuinely insane things happen. So for example, we met some folks who were making sauces.
We don’t work with the now, uh, I’ll keep their name out of shit. Um, but they, uh, they invited us to kind of go look at some farms with them. Were like, sure. Let’s, uh, let’s do it. And, um, we got in their car and it was, uh, this, this one guy, uh, let’s, let’s call him, uh, for purposes of this call. Um, and Humberto has just bought a new car and he was very excited about it.
And when we drove through the mountains, I have never in my entire life driven a hundred miles per hour on small mountain roads. But, um, we certainly did there and, and, you know, uh, would I get, meet his car again? Absolutely not. Um, but when you’re working with, in, in places where the culture is significantly different than what you’re used to, one of the things you have to go into is kind of like take a leap of faith.
And most of the times, it’s amazing where it comes back. Right. We’ve had home cooked meals that have been amazing by made by people who just wanted to show what they could do. And then, you know, on the other side, you have experiences like this, where it’s a little bit. A little bit different
Ken: where you’re fearing for your life a little bit. Huh? Okay. And so, um, compare your, your product that, um, the way it is now, um, to when you initially launched your first version, um, are there any significant differences or, you know, are there any changes that you had to make along the way?
Pelle: Um, for some of the flavors. We’ve had to, um, which I guess you could anticipate, but we’ve had to make them a little bit mild for the Northern European market.
Ken: I see. So it’s, it’s funny because I have a, I have a 12 year old son who loves any kind of saucy. He’s always interested. He’s definitely a sauce guy. He’s always interested in trying the latest. Sauce. And he particularly likes really hot, um, hot sauces. And so, um, let’s just say there are some things that he is happy with that, uh, that me or my wife can’t handle, you know, it’s just not enjoyable.
So, so imagine, so it was a little, it was a little too hot. You needed to make a little more mild.
Pelle: Uh, yes. And, and it’s actually kind of funny because we don’t really have super hot sauces, uh, by American standards. Um, this is actually something, a lot of, a lot of folks kind of often misunderstand about Mexican cuisine is they think of super hot and very spicy lots of chili.
Um, but one of the things that we want to showcase is the incredible diversity of Chili’s. For example, So, if you look at, you know, Mexican cuisine, Northern Mexican is significantly spicier. And Southern new Mexican. And I’m not saying that other Mexican doesn’t use a lot of chilies, they certainly do. And they certainly also have spicy food.
But what, uh, across Mexico you see is a use of Chili’s in a way that we don’t use them elsewhere. And, you know, Chili’s kind of originated down in Bolivia, you know, 15,000 years ago, 20,000 years ago, whatever the number is, um, as, as, uh, as chili called, like shifted feeding kind of is the modern version of, of a wild.
Ancient chili since then, they’ve been cultivated everywhere in the world. And, uh, you know, they they’re called different things, but they all originated there. And now they have, you know, around, I don’t know, five majors, theses are major, have categories of choice. And in Mexico alone, you know, you have hundreds and as opposed to many other places in the world, um, they use all of them.
So, you know, uh, people in the U S maybe know a question or an unsure, um, but then you have, you know, a customer you have, uh, oddball, you have, uh, , um, a whole plethora. And of course, I’m just mentioning some of the few
Ken: okay.
Pelle: And do with the Chili’s is a lot of these chilies aren’t actually, don’t have a lot of in them.
Sizing being the, the, uh, you know, the spicy ingredient, if you will. Um, and so they’ll make sauces that you think are spicy, but are actually much more about the incredible Oman male, Chile, or the depth scent flavor of let’s say, um, you know, the wood or the smoke that you’re going to get from it, or the Ursinus, um, from other chilies, or, you know, if you look at an onshore procedure, you have this sweetness kind of like a. You know, uh, almost like a fake or a, um, kind of like these, these, these different fruits that we think of because fundamentally each of these are fruits.
Ken: Huh. Very interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I just did a chocolate face thing. And so, um, you’re kind of reminding me of, uh, of the guy describing all the different chocolates and the, just the wide variety of tastes that, uh, that come from, you know, the same cacao plant, um, But, but it just, yeah, they can be processed in different ways.
Um, depending on, on where the, you know, the, the, the fruit is grown, it can affect the flavor profile. I just didn’t ever really think about that with chilies, but it seems like there’s very much the same, the same type of thing going on there.
Pelle: Absolutely. And you know, we’re not only about Chili’s, we have fairly wide portfolio of what we call high quality Mexican ingredients.
So we work with, uh, organic to cow farmer, um, who has amazing. Uh, Kao QBO, which is, uh, uh, carrier was a, it’s a beam type that comes from only that part of Mexico. And they have, um, their agenda has been around for around 150 years with the same family there and, you know, take a turn to a different way. Um, and we, we also work with, uh, Mexican vanilla and, you know, again, one of the things that very few people think about when they think Mexico is vanilla, because. No. Uh, I don’t know if you’re aware, but vanilla originated in Mexico.
Ken: I didn’t know that
Pelle: in the, yeah, in the region of Miller cruise, um, the conservation assets were the first to cultivate Manila and they, you know, we’re using it for, for, um, for drinks, uh, especially back then. And, uh, you know, when I say cultivate, I mean, go out in the wild and pick with it.
Well, not necessarily actually be, um, what do you call it? Uh, pollinating it like we do now. Right? What happened was, you know, back in the, you know, when the French came and the Spanish, they started exporting vanilla and French bought it all the way down to French Polynesia and, and Madagascar. And now of course, people say Camilo, they think that a gastric, but even though orchid is in fact from Mexico, Yeah.
Ken: Interesting. Interesting. So let’s, um, let’s, let’s switch gears a little bit. Um, um, I wanted to ask you about, um, why, you know, why I focused on, on the Danish market and, um, you know, you already mentioned that, um, that there’s not a ton of competition. Um, was that the primary reason or, um, what, what was your thinking behind, uh, focusing on, on, uh, Danish market?
Pelle: Well, you know, being from there, uh, there’s been this incredible. Uh, journey in my lifetime in Danish, uh, chefs and cooks in restaurants and the culinary scene in Denmark. Um, you know, when I was a kid, uh, the, the food that people ate was no, a big roast boiled potatoes and some greens on the side. I’d say, and, and I’m not, I’m not that old.
Ken: I have to be honest. That sounds pretty good though. You know, I’m sure it’s, it’s pretty good. But, uh, maybe, maybe a little variety would, would be nice. Huh?
Pelle: Yeah. I mean, of course it’s delicious and Danish shrewd, you know, classic dish is amazing, but for what’s happened, you know, over the past 20 years with, with Noma and, and basically the whole family around Noma of all the chefs that’s been there and have now created.
No Michelin restaurants around the world, um, that Mark has seen an incredible, uh, development in his food and culinary scene. And in the last, let’s say, you know, 10 years or so, um, Mexican food has really started showing up in restaurants in the last five years. We’ve seen an incredible. Development where we had maybe a couple of restaurants, um, uh, Mexican restaurants in Copenhagen or the capitalists.
Now we have dozens. And, and so we saw this opportunity where it hit the restaurants first, and we believe it’s going to go into the supermarket and create kind of this new category. It already exists as TexMex, but there is no real Mexican category. And that’s what we hope to kind of bring there.
Ken: Okay. I see. Um, and, um, how much has your, uh, of your businesses is retail versus online?
Pelle: Um, most of it is, is, uh, is retail right now. Uh, we have focused. Um, and so again, Denmark being a, quite a different market where both Denmark, Sweden, and Norway now, um, and in those reasons for focusing on retail, because that’s where we believe we can have the biggest impact kind of like.
Educationally get people to see it, uh, show recipes. Um, and we’re trying to create of course, uh, a full universe for people to enter into. Um, with our website, we have a lot of stories about how we work with the people that we work with and the recipes that people can make with our products, et cetera, et cetera.
Um, While I think in the us, you know, we’re going to have a different model, uh, as it is quite a much, a much more mature market in the Mexican category. And we’ll focus a lot more on, uh, on DC over here. Um, as opposed to in Denmark where it’s kind of, you have to educate the user about the customer, about to, what is it I actually have here.
Ken: Understood. Um, and how did you, um, you know, once you, you had your initial product, how did you think about getting into some of these supermarkets, um, that you were able to get distribution and
Pelle: well, we’re, we’ve always been very focused on finding the correct partners to work with. Um, so we had a particular target.
They won, um, of working with the chain that we’re currently working with. They’re a small high end chain that allows us the flexibility to kind of show our products in the way that we think that they need to be shown in order to really, um, get Mexican culture in there. And then once we have tried and can test our model, the, the plan is of course, they’re kind of like expand a little bit more, but it is with this idea that, um, We want always to stay true to the products and to the local communities in Mexico that are making the products.
Ken: What do you mean by, uh, by, uh, you know, that they allow you to show your products in that way? Um, w is there anything specific that they were doing for you guys?
Pelle: Um, so the ones we work with, they, uh, they were actually, they’ve been working with a lot of smaller startups in Denmark with the idea of, uh, working in a more socially sustainable way.
So, you know, uh, everyone pays their suppliers better. They were with us as a small supplier on making sure that we can live up to regulatory requirements, et cetera. Um, so in that sense, they, it kinda meshed completely with how we wanted to do business. Um, and that has, you know, born out really well because.
Now that we’re in, when we introduce products, they’re, you know, they’re a partner for us. Um, and they want to see, okay, which way can we take it? And it also allows us to work with them on, you know, marketing materials and campaigns, the right way in order to target the people you want to target. And also tell them the story we want to tell.
Okay.
Ken: Great. Great. Um, yeah, and I think a theme that’s kind of coming out on this conversations is, uh, it’s pick the right partners, um, and uh, each other well, so that sounds great. Um, you’ve mentioned that a couple of times that you’re considering a us launch is that a, it started already, um, do you have that on the schedule? What’s your timeline for that?
Pelle: Uh, very happy you asked. Uh, I probably have forgotten to talk about to myself. Um, yes, we are actually bringing up the product, uh, as we speak and hope to have it, uh, next week in California and the ideas from there to start selling directly to consumers. Test out the products a little bit more.
Um, since, you know, we’ve primarily gone into Europe and as I said, the markets are quite different. We anticipate me maybe having to make some changes to sizing, um, or to kind of slight flavor profile changes.
Ken: Okay. So, um, I wanted to ask you about, um, you know, different challenges that, that you may have had, and, you know, just maybe considering this from the view of somebody who’s considering getting into, into, um, the world of, of launching a physical product and particularly a food brand.
Um, do you have any advice that you could offer to somebody that’s considering that or, or maybe, um, um, You know, an example of a mistake that you made that could help them to avoid that mistake.
Pelle: We just made so many mistakes fast two and a half years that, uh, it would have to be a very long meeting for me to go through them all.
Um, no, in truth. What I mean by that is it’s a little bit of a joke, of course, because. The fact of the matter is that if you do this right, and you’re dealing with as much complexity as, as we are as a relatively small, but you know, we have 30 skews, um, uh, all with kind of, uh, we have labels for the U S label for Europe.
What you, what I’ve found is that the complexity of dealing with, uh, the CPG market is what is most difficult and by complexity of the CPG market, I mean, Both on the demand and the supply side. So, you know, supermarkets have very high requirements to punctuality, uh, the way you package things, how it looks when it gets there, the quality of product, of course.
And, and that means that, you know, small mistakes can have incredibly large outsize impact on your business at the same time on the supply side, you know, especially for us with a relatively long. Uh, you know, uh, let’s say three months, two and a half months from when you order a product. So we kind of have it in our hands at our warehouse.
Um, you know, it can have a really large impact on UAF your production when it’s wrong, you label incorrectly. Um, and anything really in between, let’s say that the case has half the wrong barcodes on them. And I guess my. If someone is, you know, sitting here and listening to this and thinking, Oh, I want to start my own food company.
Well, my first tip is just do it and don’t look back and be comfortable with making mistakes because you’re going to make them.
Ken: Yeah, I think that’s great advice. Um, well, um, I wanted to maybe broaden this a little bit. Um, your parent company is, is get a good taste. Um, and you obviously have multiple brands.
Um, how do you, uh, you know, think about this, how do you split your time and your focus? Um, I’m sure you get pulled in many different directions.
Pelle: Yeah, no, that’s, uh, I chuckled because, you know, time management is most, most definitely the most important part of my day. Um, we right now have two of our own brands, so like that we developed ourselves and then we also carry a couple of other brands in Denmark for, um, other Mexican companies, notably some Mischelle companies.
And on top of that, we, um, We import, uh, sort of like a variety of Mexican, what I call basic goods. So let’s say canned goods, you need to Matteo’s, um, beans, et cetera. And, and so we, we have actually quite a, quite a broad business right now, and working with both the wholesale market in Denmark, uh, the DC market and, uh, you know, the retail market and managing all this means that it puts a tremendous.
Tremendous amount of pressure on, uh, me as the CEO of the company, but also on the entire management team in order to kind of like focus our attention and the way we decided to at least approach this issue is working with, uh, uh, our own little board. Um, we have brought in someone from the outside, from the beginning.
Her name is . She is a partner in, uh, Sort of high, low strategy consulting company. And she helps us focus our attention. What are those strategic targets and how should we be spending our time? Those are two of the most important questions that we ask of her and we expect her to kind of help us navigate this.
Ken: Excellent. Excellent. Well, it sounds like, um, you know, you’ve got, you’ve got, uh, quite a few brands, quite a few skews. Are there any that you’re particularly excited about? Um, maybe more than more than the others, but it’d be something new that’s on there.
Pelle: Yeah, I mean, so, so we we’ve been working on, uh, figuring out the correct tortilla and what I mean when I say the Kris tortilla, I mean a high quality tortilla.
That is preferably organic. And we’re hoping to approach this, uh, 20, 21 to find a good solution. And I know you didn’t ask me this particularly, but the complexities are, you know, uh, do you want to go fresh or do you want preservatives? Preservatives of course, what supermarkets wants. Um, but the, in the U S you have such a vast variety of strategics in the market that you do not in Denmark.
So we want to kind of innovate in that. In that space. Um, And that’s something we’re, we’re quite excited about.
Ken: That’s pretty cool. Pretty cool. Um, well let me, uh, let let’s maybe switch gears. I’ve got, um, quick fire round here as we get ready to, to, to close up. Um, I’ve got five quick questions for you. Um, just, just tell me, uh, just, uh, the fast answer and, um, we’ll just go from there.
You ready?
Pelle: Okay.
Ken: All right. Well what’s one tool or resource that you rely on to, to run on your, to run your business.
Pelle: Uh, let’s say it is for sure. A project management tool. So, uh, we use Trello,
Ken: Trello. Yeah. That’s very popular one in this space. Um, what is one book that has helped you, um, in your product journey?
Pelle: I actually have it right next to me. Uh, it’s uh, pepper of the Americas by medicine, Priscilla, and it is, uh, an amazing book that basically tells the story of where peppers came from. And. Why they are what they are now.
Ken: And that’s awesome. I can’t say we’ve ever heard that answer before Erica. That’s awesome.
Um, what is one piece of advice that you’d give to your 21 year old self?
Pelle: Don’t be afraid to just go out and do something. And I know that many entrepreneurs say this, but I just can’t stress it enough. If you have it in, you just go out and start something. It’s going to be more fun than anything you can do.
Ken: Yep. And kind of stress the importance of learning on the job. Right? A lot of this, you can’t anticipate, you just learn it as you come across it. That’s great advice.
Um, who is one person in the world that you would, uh, uh love to take to lunch
Pelle: Oh, what a, what an excellent question. I’ve always been incredibly fascinated by, uh, by politics also as a, as an aside.
And right now, given our current times. I would, I would just die to take Donald Trump too much. What the hell he has been thinking last four years?
Ken: That would be a very interesting lunch.
Pelle: Yeah. We don’t have to go into deeper
Ken: Sure, sure. Um, and what, what’s your situation and are you single married kids?
Pelle: I am married to my wife’s Elsie. Okay.
Ken: Awesome. Um, all right. As we wrap up here, um, you know, you’ve already given a little bit of advice, but is there any, any parting words of advice that you’d give to people who are, are grinding it out in the world of physical products?
Pelle: Uh, not so much, uh, I guess like a specific set of advice, but I tend to tell people just to have insurance and have faith in yourself. Um, it’s not a, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. And you know, if you do things right, treat people well, you have respect for people you work with. It’ll work out in the end.
Ken: Okay. That’s great. And is there anything that you want to promote or plug?
Pelle: I would just love for people to explore more about middlemen and you can do that on our website. That’ll make out of that. And, you know, in particular, uh, I hope we can help people learn a little bit about all the culture of Mexico and what they have to offer.
Ken: Okay. Great. And then we’ll include that, uh, that link in the show notes. Um, and if people want to reach out to you, what’s the best way for them to do that?
Pelle: Uh, let’s just, uh, Pele, my first name, P E L L E. Good tastes.com.
Ken: Okay, awesome. Well, look, it’s probably, it’s been good talking to you and I appreciate you taking the time to jump on the podcast with us.
Um, it’s been an awesome interview and I, I think a lot of people are going to get value out of this. Really appreciate
Pelle: it. No problem at all. I it’s my pleasure. It’s been a pleasure to speak with you.
Ken: All right, we’ll see ya. Bye bye.
Pelle: Okay, bye. Ken: The Physical Product Movement podcast is brought to you by Fiddle. To find out more about Fiddle and how our industry leading inventory ops platform is giving modern brands and manufacturers full visibility into their inventory and operations. Visit fiddle.io, and then make sure to search for Physical Product Movement in Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, or anywhere else, podcasts are found. Make sure to click subscribe. So you don’t miss any future episodes on behalf of the team here at Fiddle. Thanks for listening.
