Stone & Skillet

Yeah, I think we had really no idea what it meant to launch into retail when we started.

And I think we were very lucky to be able to walk before we ran in terms of one store at a time.

I think if we could go back in time, knowing what I know now, about distribution and about how things work.

Like we would have maybe done things differently, but we also, I think only got here because of the learning experience that we had.

So I really think it's important to just dive head first, but also, you know, try and kind of stage things out in terms of the milestones that you're looking to do.

So, you know, focus on getting into that one retailer, that one group of a handful of stores in a region and, and understand how it works with the buyer and placing POs and the distributor.

Every business is different in terms of exactly how it's distributed.

But for us, I think one thing that really unlocked a world of possibilities was this idea of getting into the bakery category.

Oh,

interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah, because I think, you know, bread is obviously such a hot topic right now and a unique kind of thing going on in our food system.

I think something that we're passionate about, like the first, I think, real value of the business was just to make the best quality English muffins.

Again, initially it was for restaurants.

That was like the first idea.

think as it's evolved we've had to identify what our mission is i think it's really about being a part of a solution to this kind of broken food system and if you look at bread in particular um there's so many challenges with bread with preservatives and chemicals and you know all these problems that um people associate with bread now and you know we want to be a part of you know, some degree of the solution there in terms of trying to stay artisanal, cleaner ingredients, small batches, kind of making the muffins by hand and distributing them in a way that's kind of more associated with quality.

And that might mean a reduction in shelf life or things like that.

But those are pros and cons that you weigh out for the kind of better quality that you're trying to make in the product.

And we found that because we got put in the bakery section at Whole Foods, That was where people were going to find real quality.

Interesting.

Yeah, it really identified a strategy for us of like, we want to own the bakery category, not the center store bread where you find kind of... uh, you know, wonder bread or any of these other kinds of brands, but really in the bakery where a lot of it is private label typically,

but we

wanted to build a branded item that was great for the bakery that is more fresh, more high quality, and it's going to have shorter shelf life, but in the long run, um, a better quality product.

And so, um, That became a big part of what we built as time went on.

And I wish I could say that that was like intentional from day one.