We’ve all been there before. Staring deeply into a bowl of salsa thinking about how much better it would be if it were just a bit hotter…saltier…cilantroier. Just a bit more lime and this would be almost perfect! Today’s interviewee, Tim Willhite, knows the feeling intimately well, and decided to do something about it. Tim decided to start making his own salsa, and it was so darn good it started winning competitions. Lots of ‘em! Tim knew he was on to something and years later his salsa can be found in national grocery chains. So how did that all happen?
Contents
2:45 - Tim's humble history with salsa making.
4:30 - Tim’s first salsa competition
5:18 - How long after Tim started making salsa did he enter into a contest?
5:40 - How Tim arrived at the signature Timoteo blend.
7:45 - What led Tim to making his salsa on a larger scale and how this was done.
9:05 - Legality of making food products out of your own kitchen
11:50 - Is there any sort of leeway with these laws?
15:20 - Fresh salsa vs. cooking (canned) salsa
17:15 - Preserving methods
19:05 - Scaling up and selling into grocery stores.
27:12 - Do local retailers give you contacts for their national counterparts?
28:33 - Tim's decision to sell the company.
29:40 - Advice to someone starting their own food business.
32:05 - Benefits of having a distributor.
32:53 - Deeper dive on the sale of the company.
36:55 - Step 1. Tim's final piece of advice.
Links
Tomato's Mellow Mango Salsa Recipe
