The 10-Year Quest for Must-Have Mustard

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Introducing the 10-year quest for magical mustard. When a couple in today's story take a trip to Ireland, they experience the deliciousness of house-made mustard for the first time. After returning to the U.S., they spend years, like a lot of years, a whole decade, in fact, crafting the perfect recipe, then finally learning to produce, package, and sell it. They're now on a mission to spread this mustard to the world, at least starting with their home region of the Pacific Northwest. Welcome to Side Hustle School.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. I'm excited to bring you a series of stories all about real people who are creating an asset for themselves. Doing something they love, something they are particularly passionate about, and yes, the couple in this story are passionate about mustard. Everybody's got a thing. Finding a way to make money in the new economy.

So what does it take to produce the must-have mustard? It takes a lot of trial and error and a lot of waiting. But more than a decade later, they have cracked the mustard seed mystery and are selling thousands of jars. Also included in this story are some fun facts about mustard. I'll give those to you at the end.

First, here's a shout-out to our sponsor, and then on with the show. [Music]

Sarah and Jesse Darling's love for mustard first began when they took a trip to Ireland. They noticed that all the pubs had delicious house-made mustard. It was the perfect condiment, and nothing like the watery, bright yellow stuff they were used to back in the U.S. It made no sense to them.

If every pub had their own unique recipe, it couldn't be that hard to make, right? And if so, why wasn't it more popular in the United States? Four years later, they moved to Portland, Oregon and made friends with people who were interested in meat-smoking, home brewing, and pickling, as one does in Portland, Oregon. Around the same time, Jesse was sent on multiple work trips to Germany. He began to bring home different kinds of mustard for sampling, and their passion was reignited.

Jesse was ready to try to make his own, but quickly realized why there was so little quality mustard in the United States. Not only was it hard to get just right, but people were protective over their recipes. He put on his game face and for 10 years, off and on, he tested out different variables. He mixed the famous mustard seed with wine, beer, even champagne. He tried cooking it for a long time, a short time, and not cooking it at all.

He experimented with putting honey in it. Finally, in 2016, after a decade of mediocre mustard, he had perfected his recipe. Jesse knew that he had a fantastic product and that there were very few competitors. He had a feeling they could sell it. Around the same time, Sarah and Jesse were ready for some life changes.

They decided to move from the city to the countryside and bought a property with a big barn. Sarah was working full-time as a business analyst, and Jesse had been a stay-at-home dad with their son for four years, which gave him some time to work on crafting that perfect recipe. He was now ready to go back into the workforce, so the two made the decision to switch roles. Once Sarah left her job, her business skills really got the mustard seed rolling. This was especially valuable because unlike lots of other products, mustard wasn't just something that they could throw onto a website and sell.

They had to complete several steps to make sure their food product was legally compliant, which, by the way, they had decided to call Sasquatch Mustard after the Pacific Northwest legend. First, they needed to confirm that the way they manufactured their mustard was safe. Jesse contacted a manufacturing specialist at the Oregon Department of Agriculture who gave them the rundown about the qualities their kitchen had to have. From there, they contacted a local professor of food, microbiology, and safety, who analyzed their ingredients, cooking process, and even the pH level of the finished mustard. The professor determined that their product would be classified as an acid food and therefore would not require any heat sealing.

They also decided to install a commercial kitchen in their barn. This created a whole other set of issues requiring permits and licenses. Of the $40,000 they spent on startup costs, $30,000 was spent on the kitchen alone. After that, they worked with their insurance firm to cover both their kitchen and the retail sales. According to Sarah, many retailers won't buy from you unless you're insured.

So this is an essential step. It was all a slow process, but she pressed on. Their next challenge was to determine the price. They drove into Portland and took pictures of mustard displays and specialty food stores. Ultimately, they settled on a price at the higher end of the spectrum.

Every batch of their mustard is made by hand, with love, I should say, while many other mustards are mass produced in factories by corporate villains and people who just don't care about the mustard seed. They knew that their ideal customer would also value the artisanal quality of their product. So they had confidence that people would be willing to pay a little extra for it. From there, they set up a website, an online store, and social media accounts. And here's a smart thing.

Even though the product would be called Sasquatch Mustard, they decided that the overall name for their brand would be Darling Foods. They already had ideas for other non mustard related foods. So this choice would allow them flexibility in the future. By then, it was August of 2017, over a year after the recipe was finalized and more than a decade since that first trip. But now they're well underway.

Since their launch, in fact, they've made about $35,000. Soon they will have completely paid off all their startup costs and mustard up a profit. They're also releasing more flavors and getting ready to launch their first marinade, just in time for barbecue season. [Music]

The 10 year mustard quest was a success. Jesse has created that perfect recipe.

And now of course they're on a mission to spread the word, along with sales of the great Sasquatch Mustard. Now here are some fun facts about mustard. These come to you courtesy of Mental Floss magazine. And by that, I don't mean they're our sponsor. I mean, I looked it up and here's what they had to say.

So three fun facts. Two countries, Canada and Nepal, are responsible for most of the world's mustard. Almost all the world's mustard coming from Canada and Nepal, did not know that. Also, when you think about mustard, you might think about Dijon mustard, but most Dijon mustard doesn't come from Dijon. In fact, all you need to do is just replace one ingredient in your average mustard for it to be legit Dijon.

And finally, mustard plants are close relatives to a surprising variety of common vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower, turnips and cabbage. If you knew even one of those three facts, you knew much more than me. I was surprised. I've just learned so much about the world of mustard and researching this episode. I could go on, but you don't want me to do that because you're here to learn.

You're here to hear about crazy things people are doing to make money and create that freedom and opportunity for themselves, just like Jesse and Sarah are doing. So I believe you with that. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Go and think about what you can do for yourself. What's that idea percolating in the back of your mind?

And what's the next step for it? We're all about next steps here. To find the show notes for today's episode, go to sidehustleschool.com/829. That is episode 829. Be back again tomorrow, and I hope you'll join me.

Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau, and this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

- From the Onward Project.