Nostalgic Bowl Of Pozole Inspires Spicy Hustle

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

[Music]

I have a lot of respect for people who do hard things. Starting a side hustle or a business in the food industry is not the easiest project you could pursue. And a side hustle doesn't have to be hard. There are a lot of things you could pursue with little money, little risk, and less effort than something where you work in a kitchen every day. I'm not saying that's no effort, little effort, but comparatively less effort.

So if there are a bunch of projects you could do and you're equally excited about them, why not choose the one that is a little bit easier? That is my general suggestion. But of course, if food is your passion or whatever hard thing is your passion, well, good for you, because you can still do it. You can still apply the side hustle mindset in lots of ways. By the way, this show is called Side Hustle School.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. And that's what the person in today's story learns. How to apply the side hustle mindset to something that is a little complex. It all starts when a nostalgic bowl of the Mexican soup, pazoli, inspires a spicy $250,000 a year hustle. The person in today's story loved making his family's homemade recipe, but it took a long time and there were no options to speed it up.

Could he create one of those options? Well, he does. And he ends up taking it to the people. It's all about spice and soup today on the program. Stay tuned for the story.

[Music]

Chris Bailey remembers his father's pazoli with deep nostalgia. A traditional Mexican stew made with chilies, hominy, and spices, his dad learned to make it during childhood in Arizona. And even though he later raised his family in Hawaii, he kept the tradition going. Those Sunday pazoli dinners are some of Chris's favorite memories from growing up. And years later, he wanted to keep the tradition going for his family.

Except it wasn't easy. Pazoli had to be made from scratch and it took a long time. He searched and searched for soup starters in stores, but with no luck. So then, as the story often goes, he decided to make his own. Or in this case, he would take the pazoli to the people.

Chris had moved to Portland, Oregon a few years earlier for college. He became a micro enterprise developer for the region's only Latino market hall and business incubator. He'd seen and helped dozens of new businesses grow. Now it was time to build his own. He started making large batches of his pazoli recipe in a shared commissary kitchen.

He then bought a food handler's license and purchased a bike powered cart that he could take to the local farmer's market and other public events. It took several months to put those pieces together, but when he set up at his first event, the public responded positively. It was cold in Portland that fall and Chris's hot, savory pazoli was just the thing to keep people cozy while they were enjoying an outside event. For months, Chris drove his cart to various events and sold out, generating thousands in sales. But he dreamed bigger.

He wanted to get his pazoli starters in stores. One big step was enrolling in the Getting Your Recipe to Market program that was run by his city's Small Business Development Center. Over the course of 14 weeks, Chris created that brand, pazoli to the people. It was a busy time. He spent $8,000 on kitchen equipment, jars, labels, packaging for larger shipments and inventory.

He labored through dozens of regulations to make his product shelf stable without destroying its quality. He didn't, however, find a co-packer in a way that some of our other stories have done. A co-packer is a company that can help prepare your food product. You give them the recipe, they mix up the ingredients, prepare it for sale. In Chris's case, he spoke to several, but none of them seemed a great fit.

So he decided to just stick to his commissary kitchen. A lot of that initial investment was on a jar filler and label applicator. So even though he was doing it all himself, he still had some nice gear helping him do it faster. At the end of the course, he was able to pitch his product to New Seasons Markets, a regional grocery chain. But he loved his Pizzoli starters, filled out a purchase order and tested the product out in a few stores.

A few stores became four, then seven, then 10. Chris spent a large portion of the week making his soup, but he always saved some time to keep pitching. Over the next several months, Pizzoli to the people found its way into the local stores, Food Fight, New Foods Market and Elephant's Delicatessen. The growth was slow, but intentional. Chris didn't want to risk losing quality in his product, so he kept making it by hand, ensuring it honored his memory of Sunday night dinners.

The biggest driver of growth was consumer demand. It wasn't hard to generate. Chris still participated in local grassroots events, selling his jarred Pizzoli and getting locally minded consumers amped up for delicious, hearty stew. And they loved it, especially the Mexican community around town. The more customers bought, the more retailers purchased to put on their shelves.

In 2017, Pizzoli to the people had its first $100,000 year. In 2018, the brand generated nearly $250,000. But Chris isn't settling down yet, nor is he hoarding the success for himself. He's looking to develop a manufacturing facility of his own to help scale production properly. He's also hoping to use that facility as a job training site.

For him, it was never just about the money, it was also about bringing his nostalgia and the nostalgia of the Mexican community to life, and then using that experience to uplift others. [Music]

Foodpreneurs of the world, anybody out there listening who is trying to start a food-based side hustle, you have my respect. Like I said, it can be a lot harder than some of the other projects we talk about. But for those who believe in their dream, good for you, and especially someone like Chris. So congratulations to him.

I'm gonna check out Pizzoli to the people myself when I am in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. And if you're interested in foodpreneurship, which I don't actually know is a word, I just kind of made that up, but it sounds right, a few popular episodes you might wanna check out from the archives, episode 219, two friends start $25,000 a month paleo bar business, and episode 241, writer turns leftover cherries into $5,000 a month income. Both of those stories are actually featured in the new book, "100 Side Hustles," that is coming out in June. So you can go and pre-order that book and check it out, along with 98 other stories. You also might wanna listen to 541, personal trainer pumps up breakfast with $25,000 a month pancake hustle, and 639, techie sells granola to hungry Google employees.

So all kinds of case studies of how people have navigated this challenging world. Okay, friends, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. If you wanna check out the show notes, which will include some resources, Pizzoli to the people, anything else about foodpreneurship, go to www.sidehustleschool.com/794, it is episode 794. Thanks so much, I'll be back again tomorrow with another story.

My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

from the Onward Project.