Serial Entrepreneurship in the Food and Beverage Industry with Scott Blackwell of High Wire Distilling Co (Part 1)

A lot of times and entrepreneurs journey goes something like this. You're working a job, you want to start a business, maybe you side hustle for a bit, then quit that job. And then you work on that one business exclusively, maybe until you retire or die. That definitely wasn't the case for Scott Blackwell owner and distiller of high wire distilling company in Charleston, South Carolina. Today is part one of our conversation. It's his road to distilling via a number of other business ventures. This is Chris spear. And you're listening to Chefs Without Restaurants, the show where I speak with culinary entrepreneurs and people working in the food and beverage industry outside of a traditional restaurant setting. I have 31 years of working in kitchens, but not restaurants, and currently run a personal chef business throwing dinner parties in the Washington DC area. And before I get too far here, I want to say that this is a conversation with Scott, but it's also a business very much run with his wife. And I think I actually met her first to be honest. And as I alluded to earlier, Scott's journey didn't take him right to distilling. And this conversation isn't actually about distilling at all. Scotsmen, a Ben and Jerry's distributor, owned a coffee roaster and bakery and started a line of frozen dos. I found his story to be so interesting, and thought that food and beverage entrepreneurs would really enjoy it. But also realize that some people just want to hear about the distillery business and making whiskey. So I cut this episode into two parts. This part will take you right up to the point of when he starts that leg of his entrepreneurial journey. Part Two, the distilling story will be released next week. And a bit of podcast housekeeping here. I recently posted online that I'm looking for guests to be on the show. I was overwhelmed to have more than 200 inquiries in a matter of days. If one of them was you and you haven't heard back, I want to let you know that I'm working through them. And I hope to be in touch very soon. And if you're listening and think that you have a good story to tell, feel free to reach out on Instagram at Chefs Without Restaurants or email me at chefs without restaurants@gmail.com. As always, thanks so much for listening and have a great week. Are you a personal chef looking for support and growth opportunities? Look no further than the United States personal chef association with 1000 members across the US and Canada. USPCA provides liability insurance certification lead generation and more. Consumers can trust that their meal experience is insured and supported by USPCA. Apply now for USPCA membership and save$75 on premier provisional preparatory and corporate memberships, as well as $25 on student memberships by using code "HappyNewYear2024" at uspca.com/join. Plus Hire a Chef subscriptions are available to list your personal chef business at higherachef.com. To learn more about membership, advertising or partnership opportunities, call Angela at 1-800-995-2138. Extension 705 or email aprather@uspca.com. Hey, Scott, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for coming on.

Yeah. Thanks, Chris. Thanks for having me.

I'm looking forward to talking to you today. For our listeners who don't know, Scott, he made the world's largest cookie, isn't that right? That's what you're known for. Right? The world's largest cookie. Yes.

That will be on my on my tombstone, I think. Yeah, no. My wife and does not like to talk about that very much. It was it was a it was it. I won't go into, you know, all the gory details. But it was, it was a fun, cool event. But it was also very hard and had a had a lot of theater in there. Especially at that last few hours. So I'm sure we still hold the record. 2020 years, this this year, will have held that record. So it's our big anniversary this May.

I know every year you post it up on social media. So

yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, it was a feat. And, you know, I think the people that were there, you know, it's one of those things where you're, you know, it sounds silly and all that, but ultimately, it was a it was a thing, like, you know, no climbing a big mountain, maybe not Everest, but one of the other big ones around the world. And it was a huge undertaking, no pun intended, but we you know, it was a the previous record was 24,000 pounds, and I think 80 feet or 79 feet or something like that. And we looked at it and said, Well, if we're going to do 81 feet or whatever, why don't we just do 100 You know, and, you know, if we get that big, you know, what's 20 more feet, and we miss measured. So we actually ended up with 102 foot and 40,000 pounds, overachiever. So yes. It was, you know, so I'm throwing out the challenge somebody, you know, go and do something but don't do 103 feet, do you know, 150 feet or something? Do something real, you know? Yeah. Well, I

thought that would be a fun way to start the show. Actually, you are the owner distiller of high wire distilling company down in Charleston, South Carolina, what you run with your wife, and, and I've often said, it's my favorite distillery in the country. I don't know when I found you guys. I mean, you know, I've been down to Charleston, a bunch, my sister in law lived down there for over a decade. So that's how I got to know you. And since you're my favorite, I wanted to have you on the show and kind of talk about what you're doing down there.

That's awesome. No, I think it was pretty early on. I think you were one of the early adopters, I think it probably was in the first couple of years, to be honest. Well, I

think it was through social media. I don't know was it you are and like, who was doing like the Instagram, it's probably even Twitter at the time, right? Like, I feel like the early days of social media, where I was just connecting with all these people. And I was really interested in Charleston, you know, like Sean Brock, and all those guys. And I think I just was even following you on social media before I even came down that first time it was probably a couple of years just talking to you guys. Yeah, probably

would have been an doing most of the social media, I did a little bit, I would take a picture and think it was cool and throw it up on Instagram or on Facebook or something or post an article, but she is much better writer. And her posts are a little bit more.

And it's so much more in depth now. I mean, thinking about like, even a decade ago, what we're putting out now it's like a whole job. I mean, it is a job. Like there are people who do just social media, that's their whole thing. But yeah, I guess kind of like going back to the cookie and the baking and everything before you had the distillery you were doing other things in the food world prior to distilling. So do you want to talk a little bit about that, like your background and culinary and pastry in how it led into distilling? Sure,

yeah. I think it's pertinent to kind of how we ended up in the business well, you know, sort of pertinent into the how we ended up in this business, but also pertinent to our approach to this current business. And, you know, I work just like a lot of young, you know, teenage kids in a kitchen. My first job was washing dishes at a Greek restaurant, you know, hamburger joint, and then from there, I ended up with, you know, jobs through, you know, through some fast food chains, etc. At Chick fil A places like that. And, you know, it was kind of where I could get a job at that point, you know, young guys, you know, weren't you know, they either cut grass or you worked at a restaurant, it felt like and I ended up going to school. And about midway through school, I proclaimed that, you know, after I get out of college, I'm never going to work in the food business again. You know, and famous last words, you know, that's all I've ever done. So while I was in school, to make extra money, I started making desserts out of my apartment. So I was a chef without a restaurant.

So it called that cottage baking now, don't we? Yeah,

illegal cottage baking. So I was under the radar, it was just to me, it was not really a business. It was like cutting grass or something like that. I just, you know, made pies. And, you know, pretty simple stuff. But in those days, I was all about real ingredients. So you know, like, key lime pie, I made had real key limes, and it didn't have bottled juice. It didn't have you know, I was actually squeezing the limes and making the crust with butter and stuff like that. And in those days, this would have been in the 80s. It was all about like kind of cool whip type desserts. It was about, you know, just big and sugary and not really a lot of what I would call real flavor. It was just sweet. And I love chocolate. So quickly got into the chocolate pie and cake business. And before I knew it, I was making a fair amount of money. And I was watching this show called growing a business on PBS. It was hosted by a guy named Paul Hawken, who started Smith and Hawken and I saw these two guys from Vermont that had an ice cream company. And they were making ice cream that was very similar to how I was approaching my pies. So I thought, Oh, cool. I want to call these guys and see how they did it. You know, maybe I'll do this instead of getting a real job and called up to Vermont and ended up asking for Ben or Jerry. And that woman laughed and said, you know, who is this? And you know, basically I didn't get to talk to Ben or Jerry. But it led me to, eventually going to Vermont. They invited me up there I met Jerry down here. I'm in South Carolina and ended up going up to Vermont and became the ninth distributor in the country for those

guys. So I had no idea. I've never heard this story before. Yeah, so

I, you know, I was 21. And I had no money. No, you know, it was a total fluke. And at that point, Ben and Jerry's was not a big company. But it was that distribution in that packaged product, and the marketing and social consciousness socially conscious approach to business, you know, it was Tom's of Maine, and Anita Roddick, from Body Shop, and all those early guys. And I just really thought that was cool to have a business and make a positive impact on your community, you know, and have fun doing it and make something that tastes good, and really a simple approach. So the seeds were planted at that point. And long story short, I ended up selling part of that business because I didn't have money, and I needed cash to run the business. And I took investors and sold about three quarters of the business off and really just figured out that I was just working for other people. And I was like, Yeah, I want to work for myself. So I jumped out. And a friend of mine was had, you know, a work in a fairly large corporation asked me if I could do breakfast, for their meetings, and it was like, quick breads. So I was doing muffins and things of that nature. And then I had met the Green Mountain Coffee guys, when I was up in Waterbury. So I got interested in coffee, and started making these desserts. And then in she said, Could you do lunches, and this was there, again, out of my apartment, by this point, I'm back in my apartment. And I made these desserts and sandwiches and stuff like that. And then I thought, shit, if I'm gonna do this, I may as well get legal and open up a brick and mortar place. So I found this old dumpy building in downtown Columbia behind the state house next to the university that had been a Kinkos. And thought, you know, I'll never open up the front door, I'll just do all this out the back. But then I thought, well, shoot, there's the state house is right here in the university, I might as well open up the door and see if anybody comes in. And I think I was 24 at this point. And I did all the renovations myself, sanded floors, etc. This was in the era where you could get away with a lot of that type of stuff. And it was just a sandwich and soup and salad place. So you know, I created you know, and I had to come up with a name, because the fire marshal basically inspected me and said, That's all great, you look great. But you have to have a name out front, you need, you know, what's the name of your business? And I was like, I was just going to open up without one. What's the total? You know, something you do when you're 24?

Yeah, not many 24 year olds start their own business.

So I've got the dictionary out and look through the vowels, because I felt like you know, a name with a vowel, you know, just start there. And I got to the eyes, and I saw the word immaculate. And I started laughing, I had this idea of Immaculate consumption. And so that's what the restaurant is still called, is there. It's been there 33 years now. And my manager bought it, he still owns it. But I opened up and there was a line out the door, you know, I mean, it was, obviously a success. But you know, when I own that business, I got really interested in, I was interested in coffee, but I went, I'd seen a show on espresso. And I said, I want to learn more about that. So I flew out to Seattle, and went to a coffee show, and all these, you know, super geeky guys and gals were latte art and all this, you know, fanatical level of attention to detail with coffee and all about the varietals and it was just opened up this whole world to me. And I just thought it was sort of cool. So long story short, I ended up buying a roaster while I was out there and delivered back to South Carolina and became the first coffee roaster in South Carolina, in my basement at the restaurant. So opened up a little espresso bar, and then, you know, my baked good stuff was, you know, starting to get better. And I was starting to add scones and Piscotty and stuff like that. And but after about nine years of running that restaurant, in coffee shop, I just started thinking, I really want to get back to this package thing again. So that's where the bakery was born immaculate baking, which was the business previous to this and the most successful All business. So, you know, I made cookies and coffee wholesale. And in those days, you know, it was like the days of Barnes and Noble and Books a Million and all these stores, they had coffee shops. And um, so every little mom and pop bookstore had a coffee, little coffee bar, whatever, maybe you had a hair salon or whatever, you know, record store. So I ended up selling to a lot of these guys, and they loved my cookies and stuff. But the problem was stales. So I started making dough, and freezing it and delivering them to dough. And then they could just bake off in their store in little small oven. What they wanted for that day, you know, and that way, they basically cut down their sales, they have more of a great smell in the building. And they had a wow, kind of experience for their for their customers, because it was a fresh cookie or scone or whatever. And that was where a little light bulb went on. And so eventually, I sold the restaurant to my manager had the coffee in the bakery, he didn't want the coffee roasting operation. So broke that out. And you know, it was kind of confusing. I'd go to trade shows and people were like coffee bakery. Hmm, what, what are you? Are you a bakery or your coffee roaster. They

seem like they naturally go together. Like I see them as together people really didn't see that. Well,

for wholesale. They didn't they could not. I mean, it's really it was like computer like, which is better. And I'm like they're both great. But, you know, it was small, I was doing like 400 grand a year or something like that it was not a big business. So I had a guy, a local guy sold the coffee roasting operation to down in Spartanburg. And, and I broken it off and you know, kind of come up with a separate name because I had immaculate consumption Coffee Roasters. But then I had little river roasting Little River is this trail that runs up through, you know, up in that area, up in the foothills. And so I called it little river roasting. And Little River trading was the was the bakery side of things. So I ended up selling that little river brand to this guy in Spartanburg and he still owns it. And that is where and and I met and worked for him. And so with the bakery, I was starting to see potential with like the Fancy Food Show in New York and San Francisco. And then, of course, Whole Foods, the natural food world. You know, all the bread and circuses up in the northeast, which are in July became Whole Foods. And

it's been ages since I've heard of bread and circus. We used to have them because I'm from Massachusetts, and that's what we had. And I remember the transition over from when my bread and circuses in Providence Rhode Island switched over to Whole Foods. That was a big deal. Yeah,

yeah. No, it's and that's how they grew so quickly, they acquired regional brands. And, you know, that's how they went public to do that. And it was, it was really interesting in those days to deal with those folks. And to sort of have people that appreciated a product that was made with good ingredients. And it was a perfect world you know, to be in at that point, I was in the business right at the right time, doing the right thing. So organic had been a thing, but it was more of associated with like healthy, tastes like cardboard kind of food. And then it was starting to become more trendy, and you know, Whole Foods, you know, made it sexier. So I was able to ride in on that wave. And we went national with whole foods. And we became the number one natural and organic place and bake cookie dough. So you know, just think Pillsbury and Nestle and then eventually launched rolls in those tubes, you know, the, the walk ons or whatever people call them your

you like, push down with your thumbs and it like pops open kind of thing. Exactly. So

we were the number one in the natural food side, of course with that, so we had biscuits, we just went down the data, we went biscuit, cinnamon rolls, crescent rolls. One thing I learned is that you didn't have to have the most incredible product, you had to just have consistency. And you had to have distribution and you had to you know, be able to deliver the product at a decent price. And you know, you know so it was all around the word value. And that business around distribution especially in data taught me and and about sort of paying attention to the market so it's like a lot of people just start a business and they go oh, I make great stuff and my neighbors all love it. I should start a business. You know, I should. This is my case, you know my focus group and Why, you know, they all tell me I should package these things, you know? And it's like, yeah, but you know, you've got too much ingredient cost or you've got, you know, the scalability. And you know, there's just a lot of, that I have these conversations a lot with, with, you know, entrepreneurs are people that want to, especially chefs that want to break out and have their

personal chef thing like, Oh, my family says, I'm a great cook, and all my neighbors love it. And I cook for barbecues. It's like, Yeah, but do you know anything about business? Like actually like running the number? Like, have you done any kind of business work? Like, do you know what it's like to just start a business? Right? Looking for people? Right? I mean, you can, you can do it, but the amount of people who just think they're just gonna go there with no business experience and start a successful business like that? Yeah,

yeah. So. So I learned a time and we were lucky enough that that bakery was in my garage, when I moved it, you know, to the mountains of North Carolina, and the coffee roasting was down the street, sold the coffee roasting off, and moved into a little bit bigger building with the bakery and automated a little bit, and then moved into a bigger building, and automated even more. And then really, we were scaling so quickly, you know, thought, you know, never kolpak, I would never let somebody else make my product. But when I realized, a they could do it better than I could. And I can also be super nimble, and just focus on one thing, which was growing my business. You know, that's what we ended up doing. So we ended up outsourcing all of our production to do manufacturers. So we we set up an old Sara Lee plant outside of St. Louis, and the stuff I learned with all that, you know, it's just mind boggling. And we did it in like, you know, 12 years, and we sold that business. We had a couple of suitors. And he's the homegrown macaroni and cheese folks had gone public, and they were looking for acquisitions. And then General Mills. And you know, we had a few other tire kickers. But ultimately, we sold the business to General Mills in December 31 of 2012. And, and and I signed a lease down in Charleston, had already signed a lease provisional around us selling the business. And so once we sold that business, we picked up and we were in Charleston, February one, and we started work on the current business. So I knew that took a long time. Every story doesn't take that long. So

that's it's great. Because like, it's like a whole nother story. It's like a lesson on business building. And I don't know anyone who you know, it's serial entrepreneurship, it sounds like, you know, to have all that experience. It wasn't just like, I was working a nine to five, and then I started distillery. It's like, I started business. I started a business, I started a business, and so forth. And I think that's really great, because so many of our listeners are entrepreneurs, people looking to start businesses. I didn't know almost any of that story. I knew about the cookies, because you hooked me up with an oven that used to use a traitor's, which I still use. It's an amazing oven, I take it to houses, like one of my questionnaires for my customers is how many ovens do you have? And if they say one, I throw that oven in the van and I take it and it's great that you can put it on any countertop there and I've got an extra oven that can you know, do three quarter pans in there. So yeah, certainly. Well.

We had multiples of those with the bakery. And those little ovens are workhorses. Yeah, they

are. I tell anyone, if you're looking for one, if you can find something like that, it's so worth it. So totally appreciate that. You're still here, the podcast is over. If you are indeed still here. Thanks for taking the time to listen to the show. I'd love to direct you to one place and that's chefs without restaurants.org. From there, you'll be able to join our email newsletter. Get connected in our free Facebook group, and join our personal chef catering and food truck database so I can help get you more job leads. And you'll also find a link to our sponsor page where you'll find products and services I love. You pay nothing additional to use these links. But I may get a small commission which helps keep the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast and organization running. You might even get a discount for using some of these links. As always, you can reach out to me on Instagram at Chefs Without Restaurants or send me an email at chefs without restaurants@gmail.com Thanks so much.