00:00 Introduction
Jack Jostes:
Hey, have you ever gotten beef jerky from me in the mail? Probably. Well, I love sending beef jerky out to my clients and friends, and today I'm excited to interview Field Trip Snacks. They're the jerky company that reliably supplies Ramblin Jackson's Beef Jerky Club. So check out today's interview to learn a little bit more about our core values at Ramblin Jackson, and why do we send out beef jerky and how to grow from just an idea to a $10 million company? This is a fascinating conversation. I love the story. It's a fun conversation. Check it out.
All right, everyone, welcome back to The Landscaper’s Guide. Today I'm excited to interview Tom Donigan. He's the co-founder of Field Trip Snacks, which is the beef jerky that we send out to our clients through our beef jerky club. And I'm excited to interview him about his story, how he co-founded the company, what they're up to. And if you get hungry while you're listening to this, I'd love to send you a free bag of the beef jerky in our marketing toolbox. These are brand new boxes that we just got. It includes our field guide, it includes marketing tips, and a newsletter. So you can check that out at landscapersguide.com/toolbox and see our show notes for the link. And with that, Tom, thanks so much for coming on The Landscaper’s Guide.
Tom Donigan:
Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to have a conversation.
1:35 How Being On Time and Prepared to Add Value Gets You Beef Jerky
Jack Jostes:
Well, Tom, we've been ordering your jerky for a couple of years now, several years. At Ramblin Jackson, I've had a beef jerky club for going on eight years now. And it originally started, we were having a lot of clients' no-show appointments, and it was really frustrating for us from a sales standpoint and project management. So we created the Beef Jerky Club and we started proactively sending people the beef jerky with a little note that said, “Hey, one of our core values is to be on time and prepared to add value. We have a beef jerky club where if we're late, we're going to have to send you jerky as a penalty, and you better be on time too, otherwise you're going to have to send us jerky.” And honestly, it was fun. It was a little goofy, but it made us stand out in a good way, and it solved the problem of clients and employees showing up late.
Tom Donigan:
That's awesome.
Jack Jostes:
And throughout the years, we've experimented. I once had a local company in Boulder, Colorado, and sadly I think their place caught on fire. I had another person, so I had a series of people who had good jerky but couldn't hang. And one of them was even a pretty sizable jerky company, and they honestly, we send out so much jerky that they couldn't keep up with our demand, they didn't have the supply for it. And we just got your product I think at a grocery store once and after I tried it, I was like, this is good, let's send this stuff out. And we started ordering it directly from you, and you've just been reliable, you've been able to send the jerky on time. So thanks for doing that.
Tom Donigan:
Appreciate that. Yeah, we try to make sure that our customers are taken care of, which it sounds like you do too.
Jack Jostes:
I wanted to hear a little bit about your story. We were talking before we started recording that since you co-founded the company, you're now on track, you're doing between $8 and $12 million a year. And I was curious if you could tell us a little bit about the history of the company and how did you grow to that point?
3:57 The Start of Field Trip Snacks
Tom Donigan:
Sure, I appreciate that. Yeah, so my personal story is I went to law school for three years, came out of law school in 2008, got a job with a big firm in New York City and found out that I didn't really want to be a lawyer for the rest of my career. Saw a lot of people that were doing good work, but they weren't being as creative as I thought that they could be. So I said to my business partners, current business partners, “Hey, why don't we start a company and why don't we try to bring something to the market that is currently unavailable?” And jerky was the product. We had tried some jerky in Vermont, Country Store Jerky, very authentic flavors. We thought that if we put this into a package that spoke to metropolitan consumers, someone who was looking for a healthier protein option, that they might gravitate towards this product and use it in their daily lives.
So we started the business in New York City with $11,250. Started by riding our bikes around the city, marketing ourselves to anyone who would listen to us, offering a lot of free samples. And the product started to catch steam in New York. We got into grocery stores, we got into cheese shops, we got into natural food stores, places that otherwise really wouldn't bring a jerky on. And so that was the start of the company. That was back in 2011. In 2012, we did our first trade show, and on the third day of the show, when normally nothing happens, basically people are just trying to steal all of your product or take it because it's a trade show. We met JetBlue Airways, and JetBlue wanted to bring a jerky on board, and they loved our product, and we were pumped. We were just so excited about it because JetBlue was a favorite of my wife and mine at the time. Now, wife and kids love the airlines, so we launched with them in 2012, and that was kind of our big first account.
Jack Jostes:
That's awesome. And I'm curious, how did you get into actually making the jerky? And who made it, especially early on? Was this a family recipe of yours, or how did you get into jerky? So from lawyer to jerky, business owner. I love this story. So tell me more about, why jerky?
6:52 Why Jerky?
Tom Donigan:
Well, it was definitely a product that I was eating as a consumer because it was always recommended as a filling snack throughout the day. All those health magazines were telling you you should eat six small meals a day, and jerky was usually one of the meals that they listed as one of the choice options. And so I would go to the grocery store, and it was Pemmican, some of the traditional jerky companies that have been available for decades. And I'd look at the back of the package and I couldn't pronounce half of the words on the back of the package that were ingredients in a food product. So you're like, this doesn't seem to work. So these health companies are telling you you should eat jerky and then you can't pronounce half the words on the back of the package. So it looked like an opportunity for us.
I wanted to just make a difference in my life. I wanted to have a product that I was proud of, either producing, selling, marketing, and I also wanted to be more creative in my life and what more creative than starting a brand from the ground up? So we bought a dehydrator, I think it was an Amazon purchase, bought a dehydrator, and we just started experimenting with recipes, and we went from there. We knew that with $11,250, that opening our own facility would be a challenge. So we started working with people who were making jerky already and developed our recipes and put it into our packaging. We did all of our own package design at the beginning. So that was a lot of fun, the early days.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah, well, that's amazing. I love it. And I actually make my own beef jerky at home, and part of it was a similar motivation. When you get beef jerky at the gas station, which up until recently, that was where I got most beef jerky. You just grab a bag and it has an indefinite shelf life. And yeah, it's like, what is in here? What are these things? So when I read your ingredients to that matter, it's pretty straightforward food ingredients. I understand, I comprehend everything that's in here. I'm curious, how is your product preserved? So some of the jerky that you see at the gas station that could outlive you. They have all kinds of things in them, yours doesn't. So what's in here that allows the jerky to be preserved without all of the harmful questionable chemicals?
Tom Donigan:
Sure. Salt and sugar are natural preservatives in any product. So we use salt and sugar in our product. We also use packaging that has a good air barrier, so you're not going to get outside air into it. So it's a very tight package. And then we use an oxygen absorber, so it will suck up any of the oxygen that's coming in, so it will preserve the product. So it's stuff that other people could use, some of the more commercial brands could use or a process that they could use, but it's cheaper to go the other route. Some of the chemicals that are used are cheaper than using salt and sugar in the quantities that we do that allow our product to have a longer shelf life.
Jack Jostes:
One of the things that I always hear from people is that the flavor and the texture of this jerky is good. And that's important to me because when I send out this jerky, I want people to open it. I want them to laugh a little bit that they're getting jerky in the mail, but I want them to enjoy it. And I'd say that it's pretty consistent quality. So what are some of the challenges you've faced in growing the business to supplying nearly $10 million worth of jerky, which in the scheme of jerky companies we were talking is there are some of those big brands that are in every gas station doing way more than that. But for really bootstrapping it, starting as a small business, you guys are doing a pretty sizable amount of sales.
11:34 What are some challenges that came in growing the business?
Tom Donigan:
Yeah, that's a great question, Jack. And I would say that consistency has been one of the biggest concerns of ours as a small business. Maintaining a product that is the same today as it was six months ago is a challenge when you're not using a lot of, I'll call them training wheels, that a lot of the other brands use. So anything could change the outcome of that product. So whether it's the humidity of the facility that's producing the product, or it's the person who decided to be tired that day and not really follow protocol as far as what the marination time was on that product, instead of using an automated process, a lot of these other larger companies do. So for us, it's making sure that we have a consistent product day in and day out. And sometimes it doesn't happen. Sometimes our product is not as consistent as it was, or it wasn't the same product that someone had three months ago.
My business partner always talks about, we are not producing Skittles here. This isn't a product that is an exact formula that will taste exactly the same every day. So for us as a small business, I think that customer service and making sure that our customer knows that we care about their experience, that's where we can really shine. And I'm usually the one that is either part of or leading the charge with customer service.
An example from your team, and I'll get into this, Erin, on your team ordered a lot of jerky for all of your boxes, and we had a production hiccup, and it was not ideal, and it was an order that sat for way too long, and it gave me an opportunity to connect with a customer of ours. That's how we became connected. Before it was just you were buying your product and then I was able to actually demonstrate our customer service and make sure that your team felt like we cared about them. So that's really where I think that a small business can make a difference and set themselves apart from a commercial brand because there's a face, there's a name, and there is care because we do care, because we're still growing the business and we can't afford to lose customers day in and day out if there's a problem.
14:25 Be Human and pick up the damn phone
Jack Jostes:
Yeah, I really appreciate that. And one of the things that we say here that I learned, I don't even know who to attribute it to, but it is that bad news gets worse with age. So I think as a small business, there are supply chain issues or for our landscape clients, weather issues or COVID challenges or whatever it is. And one of our other core values is, be human and pick up the damn phone, which is I think just calling people and saying, Hey, here's what's going on. Here's what we're doing about it. We care about you. So we appreciate you all doing that. Sending landscapers beef jerky honestly is oddly fulfilling for me. It makes me laugh that we send this out and I enjoy meeting people who I've only met through social media and we've sent them beef jerky, and then I see them in person at a trade show, and it's like, we have this relationship.
Tom Donigan:
You get me. Yeah, I like that.
Jack Jostes:
You know what I mean? So I think it's cool that... Did you finish law school?
Tom Donigan:
I did, yeah. And I worked for four years as a lawyer.
Jack Jostes:
Wow. That's a lot of work to get your law degree and then decide you don't want to do it and start a beef jerky business.
Tom Donigan:
I think that's what my grandmother said too when I was telling her I was starting my own business. Now, for me, Jack, it was an experience. I loved law school. I think it was a great education. It allowed me to think about problems from the ground up. Growing up, I was an impulsive child, I would say, and take decisions and worry about the consequences later, as a lot of kids do. But for me, the law school education really kind of brought the decision making, or at least the thought process, back to the beginning of it where it's like, all right, couple different options here. Here's the consequences of each. Let's decide what the most logical solution was. And maybe logic didn't play very much into starting a jerky company, but I think that it definitely has helped in the process.
16:43 What’s next for Field Trip Snacks?
Jack Jostes:
So Tom, on the Field Trip Snacks website, you've mainly got jerky and meat sticks. I'm curious about your vision for the company. Where are you heading? Are you going to stay in the meat stick, beef jerky lane and just acquire more customers? Are you going to add other products or what do you see in the future for the company?
Tom Donigan:
Innovation has always been something that we've prided ourselves on here at Field Trip, having a natural jerky was the first step towards innovation, but we were doing jerky in a traditional sense. It was an original, a teriyaki and a sweet and spicy. As we've grown, we've added meat sticks to the line. We've added pork rinds. We have a cinnamon churro pork rind, which is basically that guilty pleasure Taco Bell cinnamon twist that I loved growing up. And then on the jerky front, we've really started to innovate. We're offering Everything Bagel seasoned beef jerky that we own the legal rights to. It's trademarked, we're the only ones that can make it, Everything Bagel. On the meat snack side we have a Gochujang Korean style barbecue, which is very innovative in jerky.
We're definitely not stopping our innovation. For a while, we actually had a chickpea butter, which is far left field from where we were in jerky, but it was a protein spread, chickpeas, and it also was for us as the business owners, a great product for our kids. I have three young kids, and I was always worried about what I was going to send to school with these guys. And I'm like, well, let's just make our own product. It's nut-free product and it was great. We launched it right before COVID and had a bunch of retail distribution that we couldn't really support with demoing because no one was going into stores.
So it was definitely a product that was, I thought, very innovative at the time, but we didn't get a fair shot at it I don't think. Anytime we launch a new product, I think for us, how it's going to look, whether the product in the package is going to represent the way that it looks outside of the package is very important to us. So it's definitely something that is always very fun at the beginning of any project, just seeing what we can accomplish. We're not a huge, huge company, so we don't have endless budgets for branding and the marketing of it, but it's been probably one of my favorite parts of the business.
Jack Jostes:
I really appreciate you coming on the show, sharing your story. Keep up the good work, keep making great jerky. We appreciate it. And Tom, where can people connect with you if they'd like to?
Tom Donigan:
Oh, we're on social media at Field Trip Snacks on Facebook and Instagram. We're available at Field Trip Snacks on LinkedIn. Our website has all of our information and where you can find us in stores. So yeah, reach out to me on our website and I can answer any questions you have.
Jack Jostes:
Thanks so much for checking out today's episode. I hope you were inspired to go and pursue your dreams, start a creative business, and go for it. And what I loved about this conversation is their emphasis on customer service and operating like a small business even when you're big. I really believe that that is the key to success and standing out and growing a brand that people want to continue buying from. And I'd love to send you a free bag of beef jerky plus our Landscaper’s Marketing Field Guide. We've got all kinds of different things in this cool new toolbox that'll help you figure out answers to your sales and marketing challenges. Go ahead and claim yours at landscapersguide.com/toolbox. My name's Jack Jostes, and I look forward to talking with you next week on The Landscaper’s Guide.
