- [Sarah] James, thank you so much
for being here today on Connections.
- [James] Thank you for having me.
- You and I both have Southern roots,
we know how personal a recipe can be.
What makes your pie so special?
- The number one ingredient, which is love.
So let's jump right into it.
So first we have to peel our yams,
then we're gonna pour our yams in here.
Now let's move to our dries with sugar, butter, flour, salt.
- All this?
- Oh yeah.
- Why don't we do the interview while this bakes?
Woo. - Woo.
- Hey, I'm Sarah Franklin and welcome to Connections
where we hear from some of the most innovative leaders
in marketing.
I grew up in the south, so sweet potato pies
are near and dear to my Southern girl heart.
I used to bake these pies with my mom and my grandma
in Virginia, North Carolina,
so for me, these pies are a taste of home.
My guest today is bringing that same sense of comfort
to people far and wide.
So I can't wait to sit down with and bake with
the inspirational James Edwards.
Let's talk sweet potato pie.
- Yes.
- How did you start baking?
- You know what?
I started baking with my grandma
when I can barely see over the counter.
- So you're like down there.
- Oh yeah, I was way down here.
She never asked me if I wanted to bake.
It was like, yeah, you're in the kitchen with me.
I guess even as a kid, I had an entrepreneurship mind state
and my mom always dragged me to church so I was like,
we're gonna bake these
and then we're gonna sell 'em at church.
- So you might have been the youngest entrepreneur,
you're what?
Five, seven?
- Yeah.
- Selling pies?
- Uh huh.
- Look at you now, that's incredible.
But you spent time in the Air Force too.
Like, tell me about that.
- Almost half my life, and I was there for 14 years.
- And I see on your right here.
- Yeah, go United States.
- Why do you wear that every day?
- You know what?
It reminds me of the brotherhood that we had
in the Air Force.
When you don't know if you're coming home to see your family
and you're with your brother next to you,
it's a different kind of comradery.
And this flag always reminds me of that.
I loved it, brought me here to Utah.
I didn't know what was in Utah, but then I got here
and was like, this is a pretty cool state.
- How did you go from the military to baking?
- We had a military bake sale one year,
and everyone's trying all the pumpkin pies
and cookies and all this other stuff.
They wasn't trying my sweet potato pie.
- You're like, hold up.
- I said, hold up.
Not another Sergeant or officer is about to walk by
without at least trying my sweet potato pie.
- Now had they ever had sweet potato pie here in Utah?
- Never, oh my goodness.
It was like, I almost had to put people in a headlock
just to try it.
95% of the people either never had one
or had a bad experience like a store bought one.
- Oh yeah.
- Yeah, so they'd never had like that home
Southern real sweet potato pie.
And then once they tried it they tell someone else
or bring it home to their family,
texting me and calling me for pies
and I was like, well, wait a minute,
maybe we have something here.
Because I've always been in the service industry,
I always love service before self
is something that was drilled into us as Air Force members,
so I carried that on and I was like,
oh, this is great servitude.
People are telling me what great experiences they had
with their families and friends and all of that.
So I knew from that point on, this is what I had to do.
- So when people are eating your pie
you feel that you're just bringing that sense of happiness
and comfort to them.
- I know that I'm bringing it
because I can see it in their face,
I can see it in their eyes and the kids.
And then they light up and then it's like,
oh my goodness, the best thing in the world.
- So I heard that you've done
some kind of guerilla marketing tactics.
You go and you give people your pies or at the,
how have you gotten that word out?
- Farmers' markets is gonna be the best way
and most efficient,
because you already have customers walking around.
So you gotta say, "Hey, would you like to try a sample?"
And then they finally try a sample
and then before you know it-
- You get 'em hooked.
- What has it been like growing through COVID?
- COVID changed everything.
It was probably around January,
I said, I'm just gonna take pies to the moon.
And then March comes around, shuts down everything.
I have no more income from the military,
from my jobs 'cause I quit.
And then I met this guy named Joe at Little Cloud Media,
and I said, "If you could just let me clean your office,
let's exchange services 'cause I have no money right now."
And he allowed me to do that.
I cleaned it for maybe a month or two.
And before I know it, he had me out selling pies everywhere.
Find resources,
if you don't have money, that should not be an excuse.
So you gotta hit the streets, ground and pound,
and you have to tell the world about your products.
And if you really think
that it's gonna help someone else out,
then that should be easy.
- So you grew your revenue six times from 2019 to 2020,
even with COVID?
- Even with COVID, that's right.
COVID was a brick wall.
So this is the time that you have to be resilient.
You have to think of creative ways
to still get your product out there,
because we can no longer have farmers' markets.
I can no longer give out samples.
So you have to just be precise with your marketing
'cause you don't have a whole lot of money.
So you have to be smart with that
and you just gotta figure it out.
That's the number one thing is, figure it out.
- [Sarah] Figure it out.
- [James] Yeah, figure it out.
- So you were doing farmers' market before COVID,
now you have this big like nationwide global business.
What was that journey like?
- So every single year has always been growth.
Growth is something that is painful, it hurts,
it's not easy, but you stick your shoulders back
and your chin up and you just go through it,
no matter what it is.
And it's been a lot of tests and trials
and I've survived all of 'em, and here we are.
- What have you used to grow the business?
- Everything has been organic.
I think last year we haven't even spent
anything on expense.
I will see y'all tomorrow,
we will be at the Ogden farmers' market.
The word just spreads like wildfire.
Like someone will try it
and then they'll tell their friends.
Then they always say, "What was that?"
And then they contact us
and then it just keeps growing organically.
- And what's your secret?
What's the secret sauce or the secret?
- The number one secret is love.
You gotta have love.
And you know, coming from the south.
- Yes, yes.
- [James] You can't just throw things together
and think it's gonna come out good.
Even if I gave someone my exact recipe,
it would taste different.
- Talk to me about your goal to bring James Gourmet
into military chow halls.
- We have almost like a buffet style
cafeteria style restaurant
where all the airmen go for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
And I would love to be able to be one of those people
that they can have a pie that was from an Air Force veteran
because we like to support each other.
So even if they're from the south and they're not home,
it'll take them home for that little bit of time.
Any time of the year that you're not with your family,
you want something that's gonna make you feel good.
- Are there any lessons that you've learned as a baker
that you can apply to running your business?
- Oh, 1000%.
You should have seen me the first time
that I got here in this factory
because you're not whipping in a little bowl anymore.
- It was a big-
- You got a big old mixer, oh, it's a big old mixer.
So now your calculations have to be spot on,
teach you how to be on your toes and precise.
- And what advice you have for entrepreneurs like yourself
that have their special thing,
their craft, their trade, their service,
and that they wanna go and have the success that you've had?
- The number one thing would be to figure it out.
You're gonna run into brick walls,
I don't care how high of a level you get to,
it's like you're constantly checking doors
and there's gonna be lock doors.
But then you're gonna finally get that one that opens.
So you gotta step through that one
and you gotta stay true to yourself and just keep going.
That's the only thing is just keep going.
So many people they fail because they stop.
Mistakes are inevitable, but quitting is permanent.
- How do you keep going?
How do you not stop?
- You know what?
I could give you at least 50 different reasons
why you shouldn't stop,
And if you don't have that why pushing you,
then it is gonna be easy to quit.
Your why should be your family to keep going,
you don't wanna let 'em down.
I can't let myself down, I can't let my customers down.
You should have a whole bunch of people that you do it for,
and if that's what brings you that gratitude,
then you gotta keep going with it.
- Is that our pie?
- That sounds like it.
- Is it ready?
Oh my gosh, that is incredible.
Are we gonna get to eat this right now?
- Oh yeah, right now.
- I wanna eat some this pie right now.
- There we go.
- I wanna taste the special ingredients.
I want that pineapple, the texture.
Let's see how we did.
Oh God.
Oh my God, this is so good.
Oh my God, this is incredible.
I need another bite.
- Well, thank you.
- Oh my God, James, this is incredible.
- Thank you.
- Can I take some home?
- You know what?
We will make sure you have a couple of them.
- This is all mine.
You can have your little piece, this one's mine.