Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Colleen Whitt and today we have special guests Chantey straight
Speaker 1: out of Content and she is the founder and owner
Speaker 1: of What a Pickle. What a Pickle. She has inspired
Speaker 1: millions of women across the world to believe in their dreams,
Speaker 1: no matter what their circumstances. So can you explain the
Speaker 1: ingredients and and and kind of give me a gist
Speaker 1: of what we're doing. So, um, we have a deal pickle.
Speaker 1: We have some kool Aid, cherry the red kind, some sugar,
Speaker 1: and we have some now and Laters. Yes, so I
Speaker 1: am a sugar junkie, Like I love anything sweet, the sweeter,
Speaker 1: the sweeter, the sweeter. I probably am addicted to sugar, okay,
Speaker 1: like hig chocolate and sugar. So seeing this dish, it
Speaker 1: looks like a fantasy, but it also looks a little
Speaker 1: scary because there's pickles. There's pickles on the table. There
Speaker 1: is pickles on the table. So growing up I would
Speaker 1: always eat this dish. Um, I love pickles, And we
Speaker 1: started What a Pickle, So you're gonna experience something that
Speaker 1: I grew up eating and turned into a business. Now,
Speaker 1: when I think about women in pickles. I think of
Speaker 1: the stereotype of women being pregnant and you know, eating
Speaker 1: pickles or eating ice cream pickles or what have you.
Speaker 1: You're saying that this was like your go to dish
Speaker 1: as a kid, go to dish, never pregnant. Um, of
Speaker 1: course when I did get pregnant, I also ate them.
Speaker 1: But way before I even thought about being pregnant, I
Speaker 1: was eating pickles. So you went to the candy store
Speaker 1: with your parents and you're like, oh uh, mom, dad,
Speaker 1: I don't want snickers, but I want a pickle. And
Speaker 1: your parents were I'm sure, like yeah, sure you can pickles. Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 1: When she my mom, my grandmother, they kept jar of
Speaker 1: pickles in the house because they knew how much I
Speaker 1: like pickles. Yeah. Okay, well we have to before we
Speaker 1: even dive into this interview. We gotta like start the process.
Speaker 1: Tell me what we're doing. I'm gonna stand. Okay, let's do.
Speaker 1: There we go. What a pickle? What a pickle? Onm
Speaker 1: in make what a pickle? Jokes with you? They you
Speaker 1: know what, No, they don't like the shawnte. What's up?
Speaker 1: I'm in one hell of a pickle? No they don't.
Speaker 1: But that's a good one. Um. So back then, when
Speaker 1: we ate a pickle, we would get this deal pickle
Speaker 1: right here. So if you want to do it with
Speaker 1: my hands, we can mess you today. So don't need
Speaker 1: to worry about it. Okay, So we we gotta pickle.
Speaker 1: We're gonna put it in the bowl. Okay, Okay, you
Speaker 1: got your your red kool aid, I got my red
Speaker 1: kool Ai open it. Okay, here we go. And then
Speaker 1: we have our sugar. We have our sugar. One a
Speaker 1: little bit more sugar because you know you like a
Speaker 1: lot of Okay, you got all right for it in
Speaker 1: there were whole packet for the whole pack Oh dang,
Speaker 1: maybe I do need sugar, Okay, all right, No, I'm good.
Speaker 1: You don't have okay, yeah, here we go. So if
Speaker 1: you do want the sweeter, if you think you like
Speaker 1: it sweeter, you can always add more sugar. Um. So,
Speaker 1: this this dish right here is a kind of a
Speaker 1: preference type. So if you want like the sweet but
Speaker 1: that tangy that's gonna touch you right here, you can
Speaker 1: have less sugar. Yeah yeah, yeah, but if you want it,
Speaker 1: you know, uh yeah, Okay, So we mixed the sugar
Speaker 1: and in a little dish, so sugar and cool aid
Speaker 1: and a little dish for all y'all listening. And then
Speaker 1: we got the pickle in the bowl. Yes, so you
Speaker 1: have to bite the pickle first, so you get that
Speaker 1: pickle taste in your mouth first. You like pickles, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't love them to the extent of pickle. That's that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so um, after that you can either. So back in
Speaker 1: the day I used to do I'm not gonna do
Speaker 1: it right now. I used to literally put a hole
Speaker 1: with my finger. But it's okay. So what we're gonna
Speaker 1: do is just dip the I wanted to do whatever
Speaker 1: you was about to do. Okay, we're gonna do that
Speaker 1: with it now later though, So dip it, dip it.
Speaker 1: Let me see, look at this. Look at that o.
Speaker 1: Yours looks better. It's so wet and it absorbed all
Speaker 1: the sugar. And take a bite. Now you might not
Speaker 1: get as much sugar as you want with this bite,
Speaker 1: but try it. You need a little bit more sugar.
Speaker 1: It's so tardy. This is good. It's extremely tardy. I
Speaker 1: kind of want to keep dipping it because I do
Speaker 1: love the sugar. So yeah, it's like dip sticks, but
Speaker 1: with pickles. I'm over here. Am I supposed to double up?
Speaker 1: Can I double down? That's your You know what? This
Speaker 1: is really good? This is I would have never thought
Speaker 1: to do this. Yeah, you think right now? Women have
Speaker 1: considered this idea. Definitely. You said, I'm going to take another. Right,
Speaker 1: don't eat too much because we're gonna do that now
Speaker 1: later next. It's good, but has that tart? Okay? So
Speaker 1: I'm doing with me. I like mine on the sweeter side,
Speaker 1: like you, right, So I would definitely have more sugar
Speaker 1: with my kool aig. So even if we would have
Speaker 1: used like maybe a quarter of the pack or half
Speaker 1: of the pack, it probably would have been sweeter. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's a preference thing. Some people just
Speaker 1: do it with no sugar. Can you imagine that those
Speaker 1: are like the people that eat like straight hot sauce. Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely exactly. All right, So you want to try it
Speaker 1: with the now I'm excited. Yes. So we have a
Speaker 1: tropical and we have green apple. I want the tropical.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna do green apple, reds, the oranges,
Speaker 1: and the pinks. All right, let's do it. Okay, you
Speaker 1: gotta open that now later Okay. So sometimes depending on
Speaker 1: you know something. Now layers are softer than others. This
Speaker 1: one is pretty hard, so it might be able to
Speaker 1: go straight down that middle. Yep like that. Okay, oh,
Speaker 1: we're about to get it correct in the get it
Speaker 1: in there. That's because I've been I was eating this
Speaker 1: like I was gonna sound like it was thanksgiving them
Speaker 1: all right, So that's that's fine. So basically, when you
Speaker 1: put the now Later in there, you can't bite that top.
Speaker 1: But what you're gonna do is you're gonna like suck
Speaker 1: it a little bit and you're gonna get all our
Speaker 1: listeners are gonna want to watch this episode. We're gonna
Speaker 1: because this this way, you're gonna get the pickle taste
Speaker 1: pusta now Later tastes. So the other way, of course,
Speaker 1: we were biting because of the kool aid was on
Speaker 1: there and it was marinating through. We can't bait this
Speaker 1: big old now Later, so just sucking a little bit.
Speaker 1: M hm. Oh that's a different, that's a whole, that's
Speaker 1: a different, right, Yes, they should sell us as a candy.
Speaker 1: Is this what what a pickle is? So I'm sorry, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: mm hmm. This is Drake handy. Yes, this is bomb.
Speaker 1: So after after you know, you keep doing that a
Speaker 1: little bit, then you can start biting around the pickle
Speaker 1: and then because the don't know is in there and
Speaker 1: I could curse. This is freaking incredible. Who ever thought
Speaker 1: you guys, You guys gotta do this, okay, go? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So you know, as you do it, you just keep
Speaker 1: pushing it down in there. Eventually the now latter is
Speaker 1: gonna get smaller. Yeah. I was just about to say,
Speaker 1: it's gonna get smaller and softer where you'll be able
Speaker 1: to bite the now later and bite the pickle a
Speaker 1: little bit at the same time. You're doing a little
Speaker 1: bit too. My second went down their own pipe. I
Speaker 1: was sucking that pickles so m hmm. I sucked it
Speaker 1: so hard. I'm sorry. It was so good. I was
Speaker 1: trying to suck and push at the same time. So
Speaker 1: if you want to do a little bit more, you know,
Speaker 1: if you had you can you can get a little
Speaker 1: bit up in the game. Yeah, so you can, you know,
Speaker 1: get a little bit of your sugar cool leg and
Speaker 1: put on there as well, and then it taste what
Speaker 1: that's going y'all. Honestly, I love this. This is I
Speaker 1: gotta be careful with my sucking right now, so let
Speaker 1: me get get a good get a little drink. This
Speaker 1: is incredible. And you did this as a kid almost
Speaker 1: every day, almost every day literally before I went to school,
Speaker 1: a store across the street from me. I would go
Speaker 1: over there get a get a pickle. And back then
Speaker 1: they had the kool aid. It was in the pack
Speaker 1: and it already had the sugar with it, so it
Speaker 1: was already sweet because you know, like my mom, if
Speaker 1: I used to try to sneak some sugar, you know,
Speaker 1: back then, Mom like I need all my sugar. So
Speaker 1: I used to give me a little zip black bag,
Speaker 1: put me a little bit of sugar in there. The
Speaker 1: kool aid. That's always been like a cool, reasonable price
Speaker 1: with that sugar. So I used to just put a
Speaker 1: little bit, you know, and just sneak on out the house.
Speaker 1: I wasn't about sixth grade, so probably what whatever, how
Speaker 1: are your parents a triumph? Actually? No, And it's it's
Speaker 1: weird because so as I got older and I started
Speaker 1: what a pickle, I found out this is a Southern tradition,
Speaker 1: so it's really popular down south. But like I said,
Speaker 1: my mom is from Texas. My husband and mom is
Speaker 1: from Mississippi, but I didn't get it from my mom.
Speaker 1: It was just something that I used to do. So
Speaker 1: I would love to ask when was the last time
Speaker 1: you ate this dish? I know that you're you're besides,
Speaker 1: you know I always eat it while you are example
Speaker 1: of someone that loves their product always. This is this
Speaker 1: is now. If you guys see on the table we
Speaker 1: have water pickle, her the actual she's the founder owner
Speaker 1: of what a Pickle? And can I see one of
Speaker 1: your containers as this is another red one tropical punch.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely keeping that one. Um. So you say from
Speaker 1: six years old you've been doing water pickle. Now it's
Speaker 1: so it's it's a business. This is a full time business.
Speaker 1: This is what you do and you enjoy eating this.
Speaker 1: Where did it go from? This is the snack that
Speaker 1: I eat on a regular so you know what, I
Speaker 1: think my homies would like to buy some of this.
Speaker 1: So it was crazy because me and my husband we
Speaker 1: were just talking about like starting a business. I really
Speaker 1: really wanted to start a business. I had no idea
Speaker 1: what type of business. I went to school and got
Speaker 1: a degree in business, but I always thought I was
Speaker 1: gonna have like a daycare or something like that. But
Speaker 1: we were just talking and I'm like, I want to
Speaker 1: be at like one of these events, you know, selling something.
Speaker 1: But what's missing out here? So we started talking and
Speaker 1: came up with pickles. I posted on I made one,
Speaker 1: like I said, so if you can see, like the
Speaker 1: product that we make now is already marinated, so you
Speaker 1: you you don't have to slice, and it's slice so
Speaker 1: you don't have to go through this process of getting
Speaker 1: the sugar, getting the kool aids, putting it on top,
Speaker 1: so it's already done for you. So I made something
Speaker 1: like that. I posted it on my Instagram, my personal instagram,
Speaker 1: and people were like, where you get that pigle from?
Speaker 1: Like I made it, so that just gave me the motivation.
Speaker 1: They're like, okay, this is missing, you know. So then
Speaker 1: we started the business. Now I'm curious do people just
Speaker 1: drink the juice? You can drink the juice, So I
Speaker 1: kind of want to try one right now, but yeah,
Speaker 1: you might want want to try. I want to. We're
Speaker 1: gonna sample the product before the end. I want to
Speaker 1: see if I can refill my cup with this. I
Speaker 1: have a question, have you have you guys have the
Speaker 1: one where you could like do it like dip sticks
Speaker 1: where you can have the sugar so um, they already
Speaker 1: they only come like that. But we do have something
Speaker 1: where we have like a it's called our what a mix,
Speaker 1: so you can choose different flavors. It comes in the
Speaker 1: container and we we put the now lators on top.
Speaker 1: We put the we crushed up jolly ranchers on top
Speaker 1: because I was gonna get into that. So not just
Speaker 1: now layers can go in the middle of this, A
Speaker 1: jolly rapter can go in the middle, a peppermint stick
Speaker 1: can go in the middle, and it'll give you a
Speaker 1: totally different taste and they're all good. So definitely we
Speaker 1: have it like that where you know you can still
Speaker 1: get that the o G kind of taste. Well, they
Speaker 1: all still taste like you know, like how we're eating
Speaker 1: right here, but you can get the now lators on
Speaker 1: top and the sour belts on top and belt you're
Speaker 1: like every like if you have kids, do I feel
Speaker 1: like your kids must room they love pickles? Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: always has a candy. But the crazy part is I'm
Speaker 1: not really a sweet eater, like when it comes to
Speaker 1: snacks and stuff, but this was always my go to snack.
Speaker 1: So you're with your husband. You're like, honey, boo, I
Speaker 1: want to start a business. And he's like, well, baby,
Speaker 1: you've been eating pickles a lot. Maybe there's other people
Speaker 1: like so, where does it go from before you get
Speaker 1: to Instagram and post the idea? Um? I made well yeah,
Speaker 1: Like like you said, we were having the conversation and
Speaker 1: I'm like, what about pickles? You know? I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm about to make me a pickle, you know, and
Speaker 1: so and he was like we were just talking. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I think we can start a pickle business. So I
Speaker 1: came up with all these names with my with my
Speaker 1: name like Shanta pickles. And he's like, no, we were
Speaker 1: If we're gonna start this, we're about to take it somewhere.
Speaker 1: So we don't want pickles. So he came up with
Speaker 1: what a pickle? So um From that day for the
Speaker 1: the the event that I wanted to do initially, the
Speaker 1: first ever event from seeing people out there and stuff,
Speaker 1: which was Tasted Soul is the first ever event that
Speaker 1: we did. And how do you guys do awesome? You
Speaker 1: got awesome? Did you guys sell out? Because we'll stakes
Speaker 1: the soul is kind of overwhelming. So man, and you
Speaker 1: tried to prepare and then you're like, we're still done
Speaker 1: in about three hours. So the thing is, I had
Speaker 1: no idea how to prepare for it because all I
Speaker 1: know is when I went out there, I would see
Speaker 1: thousands of people. So I'm like, I don't know how
Speaker 1: much to prepare. So I over prepared. But I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'd rather over prepared then sell out, because I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, like selling out, you're missing some money because
Speaker 1: it's some more people that want to come and get
Speaker 1: some bigs. So I'm like, I'd rather have more than
Speaker 1: enough than not enough. So I overprepared. I did not
Speaker 1: sell out, but we were giving samples out. We were
Speaker 1: giving all our business cards and from then we still
Speaker 1: have people that come to our store now that got
Speaker 1: one from the Tast of Soul. So where's your store located.
Speaker 1: It's in North Long Beach on sixty seventh Long Beach,
Speaker 1: Blevar And you know how I discovered you guys. You
Speaker 1: guys are also in uplift us marketing. We are, yes,
Speaker 1: so we do wholesale. We're offlift us marketplace. We're in
Speaker 1: a throoit of a few other locations as well, and
Speaker 1: we're franchising now, franchising experience. Oh my goodness, it's an experience,
Speaker 1: um that I wasn't looking. I didn't know how you know,
Speaker 1: everything was gonna go. But it's definitely a little bit overwhelming. Um,
Speaker 1: but we're getting through it, you know. So the process
Speaker 1: is it's a long process because it's a lot of
Speaker 1: legal stuff that we have to go through. But once
Speaker 1: we're done with that part, which we are now done
Speaker 1: with that part, Um, I just can't wait to see
Speaker 1: other just every state, every different cities. Like it's a
Speaker 1: lot of people right there. It's a lot of people
Speaker 1: right there. So and like it started from this. So
Speaker 1: looking at your journey to like having what a Pickle,
Speaker 1: what would you say was like some of the hardest
Speaker 1: obstacles you have to overcome. Well, I think makes um
Speaker 1: more than I have a family, So I have two kids.
Speaker 1: I started what a Pickle when my daughter was nine
Speaker 1: months old. She's six. Now, that's very ambitious. I just
Speaker 1: had an eight month old, so you know, hard it started, Yeah,
Speaker 1: started started. And the crazier part is she was kind
Speaker 1: of our inspiration too, because she loved these pickles. So
Speaker 1: when I first made mine, I did it the old
Speaker 1: school way with just putting it on top, you know,
Speaker 1: biden it. And she kept asking for it, kept asking
Speaker 1: for it, and I'm like, you can't have all this sweet.
Speaker 1: So I put it in the refrigerator and as it's
Speaker 1: setting there, I forgot it the next day. And then
Speaker 1: I went back to it the next day and it
Speaker 1: was in a bag and it had accumulated juice and
Speaker 1: it had set in that juice. So that's how started. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I see that it changed cousin. So that's how that
Speaker 1: that part of it started because I was trying to
Speaker 1: hide it from her. So and then did you you
Speaker 1: obviously you sampled and you said that's red. Bout must
Speaker 1: still eat it? Oh yeah, No, definitely, because I know
Speaker 1: that it can turn red. Like if you look at
Speaker 1: George right now in the middle is probably a little
Speaker 1: bit red. So and that's just from sitting you know,
Speaker 1: a few minutes or whatever. So definitely. So did the
Speaker 1: nine months old love the red pickles? Love them, still
Speaker 1: love them to this day. She caused every day like, um,
Speaker 1: can't bring me a pickle. She's six. Wow, So she's
Speaker 1: from nine months to six years old. You've had this business.
Speaker 1: What a crazy journey. Yeah, we actually opened our first
Speaker 1: our location on her fifth birthday, so we had her
Speaker 1: birthday party and our grand opening at the same time.
Speaker 1: So she thinks she's just you know, the Picko Princess
Speaker 1: was entrepreneurship everything you imagined or was there like some Yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't know this part of the job. I didn't
Speaker 1: know any part of it because I've always worked from
Speaker 1: since I was fourteen years old, so I you know,
Speaker 1: I was always kind of a hustler. Back in school.
Speaker 1: I used to sell I used to put um the
Speaker 1: sour belts in the bag and sell them at school
Speaker 1: a dollar. Hey, you know so and then at a
Speaker 1: point we were selling pickles. We were selling you know,
Speaker 1: so you were selling pickles in school at school at
Speaker 1: schools and buying it, buying it but not not and
Speaker 1: like we would put um like a little baggy with
Speaker 1: a little bit of sugar, a little bit of cool
Speaker 1: laid in there, and you know, you get you get both.
Speaker 1: You just you know, poor in there. But yeah, but
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship is it's a lot. Yeah, it's really. I think
Speaker 1: that when you become an entrepreneur, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: have to work as much. I'm gonna be my own boss.
Speaker 1: It's seven. It's totally different from me working my nine
Speaker 1: my nine five. When I clock out and I go home,
Speaker 1: I ain't gotta think about it no more regularly. Definitely,
Speaker 1: when you're an entrepreneur, I always tell people, like when
Speaker 1: you own a business, I always assume for every business
Speaker 1: I open, I don't really make my first checks a
Speaker 1: year three. Yeah, because you're you know, you're reinvesting, and
Speaker 1: then you're fixing problems or challenges. I'd say, right. And
Speaker 1: then every time your customer gives you data I called
Speaker 1: data or like feedback. Why isn't it like this, You're like,
Speaker 1: that's brilliant, you know. Yeah, like with us with coming
Speaker 1: up with new flavors. We have over twenty one flavors. Now, yes,
Speaker 1: I saw, what are these other flavors? So we have
Speaker 1: green apple and a spicy mango, spicy mango. How do
Speaker 1: you make it spicy? It's a it's a secret. I
Speaker 1: don't want you to tell us. But spicy mango. I
Speaker 1: love mango, and that's the spicy mango. The one you
Speaker 1: have was green apple. Wow, So green apple, tropical Punch
Speaker 1: and spicy mango are top sellers. I feel like if
Speaker 1: there's a is going on right now, like if I
Speaker 1: went to that circus, like I would totally buy this.
Speaker 1: If I went to a carnival like this would be
Speaker 1: it's like to go friendly. You can even probably if
Speaker 1: you're you know, you're just on the go, you're like,
Speaker 1: just throw a couple in the bag and let's go.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, And it lasts a while and it doesn't
Speaker 1: need to be cold. It does not. Some people like
Speaker 1: them cold, but some people don't, so we sell them
Speaker 1: like this, So it's your preference to go put it
Speaker 1: in a refrigerator. Some people put in the freezer. They
Speaker 1: like them, like, yes, yes, but so with that, now
Speaker 1: we make a slushy and we put pickles on top
Speaker 1: of our slushy at the store. Really yes, really, so
Speaker 1: when people walk into your store, like, what does that
Speaker 1: experience like? Baby like, especially if you're like a pickle fanatic,
Speaker 1: it's like pickle him. Yeah, the girl from a Jersey
Speaker 1: shore I forgot snooky. Wasn't she like a big pickle?
Speaker 1: She probably she would love it. Yes, So we have
Speaker 1: like a wall of pickles, that's what we call it.
Speaker 1: So it's all of our jaws are so different color pickles.
Speaker 1: So you just see all the pickles right there. Then
Speaker 1: you see like all the pouches. So you when you
Speaker 1: walk in there, you know you're in a pickle store
Speaker 1: because you smell pickles. So yeah, they you know, it's
Speaker 1: a it's experienced, definitely. It's long beach and we shipped
Speaker 1: nation wide, ship nation wide. Yes, So growing up, Like,
Speaker 1: tell me a little bit more about your upbringing in
Speaker 1: your background. So growing up, like you said, I'm straight
Speaker 1: out of Compton. Um. It was me, my mom and
Speaker 1: my two siblings. Um. And we grew up like living
Speaker 1: in the back of my grandma house. Um and you know,
Speaker 1: in the house behind her. Yeah. So but my mom
Speaker 1: she was like she never allowed us to see her struggle.
Speaker 1: But you know how like you kind of like pick
Speaker 1: up on things, like she would get us what we needed,
Speaker 1: but she would go to the thrift store and buy
Speaker 1: her work clothes, you know. So it but I saw that,
Speaker 1: even though she wasn't saying it, like we saw that. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, I knew I probably can get things
Speaker 1: from her, but I didn't want to kind of bother
Speaker 1: her with him. So that's when I started, you know,
Speaker 1: selling the candy, and you know making my own money
Speaker 1: or start going to work at fourteen. You know, it's
Speaker 1: because I'm like, I just kind of want to lift
Speaker 1: the burden from her a little bit. So now it
Speaker 1: was discussion. It was just it was never a discussion. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so um you know. Just and then with my brother,
Speaker 1: he was he's five years older, and I saw him,
Speaker 1: you know, doing the same thing with you know, just
Speaker 1: trying to make it on his not on his own,
Speaker 1: but just trying to lift the burden from my mom,
Speaker 1: you know. So um yeah, and now it's like my
Speaker 1: mom is gonna be taken care of, like for sure,
Speaker 1: for sure we're on the way of mom. Here you go.
Speaker 1: Are you hearing up when I talking about my mom?
Speaker 1: I here? But no, definitely so um yeah. She just
Speaker 1: and then like she tells everybody she is so proud
Speaker 1: of us, like so so proud. If you're go on
Speaker 1: her Facebook or whatever, why is today crying? Then I
Speaker 1: don't want to start anything. I'm sorry, I feel like coming. No,
Speaker 1: but like she she tells everybody, Um, when I say,
Speaker 1: she will come and get samples and give to people,
Speaker 1: like she let everybody know my daughter got this business.
Speaker 1: Y'all need to go over to here. Y'all need to
Speaker 1: support her. Y'all got to try it like she she
Speaker 1: does that, she does that, she's so proud. Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 1: I think as a child, you're always like I don't know,
Speaker 1: especially if your parents report you, Like I can't wait
Speaker 1: till I blow up and I buy my mam a
Speaker 1: house in a car. I'm still working on that. Mama,
Speaker 1: Mama car picked me. She's like, you made it. I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: what is it? It was like a black escalate, but
Speaker 1: like I said, my name on it. She was like,
Speaker 1: you made it. You've a right there. Like okay, I
Speaker 1: want to be there. But I think as a kid,
Speaker 1: you're like I want to say thank you to know, definitely,
Speaker 1: especially when a parent is like really discreet about it,
Speaker 1: and it's like it's not a it's an unspoken spoken
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, like I said, she never actually spoke
Speaker 1: that to us. She never ever. We we always had,
Speaker 1: you know, what we needed. She always cooked the meal
Speaker 1: for us and stuff like that. But I can see it,
Speaker 1: especially as you get older, so it's like, okay, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna ask her for too much. That's how I
Speaker 1: was like, like all the kids of school, like if
Speaker 1: you don't have nikes in Jordan's, they're like make fun
Speaker 1: of h but yeah, they make fun of you, but
Speaker 1: you knew, like if you went cold shopping with your parents,
Speaker 1: like they give you like whatever it was, but like
Speaker 1: you don't say anything. You don't like you see how
Speaker 1: you see the nikes in the Jordan's that I save
Speaker 1: you from both Like it's okay, those payless sneakers over there,
Speaker 1: I got some shoes on my feet, right, Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I get that emotional like experience where it's like you
Speaker 1: get what your parents took going through. You know they're
Speaker 1: trying your best, but it's cool that it also inspired
Speaker 1: you to go out there and get your own money. Definitely, Yeah,
Speaker 1: especially like I said, as I got older, you know, um,
Speaker 1: because you have you ever had any failed businesses? This
Speaker 1: was my first business. It's your first day surpass the
Speaker 1: first year. Yeah, oh no, definitely definitely. But when I
Speaker 1: say I was hustling, I would meet people where every
Speaker 1: day were you didn't have a day job or anything
Speaker 1: while you're doing us not when not No, not when
Speaker 1: I first started, Um, I was actually out on disability
Speaker 1: because it just had but yeah exactly so um and
Speaker 1: like I said back then that the pouches were five
Speaker 1: dollars each, But I don't care if I had to drive.
Speaker 1: I'm coming to meet you. You whether if you're buying
Speaker 1: a five dollar pouch or or started this, you're like
Speaker 1: almost selling them out of your car slash events. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, definitely yeah yeah, So it didn't just happened.
Speaker 1: This was six years ago. So now six years sport
Speaker 1: we have a food truck and in a location. But no,
Speaker 1: back then it was I was popping up every single
Speaker 1: weekend and whoever was would you show up to yeah,
Speaker 1: say like football game? Yes? And what's your husband doing?
Speaker 1: Want all this? Man, this is going on. He's like
Speaker 1: supporting you and back definitely supporting now he was right
Speaker 1: there is he working to kind of buy you time
Speaker 1: to your businesses fully off the ground when we when
Speaker 1: we first started, definitely he was. And now you're both
Speaker 1: now we're both full time in congratulate, Yes, congratulations, And
Speaker 1: you guys get along because I had sisters on this show,
Speaker 1: and I don't understand where all these people that get
Speaker 1: along perfectly fine or from. Oh no, it has not
Speaker 1: always been. I'm not even gonna lie to you, because
Speaker 1: it's been nice where it's like I ain't cooking, I
Speaker 1: didn't clean it, but guess what I'm palking. I'm packing,
Speaker 1: packing these pouches. I'm flavoring these pickles, and you know,
Speaker 1: like I was doing that. So then as time went on,
Speaker 1: it was like, Okay, let's let's see how we can
Speaker 1: do this. Okay, I need you to label these pouches
Speaker 1: so then I can go in there and fry some
Speaker 1: chicken real quick, and then I can come back to that.
Speaker 1: Then you're gonna seal these pouches while I go in
Speaker 1: here and get the baby together. So it's like we
Speaker 1: have to just kind of like you know, work it out.
Speaker 1: But at first it was like we was bumping heads.
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting and even on this show, I
Speaker 1: see so much different roles that the men play, and
Speaker 1: I really value that, and I value the men that
Speaker 1: appreciate their wives that are like, yeah, well I was
Speaker 1: creating the product, she was labeling her. In this case,
Speaker 1: you know, this is your baby and he's coming on
Speaker 1: to support and most men aren't willing to even kind
Speaker 1: to do that, but he totally stepped up and he,
Speaker 1: I guess, learned how to fry chicken every once. In
Speaker 1: a while. Now yeah, so now it's we're like I said,
Speaker 1: six years later because then the first couple of years
Speaker 1: was like you know, but um yeah, so now he
Speaker 1: helps he we both work at the store. Um, we
Speaker 1: both work on our the food truck. Um. So we
Speaker 1: just we just have to put it together because we
Speaker 1: know now like this is it? Like you know now
Speaker 1: I know since George Floyd, I feel like black owned
Speaker 1: businesses have gotten an influx of support about damn. Time
Speaker 1: sucks that that's what it took to happen. And it
Speaker 1: sucks that it took the end of the world to
Speaker 1: actually acknowledge it, you know, for lack of better word, happened.
Speaker 1: Um was it hard? I'm sure you had to get
Speaker 1: some type of funding, But was it hard to get
Speaker 1: that funding? I'm getting pre George Floyd? So actually I
Speaker 1: have never got any funding ever ever, Oh my gosh. Ever,
Speaker 1: so how do you deal with the cash phone all that?
Speaker 1: So basically when we we hustle, we hustle and saved
Speaker 1: and invested, and we hust so and we say it
Speaker 1: and we reinvested. We're still hustling and saving and reinvesting
Speaker 1: right now. So like doing this franchise now, it's not cheat,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's like we has anyone come along
Speaker 1: and said, oh well, you could just borrow and skip
Speaker 1: steps two and three, or you guys aren't comfortable taking that,
Speaker 1: Like I actually I haven't even put it out there
Speaker 1: or tried to get anything, and it probably would be
Speaker 1: easier to you know, skipping those steps to do it.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I don't like own people.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm one of those people. I pay my
Speaker 1: bills before they're doing. So it's just like, you know,
Speaker 1: if I now push come to shove and it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: I need this, if we get to that point, then
Speaker 1: you know, I can probably do those necessary steps. But
Speaker 1: God has been blessing where we've been able to just
Speaker 1: do it and reinvest. And yeah, so if someone wants
Speaker 1: to franchise, like when is it? When are they able
Speaker 1: to franchise if they wanted to do now right right now?
Speaker 1: So we have some cities and the works right now,
Speaker 1: some states and it works right now. Um so right
Speaker 1: now they're able to crazy now is it one of
Speaker 1: those things? And you don't have to answer this question,
Speaker 1: but I'm pretty sure anyone that wants to get into
Speaker 1: the water Pickle franchise is going to be asking these questions,
Speaker 1: but like, is it one of those things where like
Speaker 1: I know it's seven eleven, you don't fully own it.
Speaker 1: It's like you do splits or is there like a
Speaker 1: heavy capital up front and then a split Like I don't.
Speaker 1: So there's a franchise fee that you pay up front
Speaker 1: and then after that we get a royalty so every month,
Speaker 1: but you fully own it. But you still have to
Speaker 1: you know, by by um having these flavors. Yeah, all
Speaker 1: the guidelines so um so, just so that all the
Speaker 1: franchises can look the same, can offer the same. I
Speaker 1: don't want you to go to Atlanta and or to
Speaker 1: you know, Mississippi and it's we have different things. Now,
Speaker 1: is there like a McDonald's just like a water pick
Speaker 1: McDonald's University. Is there like a water Pickle universe? There
Speaker 1: we have We're gonna we have a thick book and
Speaker 1: then we offer all the training everything from A to Z.
Speaker 1: Yeah that now for marketing purposes, have you ever thought
Speaker 1: about reaching out to the girl from Jersey Shore to
Speaker 1: like say, hey, um, I'm starting to do that now,
Speaker 1: but I haven't really. Um So a lot of people
Speaker 1: now are kind of like reaching out to me like
Speaker 1: and are tagging people like, no, y'all need to try
Speaker 1: what a pickle? I feel like, yeah, definitely, yeah, you
Speaker 1: know so um so yeah. But like I think to
Speaker 1: even you know, to get it out there even more.
Speaker 1: Doing things like that will definitely probably you know, work,
Speaker 1: but I just haven't really had the time, you know,
Speaker 1: to sit looking on Instagram or you know, trying to
Speaker 1: figure out how to get it to these people. So
Speaker 1: that's the only reason. Now, how has COVID nightteen in facted?
Speaker 1: So we actually opened our store during COVID. People have
Speaker 1: money during people had money during Hovid, but they couldn't
Speaker 1: go to stores. So with hours it wasn't a sit
Speaker 1: it's not a sit down restaurant, so it was a takeout.
Speaker 1: So we were able to still be open yet, but
Speaker 1: you wanted to pay the retail fee for that, like
Speaker 1: the store feef, because that's an extra overhead versus like
Speaker 1: just kind of I hate to say about singing out
Speaker 1: your house. So actually we had our store prior to COVID, right,
Speaker 1: so we were still you know, doing all the construction
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. So we we actually we're doing
Speaker 1: was doing that once COVID hit, but we still open
Speaker 1: in November, so it was still during like you know,
Speaker 1: a prime time of COVID um. But it was kind
Speaker 1: of hard because, like I said, I had no idea
Speaker 1: about the permits I needed, and it was hard working
Speaker 1: with the city. Now that was how that was hard
Speaker 1: during COVID because there because there wasn't open, so it
Speaker 1: was like we have to email, we have to wait. Um.
Speaker 1: So then it was like, uh, the contractor pull up
Speaker 1: the floor. Now we're waiting a couple of weeks because
Speaker 1: nobody is contacting us back to finish it. So it
Speaker 1: just you know, it just delayed the process of the city.
Speaker 1: Was that involved in a retail like that? Oh yeah
Speaker 1: they are are because ours considered a limited restaurant. So
Speaker 1: I have to put a kitchen in there. I have
Speaker 1: to put a kitchen. Yes, do you need to kitchen?
Speaker 1: We have to, yeah, because we're slicing, we're flavoring and everything.
Speaker 1: So it's not like you know, we had to have
Speaker 1: So when I got the building, it was just an
Speaker 1: office space, so I had to dig a floor, I
Speaker 1: have to do plumbing. I had a big investment and
Speaker 1: yourself funded off your own business. Yes, let me just
Speaker 1: say that that's a big milestone. That's a really big
Speaker 1: milestone I have. Most of my business is the biggest
Speaker 1: problem is cash. Cash what was my worst nightmare. I'm
Speaker 1: so used to cash f I have a fat ass
Speaker 1: savings account, savings because I'm trying to get like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have to and I can't even do the roth
Speaker 1: I raise or anything because my cash fall was so
Speaker 1: ridiculously horrible that I'm like, yeah, I'm not gonna pay
Speaker 1: to unlock my money. Yeah, definitely, I have no retirement
Speaker 1: funds that savings account. But there's no interesting you know,
Speaker 1: cash was so bad, but you're able to build a business.
Speaker 1: Like there's one thing when you have a business, you know,
Speaker 1: running out of your garage and you're like, okay, we're
Speaker 1: making it. But then you go, okay, I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: a food truck. Okay, that's the next level scary, and
Speaker 1: you're like, I'm gonna fund this off. Say the income
Speaker 1: that I made selling it out of Events are out
Speaker 1: the trunk of my car, Meeting up with people are
Speaker 1: off Instagram. Right then you go, you know what, let
Speaker 1: me just add one more layer of hell to it,
Speaker 1: and let's just um, I know, we got these two
Speaker 1: babies and we're trying chicken in the kitchen every other night.
Speaker 1: But we're going over the store. Like, at what part
Speaker 1: where you like, am I getting a little There was
Speaker 1: no part of me that was like I'm a little scared. No,
Speaker 1: definitely I was scared, but I think it was more
Speaker 1: or less like I'm really stepping out and I'm about
Speaker 1: to do this. Only so with the store, it was
Speaker 1: like I knew how I was doing with dropping off
Speaker 1: down the street, around the corner, meeting here, meeting there.
Speaker 1: So I was like, if I have a central location
Speaker 1: for all these people to come, I know the cash
Speaker 1: flow is gonna come even even more, you know. So
Speaker 1: it was more or less like I needed to do that,
Speaker 1: you know. So I was like, okay, I didn't save,
Speaker 1: let me do this. So then it was like, okay,
Speaker 1: now on the food truck. You know, in my mind
Speaker 1: just be going now I want a food truck. And
Speaker 1: are you like, Okay, if we hit this goal, we
Speaker 1: can get the food truck. Is that how you're like?
Speaker 1: I want to know your mind process, Like what are
Speaker 1: you thinking when you're like, honey, I know business is
Speaker 1: doing great, and our problem mind was looking good, but
Speaker 1: I'm thinking just let's read in one more time, like,
Speaker 1: what what is your thought? My husband he'd just be
Speaker 1: like okay, okay. But at the same time, it's like
Speaker 1: I'm like, look because he's more he's not really he's
Speaker 1: involved with the business, but I do like all the business,
Speaker 1: the money everything. So he like, he seen me selling,
Speaker 1: but he don't know how much money we gotta saved.
Speaker 1: He don't know how much, you know. So it was
Speaker 1: like the CEO, yeah, yeah, yeah, everything. So I'm like
Speaker 1: little perfect person for this franchise building. So I was like, look,
Speaker 1: we saved this much. I want to get this building
Speaker 1: already called, already got to prove and I want to
Speaker 1: do it. So we did that. Okay, we have to
Speaker 1: build in a year before we even open, so you know,
Speaker 1: the first couple of months free, fine, but after that,
Speaker 1: you know we're paying and it's not even open. You're
Speaker 1: negotiating your least terms if you didn't hire a consultant
Speaker 1: or anything. Wow, And then before you start your business.
Speaker 1: I'm just solely impressed by the fact that you a
Speaker 1: nine month old because I struggle with that and you
Speaker 1: decide I'm gonna start a business. But before that, like
Speaker 1: what is your background work wise? Like I was doing
Speaker 1: logistics so nothing with food, nothing, you know, I just
Speaker 1: like trucking. So you're trucking. Yeah, so I was getting
Speaker 1: things like clear for from customs to come. Yeah from that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're you're a boss. So now I get why you
Speaker 1: inspire so many women. Now how do these women know
Speaker 1: your story? Though? So? Um? Just from interviews um or
Speaker 1: like when people come in, they the number one question
Speaker 1: is why and how what made you start this business?
Speaker 1: You know? So and then that leads into you know,
Speaker 1: different things. So you know, I kind of tell my
Speaker 1: story and they just be like wow, you know, never
Speaker 1: nobody ever would think off pickles, you know. So it's
Speaker 1: like I'm like and I tell everybody, I don't care
Speaker 1: what it is. If it's your passion, then you better
Speaker 1: do it. Like and you can do it now. Your
Speaker 1: baby was nine months. I just became a mom. So
Speaker 1: I'm still fascinating by this. Now I have a twin
Speaker 1: and her kid is like in daycare and you know,
Speaker 1: you know, they have the support me my husband not
Speaker 1: so much. So I'm trying to I'm trying to gauge
Speaker 1: how superhero level you are or we like, you know, Chrystian,
Speaker 1: I can't stop you. Did you have a little bit
Speaker 1: of babysitting out for in the beginning? No, um, so
Speaker 1: it's your business grew. Oh yeah, definitely. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I gotta find a daycare. I gotta put her in something.
Speaker 1: And it was kind of like, okay, you're talking a
Speaker 1: little baby. Yeah, that's definitely down down. Let me just
Speaker 1: sell this people. And that's exactly how it was. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, so after you know, business picked up,
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, i gotta put her in a daycare.
Speaker 1: But I'll only do it like half a day. I'm like,
Speaker 1: because he was so used to being with me, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm putting there half a day and try to do
Speaker 1: all that I can within that half a day. I
Speaker 1: wanted to know it was like you were selling pickles
Speaker 1: at one point with her in the back seat. That's
Speaker 1: all I want to know. She was in the back seat. Definitely.
Speaker 1: I have I have ed events, I have videos of
Speaker 1: her like pickos, get your pickus here. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it. I think I totally see why women
Speaker 1: see you as such an inspiration to be a mom,
Speaker 1: opening a business and surviving a pandemic and scaling a
Speaker 1: business with no funding. That's incredible. I know so many
Speaker 1: companies and for lack of better word, like I say,
Speaker 1: like white companies that can't do what you're able to do.
Speaker 1: And I hate to say it like that, but like,
Speaker 1: I don't know that many companies that have made it
Speaker 1: to the level that you have without funding and you're not,
Speaker 1: you know, And I feel like in the black community,
Speaker 1: I come across more entrepreneurs that do it self funding
Speaker 1: and just so empowering. I think we don't have like
Speaker 1: the necessary resources to know where to go get this
Speaker 1: fun in or how to start the process of getting it.
Speaker 1: So you know, we're like, well, we do know how
Speaker 1: to do is tussle and say or if you really
Speaker 1: want to, you can say. But some people they can't
Speaker 1: even say. But I'm more of a I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: because I want to get this. I want to buy
Speaker 1: a cash like my food truck. I don't have a
Speaker 1: payment I have I have two trucks. I have a
Speaker 1: smaller truck and I have a food truck. Both of
Speaker 1: them no no note, both of them wrapped, both of them.
Speaker 1: Like investors listening to this what a pickle? How can
Speaker 1: we how can we invest in water pickle? You know? Well,
Speaker 1: now you're gonna have to franchise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, um,
Speaker 1: I know I sucked the heck out of my pickles,
Speaker 1: so uh. In the rating scale, now that I'm raising
Speaker 1: the dishes, I would rate this, I would say a
Speaker 1: ten and I'm a raiding. I'm gonna tell you what
Speaker 1: I'm raiding it a tenant and what I'm basing it
Speaker 1: off of I'm basing it off of it. It's not
Speaker 1: necessarily a full meal, but it is like a fun,
Speaker 1: awesome snack, and I would raid it a tent also
Speaker 1: because technically, if you can't make this at home, you
Speaker 1: can buy it, so um, that's what makes this this
Speaker 1: pretty amazing. So now I know where to get my
Speaker 1: water pickles. They're sweet if you're a sweeter sweet person,
Speaker 1: and if you just want to randomly stop by the
Speaker 1: store and pick up a packet. Now, ladies, can you
Speaker 1: get away with starbus not start Star Wars? Can you
Speaker 1: do Star Wars with this? You? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I think it'd melt in there because the texture. Yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but jolly rancher, you know, it's hard. You get my
Speaker 1: mind turned up what you can do with a pickle,
Speaker 1: But honestly, it's a pleasure to have water pickle in
Speaker 1: the building, Shante, and it was a pleasure to experience this,
Speaker 1: and I'm so thankful that what you contribute to the community.
Speaker 1: And thanks for taking time out your day. Thanks for
Speaker 1: having me boy, and for everyone, Please, if you are
Speaker 1: curious how it tastes, go can you buy this online
Speaker 1: dm her and pick your flavor. She has flavors of
Speaker 1: water pickle, and honestly, like this is you got, at
Speaker 1: least try it once and obviously you'll probably be hooked,
Speaker 1: but at least try it once and come join the
Speaker 1: experience with us. But thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Definitely try out the dish at home. Let me know
Speaker 1: what you think and tell me if my rating was
Speaker 1: on points out of ten and I'm gonna finish my
Speaker 1: dish and I ain't choking in front of y'all. For
Speaker 1: more eating while broke from I Heart Radio and The
Speaker 1: Black Effect, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.