In February of 2009, as my son and his soccer team began preparing for their spring season, one of the other dads, a corporate level decision maker for a large grocery chain (yes, I’ll reveal their identity soon!), and myself began preparing a team of our own. It would be a team that would hopefully take Truly Hawaiian Teriyaki Sauce to the next level, faster than we ever imagined possible.
They say He works in mysterious ways. We truly feel that the path we were on now truly had some Divine intervention. How else would someone like this be put in our path without the Lord’s help?
In early March of 2009, I made my first of many visits to their office. It took all of 30 seconds to hand a bottle over to him and say, “I hope you enjoy it!” A few days later, I got the call. He said they tried it on Buffalo steaks! I would have never thought of that! But the bottom line was they loved it. They wanted to know more, to taste more, and most importantly, to work with us on our Teriyaki Sauce.
We exchange phone calls, emails, and brief conversations on the soccer field until finally around the first of April we met in their offices with their food broker, the man who would hold our hand through this entire process. It was a great first meeting. They began turning on the “fire hose of knowledge” regarding the food industry. I must say I was bit overwhelmed, but taking it all in. I love to be challenged and I knew this was going to be the challenge of a lifetime!
The next step was to setup a “cutting”, which basically means a taste-testing in layman’s terms. They wanted all the corporate principals that would be involved in developing this product for their store. Of course we love to entertain, so my wife and I set right out to plan this event with all of the enthusiasm that had been building up for weeks.
The date was set for April 10, 2009. We’d bring the food, they’d bring the food selling know how.
In my next post, you’ll find out exactly how it went.