Brandon Clark's Journey from Kitchens to Hot Sauce Fame

What if you could transform everyday dishes into culinary masterpieces with just a splash of hot sauce? Join us on this flavorful journey as we catch up with co-host Putra Vera and delve into our latest food adventures, family moments, and creative projects. This episode features a mouthwatering chorizo and crab dip sandwich, perfectly balanced with creamy avocado, and a simple yet flavorful ceviche enhanced by Brandon Clark's Florida hot sauce. With stunning food photography by John from Ibis Images, each dish is elevated to a visual feast, making your mouth water just by looking at them.

Our special guest, award-winning hot sauce creator Brandon Clark, shares his inspiring journey from a food service professional to a hot sauce entrepreneur. He reveals the origin of his company, the creative process behind developing region-themed sauces, and the importance of passion and creativity in building a successful food brand. We also highlight the versatility of his sauces, such as the Vermont breakfast hot sauce made with maple mustard and sage, and discuss the emerging trend of unique ingredients like tamarind in the hot sauce industry.

Finally, we explore the challenges and rewards of transitioning from a corporate lifestyle to an independent entrepreneurial environment. Brandon shares insights into managing a food product business, the value of culinary net

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Chapters

• 1:04 Food Podcast's Culinary Creations and Conversations
• 11:45 Hot Sauce Entrepreneurial Journey
• 26:24 Hot Sauce Trends and Success
• 32:10 Entrepreneurial Transition and Culinary Success
• 40:44 Quality Culinary Connections and Achievements
• 46:20 Culinary Ventures and Collaborations
• 56:42 Culinary Networking and Appreciation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:04

hello food fam. This is the walk and talk podcast where you will find the perfect blend of food fun and cooking knowledge. I'm your host, carl fiodini. Welcome to the number one food podcast in the country. We're recording on site at ibisages Studios, where food photography comes alive and I get to eat it. Here's a humble request to give us a follow on Instagram at walkintalkshow, please, and thank you, and don't forget Ibis Images as well. I'm into quality made smoked fish dips and spreads. I know you are too. Check out our friends over at Crab Island Seafood Company. We're using the jalapeno popper spread in one of the dishes today and you know I'm excited about that. Visit them at crabislandseafooddipcom to order yours.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Last week we had food insecurity trailblazer, tyler White, on the show. If you're not checking him out, you're doing the wrong thing. If you're into helping those in need to eat, go back and listen up Our beloved co-host and now self-help cookbook author, jeffrey Schlissel. He's off playing hooky today. But fear not, putra Vera hopped on a plane from the Big Easy early this morning and is here in studio to pick up the slack Slacking ass slackers. On today's show, sophie, award-winning hot sauce creator, entrepreneur Brandon Clark, will share his story on how he went from J-Woo to hot sauce. Guru Chef Brandon Clark is on deck. Finally, the pooch has come back to Tampa.

Speaker 2: 2:36

Can you?

Speaker 1: 2:37

smell what the pooch is cooking.

Speaker 2: 2:39

What's happening to food world?

Speaker 1: 2:40

What have you been up to, brother?

Speaker 2: 2:42

Dude, I've been up to so much man, so many good things, but really just relaxing man, spending a lot of time with my family and getting to be creative, you know, and kind of getting the juices flowing again and taking every blessing as it comes and making sure that I definitely keep time, spending time with my kids the biggest thing, but lots of other things. Stay tuned.

Speaker 1: 3:02

Yeah, exactly. Well, we're doing a lot of stuff together, right that we are. Why don't you get into a little bit of that? Nah, but before you do get into what you made today Because, frankly, I'm over the top right now on the actual food quality that we had in the show today, wow- Wow, wow, yeah, it was.

Speaker 2: 3:22

You know, and you know what. Shout out to Jeffrey Schlissel, my boy Love you, bro, I hope you're having a good time up there in Boston being creative with Keith Saracen. We, you know, in homage to you know, good old Jeffrey, who loves a good sandwich, and I know John loves photographing those sandwiches pun intended we went ahead and used some Crescent City Meats, chorizo, which in New Orleans is called hot sausage, but in the rest of the world it's called chorizo. And Spain at one time owned New Orleans. Spain at one time owned Florida. Actually, ironically, new Orleans was a part of all of Florida at one time.

Speaker 2: 3:57

And so we went ahead and kind of did a little homage to Florida and New Orleans and used that chorizo, hot sausage. And we used some crab dip from your boys over at Crab Island Superb, superb, superb. We used that jalapeno popper. One smeared that on the toast. Nothing fancy, not like it was melted or anything like that. Just go ahead and smear that on a toast and heat it up. That chorizo, it heated up the crab dip on there. And a phenomenal sandwich, simple, add a little. Uh, john actually recommended I had some avocado to it because he's such a good culinary palette there and I did some avocado for aesthetics, obviously for the photo, but, and in that fattiness of that the chorizo kind of mellowed out with the avocado yeah, but how about that photo?

Speaker 1: 4:39

like the photo was plural, right, it's sick crazy, it's sick, it is crazy.

Speaker 2: 4:44

I'm so amazed every time I come here. You know just well. You know every time I come here specifically for john's cuban coffee because it's the best in florida. No bullshit, but it is. It is amazing. But at the end of the day, his photography is just killing the game. If you guys haven't checked it out, go check out Ibis Images. But it's just something. You can turn something as simple as a sandwich with crab dip and chorizo on it into a masterpiece. It is absolutely amazing.

Speaker 2: 5:11

But the other thing we did was I wanted to showcase Brandon's sauce. Brandon Hopkins from Clark Hopkins and Don Hopkins I may as well include his name in there as well. They are the founders of the sauce of of clark and hopkins. But I wanted to show how versatile his sauce is or their sauce, should I say and we use. He has an array of different sauces and when he comes on he can definitely explain all of them or a few of them.

Speaker 2: 5:32

But he has a florida sauce and it has. It basically embodies all the flavors of what you would find in florida and kind of goes with anything you're doing in Florida as far as cuisine. So I said he had mentioned to me one time. You can open up that bottle and pour it on some fish and you have ceviche because it has everything that you would need. He's like, you know, just throw some few fresh you know fresh things in fresh vegetables or what have you in for texture and whatnot, but the flavor is there and I was like, well, you know what, I'm going to challenge you on that and I'm going to challenge you that on the podcast. So I did that today and boy was he right. So we I mean it was very simple Avocado, tomato, red onion. Go ahead, talk about this ceviche.

Speaker 2: 6:08

Okay, you're right, you're right, I'm getting caught up on myself, I'm forgetting all the good nuances of it. So, carl being, I told Carl, give me a good white fish. He was like you know what, how about you bring some white fish from Louisiana? So I brought some catfish and that's a Bayou to you. Shout out to Troy Matherne would buy you to you. He hooked me up with some good catfish, sent it overnight and the boys over at Crescent City Meats sent over some. Well, they sent over the chorizo, but they also sent over some taso, and taso is a Cajun cured ham. So I chopped that up, real, real nice, did a little fine dice on that and threw that into the ceviche as well, which really paired well, gave it a little bit of saltiness, a little bit of spice and kind of rounded out all of that that was in there. The only thing that was really cutting the fat once again was the avocado.

Speaker 1: 6:54

Well, all right. So check this out, man. First of all, the dish looks gorgeous. It did it. When you, the dish looks gorgeous, it did it. Really it's beautiful. But when we first tried it, it was good.

Speaker 3: 7:05

It was like all right, this is cool.

Speaker 1: 7:06

No biggie, you know, okay, what ended up happening? About 40 minutes later or so. We got back into it, just like you know, picking around the kitchen After the shoot, after the photo shoot, yeah, and man, it had time to kind of like I don't know, congenial permeate, permeate and it was fire, yeah it was fire it really brought it to a whole another level.

Speaker 1: 7:30

So I want to make sure that we get the ingredient list of what you did there, because I want to put that on the social. Yeah, attach it. I want to attach it to the imagery that we're going to put out from john gotcha.

Speaker 2: 7:42

So I mean both of these dishes. Really I wanted to bring louisiana bayou to florida and kind of mesh them up. So with the crab dip, with the chorizo was amazing, and then obviously with the florida sauce and louisiana tasso and louisiana catfish. Nobody's ever really thinking of using catfish and the quality that troy mathernes has his farms in the Zamas of Louisiana, which is the catfish capital of the world.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Ladies and gentlemen, that was pretty chef-y of you, by the way.

Speaker 2: 8:08

To pick catfish to go with ceviche I've never heard of that before, well you know, somebody gave me a little hint and a little nudge, you know, and I won't admit who that person is, but they are a great culinary mind. But I won't admit who that person is, but they are a great culinary mind, but yeah, it was. It was very, very chefy. I'm glad somebody gave me that heads up on that Cause you know, I need somebody to give me those heads up from now on.

Speaker 1: 8:27

Well, I can tell you this having a heads up and actually putting it together and execution, you're pulling off the execution. That's really where it counts. So for you, my brother hats off. Thank you, sir. Sir, I appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Yes, so you know you, for I don't know, a couple of few months at least you've been. You've been saying, hey, you know, clark and hopkins, clark and hopkins, hey, you know, brandon, you kind of get them on show, get them on show, get them on show. And I'm, and I'm like, okay, you know, because we're on a backlog, legit backlog, which is an awesome problem to have. And you know, I finally, and, by the way, I got the sample box, I don't know a few weeks back, of the variety of different hot sauces and I'm so impressed the look, the feel, the flavor, the whole nine yards, it's like a, it's a fastball strike on on a hot sauce. And I think you, you were antagonizing me, you know, to the point where I'm like, all right, dude, take it easy, right, like slow, pump the brakes, okay. But I'm really glad that we did this because, as it turns out, doing some diving on Brandon, he's got a pretty interesting story. Yeah, so it isn't just hey, there's another hot sauce, or whatever.

Speaker 2: 9:51

Hot sauce doesn't give it justice. The word hot sauce does not give it justice. Yeah, it's different.

Speaker 1: 9:54

I mean, I'm sure it's in that category, but it doesn't seem that way to me. It's not a hot. I mean, I'm sure it's in that category, but it doesn't seem that way to me. So well, you know what? Before I get any further on this, let's get Brandon on the show. Got you, brandon? Welcome to the program.

Speaker 3: 10:11

Hey guys, how you doing.

Speaker 1: 10:13

If I was any better.

Speaker 2: 10:14

I'd be you Doing really good, brandon doing really good.

Speaker 3: 10:18

I'm glad to have you on the show, man. Well, I'm honored. You guys love the sauces.

Speaker 1: 10:22

Shockingly. Yes, you know. I mean, there's a couple of sauces out there that are my go-to and in fact there's a Louisiana, you know brand called Dats. I just want to throw them out there. I don't want them to, you know, think I'm forgetting about them. Great product, but yours is not. It's not a hot, it's a hot sauce, but it's not a hot sauce, it's, it's, it's. It's a culinary sauce that has some heat, swiss army knife of sorts.

Speaker 2: 10:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Something like that. Yeah, it's different, it's elevated, it's definitely chef inspired. Why don't you, brandon, if you could take a minute and give the the the airplane view of you know who you are, and give the airplane view of who you are where you came from?

Speaker 3: 11:06

and how you ended up becoming a hot sauce guru? Sure, yeah, so I was actually born in Northern Virginia, where I am now, but I grew up on the Gulf Coast in Fairhope, Alabama, which is about two hours from New Orleans, and went to Auburn University for a couple of years, but I'm from a family that discusses dinner plans over breakfast. So after two years at Auburn, I'm declared major. All I can do is think about food. So I went to Johnson and Wales in Charleston. I lived there for three and a half years and then did my internship in Providence at the home campus.

Speaker 3: 11:45

So, yeah, so I worked in the food service industry for several years, got tired of the corporate food environment. I actually became a realtor for a while and I was bringing random hot sauces out to the tennis courts and one of my buddies is from Kerala, which is the southern tip of India, and I said Brijesh, what is your hot sauce like down there? And he said we don't have one. So I went home, studied the cuisine, put it in a bottle and he told me it tasted like ham. So my doubles partner, Don Hopkins, said hey, I think we have something here. And that's how the company started.

Speaker 1: 12:25

You know. So before we jump into the hot sauce, you know our typical normal co-host of the show, jeffrey Schlissel. Chef Jeffrey, he's out of town today. He's cooking somewhere up in the Northeast and I invited Pooch to be the co-host for a bunch of reasons. You know, pooch does a lot of fill-in work with us and he does a lot behind the scenes, but because of the relationship that you guys have, I, the host, I'm kind of giving the reins over to Pooch today. So Pooch is large and in charge. He's the field general today.

Speaker 2: 13:04

I lost a few pounds.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Yeah, a little bit. But you know I'm giving you the pole position, so rock and roll, baby.

Speaker 2: 13:11

Gotcha. Well, you know, honestly, I mean, brandon, the reason I really think that you should be showcased on this show is number one because we're an industry show. We're not so much a cooking show, which we are, but we are an industry show backed by a lot of people who are in the industry, from sales on to, you know, brokerage on to actual culinary, on the scene, chefs. But do you, I've never tasted something so brilliant and I'm not here to to to you know, kiss your butt Like I. Really I've never tasted something so brilliant in the'm not here to to you know, kiss your butt like I. Really I've never tasted something so brilliant in the array of sauces that you have that you really pull off in a, just a dab of piece of liquid. You can give someone a whole tire entree of everything in that it's just so complex and it's so. It's just so good and another reason why you're such a good guy and I'm glad we're friends.

Speaker 2: 14:00

But I mean, you are the chef's dream and chefs sit there after a bad 16 hour day in their office, surrounded by four walls, dreading having to do it the next day again and wishing that they had a sauce. Get them out of the office out of the closet. You know, and you have that. And not only do you have that, but it's one for Sophie award. So like you are really the, the superhero to chefs all over and if they know your story or if they haven't heard your story, like they need to hear your story and that's why I was so adamant about getting you on here, because you are literally every chef's dream man.

Speaker 2: 14:37

Like, everybody wants out of the industry sooner than later to be able to pursue something that they feel that really showcases their creativity. And you are blessed with that opportunity. And you know and thank you to Don Hopkins for you know saying I believe in you because you know everybody needs one of those as well. Everybody needs a Don Hopkins, absolutely. So I mean, what? What fuels your creative passion? Passion, what fuels the? What's the next sauce? What's the next flavor profile? What keeps you up at night wondering?

Speaker 3: 15:49

what your next thing is going to be Well, I mean, you know, speaking from the tennis court story, you know this company is a happy accident and it began at the southern tip of India, kerala. So we decided to go on that theme. So Don said, hey, can you make something for our region? So I made Chesapeake Bakes. I thought Old Bay was overrated and salty, and we did one for Virginia that's based on an 1850s Virginia barbecue recipe using Virginia peaches and bourbon. But the latest so that's what I've been doing theme-wise is just, you know, being authentic to these regions. So I actually just made a new one yesterday called Vermont, and it's going to be a breakfast hot sauce, so it's made with maple mustard and sage and it really turned out fantastic.

Speaker 2: 16:44

Yeah, that would make. That would make us really good. Top your eggs and actually maybe even talk to crescent city meats about making a sausage out of that that'd be, oh perfect on sausage.

Speaker 3: 16:53

But yeah, I mean, like what you guys were saying, these really are more of a culinary sauce than just a topical hot sauce, which is, you know, 95 plus percent of the hot sauces out there, and there's some great ones, and I've got some of those topicals in my fridge, but I have a lot of turnkey recipes associated with my sauces. So if you take a Somme that was on the show Hot Ones and then also won, excuse me, the Sophie Award in 2019. Won the Sophie Award in 2019. So that is from Northeast India. So if you take a can of coconut milk, reduce it three or four minutes and add a tablespoon or so of Assam, you have a turnkey curry in less than five minutes, with no prep work, no knives, and that's what makes us different.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Very, very, very different. And what made you think to go to that realm, like, did you think I want to help out chefs and I want to make sure that it's just a dash of this or you know, or a teaspoon or a cup of that? Did you want to, like, simplify it on a high quality level? Or were you just saying this is how my brain thinks and I want to apply it this way?

Speaker 3: 18:04

Yeah, I mean, you know, it just really began again with, you know, with Kerala, and then everything became themed. And then you know, looking at the different recipes that can be done with these, that are crazy turnkey. They're almost non-recipes. When you have a can of coconut milk and a bottle of Assam to create something, or simply having lentils, water and Ethiopia and you have an amazing lentil stew and, again, no prep work involved.

Speaker 2: 18:34

Gotcha. Well, tell us about how do you get involved, for instance, with hot ones and things like that. You know every chef, especially people who have their own hot sauce out there is looking for a way to get in there. And has this entrepreneurial path been paved with gold? Or have you had to have hurdles and then triumphs and then hurdles again? You know, it seems like you're this rock star superstar with all these awards, but I'm sure it's not that glamorous, and you know all the chefs out there really would love to hear about that.

Speaker 3: 19:01

Oh yeah, it's hard and you know it's. It's a shark tank life. If y'all have ever seen that show and you know I worked out of my garage, you know, for a couple of years, as many makers have. And yeah, hot Ones is truly the gift that keeps on giving. And yeah, hot Ones is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Speaker 3: 19:23

And we've been on two episodes, which means you have 24 celebrities and obviously you don't have to pay for it, but you send your samples into the heat nest in Brooklyn and they don't care who you are or what the deal is. It does need to be a clean sauce and if they like it, they'll put it on the show. Does need to be a clean sauce and if they like it, they'll put it on the show and like. What's amazing is is we'll have, like, our Sophie trophies. You know, we went to the food show in Dubai last year and I've got the trophies out and then I've got a framed picture of Jack Black on Hot Ones eating our hot sauce and people from all over the world. They're not pointing to the trophies, they're pointing to my picture of hot ones. So it's, it's really a global, a global thing, and you know, now, celebrities go on there and they get more hits promoing their movies than they do on Jimmy Fallon at night. So it's really an incredible, incredible boost. So it's really an incredible, incredible boost.

Speaker 1: 20:19

That's super interesting, brandon, you know you've got. I would like you to talk, expand on the Sophie Awards a little bit, because you know we're the Walk Talk podcast. Is we made the final slate for the People's Choice Awards in podcasting?

Speaker 3: 20:37

Amazing.

Speaker 1: 20:38

It's super cool. Yeah, it's super cool, and I know that there's an air of excitement that goes along with it and I know how I'm feeling about it and naturally you know there's no guarantee of a win or anything like that, but we made it to the table. Tell me how that, tell me the feeling. And you guys won four right Four Sophies.

Speaker 3: 20:59

Yeah, we won four. So it's essentially Oprah Winfrey called the Sophie Awards the Oscars of the food world, like 10 years ago, and it stuck. So that's essentially what it is, and the great part is you send your samples into New York. You have writers from the New York Times, food and Wine, etc. Chefs, and it's all blind. They can't see my label or anything. And I was told that there's over 150 hot sauce entries each year and we've entered five times and we've won four, which is really crazy.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Is that unprecedented? Are there any other brands that have done something similar?

Speaker 3: 21:39

We're the only hot sauce company to win it more than once, and we've won it four.

Speaker 1: 21:45

Yeah, that's pretty amazing it really is.

Speaker 3: 21:49

We still pinch ourselves to this day, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 21:53

Right, I mean because it's something. It's an unbelievable feeling to think that something you created, you and your partner put this together and all of a sudden it's, it's got accolade. You know, people are aware of it, yeah, and and really there's no ceiling on where you're going to go with this. I mean you're still young in the history of the company, you know lifespan of the company, so I mean it's pretty amazing. So what is next, like what are you trying to achieve?

Speaker 3: 22:21

Yeah, I mean ultimately what we would love to see. If you take, like McCormick, for example, they bought Cholula, they liked what Cholula was doing and, you know, paid a pretty penny for them, but now they have infrastructure, marketing teams, etc. And that's what I would want. I would want a larger company to buy us, give me a position with the company. Clearly I'm, you know, a creator, so there's some value there. And, by the way, I also ended up creating Crave Food Design because all these companies with the Sophie Awards have asked me to make you know sauces and other things for them. So that's been a nice side gig from the Sophie Awards.

Speaker 1: 23:02

I'm not aware of what. That? What is that? What are you doing?

Speaker 3: 23:05

I'm designing food products. For some it's under NDA, but some pretty big companies have asked me to make things for them.

Speaker 1: 23:13

Congratulations.

Speaker 3: 23:14

And surprisingly you know as a chef, like it's shocking, like there's a bunch of white lab coats that charge a fortune to create things for for customers and it's like empty. It's like an empty market in the US. I kept hearing you know it takes too long, they're not very good at what they do, it's very expensive. So there is opportunity there when I have time to focus on it.

Speaker 1: 23:41

Well, you know, it's a funny thing. I uh, I had a I've had several conversations with a spice producer not just a label or a co-pack or something like that, and they do a lot. They do a lot of the science work behind it and it does. It takes a very long time and it's really nuts and bolts, it's all it's, you know, ones and zeros. The creativity aspect I mean, obviously there is a creativity spectrum there that these companies and scientists in the food sector work within, but they're not. I wouldn't say that they're creatives first. They're ones and zeros first, Absolutely correct.

Speaker 3: 24:22

They are nudging their glasses up on their nose and they're into science and not creativity. You're absolutely correct, which is what created the end game of all these customers or clients that are coming to me complaining about the industry out there. And it would you know, if I had the time, I would get some other folks like Pooch to join me and we create things for these other companies, but I don't have time to do that right now. But there's a huge opportunity out there.

Speaker 1: 24:53

Well, I'm looking at some data points here and in relationship to this part of the conversation. How are you making 23 hot sauces in a weekend? What is that all about? How do you wrap your head around that? And it's hot sauces, so is your palate just destroyed by the end of the day? Talk about that.

Speaker 3: 25:15

Yeah, yeah. So when, literally after that interlude at the tennis courts, I took a Saturday and Sunday and I sat in front of my computer and I just started looking up cuisines and picked some interesting ones and then went to the international market and got a bunch of ingredients.

Speaker 2: 25:40

And yeah, I made 23 sauces over the weekend. That's sure freaking bananas, dude. I mean I wish I had that creative fortitude because I would have made one and called it a weekend or maybe got halfway through the recipe book, you know, and then got on the weekend. But, dude, yeah, not to. I mean I want to segue into this because you point on something and not to violate any. You know, ndas, what have you? But I mean I want to segue into this because you point on something and not to violate any. You know, ndas, what have you?

Speaker 2: 26:01

But I mean, like, what are your thoughts on the current trend trends in the hot sauce industry? And like what are the emerging flavors? Because you see, you know, when I, when I look at all your sauces and I look at everything, it's like where does he go next? And I know maybe you might not be able to say some things because of the people you're working with, but you know, like, where do you see these emerging trends? What do you see up next? Because hot sauce has been something that's you know, especially coming from as a new orleanian. Hot sauce is, like you know, red beans and rice. You need hot sauce. You add it to certain things as a flavor enhancer, but never as like the actual component right next to the dish like last year at the fancy food show, they always list the the top five food trends.

Speaker 3: 26:38

So last year at the Fancy Food Show, they always list the top five food trends. So last year it was international cuisine, spicy foods, cooking at home and something else, and we hit all five of them. You know what are the trends. I would say cooking at home and international flavors isn't really a trend. I think it's permanent. I think hot sauces are permanent. You know, are we in some sort of a hot sauce renaissance right now? Yes, but I still. But it's also beating up on things like mayo, mustard, ketchup and these other standard, you know, condiments that are flatlining. So I would say, you know, do something different. You know, that would be. My recommendation to a maker is to do something truly unique and turnkey.

Speaker 2: 27:25

What are some specific ingredients that you're excited about? I really want the world to hear how your brain works and what you're thinking right now. Not any secrets, not any recipes you're working on, but like where should a young aspiring chef go right now to be 20 steps ahead of everybody else?

Speaker 3: 27:41

Yeah, I mean I would say knowing the market. You know, understanding the hot sauce market. Ours was a happy accident, but I spent a lot of time learning about other companies and following them and, and you know, seeing what they were doing, and it was great to see that we were doing something different. And I've got some friends out there that make some great sauces and do things for niche markets. And as far as individual ingredients, I know Tamarind was in the list this year and there's a barbecue sauce a company that won the barbecue sauce Sophie this year. It's called Tamarind Heads and it's a killer sauce and I think they're brand new. So congratulations to them. But tamarind is definitely a big, big ingredient this year.

Speaker 1: 28:29

Brandon, how instrumental was Don Hopkins getting involved in this thing to getting where you are today.

Speaker 3: 28:38

I mean completely. He has been absolutely essential all the way down to the guy that said hey, can you make some other sauces besides Kerala? This company wouldn't be around if it wasn't for Tennis or Don. So Don is the COO of a plastic injection mold company out of Canada and they have a warehouse in Charleston, south Carolina. So he's essentially gone every other week and what he says about Clark and Hopkins is a team of 1.5, because the guy has a beyond full-time job, non-full-time job. So when I say Shark Tank, I mean it. We roll our sleeves up and we have a huge PO from Williams-Sonoma and Don's garage three-car garage is filled with three packs that his grandchildren have been helping him fill. That's what it's like on the ground with us.

Speaker 1: 29:37

That's pretty amazing, and you know what else is very cool. I have to say that you know, up in Canada the Walk Talk podcast is ranking number 36, eh, Eh, let's get it to number 1, eh. Yeah, we're working on number 1.

Speaker 2: 29:49

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 29:50

I just wanted to throw that out there. Since you brought up Canada. We popped up on the charts there over the last couple of days number 37 today, as of right now. Just wanted to put that out there, that's awesome.

Speaker 3: 30:01

Yeah, Don and I went back and forth on this Vermont sauce because it has maple in it, but we stuck with the States. But we thought about Quebec because they're the number one producer of maple in the world. So we went back and forth but we decided on Vermont.

Speaker 1: 30:16

I mean you got to throw this guy a bone. I think real soon, but we decided on.

Speaker 2: 30:20

Vermont. I mean, you got to throw this guy a bone, I think real soon, right? Well, if anybody's looking at that, I'm looking on the chessboard and saying, okay, tamarind very, very popular in Mexico, obviously, throughout Latin America and in Asia. But you know, Mexico City is becoming the forefront of culinary progress in the United States. Oh, absolutely. And now if you say Quebec, hey, hey guys, maple wink, wink, you know, maybe that could be something trend that kind of gets started and maybe you started here on the show.

Speaker 2: 30:46

But you know, I was going to elaborate a little bit more on just you and Don's relationship is something that I've seen. I've had a lot of business partners in my life. I've had, you know it's usually the odd couple in my life. I've had, you know it's usually the odd couple freaking frack and somebody's the brains and somebody's the culinary uh, you know brains and somebody's the paperwork brains. But you guys work so, so well together and I think that's why you guys are so triumphant, you know it's it's just very communicative and very appreciative of each other and that is very much the pun intended, the recipe to success, especially in the culinary world. You have to have the food, you have to have the culinary knowledge and the spice and flavor. But you have to have the chemistry of the partnership to really really be able to get to where you need to be. And to you know, knock on wood, let's say five Sophie Awards next year, you know.

Speaker 1: 31:34

I just want to say something real quick.

Speaker 3: 31:35

That would be awesome. I just want to say something real quick.

Speaker 1: 31:37

That would be awesome. When Pooj just now brought up the word triumphant, what nobody saw and I wish I was recording it is he put his hands like fists on his hips and he poked his chest out. He looked like Superman when he said it Nice, yeah, I just wanted to be clear. I wanted to paint that picture for everyone, Thank you.

Speaker 2: 31:55

Yeah, we can buy the portrait online at walkingtalkcom.

Speaker 1: 32:11

What to transition from a corporate lifestyle to this independent, entrepreneurial sort of?

Speaker 3: 32:13

you know environment, what? What was that like? Oh my gosh. Well, number one. Being a chef and moving into another food world, I'm thinking I've got this right. No Working with co-packers, and you know having to use this ingredient instead of that one because it'll process better at the plant, and things like that. Rolling your sleeves up, you know wearing many hats. That's not something I'm used to, but I love the control of it all. I love the fact that it's my creation and it's up to me every day, you know, to increase sales and and highlights for Clark and Hopkins.

Speaker 1: 32:50

So, yeah, when you're, when you go from having to, let's say, punch a clock, right you know, when you're a chef, when you're a chef, you're in charge. But at the end of the day, you either have a let's just say, some chefs have a gm or an owner that you know is is in the building and and you're kind of right, you're tethered to that once you go off on your own.

Speaker 3: 33:12

you are and you're, yeah, and you're tethered to what I call adult daycare. So the last I worked a corporate position and you know I had 115, 120 employees and several kitchens and several managers, and I do not miss managing people as an entrepreneur. Now I don't miss it at all, I'm sure. I'm sure Pooch would say the same thing.

Speaker 2: 33:35

Amen, I'm very blessed I can actually.

Speaker 1: 33:40

I can give a third.

Speaker 2: 33:42

As a VP of sales. Yes, sir, yes, still to this day. Yes, but it's different now. No slight at his current employee.

Speaker 1: 33:48

No, no, no, because it's no. It's so very different now. And what he's talking about, brandon, is you know I was in produce sales and distribution for I don't know 20 plus 25 years, whatever. Okay, and yeah. So I've been involved in a lot of sales teams, managing sales teams, managing sales and customer service and whatever.

Speaker 1: 34:08

When the opportunity came up and this whole walk and talk media, food media company, you know kind of this divine sort of you know happenstance, everything changed and one of our largest vendor partners, or a sponsor, you know whatever you want to call peninsula food service, is a, they're a, they're a meat, we're a meat supplier. And you know they were a sponsor. Well, what their vp of sales, something happened and, family-wise, you had to split, leave town and the owner of the company kind of understood what my background was and he said, hey, man, you want to take this over. And I was like, well, let's work something out. So I was able to build a team, hire a wonderful sales manager, Veronica Rodriguez, and and kind of you know, steer the vision and strategy, but not really be in the day to day per se, and it allows me to still court, you know, prospects, but those prospects get folded into into our media operation. So it's an interesting, it's such an interesting different dynamic now. So, while I'm still, you know, in management per se, it's, it's different, it's a, it's a whole different chemical makeup now. And, yeah, and I'm, I'm, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

Speaker 1: 35:28

I will say that, having you know, being in this, this entrepreneurial uh boat, you know there's always water coming in, there's always a hole, there's a you know and, and and there's, and there doesn't seem to be enough buckets or hands for the buckets to get the water out, and there's definitely not a uh, a uh bilge pump. So, you know, there you are. That's what, that's kind of what, that's what, that's what uh Butch was referring to.

Speaker 3: 35:53

So, brandon, I want to, yeah, but it feels good being yours, though you know.

Speaker 1: 35:58

Well, yeah, well it, yes. But then, how this is set up. And it's interesting because, like John Hernandez, who's to my left right now, he's a photographer by trade, dear friend, brother, for I don't know 30, 30, 30 something years, I don't know A long time, more than that, probably you know we've. Do you remember the movie? Do you remember the, uh, the cartoon voltron?

Speaker 3: 36:20

I do all right of the universe yeah.

Speaker 1: 36:22

So that's, that's walk and talk. Voltron, it's we're. Voltron is because we all, like you know, jeffrey is is amazing in culinary, john is amazing in photography. I do what I do on the, you know, networking, networking, business vision side and and it's a thing that we all kind of come together on and and make happen. So we're because, because of the job that we do, we're able to get, you know, four times Sophie winning. You know, chef entrepreneurs on the show. You know it's, it's, it's pretty amazing.

Speaker 3: 36:56

It really is Fantastic.

Speaker 2: 36:58

And to segue into teamwork and you, I mean to me the biggest thing that you, that you're doing right now, is working with a national team and the wizards and being in the capital one arena. Your sauce, district sauce, who is probably your most notable sauce, is it?

Speaker 2: 37:17

is now it is now and I mean I'll be honest, it's my favorite one. I mean, I always opening a bottle is another exploration and another, you know, week of trying to pair with so many, so many different things. But the district sauce is really where, you know, I'll give somebody a bottle and, like you mean another bottle, let me get another bottle. I was like, well, you mean you might need to buy this bottle, but it's that good, it's that addictive, it's really amazing. And obviously the owners of the Wizards and the Capital One Center said, hey, we want to have your sauce here as a wing sauce. And now, so you have the capital, you have the district wings at the Capital One Center Another triumphant win as a chef that you know most chefs sit and daydream about having. You know you have all these one in a million things happening, brandon, like go buy a lotto ticket right now, dude, because I mean it's just like you really are the success story that keeps on giving man.

Speaker 3: 38:12

It's been a great couple of years and, yeah, I'll give you the backstory real quick. So the marketing director at Capital One Arena works for Monumental and Monumental owns the individual teams in the building out of this fridge and put it on a sandwich and he said, wow, this is the best hot sauce I've ever had. And he looks at the label and he's like, oh my God, these guys are local. So when he got back to DC, he sent me an email and asked for a lunch meeting. Maybe he thought we were huge or what have you, but he ended up giving us a nice deal to get into the arena and supporting locals. So good on him.

Speaker 3: 38:58

And the basis of the district sauce is we have the highest population of Ethiopians in the world outside of Ethiopia. So I used Burberry, which is their curry blend, and then this is my first honey-based sauce. So one of my customers actually called it hot honey, elevated or an elevated hot honey. I said, okay, I'm going to steal that tagline, but that's what makes it DC and it's been a hell of a success. As you know, you were up in New York with us and the great part about district sauce is we came in second place for it being the number one product of the year, and that's globally I think it's over 80 countries of products that they turn in and District almost won that- Jeez, I'm pizza.

Speaker 1: 39:48

That's magnificent.

Speaker 2: 39:50

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 39:51

What a story. It's crazy what a story.

Speaker 3: 39:54

It's crazy. And you know, to add to that story, one of our partners is the Virginia Department of Agriculture and they spent $25,000 marketing us for our fourth win in New York. So we had a 10-foot by 30-foot banner in the Javits Center bigger than life and then at the Sophie Gala, which is where they do New York Fashion Week it's a fancy room or whatever, with digital walls. So we had digital videos of us, you know, throughout the evening and this and that that Virginia paid for.

Speaker 1: 40:34

Also magnificent.

Speaker 2: 40:36

Right, yeah, you know. So they are very much a partner and and that's one of the cool things I'm glad you said it because we were going to elaborate on that as well and we normally don't lab. You know, coming from a very big culinary state like louisiana, you know I have to let the world know that they do a very poor job of taking care of their chefs and taking care of their people, who are really winning awards and leading at doing things, and the Virginia agriculture department is really going behind their gems and making sure they shine bright to the world. And you know you guys are going to France, you guys are going to Dubai. You guys have, you know, made sauces for the Ukrainian consulate. Yeah, ukrainian consulate. I mean, you guys are just freaking the the. You guys are the success story man people need to learn about you and really it's the truth.

Speaker 1: 41:22

Facts are facts, man I think the proof is in the pudding. I think I am gonna go play lotto after this, you know, definitely.

Speaker 3: 41:30

I mean I feel like I gotta get a jump on the wave man, yeah so we're going to Paris in October for Seattle Paris, which is the largest specialty food show in Europe, and two days prior to that we're doing an event with United Airlines because they have our products at the Polaris Lounge at Dulles. So VDACs invited us to this event at the ambassador's residence in Paris. So we're going to have, you know, our products set up and CEOs from United Airlines et cetera will be there. But it's a program to promote Virginia. When people fly to Dulles come to Virginia instead of going to DC, so we're excited about that. Nothing goes on in DC and Virginia pays for our booth there in Paris and all of that is crazy.

Speaker 1: 42:25

It is crazy. Do you ever make it to Florida?

Speaker 3: 42:28

Yes, actually, our co-packer is in St Augustine, florida.

Speaker 1: 42:32

Oh, that's not far from. I mean, it's about three hours from us.

Speaker 3: 42:37

Yeah, endorphin Farms, and I think they're, they're the best co-packed.

Speaker 1: 42:41

That's where you get the, the, the, the datil pepper from from over there, Right.

Speaker 3: 42:46

Literally. Yeah, so exactly. So the datil pepper is from St Augustine and they use it for weird things Like they. They have a daddle ketchup and things like that. But if you taste this pepper on its own, it is my single favorite pepper on earth.

Speaker 1: 43:02

There's a cult, it has like a garlicky, citrusy effect to it.

Speaker 3: 43:07

It's not quite as hot as a habanero and just so flavorful. And I was bottling another product down there in St Augustine and I was bottling another product down there in St Augustine and I started asking the owner about the datil pepper and does he have some and this and that that's not fermented? And he said yes. I said let's make this true Florida. So I did the four citruses of Florida, a bunch of garlic and it's about 85% datil pepper. So what you're tasting there is mostly the datil pepper.

Speaker 1: 43:37

I didn't want to mess with it, and that's that is amazing too. I keep and I feel like I'm on this like fanboy wagon here because everything's like, oh, magnificent, amazing, but it's, it's, it's, it's something so different and unique and the proof is in the hot sauce yeah, 100, you know the, the datil pepper. The chefs and people from the region over there, jacksonville, st hogg, it's like they drink the kool-aid and they're getting, they're waiting for the spaceship. It's, it's, it's that deep, you know, in that it is, it really is so. And and you know you need kudos for for picking up on on the vibe, that vibe and capturing that and then literally putting it in a bottle.

Speaker 3: 44:22

Yeah, and the vibe. And you got that right. The vibe was I kept seeing daddle everywhere on the menus. When I'm, you know, at some restaurant down there waiting for production and there's daddle everywhere, I'm like I need to do something here. So that's what it is.

Speaker 1: 44:33

I had a salesperson who was up in that part of town when I was in my last, uh, other outfit and you know he would if he was incessant. Carl, carl, go talk to the dad, get the peppers, bring them in, I'll. I promise. You know, if we bring these in and we're distributing, everybody's gonna buy from. And I and I didn't understand it. I'm not from there, so I don't. I didn't get the.

Speaker 1: 44:57

You know the weight of it yeah but yeah, but I I wish I had a. I wish I did that because this was probably all five years ago. There was a good opportunity to do something and uh alas, you know, lost uh opportunities.

Speaker 2: 45:12

But good for you for picking up on that, yeah, it's brilliant, man, it's just so brilliant okay, I can't say the word brilliant more times than just saying brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Speaker 1: 45:19

But how do I get you in, how do I get you in the studio? Yeah, that's what I want to know. Come cook with us, bro. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 45:24

Yeah, next time I'm, next time I'm down in St Augustine, I can definitely do it. It's guys, is it?

Speaker 1: 45:32

no, it's like three hours, man, it's quick. And yeah, when you're in the south.

Speaker 3: 45:35

You may as well come over to new orleans, you know so yeah, that would be cool to do some you know turnkey stuff in the studio. For sure I'd love to do that yeah, you got a little taste of.

Speaker 1: 45:46

I know that, I saw I think you posted some, some, some pictures that pooch sent you from from production yes, yeah, amazing, yeah, amazing john hernandez guys so. But here's the here's the thing, Brandon, you will cook and you will create something beautiful, and then John will take it and enhance it and make it just forever.

Speaker 3: 46:09

I would love that.

Speaker 1: 46:11

Yeah, I would love it too, my, my, my whole thing is I get to eat the stuff you know what I mean?

Speaker 2: 46:16

That's the lotto ticket right there.

Speaker 1: 46:17

That's my other lotto. It's a secondary lotto Food.

Speaker 2: 46:20

Brandon, let me ask you this you guys you've dove into the Bloody Mary mix now things like that, but they still kind of fall into the lines of hot sauce. You and Don have anything that. Obviously, if it's secretive, know, we can't hear it. But, like you know, are there other types of food or other. You know, someone asked me like ask him if he's gonna do a ice cream. It's like, well, you know what, that's kind of funny and whatever, and you know witty. But at the same time it's like you know what I kind of want to know, if Brandon Clark could do an ice cream.

Speaker 2: 46:51

You know I don't think that you would mess that up and there's much thought and pizzazz that you would put into that. I really think it'd probably be a brilliant ice cream. But what are some of the?

Speaker 3: 47:01

things that you've got going on. There's a gelato yeah, there's a gelato shop in Richmond that wants to do a district gelato and I think it'll work. I'll be interested to see what comes back there. So I'm on the board of the Virginia Specialty Food Association, vasfa, and I work with. You know I'm on the board there. I work with several other members and board members and one of our board members owns Belmont Peanuts. I was going to ask about that and we were talking, and I was asking him because they have several flavors over there. Talking, and I was asking him because they have several flavors over there and I said if we could get my hot sauces emulated into dry form, would you be interested in doing this? And immediately he said yes. So Belmont Peanuts is in South Virginia. They're on 4,000 acres and they're farming it and then they also have their own facility there as well and you're also teaming up with jody's as well

Speaker 3: 48:01

yeah, we are. So, yeah, jody's popcorn as well. And then we're also working with cookie company and they made a district cookie. That is insane and it's made with a local virginia company called route 11 potato chips. Sounds odd, but it's made with a local Virginia company called Route 11 Potato Chips. Sounds odd, but it's a hell of a product. And he's in all three airports here in the region. So immediately the district cookie will be going into all three airports that we're excited about that. So we began with Belmont, Excuse me. So we began with Belmont, Excuse me. We did Assam District, Arizona, Virginia and Chesapeake Bay.

Speaker 3: 48:43

And as a chef, I'm working with this company called Elite Spice out of Maryland, and as a chef, you know we don't think this way. I'm like are you guys going to be able to dry peaches and whiskey and all of these other things that I have in my sauces? And they sent me the first round and immediately I was impressed and we had a couple of exchanges and we finally got the powders where we want them and they turned out incredible. They really did. So Jody is on the board with me as well. That owns Jody's Popcorn and they're all over the place. They're international. They'll actually be in Dubai with us. So they work with Costco and Costco said that they were going to bring in the district popcorn and they haven't even tasted it yet. But that's the relationship that Jody's has with them.

Speaker 3: 49:38

But anyway, I took the peanuts to New York, as you know, Pooch, for the first time for the public to see them, and the writer for the Wall Street Journal comes into my booth you know I see his badge I'm like oh my God, and so let me walk you through my hot sauces. You know I have the trophies in front of me and he said I'm here for snacks, Tell me about your peanuts. So I told him about them. He started tasting them and, you know, got a little animated and he said I would love to feature you in the Wall Street Journal. This is the best snack I've had today at the Javits Center.

Speaker 2: 50:17

If I can encourage anybody to go out and get any product but those Assam peanuts, you will not be able to stop. You will not be able to stop.

Speaker 1: 50:22

Wait, I think I've been saying his name wrong. It's Midas Clark. It's not Brandon, it's Midas Clark. What are we talking about here? And Don too?

Speaker 2: 50:32

Don as well.

Speaker 3: 50:33

I'll send you some peanuts to check out, carl. They really I mean they really turned out fantastic. I was surprised Like I did not think they would be able to to do the powders that way, but they did.

Speaker 1: 50:44

And Brandon, you don't understand, you don't? You're not aware of this yet, but we're going to be doing some stuff together. I just want you to know that. You're not you, you haven't thought of it, but, as as we're having this conversation and I'm just thinking about all the funky stuff that we do in terms of you know bad-ass video and you know audio and all this stuff, we, we will do some stuff together and I'm not putting you on the spot so you don't have to answer. But yeah, there, there's some things, man. I mean, there's some some conversations to be had. I'm, I'm so, I'm, I'm, I'm so excited behind the mic right now.

Speaker 3: 51:19

Just put me to count me in. Man, absolutely, I would love to certainly explore doing something together, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 51:25

Yeah, there's definitely some opportunities and we can talk about those offline.

Speaker 3: 51:30

But OK, all right so that sounds good.

Speaker 1: 51:32

We need to figure out when it is that you're going to be able to make it to Tampa, and that's something I'd love to kind of like over the next couple of weeks, figure out a timeline to get you here. Weinary Open, and that was created by chefs Nick and Polly Barrington a couple and there's a show it's called the NAFM show. It's basically the largest food equipment trade show in the country. They alternate.

Speaker 3: 52:11

Oh wow.

Speaker 1: 52:12

Yeah, it's pretty badass. They alternate between Georgia and Orlando, the convention centers. So this, this coming February, it's going to be in Georgia and we are the official. Yeah, we're the official podcast of this event Now here.

Speaker 3: 52:27

That's awesome.

Speaker 1: 52:28

Before you say that's awesome, let me tell you this there's 12 contestants. About every one of these contestants comes from some Michelin or beard establishment, by and large Right Like. It's just like this herd of just bad-ass culinarians and we're going to end up covering all of them on the show at some point in time. You know, obviously, scheduling and whatnot. That's one thing. That's one cool thing, and I'm not going to put a period now, it's a comma and there's. So there's a one of the godfather celebrity chefs, norman Van Aken, who yes, and then Norman, mr Florida.

Speaker 1: 53:16

Man, I'll tell you what. You ain't lying. So we've been having a lot of conversations and one of my good friends, kurt Hicken, got us connected through some channels. Whatever, long story short, he's in partner. He's partnering with a gal named Stacey Archer and they're doing these food insecurity sort of demos where they have people log in and they have these, you know, like a video chat sort of thing, and they have these ultra uber high-end chefs teach these families how to create meals for you know, let's say, they have six people in the household. Well, how do you feed six people on 20 bucks?

Speaker 1: 53:55

Okay, right, so here you know, enter in more michelin, more badass high profile chefs who you know we're going to usher in through the, through the podcast, because number one we so the the whole food insecurity thing and and and being part of some sort of help is, you know we want to be there, you know, however, and being part of some sort of help is, you know we want to be there. You know, however, we can help with charitable sort of um situations. We want to be included and and that's what we're doing. So, over the next three months or so, we're going to be inundated with, like, ultra high-end chefs. Now, we've always had ultra high-end chefs, but these are like the next creep up level of of it.

Speaker 1: 54:35

It's super exciting and the reason I'm saying this one, I'm I'm speaking all of this into existence right, because it's all happening, but now it's now, we're talking about it. Yeah, and I, but I, but I want to get you here, I want to figure this out. You know, even if we have somebody that's a call in, I I'd love to still have you in studio so we can do our thing. You know what I mean. Yeah, that'd be awesome.

Speaker 3: 54:59

Yeah, that would be fun, man. And yeah, so I am bottling Vermont, we're going. I literally sent the samples to St Augustine yesterday and what they do is they make that recipe and it's based on a half gallon and then they make it there in their little lab and send it back to me and I give it a thumbs up or thumbs down or, you know, add more salt, whatever. And then I get a date and I fly to Florida for first run. Only because they're incredibly consistent, you know, I may say more salt, let's add some more vinegar. Okay, we're good. So I, I will be in saint augustine and then that in probably about two months or something like that okay that that actually might jive really well yeah, like late october is probably where it's gonna land okay.

Speaker 1: 55:50

Yeah, that's cool man. We have some dinners that we're going to be doing coming up into the cooler months as well. We get involved with a lot of dinners, we record them, we do a bunch of cool stuff with cameras and everything, so maybe we can get you to swing by one of those too.

Speaker 2: 56:09

Yeah, you'd have a good time geeking out with food with us man and Jeffrey Schlissel and you should meet Because I think y'all would have some really good combo and create some really really good food.

Speaker 1: 56:16

Oh, you should meet, so I think y'all would have some really good combo and create some really really good phone.

Speaker 2: 56:19

Oh man, the, the, the creative juices you get. You know, two dorks in the kitchen should be the podcast.

Speaker 1: 56:25

You know, and I just want to put it out there, jefferson, when you're listening to this, shame on you. Shame on you for not being here. This is, you know here. This is you know he should be. You know, I'm just going to say slack and I slack even though he's not slacking. He's actually out there hustling and working, but man, I don't. I'm not going to let him forget it. All right, brandon, how do people find you on the internet, baby? What do they look for?

Speaker 3: 56:48

Yeah, so we're at Clark and Hopkinscom and then at Clark and Hopkins on Instagram.

Speaker 1: 56:55

Excellent. I want to just thank you for being on the show today and, pooch, thank you for coming out and thank you for connecting us with Brandon and the whole. Nine yards, jerry, from Crescent City Meats, appreciate you.

Speaker 2: 57:10

Jerry and Damien and Damien, whole Hanford family. We love y'all.

Speaker 1: 57:14

Yep, tom over at Crab Island Seafood, appreciate you as well. What a day, man. I can't wait to go back and eat. Now I'm going to eat more because I am a fat ass. That's just what this is. Alright, gentlemen, pooch, john, you guys are beautiful people. Thank you kindly, and we are out.