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