#155: Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering)

(AI-Generated Transcript)

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:00:00]: We like to be, I guess, a brand that's known in your home, you know, household name. We'd like to again develop other products in other similar categories, create change in our community. We're really focused on youth entrepreneurship as well as feeding, you know, those that are hungry Land and underserved communities. So I'd say that's the future, creating opportunities for our employees, stakeholders, partners, and really, again, just changing the world 1 apple at a time.

Jeffrey Stern [00:00:26]: Let's discover what people are building in the Greater Cleveland community. We are telling the stories of Northeast Ohio's entrepreneurs, builders, And those supporting them. The to The Lay of the Land Northeast where we are exploring what people are building in Cleveland and throughout Northeast Ohio. I am your host, Jeffrey Stern, and today, I had the real pleasure of speaking with Ethan Holmes. Ethan is the founder and CEO of Holmes Mouthwatering, a Cleveland based manufacturer of all natural applesauce made with Ohio grown apples, pears, and local apple cider. To date, 50,000 customers have purchased and consumes Holmes' products, Processing over 500,000 pounds of apples and delivering over 250,000 units to consumers across the US. Holmes mouth watering applesauce can be found in retailers including Heinen's, Whole Foods Market, Kroger, and Giant Eagle, amongst many others. Inspired by his grandfather who always had made food at home and from scratch, when Ethan was 15 years old, he asked him how to make applesauce, And this passion was born.

Jeffrey Stern [00:01:35]: Armed with 100 pounds of apples that his parents gifted him for Christmas that year, Ethan chopped, cooked, and experimented until His recipe was perfect. Over a decade Lay, with national expansion, over 800,000 in capital from programs like Cleveland Chain Reaction and The On Incubator. It was a ton of fun to hear from Ethan about his journey building Holmes mouth watering Land the work he's doing to inspire the next generation of Cleveland entrepreneurs his own initiatives. So please enjoy my conversation with Ethan Holmes after a brief message from our sponsor. Land Boulder College of Business, widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the region. As we've heard time and time again from entrepreneurs here on Lay of the land, many of whom are proud alumni of John Carroll University, success in this ever changing world of business requires Vative mindset, deep understanding of emerging technologies and systems, strong ethics, leadership prowess, acute business acumen, all All qualities nurtured through the Bohler College of Business. With 4 different MBA programs of study spanning professional, online, hybrid, and 1 year flexible, the Bohler College of Business provides flexible timelines Land various class structures for each MBA track, including online, in person, Hybrid and asynchronous. All to offer the most effective options for you, including the ability to participate in an elective international study tour of unparalleled Unity's to expand your global business knowledge by networking with local companies overseas and experiencing a new culture.

Jeffrey Stern [00:03:11]: The career impact of a bowler MBA is formative Land will Prepare you for this future of business and get more out of your career. To learn more about John Carroll University's Buller MBA programs, please go to business.jcu u.edu. The Bowler College of Business is fully accredited by AACSB International, the highest accreditation a college of business can So it's, it is fall. Yep. My favorite time of year. Land, Well, this weekend, I went apple picking at, Patterson's Fruit Farm with some friends.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:03:48]: Okay. It's my favorite Lay in Cleveland for sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:03:51]: It's One of the best. Land, you know, obviously, we picked a lot of apples.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:03:54]: Right. Right.

Jeffrey Stern [00:03:55]: And while we were there, what came up in In conversation Mhmm. Was the set of possible things we could do with apples. Right. You know, having this abundance of apples.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:04:05]: Mhmm.

Jeffrey Stern [00:04:05]: Applesauce came up right away

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:04:07]: Mhmm.

Jeffrey Stern [00:04:07]: As This space of things that we could do with apples. Mhmm. And it came up that, like, if you think about applesauce, No one has really tried to do anything creative or or innovative there beyond Land of the, I think, nostalgic memories that folks had about The Goliath brands, which we'll talk about The that kind of own the space. And I was really excited because I knew that we were gonna be sitting down today to talk about this. And I was like, well, you know, have you guys heard of Holmes mouthwatering, applesauce? Great segue. And, you know, They're innovating. Mhmm. It's happening.

Jeffrey Stern [00:04:41]: So

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:04:41]: It's a lot of white space in that market for sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:04:44]: Yeah. Yeah. So I was, yeah, excited to have you on podcast to share your story and and

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:04:48]: kind of I'm excited to be here,

Jeffrey Stern [00:04:49]: so appreciate it. Amazing. So to to start, can you just tell us a little bit about, you know, who you are Land, yeah.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:04:56]: Yeah. So my name is Ethan Holmes. I'm from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and I am the founder and CEO of Holmes mouthwatering. We're an Ohio based brand providing home style inspired apple sauce and real fruit products. And I actually founded the company in 2008 here in Northeast pile Stern having a huge interest in entrepreneurship as a student. My grandfather showed me how to make the apple sauce. I then spent a year innovating it and bring it to the market.

Jeffrey Stern [00:05:23]: Yeah. Amazing. Could you share a little bit more about that that inspiration from from your grandfather?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:05:27]: Definitely. So I had this huge interest in entrepreneurship, I think, just from when I was born. The was lemonade stands, raking leaves. I really like Land of being your own boss on that whole feel. So I went to my grandfather who could make anything from scratch. He lived with us. He's retired, and he showed me how to actually peel the apples, you know, core them, slice them, boil them, and make this apple sauce. So that was kinda like the beginning for sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:05:51]: Amazing. You mentioned Lemonade Sands. I feel like for so many of us, the first Kinda real world entrepreneurial experience comes from that endeavors. Yep. It's like that, you know, rite of passage. And part of that whole experience, you know, before you go up and set set up your table on the street is, you know, you gotta go in and fine tune The the the recipe and the balance, You

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:06:13]: know? Mhmm.

Jeffrey Stern [00:06:13]: Squeezing the lemon, getting the right mix of sugar in there.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:06:16]: And we call that r and d,

Jeffrey Stern [00:06:18]: you know, in in my industry for sure.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:06:19]: So a lot of r and d. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:06:20]: Yeah. Well, so in the earliest days of of, you know, working with your grandfather, how did you guys actually go through the process of of that r and d? You know, iterating, making you wanna learn

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:06:30]: the right thing. Fully honest, we only probably did 2 sessions in that kitchen, and the rest was me for a year. And so he actually just showed me how to wash the fruit, boil it, or peel it, slice it, core it, boil it. And from there, I was like, Lay. This is homemade, but it's not my mouth watering idea that I wanna bring to life. He then went on to be doing what he was doing, you know, as as my grandfather Land I said, well, then let me focus on this every week, every weekend trying to make this apple sauce into my own formulation. So that's kinda like how it came about. Again, it took a year.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:07:00]: I didn't have a lot of money. Anytime I could get my hands on fruit, I would, you know, I would go to my parents. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:07:06]: Yeah.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:07:06]: And I remember even asking them for, Apples for Christmas because they're like, Ethan, we're tired of giving you $20 every week. And I remember going back to school, everybody's like, what did you get for Christmas, Ethan? Was like, oh, Apples. And they're like, oh, you got a new iPhone? Oh, you must have or a MacBook? No. The fruit. So, that's how creative I was. And then every time I would do a Lay. I put it on my refrigerator and come back just to innovate it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:07:28]: How did you know that you were on the the right track?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:07:31]: Great great question. I remember calling an orchard, and they Said, you should try Golden Delicious. And then I called another orchard, and they said, you should try apple cider. And then someone said, maybe even throughout pears or even The maybe that was an accident that I came across. But by doing that, I realized it created The sweet balance with no added sugar or artificial ingredients, and people loved it. It wasn't too tart, but it also, preserved that sweetness through through the apples.

Jeffrey Stern [00:07:56]: So from the business standpoint, when you reflect a bit on the journey so far, what was What was your 1st big break?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:08:03]: 1st big break. I'd say Heinen's was my 1st big break. I was able to acquire Heinen's. The year was 2014. I was a student at Hiram College. I really didn't have much. The just had this apple sauce in a glass jar with a label on it. That's a whole another story behind The, how that came to be.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:08:20]: But I would cold call Heinen's actually 3, 4 times a week. Eventually, I got in touch with the buyer. He says drop off some product in Warrensville Heights at our corporate office. I paid a friend $10 in gas from Hiram College to Cleveland, Warrensville Heights to be able to drop that off. And then I followed up with them for about 2 months, usually every week, usually every other week. And one day he called me. I'm the buyer. I'm walking to the dining hall at Hiram where I made sandwiches for money.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:08:47]: And he says, hey. I got around to try that apple sauce. Can you give me 3,000 units in the next 3 weeks? And so for me, I was only making 2 to 300 units. So I had to really scale up. I mean, that builds some credibility.

Jeffrey Stern [00:08:59]: Yeah. Yeah. That's like a a relentless persistence there.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:09:02]: Lot a lot of persistence for sure. And I didn't know that was gonna be my big break, but that led to Giant Eagle, Whole Foods, Kroger. Yep. And a lot of people, Stern, and angels in Northeast Ohio The kinda resonated or or they recognized, you know, Heinz. It was a big one. It was credible. Yep.

Jeffrey Stern [00:09:17]: Yeah. Absolutely. So faced with, you know, the the really Land order of magnitude increase in the scale that you needed to even get that first big break, How did you approach, you know, your own entrepreneurial journey in parallel with what the business needed Land, you know, elevating

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:09:33]: Definitely. Great question. I'd say I had to work a lot with mentors and finding resources around me in Northeast Ohio. One of the number one ones was Cleveland Culinary Launch Kitchen. And so they taught me how to really get started commercially, how to get inside a incubator kitchen, and how to approach these retailers. I also had to kind of figure out, Lay. I'm a young student myself. How do I manage my schooling? What does my future look like? Unfortunately, I actually decided to leave school, in my junior year and just really focus on the business, and it paid off.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:10:04]: But now I'm kind of working on maybe even finishing my degree in the future. So

Jeffrey Stern [00:10:08]: What what was the the thinking around that decision? That's a that's a big decision.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:10:12]: I just don't think I could handle it was like it was I'll take a step back. It was my dream versus my education, and I said, I came to this school. I I came to get my education to follow my dream, and now I'm here. I think I'm going to put a 100% into it just because the the grades are slipping, a lot of that. Said I can always of finish school later. I have several credits, but this dream, this opportunity, I don't wanna waste it, if that makes sense. Totally. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:10:36]: I mean, so and, obviously, at this point in time, you have the the benefit of Mhmm. You know, knowing how it played out Mhmm. And Exactly. Implications of those decisions.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:10:45]: 100%. And then I didn't graduate from Hiram College, but I go there several times a year and do presentations. And we're actually doing a program right now with their students where they're actually gonna be selling our apple sauce on campus.

Jeffrey Stern [00:10:56]: So

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:10:56]: I think that's a full three sixty moment from, you know, dreaming as a student to now having the students at the school selling it. You know?

Jeffrey Stern [00:11:03]: Did you have a a vision at at that point in time for for where You wanted to take the the business?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:11:09]: I don't think I had, like, it all in, like, vision like details. It wasn't in color, let's say that. The visuals aren't there, but I knew that I had something. I knew that there was a lot of opportunity, that I wanted to grow this to be a several $1,000,000 brand, very successful. And number 1, of owning this lifestyle, brand and being able to enter into other products and other categories, for sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:11:32]: So how how do you handle entering a space where it's, you know, going back to that nostalgic memory we all have of of, You know, applesauce as a child, and, you know, it's MOTS. You know? There there's there's a monopoly controlling the lion's share of this market, and it may surprise folks. It it surprised me. You know, I was Learning about The space, in preparation for The. You know, applesauce is a $1,000,000,000 market.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:11:54]: It is a $1,000,000,000 market. Correct.

Jeffrey Stern [00:11:55]: So so how how do you prevent the feeling of Deterrence, you know, just by the sheer scare of what the scale of what you're going

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:12:03]: up is. That's a great question. I'd say I saw it as an opportunity. When I first developed this concept, I wanted to create an apple sauce for kids made by actual kids. So I said that's gonna be my position, my my gimmick that you could Lay. As things developed, I realized there was a lot of white space and opportunity. Mods couldn't do certain things. They're actually owned by Doctor Pepper Snapple.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:12:23]: Another big player is GoGo Squeeze. They're owned by Stern, a French company. They had limitations. They they had, you know, their own values with their brand, and they said we can't do these flavors. We're gonna be very heavy focused on kids. And I saw adults love apple sauce. And and there was this whole thing that was going in my mind, childhood favorites all grown up. So I say, how can we really encompass that and grow on that? So now we're looking at flavor profiles like pomegranate acai.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:12:50]: How do we introduce flavors that you typically don't see in apple sauce in components. So, again, I saw it as an advantage. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:12:57]: Yeah. No. I love that. The, Really, the the opportunity from it being overlooked as

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:13:02]: a Right.

Jeffrey Stern [00:13:02]: As a space for innovation.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:13:04]: And if you look at other categories, they've already done it. Ice cream, you know, condiments, all these different, you know, innovations that have come out of that. They have not done that with apple sauce. It's just been flat.

Jeffrey Stern [00:13:14]: Yeah. Well, why, why do you think that's been the case? And and maybe just, You know, with that kinda set the the landscape for, you know, the history of apple sauce. You know, where where is this as a as a market?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:13:26]: I would say that, historically, 80% of the spend is parents. You know, they're buying it for their families, so, you know, people don't wanna overcomplicate it. And I've done a lot of data with parents, with our consumers, and what they say is, hey. I wanna make sure that this is app this apple sauce is healthy for my kid. I don't feel guilty feeding it to them. And then number 2, if I feed it to The, are they gonna continue eating it? Or am I gonna waste my money? And so those 2, 3 things as well as no added sugar, I think those come in the minds of the parents. So I think It's just kinda taking a step further and saying, Lay. We're already you know, we like having fruits and vegetables on the go.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:13:58]: We already maybe do rock climbing. How can we look at apple sauce as that product as well.

Jeffrey Stern [00:14:04]: From from soup to nuts Mhmm. Or or maybe that's not maybe, you know, from tree to To applesauce. Sure. I like that fine. What what is the the process look like, and and how has that evolved as the business has evolved?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:14:17]: So initially, we would actually source all of our apples from local orchards here in Ohio. We get these 600 pound wooden bins of apples, typically golden delicious. From there, we're washing the fruit. We're peeling it, coring it, slicing it with automatic equipment, then it's going to another water bath just to make sure there's no particulates, no seeds, stems, and then we're putting it in a steam jacketed kettle. We're typically cooking. It could be about 200 gallons at time, sometimes a little less depending on the batch size. And then from there, we're adding pears, cooking down an apple cider, and any additional ingredients, you know, with that. We've now grown to using a contract manufacturer.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:14:55]: There is no heated process. It's all through pressure. So it's like a pressurized system. So no more stove tops or any of that, and that's what we're doing now with our current manufacturer. Yep.

Jeffrey Stern [00:15:05]: Got it.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:15:06]: And The, I guess, originally, we were on a stovetop in My mom's kitchen. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:15:09]: Yeah. I imagine it it had evolved from, you know, The homegrown process.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:15:14]: Very, hands on process over the last 8 years to now. It's Just, they do everything in, like, 2 days, you know, and that's 38, 40 palettes just in 2 day, you know.

Jeffrey Stern [00:15:23]: So so take us through the the evolution of the company.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:15:26]: So I'd say early days, you know, I started The company. Well, let's say we Stern the market officially in 2015, got our in with Heinen's in 2014, started seeing The product on shelf beginning of 2015, and then got that credibility with the Giant Eagles that grew to Kroger. We then went through the Chobani Incubator, which allowed us to raise some capital, some other accelerators such as SKU Land Coca Cola, Land Atlanta. All of that basically put us on this trajectory where we're able to start raising capital. Over the last, let's say, 3 years, we're able to raise nearly $1,000,000 just, by the end of 2022, and that allowed us to make a pivot. And and I think that's a very important word. It's just we looked at the company and said we have limitations with capacity. We're not that competitive compared to most of the players.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:16:12]: So how can we rebrand, restart as well as find a new manufacturing partner, that meets all of our capabilities? So That was kind of of last, I'd say, 3 year period. Now today, we're at Walmart. So, definitely, we have one of the largest retailers. We're Speaking of sprouts, Land then we have a line review with Target next month as well. So really trying to grow the brand, and we see a lot of opportunity.

Jeffrey Stern [00:16:34]: With the involvement in in incubators, the the rebrand, the the raising of capital Mhmm. I imagine, you know, you've gone through Dozens and dozens of of pitches, you know, as part of that process. Correct. What does that pitch sound like? You know, what what what is the the vision of the future that that you have been painting with this Change in directions.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:16:54]: So, yeah, just of speak on how that pitches. You know, we've taken away the apple sauce from Holmes mouth watering apple sauce, and now the brand is just Holmes mouth watering. We're focused on creating this lifestyle brand that can introduce more products in other categories. We're really focused on home style inspired, and really showing elevate it'll elevated versions of the norm, essentially, and that could be apple sauce, looking at maybe fruit juice, fruit snacks. So that's typically our pitch far as, like, our our plan.

Jeffrey Stern [00:17:21]: If if you are Successful Mhmm. In The way that you envision success. And, you know, we could talk about what that means and and the impact you wanna have. What does home's mouth watering, you know, look like?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:17:32]: Yeah. Duffy, well, we like to be, I guess, a brand that's known in your home, you know, household name. We'd like to again develop other products Land other similar categories, create change in our community. We're really focused on youth entrepreneurship as well as feeding, you know, those that are hungry and Land underserved communities. So I'd say that's the future. Creating opportunities for our employees, stakeholders, partners, and really, again, just changing the world 1 apple at a time. So

Jeffrey Stern [00:17:59]: So I wanna unpack a little bit this this concept of a a sleepy category Yep. And what that what that means and and how you've approached it strategically. Mhmm.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:18:08]: So the sleepy category, essentially, it's been flat. There's not been any innovation or opportunity for decades, specifically apple sauce. If you go to any shelf in America, you're gonna see your same colors, your yellows, your your greens, your purples, and that's typically your go go squeezes, your mods, and they have their own wall. So there's been no players that have been able to kinda break into that category and create that of, so that's where that sleepy term comes from. Yep.

Jeffrey Stern [00:18:35]: What has, the reception been? You know, you you you a lot of people have have have had your applesauce at this point. And,

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:18:43]: Yeah. So what we've heard, number 1, is this is the best tasting apple sauce we've ever had. And so we're we're really leaning into that Land of like, How can we make people understand or taste the difference, through our flavor profile, through our Lay? Innovation, so a lot of Consumers have said, hey. We really like that you have this apple pie cinnamon. I've never seen this before in an apple sauce. So we really wanna lean into how are we naming our flavors. How are we looking at that r and d? Can we add energy to apple sauce? Is there any any other components or nutrients that we can bring to the space? So

Jeffrey Stern [00:19:14]: So you had mentioned at The onset, you know, the the the relentless persistence that was required to really break into To Heinen's, just a constant, you know, stream of of of calling and following up. When you hear a brand, you know, Breaks into a a distribution channel like a Walmart. Right. You know, one of these enormous stores. It feels a little bit like an opaque Black box of, you know, how that actually works. And so having gone through it, I of to understand Yeah.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:19:42]: How that process work. Okay. So a lot of persistence again. I'd say you really wanna be, I guess, opportunistic. One of the, I guess, things that came across my desk was, the Walmart open call event. So for those that are not familiar with the Walmart open call, you're able to apply via Arrange Me. You guys can do that next next July. From there, they'll choose you by October for a 1 on 1 meeting.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:20:06]: If chosen, then you get a chance to pitch to that buyer for entry into the the retailer. We did that actually at the end of 2020, And so we actually got The approval by, I believe, beginning of 2021. Hey. We'll put you in about 300 doors in Walmart. We said, You know what? Let's pause on that. We're working on a rebrand. We're working on a new contract manufacturer. We wanna be well positioned so we can meet that demand.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:20:29]: And so fast forward, as of last month, we were able to get on the shelves. Very tough process in terms of onboarding, dealing with their back end, which is a a program called retail link. And The just, you know, being able to say, okay. How do we manage this store going forward support it? Not a lot of communications, you know, with your buyers. It's not like other stores where you can just email or call them. So but either either way, it's been very successful, and We're very happy with it. Sales have definitely been growing.

Jeffrey Stern [00:20:56]: So I think we've we've touched on this idea a little bit naturally over the things we talked about so far, but that, You know, what got you here won't get you there. Right. And this constant, you know, need to, you know, reorient, change direction.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:21:10]: You have to. Yep. Very important.

Jeffrey Stern [00:21:12]: How have you thought about, you know, that concept Land and what the, you know, what the organization itself looks like today?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:21:20]: I'd say where we're at now is we're kind of going to our growth Stern, you know. We have this new product line. We don't have to invest a lot of our dollars or time into developing new skews. We're really just trying to say, okay, what is the best channel for us? Next month, we'll be at the amusement park, food and concession show. Just last week, we got approval, by the Cleveland Guardians to sell at the stadium. So we're saying, Lay, can we grow in food service? Then looking at our team, our organizational structure, we've been outsourcing quite a bit, working with brokers. It's time to start hiring. You know what I mean? Internally, what positions are key for us? And then we're also raising capital.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:21:56]: So how much cash do we really need? We're being been very conservative, but Our phase 2 plan, which is coming up for 2024, we're really gonna be a lot more aggressive. That's like our plan and how we we're looking at the company.

Jeffrey Stern [00:22:09]: Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Pulling on that that thread a little bit. Mhmm. Are there any learnings that you've had in terms of things that you used to believe Mhmm. Or assumptions that you had about The space that you have learned through experience Mhmm. You know, maybe wasn't the case.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:22:23]: I'd say one thing I learned, you know, keep it simple, is that it's not as easy as I thought. Know what I mean? And I know everybody can say that and feels that experience, but, I thought you could just put the product on the shelf, do some demonstrations, and From there, you'd see the movement Land everybody's gonna be happy. But I started learning about this term velocity and units per store per week and understanding, okay, that's based on the number of doors you have. And even if you are selling very well in a certain amount of doors, if you're not selling in 70% of them, you know, that same input or or output, then ultimately, you know, you're not doing well, you may get kicked out of that store. So looking at things more strategically, analytically, investing in data, I think that's a big thing that I've learned, and that is not just a, Lay. You got the Stern. You're you're good to go. You're a millionaire.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:23:08]: You actually have to put that work and time in.

Jeffrey Stern [00:23:10]: Yeah.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:23:10]: I think a lot of Lay of entrepreneurs don't get that.

Jeffrey Stern [00:23:13]: Yeah. It it is not

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:23:14]: as easy. Northeast. Exactly. Yep. It's it's like a stage, but from there, you still have to perform. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Otherwise, The you know, they'll boo you.

Jeffrey Stern [00:23:23]: What, you know, as as part of this journey have been the biggest Mhmm. Adversities that that you've overcome?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:23:30]: That's a great question. I'd say number 1, finances. Just, you know, being young, I didn't have much of a credit score. Nobody in my family had ever started a business. So or and I didn't have a lot of, friend and family, like, fun support. So I had to really, bootstrap, know what I mean? And utilize resources around me, as well as just get the word out. So, I did a lot of PR early on that build credibility. Heinen's and Giant Eagle, we're able to leverage those to start raising our 1st 6 figure investment.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:23:59]: So, I think that that's definitely a big thing. And then being a young entrepreneur, I'm also minority, so, you know, I always had that chip on my shoulder when I walk in the room. Here's a minority young entrepreneur. He's young. I don't know if we're gonna respect him. So I usually have to make sure I'm working 2, 3 times harder than the next person, if that makes sense.

Jeffrey Stern [00:24:17]: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And with that, What is it meant to build this company in Cleveland? You know, you mentioned Central Kitchen. You know, we were talking about LaunchHouse before, but Talk talk a little about the the support structure and and and what it was like to to build and grow it here.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:24:34]: Definitely. So I I live and breathe Cleveland. I love Cleveland, I think it's very unique city compared to many in the United States just where you can always expect something going on in terms of that normalization, like, There's nothing crazy. The traffic is always the same pattern. You know what I mean? I feel like it's it's just something comfortable. And for me, it's a attainable market. So I think that's the number one thing I wanna get across. Cleveland is an obtainable market.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:24:58]: For us, we were able to build a following there. There's, very unique retailers like Heinen's and Giant Eagle, Mark's, Dave's. They don't exist in other places. You have those large monopolies like Walmart, Kroger, that that's it. So, I think Cleveland a great place for entrepreneurship, specifically also the ecosystems. You have supporters like Cozy, Jumpstart, Urban League of Greater Cleveland Small Business Development Center. So all of The, resources I've been able to utilize to help grow my company, and I'm happy to continue, you know, headquarter our business here in the future. So

Jeffrey Stern [00:25:30]: Are there pieces of this story that that I haven't talked about that you would like

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:25:33]: I'd say social enter social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, just, you know, that's a big part of our, you know,

Jeffrey Stern [00:25:39]: our focus. Well, yeah. And I know you do a lot of work through the the homes, Entrepreneur initiative. I of the idea of learning from what other people have already figured out. Mhmm. That's really, In in my opinion, Land of the whole exercise of of what this podcast is about in a lot of ways Land inspiring the next generation. And so I love what you're doing, you know, finding local students, and and showing them the opportunity to learn about what it is to start a company and Thank you. And entrepreneurship Land, you know, even Stern some money doing it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:26:09]: But, Avian, take us through the Yeah.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:26:10]: Definitely. I'll speak on that quickly. It started off actually 2014 as a partnership with Youth Opportunities Unlimited right here in Cleveland. They said, hey. We have about 10 students. They wanna come into your kitchen and make apple sauce with you. You know, it'd be a The time thing. We're paying them a little stipend.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:26:27]: I said, okay. That's not a problem. And from there, the kids loved it. You know, it's very simple for them to peel the apples to label the product. And many of them grew up in kind of inner city, neighborhoods, and they didn't you know, maybe it wasn't the best, you know, home situation, so they liked going to the kitchen. So it kinda became a regular process where now we had a group, or 2 going every weekend getting paid this stipend. Eventually, that became too much, you know, as we grew the business. So we said, let's put these students in grocery stores.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:26:54]: And so we were one of the 1st brands to ever be able to go to Whole Foods, Giant Eagle, Kroger, and say, hey, we wanna put students in your stores on a Saturday or Sunday. We are able to pay them a stipend through, youth opportunities unlimited, and they're able to sell our product and learn customer service, and some important, you know, skills. From there, we've really grown into workshops, virtually and in person. Just last week, we did a presentation for about a 120 Kentucky students, in a high school. We're gonna in PA going on in about 2 weeks Land then doing another presentation in October in Iowa. So we're all over the United States feeding these kids applesauce, teaching them entrepreneurship. And going forward, we wanna create a curriculum, where actually the teachers and educators can teach the to the students.

Jeffrey Stern [00:27:41]: That's amazing.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:27:42]: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:27:44]: Well, you know, as you reflect on just the whole, company building exercise, what do you feel were the Kinda biggest mistakes you made along the Lay.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:27:54]: And and

Jeffrey Stern [00:27:55]: what and what have you you taken from those?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:27:57]: I don't really look at mistakes as, like, True mistakes, I look at them as learning opportunities. If I could go back and change anything, I don't think I would change anything just because I it just wasn't the right time for me in my Lay an entrepreneur, maybe I didn't know enough. Maybe I needed to go through that failure. If I could go back and change things, I think I would innovate. I well, I would have started off with something that was more competitive as a brand. I think we we start off very artisan, local feel, and then build up of to where we are today. We're now we're we have the capacity to, you know, do $1,000,000 plus, but Back then, I think we waste a lot of time and resources just kinda building up to that platform. If I would have known everything thing I learned in that process, then I would have saved 8 years, 10 years, you know what I mean, and a lot of capital.

Jeffrey Stern [00:28:43]: How do you think about brand and and what what that even is?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:28:47]: The brand itself, I'd say it's a representation of me, my story, the products, but we really want the product to stand on its own. We wanted the theme to be Holmes apple sauce of how I came up with the company, but, we wanted the product for people to love it. They, you know, for the the 3 pillars to be family, community, as well as quality. So we really want that to come across.

Jeffrey Stern [00:29:10]: Take us through, you know, the the packaging and The evolution of that?

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:29:14]: Yeah. So what we did was, we worked with a company based out of Boulder, Colorado called Moxie Sozo. They've worked with a lot of large CPG brands such as, like, Angry Orchards. We spend really about almost 2 years working with them. Number 1 was on the brand strategy itself. How does home's mouth watering, walk, talk, you know, how do we want consumers to feel when they look or taste our Land? From there, we had to focus on the visuals. We went through about 10 to 12 different revisions, on that packaging with the pouches and the boxes itself. By the end of it, we had created 6 Stern, and we're able to again officially launch by, you know, August.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:29:51]: So expensive process cost us about $100,000, which is Pretty inexpensive compared to some other, you know, projects that they've worked on, but, very excited to work with them again in the future. So Yeah. We love it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:30:03]: Well, I think, you know, we have we have covered a lot of ground here.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:30:06]: Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:30:06]: I I do wanna leave a little space. You know, if you feel that there is anything important about Your journey personally, home is mouth watering as a as a company that that we haven't talked about yet.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:30:17]: I guess we're currently sold at Walmart throughout All of Ohio locations for those that are in Northeast Ohio. You can also buy our product on our website and get free shipping. We're looking forward to really growing into more entities throughout Cleveland Land The United States, and look out for us, you know, in the future just as we continue, you know, changing the world 1 app at a time.

Jeffrey Stern [00:30:37]: Well, I'll, we'll close with our our traditional closing question then, which is, for a hidden gem in Cleveland.

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:30:45]: Let's say Shaker Horseshoe Lake. I love going there. It's beautiful. Great park. I have a 3 year old now. I'm named Oliver, and then I just I had a 3 month old named Ayla. So me and my spouse love taking her there in The stroller. So definitely recommend it to anyone in Northeast Ohio.

Jeffrey Stern [00:31:01]: Well, Ian, I just wanna thank you for coming on, for sharing

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:31:04]: your story. For having me, Jeremy. Appreciate it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:31:06]: If, if folks had anything that They wanted to follow-up with you about what would be the best

Ethan Holmes (Holmes Mouthwatering) [00:31:11]: way for them to do that. So you can contact me at ethan@holmesapplesauce.com, or you can visit us on the web at ohmsmouthwatering.com. Perfect. Thank you.

Jeffrey Stern [00:31:24]: We'd love to hear your thoughts on today's show. So if you have any feedback, please send over an email to Jeffrey Of find us on Twitter at Lay of the land or at Stern, j e f e. If you or someone you know would make a good guest for our show, please reach out as well Land let Snow. And if you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review on iTunes or on your preferred podcast player. Your support goes a long way to help us Spread the word Land continue to bring the Cleveland founders and builders we love having on the show. We'll be back here next week at the same time to map more of the land. The Lay of the Land Northeast was Developed in collaboration with The UP Company LLC. At the time of this recording, unless otherwise indicated, we do not own Equity or other financial interests in the company which appear on the show.

Jeffrey Stern [00:32:12]: All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own and do not reflect The of any entity which employs us. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for