Jennifer’s Homemade, Taste the Love: Jennifer Behar describes the long road bringing a product from her home kitchen to selling in major stores throughout the U.S. And she gives tips for anyone wanting to do the same. Jacqueline Coleman talks Italian wines from the Alto Adige.
Food, News & Views with Linda Gassenheimer
Food, News & Views, Ep 227: From Home Kitchen to Stores, Jennifer's Homemade, Italian Wines, Alto Adige
(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Linda Gassenheimer, and welcome to Food News and Views. Glad to have you joining us? Was starting a new business from scratch? Have you ever thought about starting when yourself? Or in general, what's involved? Well, Jennifer Behar is the owner of the very successful Jennifer's homemade Taste the Love. Well, she made breadsticks for dinner parties, and everyone told her she said to sell them, but it's a long road from the home kitchen to selling in major stores throughout the US. And she has a fascinating story, and she's also gonna give us some tips for anyone wanting to start their own business. So welcome, Jennifer. - Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here. - Well, I'm just fascinated by all you've done. First of all, congratulations on Jennifer's homemade Taste the Love. Well, I love that you taste the love. It's a wonderful addition to the name. Well, tell us about the concept. - So, well, like you mentioned, I made breadsticks for dinner parties, and friends told me I should sell them. And the, I loved to bake and would bake with my daughter and was trying to figure out my life after I got divorced. And I had this epiphany that I could do this, and I started, drove myself to the grocery store, started baking and went to a small chain of stores and made my first sale, and that was really the beginning. - And so you made your first sale from your home? - Yes. - That must have been a very busy kitchen. How many of you think you would have seen before? - It was a little crazy. I would tuck my daughter in bed, bake all night, take her to school, start all over again, deliver kind of, but I really got out of my house very quickly. Like I realized I couldn't handle it. - Well, I mean, that's amazing. So you had a lot going on, you had a house to take care of, you have a child to take care, and you're building this business from scratch. - But tell us whether the products you were making. - So I make breadsticks and flappered. Right now it's breadsticks and flappered in original Rosemary and salt and pepper. - I flappered, I call them almost, they're almost crackers. - Yeah, they're essentially just like a high end cracker, exactly. - Right. - Yeah. - And so, well, that's amazing that you're making the crackers out of your kitchen and all. So you've told us how you started, you've told us why. But it's one thing to bake for a few friends and it's another to scale up. Did you know anything about baking on a big scale? - Not at all. I didn't even really know, I mean, I'm really self-taught. I'm not a professional chef. I just love to bake and so really had no idea. And I think, I always say this is like the most expensive MBA. I've learned everything by making every mistake. I just trial and error as how I kind of created the recipe. And then as I scaled, as I got into commercial kitchens and massive ovens, I had to play around with the recipe to make it work. - Okay, so there's a couple of points here I like to bring up. When you said expensive MBA, you actually had a business, you were working in the business world, weren't you before this? - Yeah, I have an advertising and marketing background. I started in New York City. I was doing Johnson's Baby Shampoo and active contact lenses. And I really thought that's what I would be doing for the rest of my life. And I moved to Florida for my husband's family business and advertising just wasn't really the same here. So I was a little bit lost. And in the interim, I actually had a small stationary business while I was married. And then I wanted everyone to hear this. In the interim, she moved to a new city. She had a child, she had a job. And then in the interim, she had another job. And even though I think the marketing part of it probably really helps you to understand marketing. - Absolutely, even though now the marketing game is such a different world. It's so amazing with social media and all of that. It's a whole different animal. But the marketing mind is the marketing mind for sure. - Well, so you mentioned that you had a lot of challenges that you had to overcome. What were some of them and how did you overcome them? - I think for me, I have like a, I never take no for an answer, no is maybe. So I have a lot of drive. I'm always kind of dressed, pushing. And so that is one, I think I'm super resilient and always kind of pushing to figure it out. Like if I can't figure something out, I'll find a way. I'll talk to people with the recipe. It was a lot of trial and error with packaging and things that I didn't know about like nutrition facts. And I just kind of dug in and figured it out. - I think that's another point that we don't think about. It's not just making the product. You have to have it packaged, then you have to submit the government guidelines for packaging and all, I mean, that's a huge amount. And you know, we're, okay. So now you had to build a packaging. You told me left from your home and you went into a major factory, which you owned and you built. Where did you get the money for this? How did you finance it? - So I mortgaged my house. - Emma. - It takes a lot of guts to do that. - I definitely, you know, kind of jumped all in and was very like, felt like I'm gonna do this. And yeah, it was risky and a little scary, but I kind of just jumped in. Like I said, and didn't really look back. - Well, you must have had a problem with the banks then. - Since, well, it was so early on. Ultimately, I did, you know, I got some credit lines and, you know, was able to kind of grow that way, but I still am self-funded. It's something that I'm talking about now. Like I'm still bootstrapped and trying to figure it out and grow. And now, you know, I'm considering getting an outside investment because to really grow in scale, I think I need help to really do that. - Well, when you're talking about growing scale, I mean, you've already grown in scale. You're in major supermarkets. You mentioned to me that you're in Whole Foods, is that right? - In Whole Foods nationwide. - Nationwide. Now that's a big deal because normally Whole Foods will let you into one section or something like that. But nationwide, that's really a big deal. - Well, we started in Florida. I started early on years ago in Florida and then went to the Northeast, the New York area and grew there and kind of grew throughout the country. And then recently was able to go nationwide. So it has been, you know, a slow trajectory as far as Whole Foods, but some of the other retailers will just bring you in and you're in. So, yeah. So we have grown, we've grown a lot, but I think, you know, the next level, the next jump, always thinking to the next level, never resting on the level you're at. All right. So now you say your goods are made from scratch with olive oil and they're vegan. - Yes. - Why did you decide to take this healthful route? That's not an easy thing to do. - I've always been passionate about food. I've always loved to cook. And I feel like what you put in your body is so important. So I was, it was very important to me and it's been very important to me as I've grown to not sacrifice the quality and the quality ingredients. So I use only extra virgin olive oil, no seed oils. That's come up over the years. You know, people suggested I use less expensive oils, but I'm like, I wouldn't want to eat it, so I don't want to do that. - Well, but that's really difficult because that's a lot of money. - Yeah. - When we're not talking about a bottle of oil, olive oil, we're talking about enormous value. - A lot of it, yes. It is expensive and it's been a challenge, but I think that's a part of what makes us unique. I think one of the reasons I've been able to grow is people try the product and they love it. And we make it with an Italian biga, which is like the Italian version of a sourdough. So it has a tang and a bite that's kind of special and unique. And we use diamond crystal kosher salt as we finish it. So it has all the good stuff. - And when you're talking about biga, people need to understand that you're not just putting something together. - You're making the bread dough from scratch. - We are, absolutely. - We don't. - We don't. - Absolutely. Everything that goes together. - Yes, it's five ingredients. It's super clean. It's extra virgin olive oil. It's diamond crystal kosher salt. Yeah, it's, you know, all things that you would see in your own home kitchen. - Okay. And then what advice would you give to other people who maybe don't have the kind of background or drive that you have but really want to start something? - I mean, I think it's just start. I think a lot of people I hear try to build a business plan and I'm not saying don't do that, but or plan so much that you get stuck in the planning. I think sometimes you just gotta take a leap. It's never gonna be perfect. It's still not perfect. You got it, you know, it's just, if you believe in yourself and you have a great product, just go. - And is your daughter helping you now that she helped you in the kitchen? - So now my daughter's grown and she is on her own path. She's doing research. So she's not working with me. I've always encouraged her to follow her passion like I followed mine. - All right. And that's an important point I think for everyone. I always say, if you have a passion for what you're doing, you'll be a success because you want to. It's not a job. It's something you enjoy. - Exactly. - Is that what you're doing? - It's so hard. Starting a business and running a business, it's hard. I always say it's not for the pain of heart. So you gotta love it. And I see a lot of people who go into family business or do a job because their parents wanted them to and they're not happy. And for my daughter, I wanted her to be happy. And so I wanted her to follow her passion. So that was really important to me to, you know, be open to it, but not force it. - And I think that's good advice for everyone because we all have ideas of what our children should be doing. - Right. - They have to have their idea of what they should be doing. And we just have to stand around and help them do it. - Exactly. And sometimes that's not so easy, but I think it's, you know, the best gift we can give to our kids is giving them freedom. - All right. Just one more quick question here before we wrap it up. You call it Jennifer's homemade Taste the Love. Now, how did that come in that taste? - So Jennifer's homemade is the company name. Taste the Love is our tagline. It's on the top of every box. And to me, I really, it's something that we've always kind of had as a part of the business. And then I trademarked it and felt like it's not just a tagline for me. It's really the core business philosophy. And I really believe if you love what you do and you share that and you surround yourself with people who love what they do, people can taste that in the products. - And that a good point too. Surround yourself with people who love what you're doing and want it to be a success, because that's important to have the people you're working with or working for you who want it. - Yeah. - Okay. Well, so then tell me, how can we find out more about your product? - So Jennifer's homemade.com, we're on all the social media, Instagram, Jennifer's Homemade. And as far as finding us, we're in Whole Foods. We're online at Jennifer's Homemade.com. We're in Kroger and here's Teeter, Albertsons. And hopefully a lot of great gourmet shops near you as well. - All right. Well, thank you so much for joining me, Jennifer Behar. And it wants more. Congratulations, Jennifer's homemade taste of love. What a great success story. - Thank you so much. - Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I've been a fan of yours for years. So it's really an honor for me to finally sit down with you and do this. - Oh, wow. That makes me feel good then. Thank you. - Yeah, absolutely. - Well, I'm Linda Kasenheimer and this is Food News and Views. Well, with me now is Somalia, Jacqueline Coleman. Hello, Jacqueline. - Island, great to be back. - Beat back is the average of words there because I can't keep up with where you are tasting mine all over the world. Where were you this time? - Well, it has been a pretty busy travel year, that's for sure. So I'm looking forward to some downtime in the next few months. But most recently, I was in the northern, northern region of Alto Adaget in Italy. So this is a region that's on the Austrian border. So in the very north of the country in the Alps. And I was drinking some very special wines in Alto Adaget. - This is an area we generally, we never hear about. I mean, you know, Tuscany or Southern wines and all. But so they have a lot of wine up in that area, isn't it a very cold area? - It is colder, but it can also be pretty hot. So the main city in the region, Balsano or Bosen in German, is one of the hotter cities in Europe or in Italy during the summer. So it can get as hot as Palermo, which is in Sicily. - Yeah. - That's pretty crazy. - Is it in a valley? I mean, why is it so? - Yes, yeah, it's a valley city. - Right, because you're almost in the Alps there. - Yeah, well, you are in the Alps. I mean, you're surrounded by mountains. And it's actually just a beautiful region. It's stunning valleys, mountains, lakes, those, you know, pure blue mountain lakes. So from just a pure beauty standpoint, this is like the region to visit. It's absolutely stunning. - Wonderful. - So not just for wine tasting, but also for vistas and hiking and all of that fun stuff too. - Okay, so you were working off the wine? Is that what it was? - Yeah, exactly. Well, we actually did do an e-bike ride, which was really interesting through the vineyards and around some little towns and stuff. And I don't know if you've ever been on an e-bike, but it basically, you know, runs for you. You pedal a little bit, but then there's an engine that kind of like kicks up. And so you can go up hills really easily, which is very convenient for a mountainous region. - Well, I haven't been on one, but it sounds like the kind of bike I'd like to have. - Yeah, exactly. Well, it's kind of neat and also out of J. So during the pandemic, you know, a lot of people were out of work and there's some ski resorts around the area. So the ski instructors partnered with the Wine Promotion Organization and they were trained to be some of the A's. So when you go skiing, you can also have this wine and ski experience. And then they extended that program to the e-bike folks. So a lot of the e-bike folks also have some certifications and they're educated in wine. So they can do these full tours where you're e-biking around these vineyards and also doing wine tasting and learning about the wine region, which I think is cool. - So only in Italy, I think. I want to get this straight. So my ski instructor could also be a sommelier. My e-bike guy could also, or women, could also be a sommelier, right? - Yes, that is absolutely right. - So if I could carry the wine on their back. - Well, actually, I didn't see that, but we did, during our ride, we did stop at a few places and taste some wine. So it was kind of like a progressive e-bike ride. Although I will say when I'm tasting the wine and riding the bike, I have to spit because I have made the mistake of trying to ride a bike after wine tasting and it is not an easy thing to do. So, yeah, make sure. - Yeah, I just still care. - Make sure you're still, you're spitting if you're bike riding. But now, what were you drinking? - So most of the wine in Nato Adagie is white wine. And these are gonna be fresh, crisp wines made from grapes like Riesling, Groverzherminer. There's also a white grape there called Kerner, which was new to me. This is a hybrid of Skiava, which is one of the red grapes in the region, a native grape to that area, and Riesling. So, you know, it's kind of a dry, it has a salty, minerality finish to it. And it's a fresh white wine that I'd actually like to look more for here in the U.S. And they do export a lot of these wines. So... - Now I said, what was it? What do we look for on the bone? - Kerner, K-E-R-N-E-R. So that's the name of this hybrid grape. - Yeah. - Yeah, super interesting. But then they also make red wine, like Pinot Noir, and they have two native red grapes that make very interesting wines in very different styles. So one is called Skiava, and that's S-C-H-I-A-V-A. And this is a red grape that produces wines that are very light and fresh and cherry, and perfect to chill and enjoy on the patio, on a warm night. So these are gonna be lighter style wines that would be in a similar category to like Abozhele, if you wanna compare. And then you have the Lagrine wines, which is L-A-G-R-E-I-N. And Lagrine wines are going to be a little heavier in style, in texture, more structured, more of the dark fruit flavors and a darker color, a dark kind of purple red color. So these are two native grapes to the region, but producing two completely different styles of wine. - Well, that's very interesting. So these are totally new wines, things that we would never expect to find. - Well, new to us, maybe, they've been in the region for maybe even thousands of years. In fact, one of the wineries that we visited started making wine, it has been continuously making wine since it was a monastery in 1142. So I don't even know if our little American brains can process how long ago 1142 was to be continuously making a product since then, but pretty incredible. - Well, it sure is, but what I think is so interesting is that they're not well known. I mean, we know so much about Tuscan wines, but we don't know anything about these wines, it's very interesting. - Well, part of the reason is because this is less than 1% of the total Italian vineyard area. So if you think of the whole country of Italy, this is less than 1% of all of those vineyards. So it is a small region. So there is, just by virtue of it being smaller, there's less production and less export. These wines also, because of the influence of the Austrian influence, the Germanic influence in the area, because this area of South Tyrol, or Sud Tyrol, in German, was up until 100 years ago was part of Austria. So this is a very interesting cultural area. It's more Germanic Austrian in culture with some Italian, shall we say, flavor in the area. So most people here speak German as their first language, and then Italian as their second language. - But that's very interesting, because it's been part of Italy for centuries. I mean, that there's still such a huge Germanic influence there. - Yeah, I mean, well, those were historically the people who lived in this area. So generationally speaking, a lot of these people have been five, six generations in the area, and of course that goes back to their Germanic origins. And the region of Tyrol and Austria, this is called South Tyrol. So a lot of these people, they consider themselves South Tyrolian, as opposed to Italian or Austrian or anything else, they are from this very, very unique region in the world that is kind of a hybrid between these two countries. - Well, this sounds so very, very interesting, just to recap a little bit. What are the lines we should look for here that come from that area? - Yeah, so I think probably some of the more common grapes that you'll see is the Riesling's Sauvignon Blanc, which usually says Sauvignon on the label. So it may just say Sauvignon, not Sauvignon Blanc. Pino Bianco, which of course is Pino Blanc in France and other areas. So very similar to that. The Skiava red wine, you will see, there's not a lot of it in the market, but I have seen it on shelves. And Pinot Noir from the red wines. There's 20 different grape varieties that grow in this area, but I think these are the more Chardonnay, also is another one that you may see. So really those crisp white wines, and the style is very, it's my style of wine, if I can say it that way, because it's fresh. They don't use a lot of oak, there's some oak influence in some of these wines, but most of the wineries we visited talked about using older barrels or bigger barrels. So there's less of those spicy notes, and the oak is more just a technique, a winemaking technique, to add a little bit of extra structure to the wine. So these are gonna be light, refreshing white wines, and even the red wines too. - Great, so tell us, where can we find out more about what you're doing, or if we have a question for you? - Sure, well, and I posted a lot of pictures from this trip, and also created a highlight on my Instagram, in case folks wanna go back and kind of review some of the places that we visited. But my Instagram is @historyandwine, historyandwine. And if you wanna learn more about the Adagie wines, as well, the Instagram for that is @outoadagie wines. So that'll give you a little bit more of a context of this region, and how beautiful it is, and what kind of grapes you can expect to find there. - Well, fascinating. I'm glad you got back on the e-back, but that's safely back on the gas ice. And I know you didn't go skiing this time, no, no, no. But anyway, always fascinating information. So I'm so glad you're traveling, 'cause I get to learn about what's happening in the world of wine. - All right. - Yeah. So Jacqueline Coleman, thank you so much for joining me. - Thanks, Linda. - And I'm Linda Gassenheimer, and this is Food News and Foodies. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)