Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mike Hernandez, co-founder of Casa M Spice Co®, located in Lewisville, TX, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Casa M Spice Co® is The Essence of Flavor®. We make artisan, low-sodium, bold-flavor spice blends that allow our customers to Spice Confidently® knowing they can use as much or as little as they would like and never risk over-salting their food. Casa M Spice Co® makes it easy for our customers to plate delicious food and do Chemistry in the Kitchen®!
Tell us about yourself
The company came about as a result of many years of entertaining at the house and having guests corner Manny as they were leaving, asking him, "What did Mike use on this dish?… Will he give me the recipe?" In the end, Manny got tired of selling dime bags of Chain Reaction® out of the kitchen and said, "you should just design a label, put it in a shaker, and make it legit!" So we did. When I graduated from high school, my advisors thought I was nuts because I told them I knew I either wanted to go to Tulane and blow stuff up with a laser or to the CIA and become a chef. Back then, there wasn't a clear correlation between the two. Now, in the post-modernist movement, it's clear that it's always been either Chemistry in a Lab or Chemistry in the Kitchen® for a long time for me, and they were one and the same. Chain Reaction® is our flagship product and our Season-All. Quite literally good on everything!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
The biggest driver and excitement that Manny and I share with respect to building the business is the people. From our team to our customers, it's all about hospitality and a return to civility to us. To put that commitment into words, we developed a Brand Manifesto that outlines our brand beliefs.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
I have always thought of the business as a "second family" from several different perspectives. Finding the right match for the family is critical to keeping the team cohesive. At the same time, it's a huge responsibility as a business owner to make sure you take care of your employees and, particularly as a small business, make sure that you anticipate cash flow well such that you're never at risk of losing any members of the family. It's a huge responsibility with an enormous payoff in the end. Our primary goal is to build the company and have a life-changing liquidity event for the whole team.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Tenacity, ingenuity, and resilience are critical and always have been, but in today's very anti-small-business political and policy environment, these three traits are even more important. Thick skin, hearing "no" 1,000,000 times, and finding ways to make things work become requirements once you have your own business and people who depend on your business to put food on their table for themselves and their families. Being agile and adaptable while focusing on the quality of both customer service and product quality also become KPIs that can differentiate you from your competitor and be the difference between gaining new customers and shedding them.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://casamspice.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/casamspice/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CasaMSpice/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CasaMSpice
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/casamspice/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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