Happy 2nd Birthday TTNJ

10 things we did in our second year of business...

1) Cooked a lot more hot sauce

We hope to keep growing these numbers but not at the sacrifice of quality or integrity. Our production process is still heavily human labour intensive, and we reckon that's what makes each batch have it's own special characteristics and nuances. A reminder that this really is a small batch, premium product.

2) Did a lot of markets

We hit the pavement hard within the Sea-to-Sky and Vancouver Farmers Markets. Our goal was to get the product out and sampled by as many people as possible, while seeking feedback and refining the product as we went along. We ran multiple market locations every Saturday and Sunday to help us collect this data. Farmers markets are awesome during product development phase, because not only are you getting the direct feedback of customers, but there is wonderful synergy amongst vendors who exchange tips, resources and share knowledge about what works and doesn't work. A great space for entrepreneurs to connect and learn from one another. Farmer's Markets are also a great way for us as a business to participate in shaping and learning more about the local food systems within our region.

3) Built partnerships with local farmers that grew most of our ingredients

This was a really important step for us for a variety of reasons. Primarily around creating an honest product that derives its flavour from all natural sources, and we're super proud that we were able to begin forging some great partnerships with local growers. We had specific crops grown for us by local farms, such as Seed to Culture, and developed limited release seasonal flavours from items like blueberries sourced from Mandair Farms. We tried to make sure that the rest of our conventional ingredients were coming from BC/California as much as possible. One of the only ingredients that we continue to have to source from Costa Rica is pineapples. This one is a tricky one to fill from the local supply chain.

4) Developed new flavours

We introduced four new flavours last year. Burnt Orange, Spiced Herbs, Carrot and Blueberry.

Part of the beauty of building out these partnerships with local growers, is that it allowed us a to have a better understanding of seasonal crops. We set out with the intention of creating new flavours that ticked off a few boxes - unique flavour profile, heat scale variety, batched and bottled when those crops were peaking (as in the case of blueberries, when they were their sweetest).

 

5) Watched the seasons change alongside our business

Starting a new business from nothing, as in no investors, no capital infrastructure, just your ideas and the self determination process to see them through is much like the seasonal process the natural world around us undergoes. There will be a time when you get a bumper crop, bluebird days, the rivers and streams are flowing at healthy capacity, then there will be periods of drought, the quiet of cold, and your resilience and ability to maintain integrity, while seeing through these challenging moments become the very process by which a business controls it's own existence. Without getting in to the psychological framework of entrepreneurship, we at TTNJ lean very heavily on the natural landscape around us here in Squamish, as inspiration and reminder that just because we've taken products to market doesn't mean we have to huck it hard. We deliberately set our measure of success in a different kind of framework, because we see them as more valuable indicators to a healthy society.

What does this look like? This is a much slower approach than most Consumer Packaged Good products traditionally take. This influences our decisions around things like our supply chain, where we try and source our ingredients as local as possible, because the alternative poses a greater cost to society and isn't worth the profit margin. It also means that our Profit and Loss statements don't just include the $ figure, but also the hours we get to spend together as a family. This means we actively pump the breaks so that we can balance all of this. Recognizing that there is no end point, the journey is continuously happening.

 

6) Started building out some retailer channels

This has been a very exciting part of the last year. Taking our little idea and plugging it on to grocery shelves. We've partnered up with some awesome retailers that believe in supporting locally made products. Each one of them have unique stories and we encourage you to check out their offerings.

 

7) Did a lot of demos

And they were A LOT of fun. Seeing the level of stoke the general public has for supporting locally made products was a definite highlight for us last year. These demos are the perfect way for customers to sample the different flavours and see which ones work for them.

 

8) Launched a recipes series

Showing our customers how to use our different hot sauce flavours to compliment different meals. These recipes are really designed as easy, wholesome and healthy options that encourage folks to get in the kitchen and have some fun playing around with different flavours. Hot sauce definitely doesn't need to be all about the heat, in fact, we're a flavour forward brand and these recipes allow us to share all of the versatile ways hot sauce can be used in the culinary sphere.

 

9) Learned. A LOT

About what to do. What not to do. How to constantly improve our game, listen and learn. These pictures are a very small sample set of what happened in this category.

 

10) Played. After all, that is what TTNJ is all about. The journey, not the destination

We can't have a brand that advocates for living simple, making time, eating well and adventuring if we didn't do those things ourselves. It just doesn't feel right. So we focused on that. We made time to take our kids on camp trips, get in as much biking, hiking, snowboarding and adventuring as we could. Sometimes this isn't easy, especially when time is tight or finances are stretched, but there's always ways to get creative. The more we do it, the better we get at it and the better we are for doing it.

 

Thank you for being a part of our journey

We have nothing but gratitude for our second year of business. In a time where economic pressures come to the forefront of everyone's decision making, both as individuals and businesses alike, we witnessed support in a way that gives us hope and excitement for the future. This, we reckon, means something. That perhaps people want a change. Products they can trust and business models that stand up for something other than profit margins. We're here for it.

To the next journey!