Meat+Poultry - March 2023 - SUPP13

marketing muscle of the team, those rubs were
mentioned in a holiday gift segment on " Good
Morning America, " in late 2021 and The Baconer's
products were included in Chip and Joanna Gaines'
Magnolia Journal, while the premium bacon products
were recognized by Saveur magazine, Bon
Appétit magazine and other publications.
In early 2022, business was thriving and the
future was bright. Preparing to scale up production
and distribution, the company began
embarking on an equity crowdfunding campaign.
But later that year, obstacles began to multiply
at a staggering rate, and The Baconer faced its
most challenging and ultimately its final year as
a business.
Velasquez, whose primary role in the company
was in product development for The
Baconer, said there is a lot to be proud of as he
looks back at the past six-plus years since the
company was founded.
" I was and am so proud of the product line we
created and its acceptance in the market as well
as the brand and story that the entire team built
around the products, " he said.
" My first proudest moment was when the first
grocery store buyer called me and I didn't have
to go after them, " Velasquez said. " They came to
us and said 'we want to place you.' "
He was equally as proud when the company
secured the partnership with Eataly.
" It's a fabulous store that I have admired since
they first opened. I had sort of thought to myself
at various times, 'if I could ever have something
in there, wouldn't that be amazing?' " he recalled.
That dream came true when a representative
of the foodie-inspired store contacted The
Baconer team and ultimately began stocking
their products on the store's shelves.
" What I walk away with is just feeling incredibly
proud of it, " Velasquez said about the business.
" It feels like big successes. "
Elisa, whose background was in graphic
design and branding, said she looks back on the
lifespan of The Baconer with pride and realized
the sweat equity paid off.
" We built a very successful brand, " she said,
" great storytelling, great packaging, great design
and all the marketing around it that we did was
really successful; that was a big success that felt
good, and we did that really well. "
BACON BUSINESS EVOLUTION
With Dana Young working primarily in a marketing
role and in partnership with a husband-wife
duo, the team maintained positive relationships
throughout the life of the business venture.
" We still like each other, we're all still talking, "
Lewis joked.
Looking back, Lewis attributes the success
of the partnership to the team's complementary
skillsets and their commitment to supporting
each other and communicating throughout the
business venture.
" We were all able to really grow in our respective
roles, " she said, " because early on I think
we developed really clear communication; really
supportive and open. We really worked on that
communication and that was one of the reasons
why we were so successful. "
We should
have paid
ourselves
from day
one. "
Camilo Velasquez
Looking back, Camilo admitted that working
as husband and wife had its inherent challenges.
" You're around each other all the time, 24
hours a day, and you can get into this sort of
whirlpool of fixating on things and you sort of
end up in a little bit of an echo chamber, " he said.
It was in those situations when having
another party weigh in was valuable. Having
worked alongside Dana at a previous job,
Velasquez respected Young's ability to provide a
different view than his.
" It was really good to have Dana as that
third voice who really thinks about things differently
and is eternally optimistic, " Velasquez
said. " When we would start to spiral, she would
say 'wait, hold on, let's look at this from another
perspective.' That changes the dynamic and it
changes the decision making and it changes how
you progress through things. That's part of why I
wanted to partner with her in the first place. "
In terms of roles, the three partners understood
that flexibility and teamwork was part
of the job and they each would occasionally
assume additional responsibilities.
" We were all aware of the fact that when you
are in a startup, you have to wear multiple hats, "
said Lewis.
As an example, she said while her primary
duties were focused on website maintenance,
branding and marketing, it wasn't unusual to
work in running the inventory system, handle
shipping duties or step in wherever needed.
BACON-PRENEURS
With no deep-pocketed investors backing the
business Velasquez and Lewis agreed that they
were more risk averse than some start-ups that
have more financial support. As a bootstrapped
food company making choices required plenty of
MEAT+POULTRY 2023 BACON TRENDS + TECHNOLOGY
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Meat+Poultry - March 2023

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