S2 Ep11: Hooch Pickles with Joseph Guynup (a.k.a Joe Kidd)

Can you imagine turning a passion for gardening into a pickle empire? Meet Joseph Guynup, better known as Joe Kidd, the creative force behind Hooch Pickles. With 15 years of pickling expertise, Joe has transformed his love for gardening into a booming business, capturing the hearts (and taste buds) of local farmer's market enthusiasts. Listen as Joe shares his captivating journey from a professional gardener to an innovative pickle entrepreneur, revealing how his dedication to fresh, heat-free preservation techniques sets Hooch Pickles apart from the competition.

Join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast as Joe Kidd delves into the trials and triumphs of launching Hooch Pickles. From navigating the complexities of refrigerated transportation to meeting the high demands of eager customers, Joe's story is one of resilience and passion. With plans on the horizon for retail and online expansion, and a staggering 85% repeat customer rate, Joe’s enthusiasm is infectious. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation about turning a beloved hobby into a thriving business, proving that with hard work and a love for what you do, success is just a crunch away!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Stacey Poehler.

Speaker 2 0:13

Hey everybody. I'm excited to be chatting with Joseph Geinup, also known as Joe Kidd. He's the owner of Hooch Pickles. Welcome, joe.

Speaker 3 0:22

Thanks, great to be here.

Speaker 2 0:23

Yeah. So why don't you start off by telling us about the business?

Speaker 3 0:27

Yes, so Hooch Pickles. I started the corporation last year. This year launched it. We've been operating for about six months now Really doing well. Every month it's just doubling in sales. Folks seem to love the pickles. It's a great product. Our repeat business is probably I'd say, about 85% Mostly farmer's markets. Right now, next week we start looking into retail as the farmer's markets come to an end and then after that we start launching our online sales.

Speaker 2 1:01

Awesome, awesome. So you know. Talk about the journey. Obviously, you said you've been doing this for about six months. Have you been making pickles for longer than that? You know what were you doing before this? Do you have a background as an entrepreneur? Just all the good stuff, so we can kind of understand. You know why you got into it.

Speaker 3 1:16

Yeah, great question. So I've been making pickles for about 15 years now, so gardening has always been my thing. I've really enjoyed gardening. I enjoy harvesting food and then putting it on the table. There's a feeling that you get from that. It's like no other, not having to depend on grocery stores and that sort of thing. So a few years ago I became a professional gardener and so I would go to homes designed, build and maintain gardens for folks. There's always a surplus of food in doing so. So, yeah, I started pickling a while back and it was for my friends and family. Every time I'd get invited to a barbecue or some kind of event, the next question was are you going to bring your pickles? So yeah, I don't know if it was for me, you know inviting me or the pickles to the parties a lot of times. But yeah, it turned out to be, you know, constant hey, you got to get these in the stores. Hey, you got to start a business out of this and finally took a lot of research.

Speaker 3 2:21

The pickle industry. In my opinion, it's taken a step back. A lot of these corporations, bigger corporations, they infuse just nonsense into the product and it's taken away from it and basically we've gone back to basics. Just all raw material in there. It's a crisp pickle. We don't can them. No heat ever involved in it. It's a little bit of a challenge that way, but it's working out well for us.

Speaker 2 2:52

You know a lot of people out there have a dream right and they want to start a business, just like you did. But I'm sure you've kind of had some challenges and obstacles along the way. Can you kind of talk about that and maybe you know how you overcome those things and you know we're able to get the business off the ground?

Speaker 3 3:07

Yeah, so this is my eighth company that I've owned and by far the most fun for me and by far the most fun for me. I've owned restaurants. I've owned nightclubs, construction companies. This is by far the funnest. I'm enjoying this the most.

Speaker 3 3:26

Again, the challenge because we're a refrigerated pickle, it's not a shelf-stable pickle. There's a lot of challenges in that keeping it cold, transporting it cold, shipping it cold One of the reasons why we haven't started shipping before now, just to get that worked out. So when we're shipping up to New York or California, that people are receiving the product cold and fresh. Still, it's very easy to keep something or ship something frozen with dry ice, but keeping it or maintaining it at a certain temperature, it's a challenge. But we've got help in doing so. Right now we're working on it and that's going to be the next stepping stone for us. But yes, it's a fun business. It's a lot of work, a lot of hours, but you know you've heard this before, probably you know if you're having fun, it doesn't seem like work and it really doesn't seem like work to me. I just I'm enjoying it, I'm enjoying the milestones, moving forward. It's been great.

Speaker 2 4:27

Well, that's great. It's good that you can have fun doing it. What else do you do for fun when you're not making pickles?

Speaker 3 4:33

Lately, nothing. I've not been doing much, anything but making pickles. Um, the demand is getting higher and higher. Uh, you know, going to the farmers markets and the festivals, that is fun to me. Um, I'm not in a relationship right now. Uh, I do enjoy going to my son's baseball. Um, spending time with my, my other two kids, um, so, yeah, that my, my life is them and making pickles right now.

Speaker 2 4:57

Can you talk a little bit about the process? You know and, and you know maybe just tell us some of the ways that you go about making the pickle and how long it takes, and you know if you have any different flavors you offer, or just kind of one standard thing.

Speaker 3 5:12

Yeah, I mean I can tell you that we buy the product, the cucumbers, cold, we wash them cold, we cut them cold, we pack them cold. That's about the extent of what I can tell you on that. Yeah, so we have three flavors classic dill, which I thought was going to be the front runner going into this. So we have classic dill a hot dill, and our signature flavor is a muddy water. Classic dill a hot dill, and our signature flavor is a muddy water. So muddy water is kind of, uh, the name of the company's hooch pickles. Of course, um, having a little fun with the name and the chattahoochee river creating the brine to be a muddy water.

Speaker 3 5:44

Look, um, we achieved that and it turned out to be our best seller. Um, so, yeah, it's pretty amazing. Um, the brine, when you shake it up, it looks like muddy water. Um, but that's the you know at the, at the farmer's markets. It's fun because you know they'll, they'll, people read the label on it and they'll go right for the muddy water not knowing anything about it. So it's, yeah, it's been great.

Speaker 2 6:06

What's the flavor profile of muddy?

Speaker 3 6:09

Yeah, so the muddy water is a bit. So we started with the same brine as the classic dill. We had some other seasonings in there One I can tell you it's paprika to give it a little bit of color. And then some other seasonings just to give it a bolder taste, a different profile than the classic dill.

Speaker 2 6:24

Got it. Got it Anything else that you haven't had a chance to share about the company that you want to get out there.

Speaker 3 6:28

No, just I mean, come find us. We're at a bunch a bunch. We're at 10 farmers markets right now a week. Uh, this time of year we're doing festivals just about every weekend. Um, our website although I think I have to update some of the events on there um, that I'll do probably later on this week. Um, but yeah, just check us out on uh, on our, our Facebook Instagram. Um, the the. The best feeling I'd say is you know the response I get from people and the messages about how people are enjoying them and tracking me down and where I can find them and how can I get them and, you know, can you deliver them to me? It's really been phenomenal. I love it and my, my kids are involved in it and they love it. It's just been a nice family thing for us.

Speaker 2 7:12

That's great, always trying to get kids to eat more vegetables. You found a fun way.

Speaker 3 7:19

Kids seem to love them. Yeah, it's great.

Speaker 2 7:22

Good deal, alrighty. Well, thanks so much for joining us today, joe.

Speaker 3 7:25

I appreciate it, stacey, thank you.

Speaker 2 7:27

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:28

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Milton and More. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpmiltoncom. That's gnpmiltoncom, or call 470-664-4930.