The Rock & Roll Chef®

HERE'S THE FIRST RETAIL PRODUCT FOR BABY BACK BLUES BBQ THAT I KNOCKED OUT (yay). To me, packaging design for retail is high consumer art, very competitive, very hard to do well. By well I mean: stand out on shelves, get folks to pick it up and put it into their shopping carts - period. I actually think the designs on cereal boxes are THE most researched, focus-group heavy, expensively-researched-before-they-hit-the-market products on shelves. Package design ALWAYS takes longer than most people realize (just getting to this point was probably 6 revisions, not including the logo). As BBB is also slowly introducing their brand for retail, there isn't an overwhelming demand to begin with. As such, the first-run labels will be done on color laser prints and affixed by hand onto the vac pack pulled pork units (not exactly cost effective for mass production). When/if the demand increases, the co-packer will have to figure out how to automate that part of production - but that's a good problem to have, right?

At some point, I'm going to add something relative to this label (and every product vying for retail shelf space), regarding the Universal Code Council or GS1 (the organization which issues barcode accounts), which is truly nothing short of a monopoly. FYI, they lost a class-action law suit a few years back, which turned out quite well for those of us who created an account with them before 2000 (can you say "grandfathered in?").

Labels: america loves bbq, baby back blues, package design, pulled pork, rock n roll chef

Well, looks like it's finally here: I've always wanted to be involved with a small business owner who was ready to franchise their model on a national level, and although the same rules apply for any genre, I guess I always thought it would be something food-related. More, I've always felt that, if a business owner has a few key things buttoned down: financials, training, minimum number of years in business, efficient operations, etc., it's not that big a deal to replicate it. And I never agreed with anyone who said that a business needed more than 1 - 2 units in operation to start a franchise, either. I mean, if it's a long-running proven winner, isn't that proof enough to start cranking out copies of the original?

And so, thanks to Ken Faught of Baby Back Blues BBQ, it looks like this train is finally leaving the station, and soon. I'm happy to report that, starting with the video I produced for his website (which he and everybody else loves), he likes my style & vision, and is entrusting me to "build the new car" around his already smooth-running engine. That includes: New logo (above left, this is the first time it's gone "live" anywhere), website, retail product design/packaging, t-shirts, training videos, a commercial, new menu, etc. In other words, everything a business needs to start franchising and attract franchisees.

Of course, it's WAY to early to project how big, how quickly he'll grow, or how successful he'll be with this. But, paying close attention to all the signs for Ken and his brand (how many companies get invited to put products on the shelves of the huge corporate chains before there's even a product in existence?!?!? How many businesses have people bugging them nearly every day about being a franchise owner? And on and on and on and ON), I'm wondering just how charmed Mr. F and his brand could turn out to be? I know I'll do my damndest to help him get there quickly, with a minimum of hiccups...

Labels: baby back blues, bbq, franchising, ken faught, ribs

My client/pal Ken Faught from Baby Back Blues BBQ in Plainfield, IL, participated in a rib cookoff last Saturday (Sept 27) here in Chicago. Of course, there was no way to know who would win (Honky Tonk BBQ and Smokedaddy were also there; Willie from Honky Tonk won 3rd place at the 2008 Memphis In May event, pork shoulder, and will be on Check Please this month; Smoke Daddy has been featured on Food Network), so I thought of a way to guarantee a win: Good footage to use beyond the event, whoever took first place (Honky Tonk BBQ did). And so... check out this short video of a little game I made up for Baby Back Blues, where people had to correctly say the restaurant's name 5 times in under 5 seconds (and did I mention there was booze involved?!?!?). FYI, with the exception of Chef Sean O'Brien from Timothy O'Toole's (in the blue chef's jacket, who I met at the event) these are completely random people at the event, I'd never met or spoken with any of them before we got them on camera. It never ceases to amaze me how entertaining "regular" people can be, if you just give them the right scenario...

Labels: baby back blues, barbeque, bbq, jack daniel's cookoff, ken faught, rib cookoff