Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Inskeep.
Hi Joseph, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up poor and remembered going to my grandparent’s house as a kid at least once a month. And when we went, we ate, and we ate good! My grandpa was always cooking brisket, fajitas, fish, etc. I watched this superintendent of a construction company cook for his entire outfit for Austin Bridge on Friday. I would tag along from time to time on Fridays in hopes of eating the best food I’ve ever had. His cooking inspired me to cook once I got married and left the stage life of course. Honesty, is there a reason to cook nice meals when you’re single and living in downtown Austin? Not at all! All of your money went to beer and entertainment. Like I said, it wasn’t until I married my wife and co-owner Nicole Inskeep, that I had to learn to expand my cooking from overcooked and ketchup to reverse searing a steak with a homemade chimichurri sauce, garlic mashed red potatoes, and bacon blue cheese wedges salad..
As I grew in my love and passion for cooking, I realized there was not a seasoning on the shelf that captured what I was looking for or what my pallet desired. So I found everything I liked in other seasonings, added some touches, fine-tuned it and started handing out samples. When I received affirmation, I decided to pull the trigger and start doing the research to find a co-packer, label maker, and logo designer. From there, I built a website, texted everyone I knew to check out my website, and started selling Salty Steer Seasoning at my local farmers market. From there, the first weekend in sales that I needed to get into the whole selling business. I found my first location called Los Olivos Markets in Wimberely, TX. Another big boost we had was an influencer picked up our seasoning at a market and posted it on his IG stories. We had no idea he was an influencer, we just had a conversation with a dude who ended up enjoying our seasoning.
Boom, I had one location! Now I just need to keep calling retail shops to see if they’ll sell my seasoning. This is still a side gig for me but we sell our seasoning in 38 locations and online.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not! You have to constantly showcase your product/business and deal with all kinds of issues from: logistics, quality of ingredients, customer satisfaction issues, and supply/demand constraints. There will always be a struggle, but it’s 100% worth it, to me.
As you know, we’re big fans of 512 Seasoning of America. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’ve been a financial planner for the last 12 years and have always wanted to start a business and that’s what I did. This is a passion project, and I wanted to see what it took to start a business from a figment of my imagination to fruition. That was probably my favorite part, knowing that I concocted a product and idea from my imagination. And it sells!
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Building quality products and selling at a good price is most important to us. We want our customers to know that you can have quality products at a reasonably inexpensive price.
Pricing:
- Salty Steer is 10
- Salty Steer BOLD is 10
- Salty Sting is 12 and our best seller
Contact Info:
- Email: 512seasoning@gmail.com
- Website: 512seasoning.com
- Instagram: 512seasoning
- Facebook: 512seasoning
