Today we’d like to introduce you to Eyal Goldshmid.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started as I imagine most people who work in food production started — by creating my sauces as a hobby, often with peppers and other veggies I grew in my backyard garden. Of course, when I felt good about a particular sauce recipe, I’d always share it with friends and family. In one case, my wife invited a coworker of hers, and his family, over for a cookout, and I shared a specific sauce of mine with him.
He liked it so much that he asked me to make a gallon of it for him, which I did. A few weeks later, through some hearsay at my wife’s work, we learned that this particular coworker had held his cookout at his home recently and made the sauce I’d made for him the focus of it.
All his guests raved and raved about it. What was unique, so we discovered, was that he didn’t invite us to the cookout so he could take credit for making the sauce himself. That made me think I had something more than a hobby on my hands.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Running a company is filled with obstacles and challenges. It just goes with the territory. Rather than list specific obstacles, of which I’ve had many, I think it’s more important to state that if/when something negative happens to a business owner (because it will, it’s inevitable), it’s key to not let those moments consume you.
Also, know that while you can’t win every moment and that you will make mistakes, it’s key to learn from those mistakes so they don’t happen again and use those lessons to help you make more responsible decisions in the future.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Formed in 2010 in Orlando, Fat Cat makes craft hot sauces that are “flavor-forward,” not “heat-forward.” While we do make spicy products, our goal is to use flavor and heat as complements, so that we can provide unique, exotic, tasty twists to food, not just overwhelm flavors with nothing but heat.
As we often tell people, “We don’t try to make the hottest hot sauce out there but we do try to make the best-tasting hot sauce.” (And also, in case you can’t tell from our name and logo, we love cats).
We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
In terms of small businesses, we see success as steps in a journey. For example, surviving your first year with an incentive to grow is a success. The same can be said for when you make the business self-sufficient, then profitable, etc.
Beyond that, we also are humbled by the kind words our many direct and wholesale customers say about our products — it’s often awe-inspiring to know that we have been able to connect to many people even though we still think of ourselves as this small little entity (which we are).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fatcatfoods.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatcatsauces
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fatcatfoods
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Fat+Cat+Gourmet+Condiments+and+Hot+Sauces/page/349F2A5C-4480-4F76-A44D-056EB38FC3A2?ref_=ast_bln
Image Credits
Jim Carchidi and Haille Baumann
