Loyal Customers, Grocery Relationships, Employee Empowerment: Jannie Teitelbaum's Success Recipe

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:02:17

We really put effort into.

I don't want to call old fashioned, but you know, like that neighborhood store that you would walk into that everybody knew your name and you'd see them all the time and you'd recognize them. Even though our pies can stay in the freezer for a year and a half, we have people who come in every week. You know, they want to try something new.

Some of them keep it in the freezer because it's nice, you know, rainy day or cold night or something.

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Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:03:57

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Freddy D: 00:03:59

So tell us, how did you get started? How did this idea come up with pot pies?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:04:04

Well, I was kind of semi retired and very bored and I wanted to do something with food. I had had other small businesses before, but I had never done anything with food.

So I started making healthy bars, like granola bars, rice crispy bars, like that type of thing. And people would say to me, that's great but we need dinner.

So I don't remember honestly how it started, but I started working on recipes for chicken pot pie. I hid it on paper for almost a year and I finally made one. Yep, just I don't know why it took me so long, but I finally made one.

And I was in a women's network group at the time. Just some women business owners who would get together once in A while. And we always would bring food. So I made one of these chicken pot pies.

And one of the ladies said, wow, this is really good. Is this your new business? And I said, well, I don't know yet. And she said, well, it is now because I'm buying one.

Freddy D: 00:05:01

Oh, wow.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:01

And that was it. That was it.

Freddy D: 00:05:03

Wow.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:03

And then somebody said, oh, my husband's gluten free. My daughter's vegetarian, you know, and anyway, still started coming out with all these different recipes.

Freddy D: 00:05:12

Yeah, I remember when you and I met back at the Panera Bread back in Michigan many years ago, and you were just getting this thing off the ground, working from your kitchen and stuff. And look at you now. You've been on several news stations, been interviewed by the news. And tell us about that. How did that all come about?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:05:30

We found a good PR guy locally here, and he got me on the news. And then especially on the local Fox channel here, they can't. Every time somebody canceled, they say, okay, can Jani do it? Oh, can Jani do it?

So of course, I'm never gonna say no. So I've been on their station probably eight or ten times already, but every time I have to come up with something new to do.

And then I've been on the other local stations also, and one did a whole story on me. But now when I'm out and about, people say, oh, you're the Popeye lady. I saw you on the news.

Freddy D: 00:06:01

Wow, that's just amazing. That's amazing. So how did you go.

How did you transition from the kitchen to having a store and expanding that location into take the store next to you and doubling in size, more importantly during a pandemic, which is crazy, but you pulled that off. Tell us about that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:06:22

All right, so I. Obviously, you know, you're not allowed to cook in your kitchen food, especially meat, and then sell it to the public.

So I found a commercial kitchen. There's a church nearby, and they had a beautiful kitchen. And I started hiring some employees. I did that.

Gee, I've kind of lost track of time, but maybe like three years I did that. And then in that same town, I started doing the local farmer's market. And that's really what got me off the ground.

Because, you know, that was hard work. Getting up at 3:30 in the morning, packing. All my stuff is frozen. I had to pack it in coolers, drag it to the farmer's market, set up.

But I have these customers coming back to see me every week. It was really fantastic.

Freddy D: 00:07:06

How did you create those superfans I mean those if they're coming back every week to buy your product, that's a super fan. So how did you create that superfan?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:07:14

Well, back then it was just, I wasn't on social media yet. I didn't have any of that. It was just being at the farmer's market.

These people would come every week, they'd buy the stuff, they liked it, we have good quality product. And they'd come back and then they started telling their friends. And it just grew and grew and grew.

And then I started doing another farmer's market the same day I had somebody else do it. And that kept me busy. So this particular farmer's market was indoors, so it was all year round. So it really kept me going. The other one was outdoors.

So it was only, you know, I live in Michigan, so, you know, it was only for, only for a few months.

Freddy D: 00:07:52

So. But you built, but you built those relationships with those people. I mean, you, you talked with them. It wasn't just a transaction.

You had to have build some kind of a rapport with them for them to just start your brand. Fans, in a sense, or what I would call business super fans. And telling all their friends. Right.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:09

Well, you know what, we were very friendly. People at the farmer's market tend to be all happy. So, you know, you start to build relationships with these people coming to see you every week.

And it was really just a face to face time that really built those relationships. And then I started making deliveries.

Freddy D: 00:08:27

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:08:28

So I would deliver to people's homes during the week and that kept the business going and not just being at the farmer's market. So then I started growing more from there.

Freddy D: 00:08:38

Right.

I remember that you had posted a video of one of your team members doing the chicken dance when someone had spent over $100, I think was in the store. And as a crazy idea that was, that was a brilliant idea because it was funny and that attracted more people to enjoy that.

And this is a cool, fun place. And it was a great attraction marketing strategy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:05

Yeah, it's funny that you remember that because that was two years ago, our Thanksgiving in a pie. It was really a turkey suit. And the Thanksgiving in a pie is available starting today, September 1st.

Freddy D: 00:09:18

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:18

So I'm going to have to go remind her about that and maybe we'll have to do that again because I think we all forgot about, about it for this.

Freddy D: 00:09:25

But that was great.

Outro: 00:09:25

That was brilliant.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:26

Really fun.

Freddy D: 00:09:28

It was really fun. It was off the cuff. And that's the things in my book I talked about Doing some kind of that are unique, that sticks in people's mind.

ect that. And maybe this is a: 2023

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:48

Right.

Freddy D: 00:09:48

And make some fun out of it.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:09:51

You know what?

She's here today, and when we get off, I'm going to go have her dig out that turkey suit because it was fun and people would purposely spend enough over the hundred dollars so she would do the turkey dance.

Freddy D: 00:10:04

Well, there you go. See, that's a brilliant marketing strategy.

It's a what you created super fans from that perspective because if they came in specifically to spend the extra money just to see the dance, I mean, that's a brilliant marketing approach.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:18

Yeah, I hope she still has that outfit.

Freddy D: 00:10:23

So what you guys do for, like, loyalty and stuff to get customers to come back and things like that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:29

Okay, well, we have a mailing list.

Freddy D: 00:10:32

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:32

And I used to write a whole blurb all the time. I don't do that anymore. Now my son Steven, who, you know, does the marketing and all the social media. Steven writes newsletters based on.

We have new products coming out. We almost always. Every time he does a newsletter, there's a discount in there or something special for them.

Freddy D: 00:10:54

Okay.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:10:54

And we have a point system at the register. We use square. And for every every hundred. Wait, I always get this mixed up. It's. They get 10 points, I think for every hundred dollars.

No, they get 100 points for every $10. That's what it is. And when they reach a thousand points, they get $5 off. So we've made it so that the customer can get there very quickly.

Freddy D: 00:11:18

Right.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:11:19

hey spend, you know, they got: 1200

And they like that. So it does keep them coming back. They just have to put their phone number in. It's very easy to use.

Square takes track of it keeps track of everything for us.

Freddy D: 00:11:39

And it's.

What's important there that you just mentioned was that it's attainable because there's a lot of businesses that create programs, but they're really not attainable. And so in turn, it really backfires because people realize, I'm never gonna get this thing.

And it's just a gimmick where if it's retainable, like you just said, that changes the dynamics because someone comes in and buys a couple things and poof, they're halfway there, right off the bat, and I go, yeah, I'm coming back. Because this is, this works. So that's important.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:12:09

And the other thing we do that's really important is we greet every customer that walks in that's store. Always say, hi, how are you? We're all smile. Just. We make, we try to make everybody feel comfortable.

And when you walk into our store, it's really fun, it's colorful. There's always a lot going on. And we make it so that people want to come in. We make it inviting.

Freddy D: 00:12:32

And that's really important because it, it creates an environment. You know, there's not enough of positivity in the world today.

So you guys have set up a nice positive environment where people come in and it's all of a sudden, it transformed their mindset. It's like, wow, this is a great place. And they leave feeling, wow, this was a great experience. And it's important.

The experience is very important in business. And I think a lot of businesses have become a little bit too transactional versus spending the extra few moments to build that relationship.

Even though it might be two minutes worth of, you know, conversation and relationship, that two minutes is an important two.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:13:16

Minutes we really put effort into.

I don't want to call old fashioned, but, you know, like that neighborhood store that you would walk into, that everybody knew your name and you'd see them all the time and you'd recognize them. Even though we're pies can stay in the freezer for a year and a half, we have people who come in every week, they want to try something new.

Some of them keep it in the freezer because it's nice, you know, rainy day or cold night or something. You don't know what to have for dinner, you can pull it out of the freezer. But we have a lot of them who come in every week.

Oh, this week I'm going to try this. Oh, last week I had this. I want to try this. And oh, we've got. You've got your new taco pie. Now I want to try that.

So we try to keep a lot of varieties going so that there's always something new for them to try.

Freddy D: 00:14:00

Yeah. So basically those repeat customers are your super, super fans because they're coming back and buying more of the product.

But more importantly, they're telling their friends your pies and, and what they're getting because of the fact that they, they love the product, they love the company, and, and you can't buy that kind of pr. You've built that relationship with those customers that they're out there on your behalf, your store.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:27

So we also have a frames out on the street. So for instance, our Thanksgiving pie is available now. So we have big signs out on the street today. Thanksgiving and a pie.

And then there's another one that says taco pie. And they'll come in and say, oh, wow, I want to try. What's a taco pie? You know, I want to try that.

Freddy D: 00:14:44

Right? Clever names. I mean, the Thanksgiving and a pie. That's great marketing. That's really good marketing.

What do you do for employees and keep them and turning them into superfans for the business.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:14:58

Okay, so we do have a reward system I try to do by bonuses. Today we had a. We just got picked up by a distributor. This week was our first week doing production for them. It was a really, really busy week.

Everybody worked very hard. I just bought them lunch and did a little spiel at the beginning. We do a lot of that also.

We make a really, really big deal out of everybody's birthday. They get the lunch, they want the cake, you know, all that. What else do we do? We just try to. It's a lot of reward.

Freddy D: 00:15:31

I think that's important for business owners to really think about that. Because really, your employees, basically, I call them team members. They're the business. They're the front lines to the business.

And you've got a disgruntled individual that. That becomes a problem versus having a cohesive team that's happy to work together. They're having fun.

And in my book, I talk about people will crawl through broken glass for appreciation and recognition. And you're doing that, you're appreciating them, you're giving them and you're recognizing them on their birthdays and things like that.

Then that's huge. And a lot of businesses don't have that mindset.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:16:14

I think another thing that we do is everybody seems really happy here. You can come in and not have a good day. People have stuff going on at home.

But we all, in general, people come in here and they say, wow, your employees are always smiling. Everybody seems so happy. It looks like a really nice place to work. And we try to have that atmosphere here.

If somebody needs to go to a doctor's appointment, I never say no. Or they have something they need to do, we'll work it out in the schedule.

I never say no, you can't have that day off, or no, you can't go and do that on that day, we all work together to make it easy for everybody.

Freddy D: 00:16:50

That's a really profound statement there because you're a team and everybody's got everybody's back and we all have a life. We all have, like you just said, we've got things going on in our lives. We got health challenges, we've got, you know, financial things.

We've got family members that have things come up.

And it's important to accommodate and recognize that because that in turn builds a loyal team member that's going to say, this company really appreciates me and I'm grateful for their approach. And so now that team member has got gratitude for what you're doing for them and that that's.

Now it's all coming together as a really a cohesive, energized team. And that's why you're exploding.

I mean, you opened up a store, like I said earlier in a pandemic, and then you moved into the store next to you, which is most people would never even think of doing that. But actually, it's a brilliant time to move it because you probably got a heck of a deal on making all that stuff happen during that time.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:17:56

,: 2020

Freddy D: 00:18:09

Right.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:18:10

The one good thing I had going for me was I had frozen food and I was still doing the farmer's market nearby. So I would tell the people there, oh, I opened my store so they would start coming. And then people in the neighborhood started coming.

I put signs out on the street, we're open. And it was a tough time. Everybody had to wear masks.

We had the mask police come in to make sure we were all wearing our masks properly and handling our food. I mean, it was not a fun time. But then all of a sudden there was a hair salon next to me and they went out and we were already crowded in my store.

I think I was working on a little table myself. There was no room for everybody to work. So we did that lease, put a big hole in the wall, and now I've got my production facility.

Freddy D: 00:18:57

Wow. Just an amazing story. So tell us a little bit about your management style and how you manage all that aspect of growing the business.

I mean, going from the kitchen in the house into creating that concept, to now multi location distributing your products in grocery stores throughout the state of Michigan and beyond.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:19:19

But it's not easy. I've always been in sales. I originally was a stockbroker. I don't know if you knew that. So I've always been in sales.

And I like watching the business grow. And every little business that I've had, I like that, you know, you like to see, wow, I'm growing. I made more sales this month.

So to me, it was natural that I would keep going. And I kept looking for different avenues of income. So we started doing catering every week.

I had the farmer's markets going, I had my store, and I just kept it going. What, where am I going to go next? What's going to bring income in for me?

How many people do I need to work for me to get to that point, how much food do I need to buy? It is not easy. I was not in the food business before, so it was a learn as you go process. And I've learned a lot.

And now, like I said, we have a distributor. They do all of Michigan and a lot of Ohio.

We chose not to go with a distributor that was in many more states because that could put me out of business if I wasn't prepared for it. Business has changed. So now it's not really that little, little business anymore. Bigger now. I cannot do it alone anymore.

I get a lot of help from the people that work with me. We have somebody who my son who specializes in all of our social media and marketing. He does a lot of my financial work for me.

I've got another son who does some sales for me. I'm working now with the distributor. Plus I'm the contact for the 42 stores that we're in and we just keep going. It's hard, I won't lie.

It is not easy. I'm no spring chicken anymore.

Freddy D: 00:21:00

I can appreciate that.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:21:02

It's a lot of work, but I really like it. I look forward to coming to work every day. And all these people who are having all these problems with employees.

I have not lost anybody except one who retired and one who moved up north Michigan. And that's it.

Freddy D: 00:21:18

That's a profound statement because not many companies retain people that long. I mean, since you started having one, basically one retire and then one moving up north.

That's unheard of in today's business because unfortunately, there's businesses that have a mindset that I'm giving you a job. You should be grateful that I'm giving you the job.

And unfortunately, that's the wrong mindset because no team I look at it is no team members, no business. There's no way you could conduct the business in a level that you're at without a solid team.

That's all on the same page, working towards the same goal, and that's huge.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:22:02

So I can hear them behind me making pies and hand pies and all this stuff. And if they're not motivated to do that, I'm going to be out of business because I can't do it myself.

I hear them talking, they're laughing and stuff, but I know what's getting done back there, and I know they're reaching their goals of what they need to get done by the end of the day. Everybody here benefits from that. I make sure.

Freddy D: 00:22:25

And right there is an important aspect, is they're doing their job, but you're not. Micromanaging them is really what it boils down to. You're not saying, hey, quit yapping and get to work.

You're giving them ownership of what they're supposed to do and you're empowering them to do what they're supposed to do.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:22:44

Right, Exactly. If they don't, I do say something once in a while, but it's all in the presentation. I'm very polite about it. I learned that a long time ago.

How you say something to somebody, even your children, it's everything.

Freddy D: 00:23:01

It's everything absolutely correct. Because I've seen people just say, hey, you did this wrong and you did that wrong. And so now the person feels.

And more importantly, if you do it in front of an audience, and now they're belittled. And now all of a sudden they start feeling, geez, I gotta come to work and I gotta face everybody again, and I don't wanna do that.

And then they start to have anxiety issues and everything else. And the next thing you know, they quit. And so you've completely done 100%. The opposite of that is you handle it in a very proper way.

That in turn transforms them into doing what you need them to be doing without belittling them or embarrassing them in front of everybody else.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:23:45

Yeah. And whenever I need to say something to somebody, I always do it in private.

Freddy D: 00:23:49

Yeah, that's very important right there. Because again, we just said you do it in front of the crowd. It's an issue. That person's going to be embarrassed.

They're not going to want to come into the office. And it just creates a spiral. What about these multiple stores?

I'll call them business alliance partners, in a sense that you've got these grocery stores now. How are you maintaining those relationships and turning them into fans of your product.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:24:16

Okay. So I send certain people out to visit the stores, including myself. The ones that we can.

There's some that are hours away and it's hard for us to get there. But I call them. We have a lot of contacts with them. What's selling well? What's not selling well? Can we put a little sign? We also do a little.

We do demo. We'll do a demo at a store. We try to every month and a half or so, Especially the ones that are close.

You know, like when you're at the grocery store and they give out little samples of chips and stuffs. You can try. We do those and we set up a nice table with our signage. Kelly's one of my employees. We have her little apron on and the whole thing.

And that the store will put an order in before the demo. They sell a bunch at the demo. So then after the demo, they have to order again.

Freddy D: 00:25:06

Oh, that's a brilliant idea. Because they buy stock basically for the demo. It sells out. So it proves that it's sellable. And so now they buy more.

And they've already got customers that like it and wanting to buy more products. So it's a brilliant strategy.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:25:24

Yeah, that's worked really well for us. And it also shows the stores that we're paying attention to them.

Because I've had some store owners or managers say to me, we get a small business, we buy their product, they're selling in our store. We never hear from them again. It's only they want us to order, we call. I send people in just to say, hey, how you doing?

We have these little signs that they can put up that say, michigan made homemade chicken pot pie. And they put it up on our shelf. We do a lot of stuff like that.

Freddy D: 00:25:52

Well, those are the things I talk about in the book. It's relationships. You're building relationship with your customers. You're building relationships with your employees, team members.

You're building relationships with your business partners. We mentioned earlier, a lot of people look at it from a transaction standpoint, but the reality is to really grow the way you're growing.

It's really goes down to relationships. People buy from people that they like.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:26:19

Right. And whenever we do a demo, we always have a picture taken of the person who's there, and we post it on social media that day.

That also gets people to go to the store.

Freddy D: 00:26:30

Yeah. Because again, you're building the relationship. You're edifying that employee that's out there. So they feel to. Look at me.

Did you see the Picture of me posted at the store and stuff. So they're telling their friends. So you've got your employees, as your superfans are telling their friends, hey, look at the picture.

And stuff like that. And you've created a business. Superfans that are telling other people about the business on your Facebook page.

I've seen it grow from some people to thousands now. And you've done that all organically. It's just amazing. I don't know. Remember the number, but I know it's more. North of 4,000 followers.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:27:06

Yeah, I think we're up to eight. Wow.

Freddy D: 00:27:08

Okay. 8,000 followers. And it's all organic. That's just amazing. That's a lesson to be learned for other businesses.

That's how you build super fans all organically, by building those relationships, by recognizing people and. And what you're doing with your team and what you're doing with your business partners. It's fantastic.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:27:28

Oh, thank you. Yeah. We do also pay for some Facebook advertising, and we target certain markets, and that's worked very well for us.

Every single day, somebody comes into the store and says, I keep seeing you on Facebook. I finally had to come in.

Freddy D: 00:27:43

It works.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:27:44

And it does work every day. Half of our customers are new.

Freddy D: 00:27:48

Wow, that's amazing. But, you know, both of us having a sales background, the reality is you don't make the sale on the first, second, or third contact.

Usually it's the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth contacts. Right, right. But unfortunately, people give up one or two or three and, oh, well, okay. They're never going to buy.

And they don't put in the extra effort to get to the eighth, ninth contact of that individual. And that's when the transaction happens. You just. You proved it right there.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:28:20

It worked. That's worked very well for us.

Freddy D: 00:28:23

So excellent. So how can people find you?

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:28:28

Well, we're at www.greatlakepotpies.com. we are in Clawson, Michigan. If you Google us under Great Lakes Pot Pies and on Facebook and Instagram, it's Great Lakes Pot Pies.

Freddy D: 00:28:44

Okay, excellent. And do you have anything that you want to offer our listeners to taste one of your delicious. Because I've had a couple of them and they're.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:28:56

Thank you.

Freddy D: 00:28:57

That could entice them to try out a Great Lakes pot pie.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:29:01

If you get on our mailing list, you'll get right away. You get 10% off. We ship all over the country. You get it in one or two days, depending on where you are.

And sometimes we have to be very careful because I know you, Frederick. You're in Arizona and it's been really, really hot there.

Freddy D: 00:29:19

It has. But last night it rained like we needed rain. And finally we got a dump truck worth of rain, so it was good.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:29:26

Oh, good for you. So the shipping goes a little better in the cooler months, but we do ship all over the country. We have shipping bundles.

So if you go on our website, you can find a whole variety of pie that you can order.

Freddy D: 00:29:39

Excellent. Well, Jenny, thank you very much for being on the Business Superfan podcast show.

Really appreciate your time, and we will look forward to having you as a guest in the near future.

Jannie Teitelbaum: 00:29:50

Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me.

Outro: 00:29:53

We hope you took away some useful knowledge from today's episode of the Business Superfans podcast. The path to success relies on taking action. So go over to businesssuperfans.com and get your hands on the book.

If you haven't already, join the accelerator community and take that first step in generating a team of passionate supporters for your business. Join us on the next episode as we continue guiding you on your journey to achieve flourishing success in business.