In this episode, we are joined by Katy and Chris, life partners and owners of TAFF Treats, a freeze-dried candy business based in Brookhaven, PA. Chris and Katy discuss how their business started, the choices they made as entrepreneurs, and the obstacles they've encountered. TAFF Treats offers a unique selection of 25 different freeze-dried candies and treats, from peanut brittle to nerd clusters. TAFF is an acronym for “Taste Anything For Free”, which reflects their goal of letting customers sample treats for FREE and only buy what you liked. They also discuss their community collaborations and future goals for TAFF Treats. Listen in to discover how they turned their passion into a thriving freeze-dried candy business.
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🎙️ Welcome to the Shoemaker Lab podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and actionable tips in the world of business, entrepreneurship, and creativity! This podcast explores stories of local businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives, while also offering solo shows where I share valuable knowledge and advice on video marketing, social media, and navigating the digital landscape.
At Shoemaker Films, we focus on crafting professional video content that can help your businesses thrive online. Whether you're looking to launch a new product, tell your brand story, or engage with your audience on social media, we're here to help!
Looking to elevate your brand? Let's work together! Visit our website at https://shoemakerfilms.com/ Follow us on Instagram @shoemaker.films and Tiktok @shoemakerfilms.
Chapters
In this episode, we are joined by Katy and Chris, life partners and owners of TAFF Treats, a freeze-dried candy business based in Brookhaven, PA. Chris and Katy discuss how their business started, the choices they made as entrepreneurs, and the obstacles they've encountered. TAFF Treats offers a unique selection of 25 different freeze-dried candies and treats, from peanut brittle to nerd clusters. TAFF is an acronym for “Taste Anything For Free”, which reflects their goal of letting customers sample treats for FREE and only buy what you liked. They also discuss their community collaborations and future goals for TAFF Treats. Listen in to discover how they turned their passion into a thriving freeze-dried candy business.
__________________________________________
🎙️ Welcome to the Shoemaker Lab podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and actionable tips in the world of business, entrepreneurship, and creativity! This podcast explores stories of local businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives, while also offering solo shows where I share valuable knowledge and advice on video marketing, social media, and navigating the digital landscape.
At Shoemaker Films, we focus on crafting professional video content that can help your businesses thrive online. Whether you're looking to launch a new product, tell your brand story, or engage with your audience on social media, we're here to help!
Looking to elevate your brand? Let's work together! Visit our website at https://shoemakerfilms.com/ Follow us on Instagram @shoemaker.films and Tiktok @shoemakerfilms.
Creators & Guests
Host
Dane Shoemaker
Founder and Owner of Shoemaker Films, Dane Shoemaker is an entrepreneur and filmmaker who interviews business owners, creatives, and brand-builders across the Greater Philadelphia region and beyond.
What is The Shoemaker Films Podcast?
The official podcast of Shoemaker Films. We share wide-ranging content that includes compelling interviews with creatives and entrepreneurs across the globe, as well as "double-clicks" on trends across the digital marketing landscape, from social media, technology, filmmaking, and more. Tune in to gain some practical wisdom and hear captivating stories from some of the world's top minds.
Visit www.shoemakerfilms.com for more details on our company, and stay up to date by following us on Instagram @shoemaker.films
Dane Shoemaker:
Hi, everybody. This is Dane with Shoemaker Films. This is a Shoemaker Films podcast. I'm here with Chris and Katie of Taft Treats. How are you guys doing today?
Katie:
Good. How are you doing?
Dane Shoemaker:
Good. Good. Tell us a little about your your business.
Chris:
Well, we are Taft Treats. We are a teacher owned, family operated freeze dried business based in Brookhaven, and, we freeze dry a lot of things. Yeah.
Dane Shoemaker:
What what all do you freeze dry? What it
Katie:
We have over 25, different candy and treats that we make. So anything from peanut brittle to nerd clusters, Airheads, Skittles are one of our most popular ones. So just about anything freeze dries except peanut butter and chocolate don't do super well. A lot of people always ask us to freeze dry, like Swedish Fish or Reese's cups, they don't freeze dry. But, lots of candy do.
Katie:
So we've got lots of varieties, lots of options.
Chris:
A lot of fruit as well. We're dabbling in the fruit and, kinda intensifies the flavor a little bit and, holds 90% of the nutrients in the fruit, which is pretty cool.
Dane Shoemaker:
Interesting. Versus versus drying the fruit, I guess. Yeah. Dehydrating. Dehydrating.
Katie:
It just holds more of the nut nutritional content when you freeze dry it.
Chris:
Okay. Yeah.
Dane Shoemaker:
So yeah. I mean, I'm not too familiar with freeze drying. I'm sure a lot of people aren't either. Tell, you know, tell us a little bit about how you got into it. You know, where did you learn about freeze dry you know, things like that.
Katie:
So we knew that we always wanted to kinda start, like, our own little business, but we weren't quite sure what it was. Yeah. And so I had seen online freeze drying, freeze dried candy, like, during the time of the pandemic. And I said, that looks like something I can get behind. So contrary to what social media says, freeze drying is not just putting something in your freezer and then putting it in your dryer.
Katie:
Don't do that. We've heard that from a lot of people. Freeze drying, it's actual machine, and it makes it super cold. It takes it down to, like, negative 10 degrees and then slowly heats it up and sucks out all the moisture. So that is the freeze drying process.
Katie:
So we bought our 1st freeze dryer about 2 years ago and started Taft Treats. And here we are now. We own 5 freeze dryers, our lovely storefront in Brookhaven. We do a lot of shows and craft fairs to kinda get the word out about freeze dried candy and freeze dried treats.
Dane Shoemaker:
Amazing. Yeah. So you founded the company 2 years ago.
Chris:
Yep. Yeah. We came to a point where people were coming to shows just for our product, and we're like, this is kinda cool. And, we kinda we're like, let's open a storefront and see what happens. And before you know it, we're here all hours of the day bagging, freeze drying, and, you know, just running a business out of it.
Chris:
Yeah. Cool.
Dane Shoemaker:
That's awesome. Tell me about, you know, the I mean, tell me about, like, you know, starting the business. What was that like, challenges along the way? Yeah.
Katie:
So first, we started out of our house, like I said, with just our 1 freeze dryer. And we were just doing craft shows at that point, and then, we were able to get into Game On State, which is a cool little arcade in media. And so we started selling our candy to other businesses. Luckily, Amy, over at Game On State gave us a chance, and then it was kind of able to snowball from there. We got into Sugary and Newtown Square, and then we picked up renowned fifteen other businesses across Delaware County and out in Indiana County as well.
Katie:
And so it just kinda snowballed from there. So like I said, we started in our house, started picking up other businesses, and then it was taking over our house. And with 2 small kids, we really needed our own space. Yeah. So this was the perfect location where we could have a commercial kitchen, have the freeze dryers here, and get most of it out of the house.
Dane Shoemaker:
And how long you've been in here? A year?
Katie:
A year.
Chris:
Yeah. We're coming up on a year, And, like any small business, the cool part about this is we kinda wanna build it, not taking out any loans. You know? Yeah. We just wanna show people that if you roll up the sleeves and just get to work and do do it, a lot of people are thinking you need a business degree or think you need an influx of cash, but everything that's coming in, we're paying for and kinda reinvesting and just building it that way.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Yeah. Was that a conscious decision to make make this a debt free business from the start? Or
Katie:
I think that we're trying. We both try to do the best that we can with money and finances, and we know that getting into debt can, you know, really create a lot of stress around things. So trying to do it without debt, is kinda I think just, you know, a little bit more peace of mind when you you own your equipment and, you know, you don't owe anyone else money.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. So And
Chris:
it's super challenging because you have all these ideas and you wanna do this or, you know, do that. Sure. But, you know, you have to grow it at the pace you can. Yep. And just make sure you're doing it right.
Chris:
You know? Yep. Be confident in yourself. Keep going at it every day because some days a person will walk in, some days a person will walk in and spend a $150 on candy. So Yeah.
Chris:
It's one of those things we try to get out to as many events as possible. We try to make, amazing relationships with people, with other businesses, and, kinda invest back into the community that way.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. That's great. Alright. So you have a number of locations where people can buy different retail outlets and things like that. Yep.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yep. And people can come in here, right, and and purchase it well.
Chris:
Our hours are horrible. So I think we need to, like, dive into that. Like, you know, it's very hard to, balance
Katie:
And staff the store.
Chris:
Yeah. Staffing the store, balancing product, and
Katie:
yeah. Yeah. So we're open, Wednesday through Saturday, 12 to 5. Okay.
Dane Shoemaker:
So,
Katie:
hopefully, with the summer of people having a little bit more flexible schedules Yeah. They'll be able to come in and check us out. And the nice thing is we sample everything here.
Dane Shoemaker:
Okay.
Katie:
Because we do know that inflation has kinda gotten everyone. And, unfortunately, free shares are super expensive, so that contributes to cost of the candy, but you can try it before you buy it. So, you can try anything that you would like.
Chris:
For free, TAF. Try anything for free.
Dane Shoemaker:
Try anything for free. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Where did Taft Treats come from?
Dane Shoemaker:
The name?
Katie:
That's what it stands. So try anything for free. We wanted to make sure that people could sample before they buy. Okay. And then we have our little mascot, Huey, who is our hedgehog.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. I love this guy.
Katie:
He's Yes.
Dane Shoemaker:
He's pretty cool.
Katie:
He is a hedgehog, not a dog. He's gotten mistaken for a dog lately. Okay. But, he's our little hedgehog, and he is our mascot of tap treats.
Chris:
Nothing like investing in a bunch of new things, tap treats, nice bright colors, and everyone thinking you're a dog treat business. So it's it's you learn along the way, but, people who know who freeze dried, you know, they tend to gravitate towards it because it is so unique, it is so different. You don't really see it too often, and we sample it out. We don't want you to buy something and not like it.
Dane Shoemaker:
Right. Right. Yep. Where what's the story behind the hedgehog, Huey? I mean, where did that come from?
Katie:
So when I was in grad school, I read a book, by Jim Collins called Good to Great. It is a Yeah. Like, management book. And one of the things in there was the fox and hedgehog parable. And the fox tends to focus on a lot of different things and hedgehogs focus on one thing.
Katie:
And so the idea with business is that you wanna focus on one thing and do it well. Mhmm. And I tend to be super scattered and all over the place, and trying you know, my focus isn't always the greatest. I have a lot of different interests. And so
Katie:
Yeah.
Katie:
I wanted a hedgehog to kind of remind me, like, focus on this, you know, stick with just the freeze dried because I feel like so many businesses try to do so many different things. But if you can really just pick one thing and do it well, that's where the the hedgehog came from. So thank you, Jim Collins.
Chris:
Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of pivots in business if people weren't, you know, let's say, selling enough or whatever. You know what I mean? So they're always, oh, we gotta do this. We gotta switch that.
Chris:
No. I mean, like, you know, some some months are great, some months are tough, but as long as you keep on going and kinda pushing through
Katie:
Keep your focus
Chris:
in your mind. Keep your focus. Like, I kinda equate it to, like, weight loss. Right? So 3 years ago, I weighed over £300, and
Dane Shoemaker:
Oh, wow.
Chris:
I was like, stuff's gotta change. So it's one of those things where I was able to drop over a £100 just by showing up every day. Right? Some days I lost some weeks I lost weight, some days I didn't or put on a couple. But if you consistently keep going after it, you're gonna get to where you need to be.
Chris:
So
Dane Shoemaker:
That's awesome. Nice. Tell us about, you know, your yourselves. Like, what's your background? You know, what did you guys do before to have trees?
Katie:
So Chris and I both went to school for broadcasting at Millersville. That is where we met. And then after school, Chris did the broadcasting thing. I kinda knew that it wasn't for me. About halfway through, I really liked it, but as as you know, in broadcasting, you need to, like, love it.
Katie:
And I didn't wanna go out to Idaho to be a reporter. So I came back to the area and I started working with kids, and so I decided I wanted to be a teacher. And I went back to school and I got my master's in education. And so I work for the Rose Tree Media School District now. And I've been teaching for 10 years.
Katie:
So this is kinda nice. Our some of my students actually helped us pick the mascot. They were super helpful in that decision. We had a couple different options, and so, you know, getting their opinion was helpful. But I am a teacher.
Chris:
And, I'm a Taft Treats employee now. But, no. I started out, like she said, in broadcasting. I started out in New York doing some stuff with Major League Baseball, video editing, and then, met her, moved down here, and started fresh and was able to get in with QVC doing Mhmm. Video production work there.
Chris:
Amazing organization, but it got to a point in the road where it's like, do I invest in, you know, this business and see where it goes or continue growing in that career path.
Dane Shoemaker:
Sure. Yeah.
Chris:
And it's kinda cool to see what you can do. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, I love QVC. It's a great organization, but I was leaving with x amount. You know?
Chris:
Yeah. So, like, this, you kinda control your own destiny. So the hard work you put in here, you're going to see the end result. And then I also do still kinda freelance for the Eagles Okay. Doing their social media stuff.
Chris:
So, like, GIFs, memes, YouTube shorts, things like that. So it's a I love
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah.
Chris:
The Eagles, it's very cool content to work on, and, it's not like when they need me in season, that's when I'm gonna
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris:
Get after it. And, yeah. That's pretty cool. On-site. So
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is you guys are living the American dream right now, starting a business, you know, just following your dreams. It's it's awesome.
Katie:
Yeah. It's the it's a lot of work. That's the one thing I think that people, you know, get nervous about going into it and probably if we knew, I feel like no one actually knows what they're doing. I've learned that in life, you know, with parenting and anything in general that you're all just kinda, like, doing it and you figure it out along the way. But it is it's a definitely a lot a lot of work.
Katie:
There's been lots of long nights, lots of early mornings, and, you know, you just kinda grind through. And I feel like at this point, the only way that we can go is forward because Yeah. We can't go back. No.
Chris:
That's right.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. What about some, you know, any roadblocks or challenges along the way that, you know, you're able to overcome or anything?
Katie:
There's been a lot for sure. The freeze dryers don't always cooperate. They're very finicky sometimes, and, unfortunately, there's not, like, a freeze dry repairman that you can just call and come to fix them. Yeah. So we've learned way more about freeze drying and
Dane Shoemaker:
Okay.
Katie:
You know, mechanics and electrical stuff than we ever probably wanted to or needed to. Nice. So that's definitely been a roadblock. Sometimes the candy doesn't work the right way. The weather really affects things.
Katie:
We've lost product from being in the sun for too long. So just, you know, there's lots of different hurdles, especially with the candy that we've come across. Financially, it can be tricky at times owning your own business. You know, we did really well over the holiday season, and then it kind of flatlined.
Chris:
And And January hits and you're like, what are we doing? Yeah. Yeah. But it's like
Katie:
So just, you know, learning the the 1st year of business with the the ebbs and flows and the peaks and the valleys and trying to figure out how to budget correctly. So I feel like now that we have this 1st year under our belt, we have, you know, more knowledge going into it, and hopefully, we can plan and budget a little bit better. And we know Sure. January's gonna be slow, so maybe we need to find something else to do in there. But lots of hurdles, but you just, you know, overcome it.
Katie:
Yeah. Figure out what to do and then move forward.
Dane Shoemaker:
That's the name of the game. Right?
Katie:
Yeah. That's
Dane Shoemaker:
business. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like January, you need to find some kinda everyone goes into a health kick then. So Yeah.
Chris:
Well, that's true. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. We love to partner with other local organizations.
Chris:
So we Yeah. In the fall, we're doing, Wolf's Apples.
Dane Shoemaker:
Oh, okay.
Chris:
You know? And, we have a cool collab coming up with, Yo Koffee, Bad and Gab over at Yo Koffee.
Katie:
Yep.
Chris:
Very cool people, but, we're gonna do strawberries for them, and they're gonna do a pretty cool strawberry refresher drink. So that should be coming out shortly. And, yeah, just like it's cool where business takes you. Mhmm. Because the connections you meet, the way you can kinda collab and kinda create together.
Chris:
Yep.
Katie:
It's really, really cool. Lots of really cool people and other business owners that, know, are kinda in the struggle with us. So it's been nice to to meet a lot of different people and build those connections.
Dane Shoemaker:
Absolutely. I mean, it's a really community of people, and they can share ideas and things like that. Totally. And Gabor, who referred me to
Chris:
you guys, actually. So, yeah,
Dane Shoemaker:
they were on a a previous episode. So Nice. Yeah.
Chris:
Super cool. And, the the the way they're building up business and media is awesome. And, you know, it's a local coffee shop. If you don't know about them, very good coffee and, just the vibes is is really cool.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Do you have your stuff there as well?
Chris:
Yep. We do also. Yeah. Yeah. They approached us and we're like, yeah.
Chris:
Great. How'd you find out about us? It's kinda cool because we started approaching businesses, but now a lot of the businesses are coming to us
Dane Shoemaker:
Which is nice.
Chris:
Pretty cool because
Dane Shoemaker:
it's Yeah.
Chris:
I I feel like that's rewarding because we're doing something right. Like, our main thing is we wanna give back as much to the community. And within the 1st year of business, we've been able to donate through sponsorships, baskets, fundraising over $10,000, which is pretty cool. Like, I'm proud of that because we're a very small business. And,
Katie:
Yeah. That's
Dane Shoemaker:
a that's a big chunk.
Chris:
Yeah. To be able to give that back into, like, you know, sponsorships in baseball or Ridley Cheer has been amazing with us working with them, Ridley Cheerleading. Nice.
Katie:
Yeah. I think one of our big missions is to bring people together through the freeze dried experience. And so being able to do that and give back to the community, you know, I just think that that's the way to go in business, and it is frustrating when you come across those people that don't wanna work with you, that don't wanna collaborate and work together, because I think, you know, that's the only way we get through life is working together and helping each other out. So that's been one of the cool things. And speaking of your coffee, I think that is our only drive through location.
Katie:
So if your kids are being super extra and
Dane Shoemaker:
you don't wanna get them out
Katie:
of the car, at least you can drive through and get your freeze dried candy.
Dane Shoemaker:
Nice. Nice. Cool. What about, you know, what's like a top seller? Like, what do you have, like, a couple, like, top 3 products?
Dane Shoemaker:
Or It kinda
Chris:
it there's a lot of seasonal stuff. Like, I feel like
Katie:
strained. We that's always been interesting, like, what sells. So Skittles are definitely our number one, the Skookles.
Chris:
Skookles. We sell Skookles. After our process, you
Dane Shoemaker:
know, after
Chris:
our 10 hour process.
Katie:
Skittles, and then we freeze dry them to be Skookles. They are definitely our top seller. We have our Delco Puffs, which are Jolly Ranchers. So we do change the name around to fun, you know, Delco things, always Sunny Bites with our Lemonheads. But it definitely just depends seasonally.
Katie:
I would say the s'mores right now, the freeze dried s'mores are definitely our biggest seller. They've been doing really well, and it's it's weird. It goes through, like, phases. Our Air Johns, which are Airheads, have been popular lately. And so it just it depends.
Katie:
It's I guess people's taste kind of change with the seasons. Uh-huh. But that's kinda what's what's hot right now.
Chris:
Cool. The creating it is cool because we're really trying to create our own brand the next year of different things. I'm like, how we can you know, the the peanut brittle is phenomenal. Yeah. Kinda melts in your mouth.
Chris:
It's no longer hard, but that's, like, from scratch, which is cool. The s'mores are from scratch. So we're trying to get into more from scratch items because, like, it is starting to pop up and and you're starting to see it. Yeah.
Katie:
Other big bigger businesses
Chris:
are trying to do. Right? So we're trying to separate and be, like, more of a bakery in a sense where it's different. Yeah. You know?
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Do you run into any issues, like, I guess, like, legal or anything like that with your if you're freeze drying Jolly Ranchers and reselling them? Is that
Katie:
Delco Puffs, you mean? Delco Puffs. So that's why yeah. So that's why the names are all different. Yeah.
Katie:
Because we don't wanna get sued. Luckily, knock on wood, we haven't. Yeah. Nothing has happened. We haven't gotten any letters yet.
Katie:
But changing the name and, like Chris said, trying to do our own stuff, is is helpful in that. So, yeah, if you ever see the names, like our Laffy Taffy is our used funny taffy.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah.
Katie:
So switching the names around, but they are fun.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited to try that Jolly Rancher. I I don't I can't even, like, fathom what that looks or tastes like. Yeah.
Dane Shoemaker:
The texture
Chris:
of it.
Dane Shoemaker:
It's hard. Kinda now. It's like you can Lot of flavor. Melt in your mouth. It's
Chris:
it's wild. Okay.
Katie:
I think that just, you know, any advice to entrepreneurs. It's just that it's it's hard work and that you could just kinda gotta keep going. Doing this together has been an experience and I would be Yeah.
Dane Shoemaker:
Tell me what about, like, a husband and wife, You know?
Chris:
So I come I try to be on a creative day to day end Yeah. Of things where Katie kinda takes the reins on the back ends with emails because she has a full time job. She, you know Yeah. Is in the,
Katie:
Yeah. I mean, I would definitely be lying if I said that it it was easy, you know, working with your spouse and a business and having a family is it's a lot. Right? I mean, having 2 kids is a lot in general and then having I feel like this is our 3rd child, which might be the
Chris:
Right. Right.
Katie:
The neediest of the 3. But and the freeze drying, it takes, like, 10 to 12 hours. So Yeah. There's a lot. I'm an early bird and Chris is a night owl.
Katie:
So a lot of times he'll come late at night and start the machines, then I'll come early in the morning and bag them just so that we can kinda keep things going. And that's the one, like, downsize that we can't just make product quickly.
Chris:
Right. Because it is a 10 hour process. You really high demand. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris:
So, like, this past weekend, we just did, Big Deal, which is a pickle festival at Xfinity Live. Amazing. You guys rocked. But, it was something that we were like, let's take on bigger shows to see where it goes. Right?
Chris:
And, you know, we had a bunch of bunch of product made ready to go, and,
Katie:
we sold it.
Chris:
We sold it all, which is great. Awesome, you know, but then I had these orders to filled this week. Yeah.
Dane Shoemaker:
So I'm here
Chris:
busting my tail, like, midnight last night trying to turn products. So, like, every 10 hours, 12 hours, we're kinda in here rotating in and out, switching things around. So it is there's different stresses, but it at the end, it's all worth it if you keep going and just kinda see where where it goes.
Katie:
From everyone that I talked to that owns a business, they say, like, 5 years, you kinda start, like, reaping the the rewards of your hard work. So I just keep reminding myself of that of the super early mornings or the super late nights. You know? I hope that we can set something up for our kids' future so that, you know, they're taken care of. And even if my daughter it's been cool seeing her, like, wanna be a little entrepreneur.
Katie:
Yeah. She set up her bracelets at our one craft show and, you know, sold them for a dollar, and
Katie:
then she at our one craft show and, you know, sold them for a dollar, and then she always asks if she can sell lemonade outside. So I think just kind of having them watch us do this, is a cool thing too. You know, your kids, they're they're always watching. And so watching them kind of and having them be with us as we're building it is cool.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Pursuing your passions, you know, following your dreams. Yeah. It's those are life lessons. Yeah.
Chris:
And even if it's not candy, she's learning to work hard at an early age. You know, it's one of those things that little things where it's like
Katie:
And earning money. I mean, I feel like she asked for everything under the sun, and I'm like, you know, you need to earn money if you wanna buy that. That money just doesn't grow on trees. I think that so many times these kids just think that they can get whatever they want and, you know, with YouTube and social media and all that stuff, it drives me nuts. But I think that at least she's kind of learning a little bit about, like, working hard and Yeah.
Katie:
Budgeting and that kind of stuff. So that's good.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. We've, we've started to incorporate more chores. Our 5 year old's, like, kinda getting it. You know, he's like, you know, if there's if they clean up, they clean the room, you know, whatever, you know, we'll give him some some coins or whatever.
Katie:
So that
Dane Shoemaker:
that's a start. You know? I'm ready to offload some yard work.
Chris:
There you go. That that like Yeah. Used to love mowing the yard. Now it's like, oh, I gotta do it in chunks. Yeah.
Chris:
Time management is kinda crazy. But,
Dane Shoemaker:
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you guys have a cool really cool brand. I mean, anything from a marketing standpoint that you guys are are doing?
Dane Shoemaker:
You know, talk a little bit about that. Your how your promoting you do some shows, like
Katie:
Yeah. So Chris is really good at doing our marketing and the branding Okay. Since that was, you know, his background and he even did some of that, for the Eagles and at QVC. And so I think that having that background has been super helpful. Mhmm.
Katie:
We did, through 99 designs, they have, like, a logo contest where different designers from all over the world can design things for you, and then you pick what one you want. So I think we got over, like, 30 submissions for that. And then, we narrowed it down and it was funny because actually, originally, the one that Chris really liked, it was a little bit more like Sonic hedgehog. Yeah. And I'm glad that we went with this one instead.
Katie:
My students were the one that kind of convinced us to take QE instead of the other one. They were like, no. That one looks too cartoony. Like, that's one you wanna snuggle with.
Katie:
Yeah.
Katie:
So, I think that, you know, just building that brand and, again, staying focused with the marketing. Chris is so great at putting Kiwi in, like, different situations. Like, when we did the pickle fest, he was holding a pickle. And, last year when media won the media little league was in the little league world series
Katie:
Yeah.
Katie:
You know, Huey had a little league hat on. So Oh, nice. I think he's that's been super awesome to see. I'm not good with that kind of stuff. And so Yeah.
Katie:
Chris' creativity has really helped build our brand and get, you know, Huey recognized, and it's fun. Even my daughter was at school, and she was like, mom, this girl had a Huey keychain on her backpack. No way. So trying to build Huey, you know, not just build the company, but build a brand
Dane Shoemaker:
Sure.
Katie:
That goes with it, is what we're kinda trying to do hand in hand.
Chris:
Not to be corny, but, like, you wanna see that and be like, oh, my thing is, like, you wanna see the hedgehog and be like you want a feeling behind it. Like, oh, that's cool. They're doing this or I've had that there, and it was a really cool moment. Like Mhmm. That's kinda like how I, you know, kind of view it.
Katie:
Yeah. You know, like, you see, like, the Nike swoosh, like, the symbols and stuff.
Dane Shoemaker:
Or
Katie:
Apple, you know what it is. So, hopefully, someday, that'll be Huey. That's right. Yeah.
Dane Shoemaker:
I mean, the color scheme is awesome too. I really like
Katie:
Yeah.
Dane Shoemaker:
Just like the the turquoise and the pink or whatever. It's really pops. You know?
Katie:
He was a little bit different in the beginning, but I think that I've always been drawn to teal. Mhmm. And you've always liked pink. So I feel like that's kinda we he was a little bit bluer in the beginning, and then we we did switch around the colors. Nice.
Katie:
So yeah. Been cool.
Dane Shoemaker:
Very good. What's, what's in the in the works in the future? Anything you wanna share?
Katie:
Great question. I keep saying on
Chris:
the short term, I'll take this one. We are doing, fundraisers with Okay. You know, we're pushing towards we would like to do fund fundraiser to kinda bring it back local. So we wanna Yeah. Team up with a lot of local businesses because it's that's the money you see in, you know, at the baseball fields or at, like, dances and things like that.
Chris:
You're gonna see that type of business. So we're teaming up with, Adelco Effect, which is a awesome little candy candle company in, Delaware County. Leon and Renee do a fantastic job with candles, and we're gonna do, like, candles and candy fundraiser for the fall.
Dane Shoemaker:
Oh, nice.
Katie:
Yeah. So getting that out to, like, different PTOs and, you know, school groups and stuff. Hopefully, help them raise the money and keep it local. I feel like that definitely people like the local things, and Leon has awesome fun candle names too, kinda similar to our candy.
Dane Shoemaker:
Okay.
Katie:
So we wanted we did a couple fundraisers last year, which were successful, but we also realized, you know, not everyone likes candy or Canadian for whatever reason. And so by doing the candles, I think that that will really help schools, you know, bring in some money or baseball teams or whatever. So that is definitely That's a
Katie:
good idea.
Katie:
What's on deck for the fall. You know, I we've talked a lot about, like, whether we do, like, a truck or a different retail location. So that's now that it's summertime and school's out, we need to sit down and actually regroup and kinda talk about, like, our 5 year plan. I feel like we've just been kinda building the plane as we've been flying it. But now that we have the year, we can kinda figure out, you know, where where do we go from here?
Katie:
Where does Taft Treats expand to?
Chris:
Yep. Kinda what worked, what hasn't, kinda regroup, and, continue to build it through. Yeah. Good times, I guess. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Cool. Well, yeah, really exciting. You know, candy's awesome. I mean, the brand's awesome.
Dane Shoemaker:
The company, you guys are so cool. So Well,
Katie:
thank you
Dane Shoemaker:
know, really, congratulations everything that you guys have built here.
Chris:
Yeah. And, congratulations on your business. I know it's hard to take, a lot of things. It, you know, takes time. You build it, and, we appreciate your time and all the time you're putting in on the postproduction end because it is not just a start, click, stop.
Chris:
So Yeah. It works really hard. Everyone works really hard in postproduction, and sometimes the light has always shined on, you know, different places, but they're the real true awesome story tellers behind this.
Dane Shoemaker:
Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to my editor who does all this stuff. So R and L.
Chris:
And the owner, editor, you know, the the email or marketing, all that stuff.
Dane Shoemaker:
So Yep. Yep. Cool. So where can where can people find you? Where what are your socials?
Dane Shoemaker:
What your website? What's the address here?
Katie:
Sure. So we are at Taft Treats, t a f f t r e a t s, treats. Taft treats, on Instagram, Facebook, x, TikTok, all that good stuff. Okay. Our store is 8 West Brookhaven Road.
Katie:
So we're right between the Walgreens and McDonald's, 12 to 5, Wednesday through Saturday.
Dane Shoemaker:
K.
Katie:
And look at us at many different locations around Delaware County. So we are in Wolf's, Game On State, Sugary. I know I'm forgetting lots of places. Genie beans right down the road if you're in Parkside. So just look for the little Huey the Hedgehog and Taft Treats.
Chris:
Honey Pie.
Katie:
Yep. Honey Pie
Chris:
in Springfield. Springfield. Yeah. There's a lot. And the goal is to eventually build it in every borough or town in Delco.
Chris:
I'd love to have Tap Treats as easily accessible in Delco. Yeah. So that's that's one
Dane Shoemaker:
of my goals. Nice. Love it. Well, thanks, guys. Yeah.
Dane Shoemaker:
Thank you so much. Thanks for listening today. Shoemaker Lab is an original production by Shoemaker Films LLC. If you enjoyed today's content, please consider subscribing on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your content. Follow us on Instagram at shoemaker.films.
Dane Shoemaker:
If you're a business that's either interested in our video production services or would like to be a guest on the show, get in touch by using the contact form on our website, shoemakerfilms.com.
