Strategic Growth: Sid Brodsky of James Gerard Foods [Podcast]

After calling Denver, Colorado, home for many years, it was difficult for Sid Brodsky, chef and president of James Gerard Foods, to move onto a new chapter in Phoenix, Arizona. Right from the beginning, Sid felt his new job was not a good fit.

His next step? “If I was going to work 80 to 90 hours a week, I should be doing it for myself,” Sid says.

And that’s exactly what he ended up doing, despite not having a backup plan for leaving his job and starting his own entrepreneurial venture.

After looking at many different business options, Sid decided to purchase James Gerard Foods, a gourmet catering company that needed to be revitalized. So he began distributing gourmet appetizers, and in doing so, expanded the business by taking new clients and diversifying the line of products.

In less than two decades, James Gerard Foods went from having three part-time employees to 50 full-time staff members and 15 to 20 temporary employees for seasonal help. Today, the company makes 20,000 handcrafted appetizers on an average day, which includes menu items like rattlesnake tamales.

“We diversified our business after getting into the 2008 financial turmoil and losing 40% of our revenue overnight,” Sid says. “But the company ended up doubling up in size after we put accountability measures that made the business smarter than ever.”

Encouraging transparency

Because Sid’s clients are mostly gourmet chefs themselves, he said he expects his clients to demand the highest level of customer service found in the hospitality industry.

No order is too small or too detail-oriented, according to Sid. But Sid says what differentiates his business is that he really does put his chefs first by providing transparency to how order pricing varies upon each unique request.

“We have always strived to get to that point in our customer relationships where they realize that we are being fair and equitable to them in every step of the game,” Sid said.

So that means no sticker shock moments or surprises for his clients.

Ignoring the naysayers

When Sid was thinking about buying James Gerard Foods, he was told that the national companies would eat his company alive.

But the reality was that Sid’s business strategy was geared towards clients the national companies did not cater to. Therefore, he has been able to successfully target the right clientele without worrying about competing with mega brand companies.

According to Sid, “Sometimes you have to put the naysayers aside and strip the truth out of what they are saying and stick to your gut instinct and the evidence on the market to take you into the right direction.”

To learn more about James Gerard Foods click here