From Bug Spray to Sourdough Bread: Shop Local at H-E-B
From its first C.C. Butt Grocery store in Kerrville, TX, in 1905, H-E-B (renamed in 1928 after Howard E. Butt) grew steadily over its 110+ years: 17 stores in 1930, 65 in 1955, 130 in 1975 to more than 350 stores in 2020. H-E-B grew big. But the grocery store honors its origins and sticks to its roots when it comes to supporting local products. Go-Texan labeled items aside, look around your local branch and find goods baked, brewed or bottled right here in and around Houston. Look for pastured eggs from Kenz Henz, operating just south of Houston in Santa Fe TX; bottled hot sauce from Bravado Spice Co.; frozen treats from Trentino Gelato (creating artisan gelato in Houston since 2006); and bath and body products from Enfusia, based out of the Woodlands, to name just a few.
What does it mean for a small local producer to be in business with a wide-reach store like H-E-B? What does it do for their product?
Bye-You Bug is a small business owned and operated by Houston-based entrepreneurs Ryan and Sarah McDonner, and Sarah’s mother, pharmacist Dr. Plunkett who is in the health and environmental sciences business. A true small-family operation, together they developed and marketed an all-natural bug repellent as a healthier and more sustainable alternative to conventional products. In 2015, the vanilla-scented bug spray caught the attention of a broker with connections at H-E-B. “She tried our product, loved it and agreed to work with us to get us on store shelves in both Central Market and H-E-B,” says Sarah McDonner. In 2016, they were approved to sell in Healthy Living departments and started in about 20-30 stores, with the restriction that each store kept the right to decide whether to purchase or not. It wasn’t until two years later, in 2018, that H-E-B put Bye-You Bug on their annual buying schedule and shelf slot for all Healthy Living departments.
About 95% of their annual sales now goes through H-E-B. “For a small Texas based brand like us it enhances consumer perception of our product. They know how to give us the attention we need. Even though they maintain a large corporate structure we have had the opportunity to maintain a very close relationship with our buyer, which helps us to strategize our growth and marketing efforts.”
Texas-born first-generation Greek American Tasos Katsaounis was in business consulting for 21 years until a passion for baking bread (kicked off with his family’s Greek bread recipes) pushed him to leave his consulting career in 2018 and launch Bread Man Baking Co. as an independent wholesale business. Katsauonis joined forces with head baker Desirae Vasquez, a graduate from the Art Institute of Colorado for Baking and Pastry Arts with an impressive resume of bread baking that includes partaking in Bread Production at the San Francisco Baking Institute, and leading a team of 50 bakers in Whole Foods Market’s Rocky Mountain Bread Team.
It may have been quite a leap to go from single loaves baked in his home kitchen to operating from a commissary kitchen in Houston, but within 8 months in business, wholesale Bread Man Baking Co. was at the Urban Harvest farmers market and in a partnership deal with more than 75 restaurants, hotels and Whole Foods Markets. Since March 20 of this year, you can find their bread in H-E-B stores as well. “We started with 5 stores, delivering 300 units of bread per day,” says Katsaounis. Within weeks, they tripled that—both in number of stores and loaves delivered.
Katsaounis way into H-E-B stores, he tells me, started with a call from Scott McClelland, President of H-E-B: Would he be interested in selling his breads through H-E-B stores? The timing of that call, on March 15, was most precious. “At least 75% of our business comes from restaurants, hotels, coffee shops. That went away overnight with the [Covid-19] shutdown. Scott’s call not only saved my business, but it allowed me to retain my employees and expand the reach of our products to consumers.”
Having his products available in H-E-B stores was a “pinch-me” milestone for Katsaounis: “HEB is a company I hope to model my company after. Their operations, distribution, their culture, and their level of preparedness in times of crisis as part of the supply chain is incredibly impressive.”
Amid the pandemic crisis, the grocery giant opened up shelf space for local restaurants to sell ready meals. It brought a whole new gastronomic dimension to the Meal Simple collection, from Brennan’s turtle soup, Cherry Block’s smoked catfish dip, Hugo’s carnitas to Underbelly’s Korean dumplings with spiced braised beef. For the restaurants, it is a lifeline in a time of closures and lockdown.
Cherry Block opened late 2018 as a “pasture to plate” responsible meats butcher and seasonal kitchen concept in Bravery Chef Hall. The Covid-19 crisis had local partners Felix Florez and Jess DeSham Timmons, too, worried sick about the future of their restaurant. Working hard to make every available option viable, including to-go meals, they caught a break when H-E-B invited them on the Meal Simple project that brings cashflow and keeps business going.
“We got a call from H-E-B asking if we’d like to partner with them on a project to help supply their Houston stores with prepared meals,” says DeSham Timmons. That answer was a resounding YES. Within five days after the initial call they were on shelves in stores. “H-E-B is not marking up the products,” says DeSham Timmons. “They are selling the meals at the same price they’re purchasing them from us. To me, that shows what a true community leader they are. They saw a need to help the restaurant community and acted on it in a huge way.”
“This project has allowed us to keep every team member that wants to be here working in our kitchen. Thanks to H-E-B our folks can keep cooking!”
While the Meal Simple additions, as of right now, are temporary, who knows what’s in store next—literally, at H-E-B.
To local producers and small business owners dreaming of shelf-space in a store like H-E-B, the advice overall is persistence and patience. Katsaounis advises: “Be patient, work hard, and be ready when the faucet is turned on. It will elevate your company and open other opportunities you never considered.”
McDonner adds: “We put a lot of effort into building relationships with other producers and brands who sell to H-E-B and they mentored us through the process of moving into larger-chain operations and doing business specifically with H-E-B.”
