Hello, Biohackers!!! Today we are very blessed to have an interview with Cory Conklin the Creative Keto Cook and founder of Select Savory Seasonings. Cory is an avid cook, food smoker, and griller who lives a Keto lifestyle. In late 2017 Cory realized that it was difficult to find a reliable source of Sugar-Free Rubs, Spices, and Seasonings to help people lose weight so he founded Select Savory Seasonings. Select Savory Seasonings provides Gourmet, Fresh, Sugar-Free Rubs and Spices with no added fillers or anti-caking agents. You will be getting Fresh, Healthy Spices in every jar. Let’s all welcome Cory Conklin from Select Savory Seasonings.
WEB: https://www.selectsavory.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/selectsavory/
TW: https://twitter.com/creativketocook
IG: https://www.instagram.com/selectsavoryseasonings/
YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkZyU5QxpH9bc6fCQl57onQ
USE THIS TRACKING/DISCOUNT CODE AT CHECK OUT FOR 15% OFF: biohack15
Q: Hi Cory, can you tell us something about yourself? Also, can you share something about the company, the branding, and how it all started?
A: I have been eating low carb/Atkins off and on for most of my life and used it to go from a high of 280lbs. to a low of 190lbs. In November of 2017, my wife challenged me to see who could lose 10lbs. the fastest (I got back up to 235lbs from my low of 190) which challenged me because I was not eating as I should. So on Thanksgiving Day 2017 I started living Keto and decided that this is going to now be my lifestyle and not just a diet.
I am also an avid food/meat smoker and I Love cooking on my smoker as much as possible. In December of 2017, I was looking for a BBQ rub to use and it hit me that 99% of BBQ rubs on the market are full of sugar (even if the nutrition label says 0 Carbs/0 Sugar). As I stood in the store, I thought there has to be a better option which led me to create Select Savory Seasonings. My other reason to start the company was to provide people with ways to add variety and flavor to their food. One of the “complaints” I hear about keto and carnivore is that it is bland, has no variety, you eat the same thing all the time. With Select Savory Seasonings I offer people a very simple way to add variety to their diet. For example, I cooked two hamburgers recently and used two different seasonings. As I ate them I had two completely different meals at the same time by simply using two different blends.
The branding was originally going to be Keto Pig BBQ, but that was too narrow of a focus. After some brainstorming and working with a friend I came up with Select Savory Seasonings and launched the company in May of 2018.
Q: It was nice to know that both Daniel and Samuel at a young age already knew how to value the business. How did you train them about marketing and how your business is run?
A: My wife and I like to allow our boys to work with us in our businesses to help them learn and understand how a business is run. I have the boys help me take pictures and videos about our spices to share with our customers. I also like to show them how much of specific products that we are selling, why I am ordering more and then they help me restock the products in our warehouse when it arrives.
Q: You have a lot of spices. How did you come up with all of these spices? Who made these spices?
A: I work with a company that specializes in seasoning and spices to specifically make seasoning blends that have Zero sugar, additives, and fillers. Together we can provide people with Clean and Healthy seasonings and spices that they can use to add variety to their diet.
Q: Among all of the products that you have, which spices do you always use and recommend? Why?
A: That is like asking which is my favorite Child! I always start with our Ranch’tastic Seasoning because it is one of our best sellers and is one of our most versatile blends. Ranch’tastic is good in almost anything that you can make in the kitchen (except maybe ice cream). It is great on all meats, veggies, casseroles, stews, eggs and it makes a simple and healthy Ranch’tastic Dip with sour cream. My second choice is our Savory Meat Seasoning because it is great on all meats and it has a nice earthy flavor to your meat. After using our Savory Meat Seasoning on pork ribs for dinner one night one of my customer’s kids said “That is the Best Dinner you ever made mom!”
Q: There are a lot of spices in the market right now. How do you differentiate your product from other competitors? And how do you deal with the competition in the market right now?
A: Most of the spices in the market are not fresh, they have lower grade ingredients and many of them contain sugar and other fillers. We offer Fresh, Gourmet, Sugar-Free & Additive Free spices that are so much more flavorful and fresh that we recommend people use half of what a recipe calls for (you can always add more if needed) so that the spices do not overpower the dish. We also put a Production Date on all of our Spices, not an expiration date. Spices have about a two-year shelf life before they start to lose their flavor. Many spices in the store have an expiration date 3+ years away, and you still don’t even know when it was packaged. With our spices, you always know how fresh they are with the packaged date.
Q: What is the most difficult aspect of creating a product such as yours? How do you approach those challenges?
A: The challenge comes from offering the various spices and seasoning that people are going to want. There are thousands of different spices on the market from around the world, but it is not possible to offer all of them. I have just used trial and error to find out what people like and will purchase. Some products have done much better than I ever expected (like our Great Greek Gyro Seasoning) and others have not done well (we stopped selling Jambalaya seasoning).
Q: What is your 5-10 year vision for your company?
A: My 5-10 year vision is to expand into other categories such as sauces and dressings and meat snacks and to continue to offer people good healthy food that is good for them so that they can lose weight, get healthy, and feel amazing!
Q: What advice can you give to all those people who want to live a keto lifestyle?
A: First this is to Know Your Why! Why do you want to lose weight, get healthy, and feel amazing? If your why is just to lose weight or to look good it will be difficult to maintain the lifestyle. My, why’s are: I want to be here for my family, I want to thrive until my time is up and not just survive, I do not want to have the knee and back pain that I used to have, and I have many more. Get Your Why and the Get Started living Keto!
Q: Finally, is there anything else you’d like to share with us that we didn’t already cover?
A: Nope, that looks good!
Thank you so much for your time, Cory Conklin. We are honored to be able to speak with you regarding your company and wish you the absolute best. For interested readers, please visit their website below.
WEB: https://www.selectsavory.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/selectsavory/
TW: https://twitter.com/creativketocook
IG: https://www.instagram.com/selectsavoryseasonings/
YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkZyU5QxpH9bc6fCQl57onQ
USE THIS TRACKING/DISCOUNT CODE AT CHECK OUT FOR 15% OFF: biohack15
