The Legal Field: Legal Perspectives in the Agriculture Industry
Hosted by Agriculture Attorney Amanda Perry Carl, The Legal Field discusses legal topics that are of great importance to the agriculture industry. Our guests provide unique perspectives for the advancement and preservation of this vital industry.
The Legal Field: Legal Perspectives in the Agriculture Industry
The "Sweet" Comeback Story of an Iconic Brand: A Conversation with Stephanie Stuckey
For many of us, Stuckey's was such an iconic American brand during our childhoods. Road trips often included stops at Stuckey's for many treats - pecan log rolls in particular!
Join us on this episode as Amanda Perry Carl chats with Stephanie Stuckey, Chair of the Board for Stuckey's. In this episode, we discuss the "sweet" comeback story of Stuckey's, the pecan industry, road tripping, food labeling topics, and so much more! You don't want to miss this!
And see what's going on.
SPEAKER_02:Hello, and welcome to the Legal Field Podcast. I'm your host, Amanda Carl, and we are so excited today to have Stephanie Stuckey as our guest on the podcast. Welcome, Stephanie.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Amanda. I am so delighted to be here.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. Well, Stephanie is the CEO of the Stuckies Company. Yes, that's Stuckies, that many of you know and have been to, and is always out and about promoting the brand. So if you don't follow Stephanie on social media, I would highly recommend it, especially on LinkedIn. And I want to talk a little bit as we get started about the Stuckies Company. Most of us who are 35 and older, some of us way more than 35 or older, have very fond memories of Stuckies. I remember as a kid, for good report cards, we would go get ice cream at Stuckies as our reward. And we had kind of our local one that was a gathering spot. And I know a lot of people who worked at Stuckies, and it was the ultimate road trip stop long before that other company that rhymes with Stuckies came along that a lot of people like to stop at. So Stuckies was our ultimate road trip stop. So, Stephanie, can you give us a little history on the company, on the brand, um, how many stores at Peak, when it was founded, and a little background for folks?
SPEAKER_00:I'd be happy. Let's take a little trip in the Wayback Machine. First, I'll do a quick correction. I am now the chair of the board. I transitioned my role. Oh, it's been almost two years, and it's been delightful. My business partner became CEO. He's doing a terrific job. His name is RG Lamar, and I am at his side supporting the team and helping this company grow as the board chair. I also do branding, marketing, events. So there's a lot packed into my title, but I am happily no longer the CEO. As for the history of the company, we were founded in 1937 as a roadside pecan stand. And my grandfather grew from that to at its peak by the 1970s. We had over 370 stores in 40 states. And one of those was in your neighborhood. We were known as a road tripping brand. We were mostly on the Interstate Highway. And but we were connected to small communities because we would be at the highway exit for these small communities. So I love hearing stories like yours that that was your go-to gathering place for ice cream rewards. And we sold pecan snacks and candies. We're best known for our pecan lagrel, but also just a lot of fun, kitschy souvenirs, coonskin caps, snow globes, Florida marmalades, ashtrays shaped like toilets that say put your butts here. I mean, just silly fun stuff. And yes, we get a lot of comparisons to Buckies. I will say I absolutely love Buckies. I think it's fun what they're doing, and they're helping people rediscover and discover for the first time the road trip. So I'm all for Buckeys. I stopped there as well. My grandfather sold Stuckies when I was a little girl. It was out of our family for decades. Unfortunately, the brand declined over years and years. And there are a lot of factors. But suffice it to say, by the time I had the unexpected opportunity in 2019 to buy the company back, it was six figures in the red. And those stores had dwindled to today there are 13 original stores. There's also some additional locations that are licensed that are grandfathered in and they carry our name, but they don't look like an original store. So we've got about 28 stores total. We don't own or operate them. And my business partners and I have really changed the company around. And we are focused actually just the way the company began on pecan snacks and candies. So we bought a manufacturing facility in Rennes, Georgia. We sell pecan snacks and candies and we supply to almost 5,000 retail doors nationwide, everywhere from mom and pop candy shops to convenience store chains, grocery store chains like Food Lion and Ingalls, and a lot of hardware, bombgars and rural King, and the military. We're in all the Navy Nextcom shops. So 90 plus percent of our revenue is focused on the product. And then we still have these legacy stores that I love and I have an emotional attachment to. But the real driving force of moving this brand is making pecan stacks and candies. That was a lot. And I'm sorry, it's 87 years. I was trying to do an elevator pitch, but I think it may have been like a 200-story building that I did the elevator pitch for.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it's it's fitting that this episode will air on Thanksgiving when everybody's eating pecan pie that um you know that this is you're more focused now on the pecan side of things, which is great. And, you know, these these businesses who have that have been around a long time are so critical in in our country, foundations of communities, foundations um of our country. So it's it's great to see um, you know, this brand, the way you guys are taking it back to its roots, which is really cool um to go back to those pecan Georgia pecan roots. Um and you can't beat a they're just the best. Georgia pecan.
SPEAKER_00:And I've said something about pecans by the way. We are the only snack nut. I know how it's interesting. I tend to like identify myself with the pecan. We we are the only snack nut native to this country. I mean, you don't see a Brazil nut in your backyard, do you, right? Or a cashew plant. No, we're the only nut that's native now. Almonds are now grown in this country, but they aren't native. And so that's why so many people have an emotional attachment to the pecan. They'll say, Oh, my grandmother had a pecan tree in her backyard. Well, of course you did because it grows wild. So we just love that connection. And we do source, yeah, we get our pecans locally, most of them from Georgia. Georgia grows a third of the national production, and there were some 18 states. I hope I got that fact wrong. If I got it wrong, it's like 18 to 20 states that grow pecans natively in this country, and Florida is one of them.
SPEAKER_02:That's a really cool. So every week I try to do a Florida Ag Facts, you know, minute post on my Facebook page, and that's a really cool ag fact about pecans being the only native snack not to the United States. That's a very add in to a Florida ag fact.
SPEAKER_00:And and you know, like you said, it's Thanksgiving pecan pie time, but people are reinventing the pecan pie and they're making bars and cookies and all sorts of fun things. Pecans also go in fruitcakes, pecans aren't just for pie anymore. So 'tis the season. It is pecan season, and we're getting the new crop bagged and shipped out all over the world and well, really all over the country. We focus domestically, but in the Navy, we are we are global, so we can claim the world. But yeah, it's pecan season, best season of the year.
SPEAKER_02:Bourbon balls, one of my favorites, bourbon balls of pecan.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Yeah, shout out to Kentucky.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, absolutely. So you said that you know the company was sold when you were a very small child and you ended up going to law school, correct? Yes. Do you want to tell us about your professional history and kind of how you ended up where you were or where you are now, um, taking back over the Stuckey's name and Stuckey's company?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I'm still a lawyer and I I just so value that part of my professional career because it was my career for over three decades. I practiced several areas of law. I started as a public defender. I transitioned from there to being a state representative, and I was on the judiciary committee for 14 years. So I went from arguing laws in court to crafting laws in the state legislature. And then I transitioned from there. I didn't run for re-election, and I ran an environmental nonprofit law firm. And then I got a call from the mayor of Atlanta and he asked me to head up sustainability for the city of Atlanta. So I became part of the mayor's cabinet and did all things related to the environment. And so at that point, I was transitioning to doing environmental law. And then I, when the mayor's term ended, I was transitioning to a new role. I was looking, I was actually still working in sustainability when I got a call that's from some of the investors that owned Stuckies at that point that the company was for sale. And I would not have pivoted to such an extreme extent had it not been a family business that I had a very strong emotional connection to. And no one else was stepping up to the plate. That's the bottom line. No one else wanted to buy the company.
SPEAKER_02:And it was perfect timing, right?
SPEAKER_00:And then I found my business partners a year later. So there was there was that first year that was really hard. I we had a handful of employees who were really terrific in keeping the business alive. And we were still trying to figure things out when I I got my business partner. And he's just RG Lamar. He's been such a blessing.
SPEAKER_02:And it's really hard in that first year of trying to run a business, especially kind of jumping into it and transitioning into that, having not been, you know, there working to come in and take over. So that's a really hard first year, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. But as we know, a running a law firm is a business. And I I skimmed over some of my legal career. I did when I was in the legislature, I did have a private practice with two law partners who are still law partners. And I see them all the time. We had dinner the other week and we joked, I can always fall back on my law degree. But that that is a business. And so I was very fortunate that I had that business experience. As my partner once said to me, Stephanie, practicing law is not an intellectual exercise. It is about making money. And even though she didn't mean that a hundred percent, the whole point was I would often just want to take cases because I thought they were interesting and I was passionate about the the client. And she would say, Okay, can they pay? And you have to you have to deal with the realities of running a business as much as you may be fascinated or interested in something, you do have to pay your staff and keep the lights on.
SPEAKER_02:It's a business. And that legal background, I'm sure, really helps when you took over Stuckies because there's, you know, I tell people all the time, my niece is going to law school, and I tell her all the time, even if you don't end up practicing law, um, and I tell a lot of people this, there's so many things that your law degree and that level of training helps you prepare for and helps you have a different mindset for um that sets you up for success.
SPEAKER_00:I agree. And I still have my law license for that very reason. But we use outside counsel at Stuckies because, you know, the saying, the lawyer who represents him or herself has a fool for a client. You you don't represent yourself. And and I'm not an expert in trademark law. We do quite a bit with trademarks to make sure our our logo and other trademarks are protected. And business law was not my background. So we have outside counsel, but just being able to effectively work with outside counsel and understand the law. I did take business law and some business law-related classes and in law school and certainly in the legislature, I dealt with business law. So it's good to, it's a great background to have. You just learn how to analyze. And if you've done trial work, which I did, you know how to present while on your feet. You know how to defend a tough case. And I'm defending a tough case some days with Stuckies. We're we're a legacy brand that peaked in the 70s. So I'm advocating for what is sometimes a tough cause. And so you've got to build those skills. And absolutely, I credit my legal training for where I am today.
SPEAKER_02:There are so many different ways to be an advocate and so many different um causes to advocate for. So that background is really important. Um so what's your goal? Go to law school.
SPEAKER_00:Tell your niece, go to law school.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. Exactly. So you and your business partner, what's your goal or vision for the Stuckies brand? If you want to tell our listeners kind of how are you making this happen? What is your plan? What is your goal for the future?
SPEAKER_00:You know, I'll tell you, the goal has shifted for me, but I think the team goal remains aligned that we want to be a premier provider of pecan snacks and candies. And we're really more in the BG space where we're we're selling to other retailers, but we do have a small candy outlet, which I run, by the way. It's connected to the candy plant. And we've had financial goals. We've said, oh, we want to hit 50 million in sales, which we're not there yet. Uh reduce that quite a bit. We're we're probably in the 10 million range. Uh the season's not over, so we'll see. Uh so we, you know, we have the typical business sales goals, but as I've been in this longer, and you have all the crazy ups and downs that go with running a small business, you have those, you have those Wednesday nights at 3 a.m. because our payroll is on Thursdays when you wake up in cold sweats praying you've you're making payroll and you're not overdrafting and you don't have to put it on your credit card. I mean, that's the reality of running a small business. And if you haven't had those moments, honestly, if you really run a small business, it takes grit, it takes these tough moments and it builds that that resilience that you need. And so going through these crazy ups and downs of of this journey to revive a brand, my my goals have shifted. My my goal is am I providing quality jobs for an amazing team in the small town of Rennes, Georgia? Are we providing a quality product that makes lives people, makes people's lives better? You know, are we helping to advance America's native nut by talking about the pecan and lifting up our pecan farmers and letting people know there's there's a farmer behind the pecans that you buy in this country. So that's more of where I'm focused is are we building community? Are we making connections? Are we making lives better? I know that sounds a little lofty, but that's what really motivates me. That's what keeps me going in these hard times when we're just like, oh my God, we've got to add a third shift to meet all the production demands.
SPEAKER_02:It's like, all right, we're employing people, we're making a small business combined with agriculture and nature and natural disasters and all those things that can also go wrong that no one can prevent, no one can help. So you throw all that together and it is stressful.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but it's about the team. I mean, my business partners are the ones you want with you in a foxhole when the fighting gets hairy, you know. And and it's only when you're tested by hard times. Hurricane Helene kicked our Patootie. It was the worst. I don't ever want to go through that again, but we may, you never know, but what a blessing. This has been a hurricane-free Oh yeah, largely in the west.
SPEAKER_02:I think in a decade we haven't had a Gulf storm. I think I saw the other day. And what a blessing. I still kind of knock on wood and think we're not out of November. Maybe we have a late storm, but I'm holding out hope. So my dad has hunting property in Georgetown, Georgia, over between uh Columbus and Albany. And so we die, South Georgia. We just went through it last weekend, and every time we drive through, I, you know, look at the the pecan trees on our way and see how they've recovered from Helene, you know, how like how people are recovering. Because when we drove by right after, I it was it was devastating. Um see the damage that was done to the pecan growers in that area. It was devastating.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, you're in pecan country, that whole area, and then where our pecan plant is, the the turn the the storm took a turn that no one was anticipating and went towards Augusta, and that whole Augusta community was devastated. And that's where we are. We're right outside of Augusta on Highway One. So I mean the bigger picture was you never know what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02:No, you don't. And I it that's what makes you know agriculture, small businesses, it makes it so tough. But like you said, it's the people. We see it in in the ag industry with a lot of you know clients all the time. It's the most resilient group of people. It is and you have to be when you're dealing with forces of nature, when you're dealing with storms, when you're dealing with price issues, when you're dealing with labor issues, it you have to be the most resilient people.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm sure the economy I've got a a lot of uncertainty. The government spent down. I mean, we're connected with the USDA, and we're we're all connected.
SPEAKER_02:And you you overcome those struggles, and it's with a great team. Uh and it seems like you have on your social media, it seems like you have the most wonderful team there in the plant, you know, all over. It seems like you have just the most amazing team.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, seriously, from Sabrina who cleans the floors. Well, Sabrina does a little bit of everything. The other day she was finished doing her cleaning work and she's like, Can I help? And I was like, Heck yeah, you can. So she was stocking the chocolate truffles in the candy shelf, and she loved it. And I was like, listen, from now on, if you get done, come help in the candy shop, which she loves. So, yeah, it's you know, and um Amanda, who works in food safety and procurement, we we had a huge chocolate order. We're backlogged, and Amanda's been working the chocolate line for three weeks, starting at 6 a.m. We changed the shift. So our food safety procurement person that is a desk job, you know, it's a managerial type role. She's working the chocolate line.
SPEAKER_02:So she's we all need more Sabrinos than Amanda's in our lives, apparently.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. And I I will say not everyone wants to be on social media, so I'm respectful of that. We have a lot of great team members that you just don't see. Like Tara's like, You can only show my hands. Yeah. So And I love it when when our employees have interesting hands, like some of them have tattoos going up their arms. And I'm like, yes, it's okay if I can't do your face, but can I please show you beautiful tattoos while you're making chocolates? So it makes I I need stuff that looks interesting and fun. So that's incredible. It's great. And you get to know the employees better that way. They know I'm out there. You know them personally. What they're doing. And I'll tell them, I'm like, you know what we're making today, that's going to Rural King. That will be out in Colorado or that will be in Nebraska. And it's kind of fun to think, I made that.
SPEAKER_02:And it makes out of their work too to know, you know, this is where this is going. And, you know, that's that servant leadership on your part as well to know the employees. And that makes a work environment just so much better. Um, you know, I've been in work environments where management doesn't know anyone who's, you know, who's working underneath them. Um, and when you have a leader that's in the trenches that knows the employees, that knows about them, that knows their tattoos, um, you know, that's that's something special to make it more than just a place that they go to work and clock in. They have pride. And that level of pride makes for better employees, too.
SPEAKER_00:100%. And it it gets very real if you're in a small community. Ren's Georgia's population 2,000. So I can't go anywhere without running into employees or relatives of employees. So in a small community, really everyone's connected and half our employees are related to one another. If there's a funeral in town, honestly, we we'll have 10 people absent because they're related.
SPEAKER_02:I didn't realize the population was that small. So we drive through there about once a year and pass the plant to go to Helen, Georgia. We'll be going through next week to stop by Helen on our way to Bryson City for Thanksgiving. Uh actually pecan pies at a lovely bakery in Helen that is so good, we drive out of our way to go get pecan pies from a bakery in Helen, Georgia. What's the bakery's name?
SPEAKER_00:Do you remember?
SPEAKER_02:I don't want to put you on the spot. It's IGA. It's the IGA grocery store right in downtown Helen. Yes. Wow. Your baked goods are amazing. I'll give a shout out to Betty's. Their baked goods are amazing, and their pecan pies are delicious.
SPEAKER_00:So instead of baking over there, you gotta hook me up with them because IgAs are independent, as you know, and we have our product in some IGA locations, and so we might be able to set up an account. We did have an account in Helen, it was a kettle fudge place, and they sold our candies. And honestly, I don't remember what the falling out was. You know, sometimes things happen. I think we had an order late, it may have been on us, but and then they were happening.
SPEAKER_02:I'll have to talk to them when I'm in there next Tuesday, picking up pecan pies.
SPEAKER_00:We'll make it anyone listening, y'all hook us up. We're all about connecting, help us spread this little comeback brand to more locations. We're always looking for new uh retailers. I will tell you, if you recommend a large chain, that's a little harder for us because you have to go through distributors and the markup gets tight. And so there's a lot that goes into that. But like a small retail shop is easy for us to set up. We just distribute direct to them.
SPEAKER_02:Well, Betty's is amazing. So I'll try to make that connection because I'll y'all tell them maybe your pecan pies would taste better if you had Stucky's pecans. Yeah.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_00:We do that. We we provide ingredients, we do private labels, so I can't brag about some of our accounts because our name isn't on it, but we'll make product for other companies. So that's one of the things we do to keep the the machines running, kiddo. Uh we may not have demand year-round as strong as we need it to be to keep the staffing for Q4. And so if we can make sure Q1, Q2, especially, we're filling that demand with some private label. We're gonna do it. Happen. We'll connect that stuckies. Let's make it happen. And and she no one's the wiser. They don't she doesn't have to say made with stuckies pecan pecans, but she can. It may help you anyway. I'm always middle and dealing, you can tell. That's you got to.
SPEAKER_02:It's how things get done. I think it really is. And I think you know, I think a lot of times women can make that get done, you know, in those ways too. You know, I think we're we're really good at that skill.
SPEAKER_00:So well, my male partners, but yeah, I think sometimes women are just like, oh yeah, let's go do that together.
SPEAKER_02:And hey, I know so and so and so and so, and you know, we're always matchmaking in one way or another.
SPEAKER_00:We partner with a pimento cheese company, it's called Jenny J's Pomina Cheese, absolutely delicious. They put our pecans in their pimento cheese, and it says made with Stuckies Pecans. And that all started at a little social mixer for moms, moms of kids who go to Auburn. And my son went to Auburn for one year. He's now at Coastal College in South Georgia. But in any event, it was like a mom's event, and we started talking, and literally within two weeks, we made it happen. And they've been selling our pecans for two years. They're awesome. I love the genny days, Linkies.
SPEAKER_02:Pimento cheese is one of my favorite foods. So I'm always finding and trying different canoe cheeses when I travel. So good. That's amazing. See, we can make things happen. We'll make Betty's happen. We'll try to be pleading. Sorry, I get off on tangents there. Um, so we we've talked a little bit about the pecan side of the business. Do you guys partner with growers? Um, do you own some of the um the farms or do you partner with local growers?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, it's all about partnerships. So my family has a small pecan grove, about 100 acres, and my business partner has tenfold of that with his family, Lamar Pecan. So we both are pecan growers, but my business partner is legit a farm farmer. He ran his family's farm before joining forces with with me and taking on the Stuckies adventure. And he is chair of the Georgia Pecan Growers Association. So we are very, very tied in with the pecan community in Georgia, and he brokers all our relationships with foresting our pecans. We source from shellers mostly, and the shellers will source from the growers. So there's a three-tiered system, right? You grow it, then you process it. Meaning, you know, when you we see it's pecan tree shaking time, right? And I had this naive notion when I started this adventure, even though my family was in the pecan business, I'd never really been around it. And I went to see the tree shaking. Oh my gosh, everything comes down. You get limbs, you get branches, you get dirt, you get squirrels falling all over the place. And that initial crop, what you get is just big truckloads of nuts, debris, stuff, right? And so you have to clean all that out. That's the first step. And then you have to shell them, which is a whole process. And then you do what we do, which is the value add, right? The roasted, the coated, the flavored, the candied, all of that. So we take them shelled, and we are a critical middle link in bringing farm products to market. Because yes, some people love pecans and shell, and we would we do sell pecans and shell. But the majority of folks want their pecans shelled and they they like them raw, shelled or pieces. We sell all sorts of pieces, and we sell meal, which is the fine grain. And it's like breadcrumbs, it's kind of that consistency. And anything you can use for breadcrumbs, you can use pecan meal, and it's better than flour because it's gluten-free. So people have gluten issues, they just love it, and it's got protein in it. So it's delish. So we make so we do all of that sort of value add product, and we help pecan growers get their product to market. And so that is that is our space. And so we really sort of own that space, even though we have this strong connection to the growing community. We we see our role in in the process as doing the value add.
SPEAKER_02:And this is a great education for a lot of our listeners, too, who may not be in the pecan industry, have seen anything in the pecan industry, to understand how critical every link in that supply chain is to eventually get that product to the consumer. There's so many critical components and so much labor and so much hard work that goes into that bag of pecans that you buy to put in your pies or whatever.
SPEAKER_00:And the, you know, this is ag law. So, you know, understanding that process is critical to being an effective advocate for your clients in this space. So we have to negotiate these contracts. And how do you, you know, agriculture is such a tough market when you're trying to negotiate pricing.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Changes and it's it's complicated even more by the tariff situation. And I don't want to get political, but the, you know, the tariff situation existed under the Biden administration too. So it's it's it's agnostic at times that we we have tariff challenges throughout, and just making sure you're locking in as much as possible what your pricing is going to be because the consumers want consistency in their pricing and they don't want sticker shock. Now, more than ever, we're trying to be conscious that consumers are looking for value in the product, but also value in the price. So, all that's critical to have an attorney who's gonna help you negotiate your contracts and what the terms are.
SPEAKER_02:And so that certainty and also understanding kind of, you know, where the the grower side, where they're coming from, and some of the certainty they need to make that negotiation happen to benefit both parties to make sure the product gets to market because ag is hard. You're right. It is so hard. There's so many variables that, you know, I think the consumer often doesn't understand a lot of this stuff that goes on to get that product to market and these contract situations and negotiations and the labor and the tariffs and the, you know, just all these things that add up, supply chain issues and you know, transportation, as we saw during COVID, when supply chain just caused so many issues. And I'm sure you guys dealt with all kinds of you know that during COVID. Um, it just creates so many challenges that I think the end consumer doesn't always understand. I like to do a really good job on podcasts and my Florida Ag Law flag facts of trying to educate people on uh these components of where their food comes from to understand why there may be you know price issues at the store. It's not the grower, it's not your producer, it's not the you know, anybody in that supply chain really trying to gouge you most times.
SPEAKER_00:There's a lot of margins are so, so tight in grocery. I I had no understanding. Like honestly, when I started this adventure, I did not understand the difference between markup or margin. I didn't have a clue what COGS was. Like, what's Cogs? And they look cost of goods sold, Stephanie. Yeah. So all of that, and you have to understand that whole structure, how the producer in the agriculture industry interacts with often there's a distributor, often there's a broker, often there's a buyer, right? Uh manufacturers will employ a buyer, and all they do is buy the product. And we don't just buy pecans, we buy sugar. That's that's America made. Uh, we buy chocolate that's processed in America, but obviously the cocoa beans are coming from another country. We don't grow that here. But understanding all the different components that gets your product on the shelves of a supermarket, plus, you have to pay once you get on the supermarket, they expect you to pay for promotions. Right. You don't just lock in at one price, they want quarterly promotions locked in there. And then they they want you to, you know, sometimes they want everyday low pricing. Yeah, that's we're in Walmart. Walmart wants everyday low pricing. We're not in every Walmart, but we're actually in quite a few Walmart locations in Florida. We're in a vintage vibe set, and you'll find a Pecan Long Group. But anyways, it's it's it's a complex network.
SPEAKER_02:Pardon? That's amazing and hard to get into as well, to get into that Walmart network, um, which takes a lot of work.
SPEAKER_00:What's interesting is they really do value Made in America. So, and they value family brands, but made in America especially. So they have a Made in America once-a-year annual showcase, and you can apply if you are a small vendor, you want to provide to Walmart, and you pitch, you go to that event. If they select you, you go to that event, and it's it's like Shark Tank. Only people aren't as mean, they're nice. And you have 30 minutes with a Walmart buyer, and they'll give you a golden ticket if they choose your brand. And quite often you you don't go in every store. You don't want that, you're not ready for it. So they'll work with small brands and they'll say, Okay, your brand is known in Florida. Let's say you make a citrus juice or something. Uh, we'll we'll put you only in our Florida locations. Let's see how you do. And maybe that's where you stay. You don't go nationwide at Walmart, but that's a good study account. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:So primarily to scale up to nationwide. That is just a huge challenge and more than maybe you could take on for a lot of small businesses to keep up with the demand.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. But but made in America, that's a big deal. And here's the interesting thing. I'm would love it if any lawyers have more insight into this. But I've been doing just online research, so not extensive. I haven't gone to a law library and really delved in. But from what I can tell, the Made in America label, there is no official certification. So if you want to slap on your packaging, Made in America, there is no, it's, you know, like to be uh have sustainability certifications. There's a number of respectable organizations out there, and you you put their seal on there, right? And you can't do that unless you've actually earned the certificate or we're SQF certified, which is a food safety certification. You have to actually get that certification from a credible outside independent organization that's been vetted and approved, yada yada. There's nothing like that for made in America. So you can slap that label on now. Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but but if you aren't made in America, people can call you out on it. And so that that, you know, hopefully there's the court of consumers out there who will say, wait a minute, you get that packaging from you get your you get you make that in Mexico, like, but we are 100% made in America. So we we're we're gonna start putting made in America on our packaging. And there's all you're listening who thinks I'm mistaken in that, please call me because I would love some insight.
SPEAKER_02:And so on the cocoa issue, too, you the University of Florida has been working on cocoa production in Florida. So maybe one day, maybe one day we get cocoa production here in Florida. There's a few people, from what I understand, testing it out in South Florida, Miami Homestead area. So maybe one day we'll have Florida produce cocoa. Let's do it. Have full-on um American um. So I you know, I do a lot of, we talked about advocacy. I do a lot of what I call advocacy work for a lot of my clients to help keep them, you know, out of the headlines, you know, to help preserve some of these small family businesses that are so critical. And as you know, one regulatory or legal issue can just shut down an entire business. And a lot of times they're struggling with these targets, they're struggling with pricing. What advice would you give to other small businesses, small family farms, small businesses in general for keeping up, you know, to keep fighting, you know, any advice that you could give to them to keep up the work on this?
SPEAKER_00:Well, of course, have a good attorney. And your attorney is going to hopefully keep you in the loop. But I can't stress enough how important it is to have a trade association that has your back because I can't, stuckies can't afford a lobbyist. And we can't afford to have somebody who is 24-7, you know, paying attention to all the regulatory ups and downs. But our trade associations do. And so we belong to the Georgia Grown Program with the Georgia Department of Agriculture. That is a huge partner of ours. We belong to the National Confectioners Association. I sit on their board. So anything dealing with sugar pricing and candy business, uh, confectioner business, some people belong to the bakery and confectioners, but we're less baked goods. We're candy. So we belong to the confectioners association. We also belong to the retail confectioners international, which is the small candy shops throughout America, and also the small candy manufacturers. And then the other one is I mentioned earlier, the Georgia Pecan Growers Association. So all of those groups advocate for you and they keep you up to date. And I get in my inbox all the time, I mean, like once a week, a tariff update from the Confectioners Association. And they they don't just have one lobbyist, they have a team. And these aren't contract lobbyists, these are full-time in-house lobbyists. And once a year we have a lobby day and we fly in and everything is super organized, and we we go to all the congressional offices and we deliver little parcels of candy. I can't tell you how welcome we are. We we have a pack, it's called the candy pack, and it's very sweet, pun intended. So, you know, it's just belong to a trade association, convenience store association. I belong to that because we are we still have those licensed ducky stores. So we have our foot in that door. So just and that's safe.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Yep. That's it's what that's kind of one of the reasons I left in-house counsel life. I was general counsel right before I started my own firm for a fertilizer company and had been in-house for another large company. But I wanted to do a lot of fractional general counsel work for small farmers because, like you said, a lot of times you can't have your own person or your own lobbyists. But those trade associations, there's so many great ones within agriculture as well that have those lobbyists on the ground, state capitals, the federal capital, you know, boots on the ground for you all the time with just paying your dues. Um, you know, really just for a low price.
SPEAKER_00:And often they will help you personally engage. So if you think, oh, well, that's a little removed. No, like the um Georgia convenience store, uh, Georgia Association Convenience Stores, GAX, once a year they um do a lobby day, right? And then every single day they have um they host the snack room at the Capitol, and different members can come in and sponsor the snack day. And so you can get access personally to your representatives often through these associations more. Easily than picking up a call or the phone. Sometimes you can just pick up the phone. Um, I'm also uh a big fan of having fractional. Uh what you do, I think is it makes so much sense if you're a small business. And I'll give you an example. We have a fractional CFO, and before that we had in-house, and frankly, we had a challenge getting uh the quality of in-house counsel that we needed in Rennes, Georgia, right? Right. It's hard to get someone who has the chops of running uh finances for a CPG brand who's going to move to Renns, Georgia, or even Augusta, Georgia. And after years of really having challenges with that, we decided uh to go with CFO with the CFO who is fractional, and it's been a game changer. She's been terrific. And so I'm a big fan of doing fractional.
SPEAKER_02:I like to say you get the benefits, but I have benefits too. Yes, where it makes sense. Where you need it, but you don't need it full time. And you know, there's a lot of ways that it makes sense, a lot of reasons that it makes sense.
SPEAKER_00:Um depends on the yeah, it depends on the role, but absolutely you're going to get that level of expertise. And let's be real, if you're trying to meet payroll, you don't have to there are 1099, so you don't have to mess with some of the financial burdens that come with having a full-time employee, you know, the Social Security and the Medicare and all the, you know, setting them up in payroll that way.
SPEAKER_02:So it's a little It's a whole lot easier.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Every time you hire someone, you have to add like a third of what you're offering for all of the benefits that you offer as well. So you, you know, as a fractional employee, you have to figure out your own health care and all of that. But we don't.
SPEAKER_02:It provides so exactly all the benefits without the benefits. It really is.
SPEAKER_00:It really is. And when I have my practice, you know, I got my health care through the the American Bar Association. So again, belonging to a trade association has a lot of benefits. Sometimes you can find terrific deals on offering, you know, they'll negotiate insurance plans for their members. And so lots and lots of benefits to trade associations. I can't say enough about how valuable they are.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. It just opens so many doors. It really does. Um, so one of your things, I want to talk really quick about road tripping. Um, so one of your big things that I love seeing on LinkedIn is bringing back the American road trip and some of the really cool and funky places that you stop and post pictures of. On your road tripping, what are some of your favorite stops and unique stops and things that you've seen along the way?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I gotta give a shout-out to Florida. There are two states that really dominate when it comes to road tripping. It's Florida and California. And it's no um mistake that they also happen to be homes of Disneyland and Disney World. I think those two attractions have really helped build that car culture. But California's always had a car culture. And then Florida, for its sunny climate, has just attracted snowbirds all over the East Coast, especially. And, you know, especially back in the 70s, road tripping was the only way you would travel. And so these iconic roadside attractions are throughout your state. So one of my favorites, the world's largest orange in Kissimmee, Florida. And Gatorland is right in that area as well. Gatorland was also, I believe I'm correct, was also founded in 1937, same year, Stuckies. I know it's third generation and run by the third generation granddaughter, just just like me. So I've met her and they they have carried our product in the past. Hopefully they've got it on the shelves right now. But Gatorland is just an iconic attraction. Uh gosh, there's so many. I love Tarpon Springs with the, they have a sponge museum. How fun is that? I mean, crazy. That's just awesome. And then, you know, there's some sort of quirky retail stuff that I love. Like there's only two Kmart stores still operating, and one of them is in Miami. Uh, I didn't know that. It may have shuttered by now. I was there last year. Carvell Ice Cream has an iconic Carvel ice cream shop with uh it was built like in the 1940s, and it's got just this beautiful signage, and the building is amazing, and that's in West Palm Beach, Florida. So just sort of these fun things that I love to I love to see. There's um the candy, what there's a candy outlet store outside of Miami. There's quite a few great like candy tours. So uh I'll remember the one outside of Miami in a minute, but I think it may be called, oh, the bulk candy shop. And then then in um uh Jacksonville, you've got uh Pete's Candy, and they have a candy tour that's really, really fun. And then Whitestone Chocolates has a chocolate tour in St. Augustine, so there's some really just fun attractions, no matter what you like. Uh, I posted today about the Columbia restaurant in Ybor City, which is my favorite. Yes, the oldest restaurant in Florida, and it's the oldest Spanish restaurant in America, and it's run by fifth generation family.
SPEAKER_02:I think, yeah, fourth or fifth. Yeah, it's amazing. The food is incredible. That's the original location, and there's one outside of Orlando and a couple more, but that one is really cool. And I think they still have the flamenco dancers at the Ybor one that the other locations don't have.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god. Well, I miss the flamingo dancers, but I was there at lunchtime. I was there last week, and that whole community is incredible. They've got the chickens running around, and then the one of the original cigar plants is still around. And then the museum there is so fun, and it gives the whole history of that community. You want to talk about a melting pot of immigrants? Every you get everything from Greek, Italian, certainly Cuban, and it's just a melting pot, and the culture and the restaurants there are incredible. So just so much to explore in the sunshine state. I love Wakula Springs, that's a fun one. Uh, they have prehistoric dinosaur bones in Wakula Springs, and then Wiki Wachi is still operating with the merid.
SPEAKER_02:They were blown away.
SPEAKER_00:Still happening. Silver Springs with the glass bottom boats now. They had to stop those because it was so murky. The sadly the Everglades have had some challenges, but Silver Spring in Ocala is still operating. So just throughout the state, you're gonna find so many fun places to to pull over and just enjoy yourself.
SPEAKER_02:Such cool stuff. We have five boys in a passenger van to fit them all, and we do a lot of road tripping when we go places because you know it's hard to with flights that get canceled so frequently, trying to rebook. So we just drive anywhere that's under 12 hours out of road trip. And a lot of times What's your rule of thumb?
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, if it's eight hours or less, I'm gonna drive.
SPEAKER_02:Why if I'm by myself, it's now 10 or less. If it's with the kids, it's 12 or less.
SPEAKER_00:You're a road warrior.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, St. Petersburg, the Salvador Dolly, and crafty the Dolly Museum. I always tell people you could spend the entire summer going through the state of Florida and you know, not ever get bored. There's just so much cool stuff in Georgia too. You could do Florida and Georgia, and there's just so much cool stuff. There really is. Um so for our listeners who are looking for your products, um, I want to talk a little bit about where they can find our products. Pecan log rolls always make a great stocking stuffer. We're at that Christmas time, always a great stocking stuffer. I'm doing gift boxes for a lot of people this year for Christmas with products that um are produced by people who have been on my podcast. So the ugly company, Benmore from the Ugly Company, was on. So we're gonna have some of the ugly companies behydrated fruits, some go, so a few different things, and pecan log rolls will be in there. So, where can our listeners find your pecan log rolls?
SPEAKER_00:So here on Yeah, so the easiest if you want to go in person, just go on stuckies.com and there's a product locator guide. It's not a store locator guide, it's a product locator guide. So it will tell you the stores that carry our product. Rural King is the main chain in Florida that sells our product, and then select Walmart locations in that vintage vibe set. And we are in quite a few Walmarts in Florida, so that those are easy ways to find our product in person, and then just go on the website. You can just click the button that says use my location, and it will it will it will pop up a map that shows you exactly where to go in your area, and then the small local stores that might carry the product, like Gatorland, will be in there. And uh the website, stuckies.com. I will say this is airing next week. So thank goodness we are working on replenishing stock for the website, and we're gonna be offering a holiday promotion of uh free shipping,$100 or more. So that's that's gonna be our Black Friday special, and we're gonna be launching that before Black Friday, so it will be in place by the time this episode airs. And oh, Walmart.com. Okay, Walmart.com. We are working on getting on Amazon. That's next year. It's it's a whole process.
SPEAKER_02:That is amazing though, and the free shipping is huge. People, everybody's I know sometimes I will spend a little bit more to get free shipping. Instead of paying ten dollars for nothing, I'll just get ten dollars more in product to get to you that that next level.
SPEAKER_00:So that's huge. And I'll give a shout out to another classic legacy brand if you're putting together your um shopping baskets or your gift baskets for friends. Uh, a holiday treat from Florida is the marmalades and tangerine jams and the citrus candies from Davidson of Dundee in Dundee, Florida. They have coconut spreads. I absolutely love them. We just brought them into the shop. And we also just brought in Claxton, Georgia fruitcakes, Claxton fruitcakes. I brought in a um shipper display and it's 48 lagrels. We put it out, and the first day we, I mean, people were just they were flying off the shelf. I have to restock already.
SPEAKER_02:That's amazing. So those are all great products to put into a gift basket for people.
SPEAKER_00:My small businesses, family run. Claxton is third generation. It's not the original founder, but the original founder sold to one of his employees, and it's his family third generation that's running it. So it's it's very legacy.
SPEAKER_02:That's incredible, but who really want to support those local businesses, the small businesses, the family businesses to be able to give those gifts. And I think people really love receiving those kinds of gifts too. Um it's special, it's curated, it's you know, people have have thought it out. So I think people feel really special. Um, well, as we're coming to the end of our time. Um, I like to end my podcast with some personal questions. So, first of all, what do you like to do for fun outside of Stuckies? I know you're super busy always running around for Stuckies, but what do you like to do for fun outside of work?
SPEAKER_00:I am pretty much just enjoying downtime because my life is so crazy busy. Like today, I have nine meetings and events, including a pop-up tasting, and you know, it's just crazy. So when I have downtime, I like a quiet dinner with friends or I read. I I always have two books going, one that I'm reading and one that I listen to on Audible. And I'm just I'm constantly going through books and I I read everything. I read mystery, I read true crime, I'll read fiction, you name it. I go through it, I read business books. Uh so I just I love to read and I go to book book events, I go to offer readings. So it's kind of nerdy. And then of course I road trip. But I work that into my work.
SPEAKER_02:But it's it's good to have that downtime. I think sometimes we just run our bodies past where they should be, and that downtime is really important to recharge. Um, and reading is is relaxing. I mean, it's that it's that quiet time, not on the screen. I think we spend so much time on our screens, you know, not reading, um, just scrolling maybe sometimes social media, not things that are healthy for our brains. So reading is a good downtime. Um, so my last question, there's we've talked about this a little bit. There's so many beautiful and amazing places in Georgia. What are some of your favorite spots, whether it's nature for hiking or otherwise?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I live in Atlanta when I'm not in Renz, and I think Atlanta is just such an amazing city, and there's so much to explore. And having worked for the city of Atlanta, I'm still a big champion of this Atlanta. And downtown Atlanta is just awesome. So please go explore downtown and Atlanta, the sweet Auburn district. I will be there today at a new market. It's called the Azalea Fresh Market, and it is right below the iconic Coca-Cola sign, if you know downtown Atlanta at all. And it's a market that is helping low-income community members have access to fresh local products, and it's in part subsidized by the city of Atlanta. So I'm really, really excited about being part of that. So just exploring downtown Atlanta. There's just a ton to do in that area. The Georgia Coast is my second home. My parents live down there, so I'm there all the time. Cumberland Island is an absolute jewel. So if you get a chance to explore that by all means, we talked about Helen, North Georgia Mountains. There, every town in North Georgia is fun. Helen is just this little Bavarian, it's it's a little kitschy, but I love kitsch. Uh, I have stayed at the Heidi Motel, which is a giant windmill and super cheesy and super fun. And while you're up in North Georgia, go visit Somerville and see Howard Finster's folk art paradise gardens or go to the Columbus area, which you said you've explored. And there's also Pasaquan, another folk art village, and then Southwest Georgia, Plains, Georgia. So much to explore there. If you are at all interested in history, uh, of course, go visit. There's some uh there's a local museum they've set up about Jimmy Carter. And of course, now you can see our former president and former first lady's graves uh that is added. And there's a national park there, the Jimmy Carter National Boyhood Home that you can visit. So so much to explore. He's a peanut farmer. Oh, and right down the road, America's Georgia, the historic Windsor Hotel, which is haunted as hell. Go stay at the Windsor Hotel for an incredible experience. Whoa. My blood. Yeah, the world capital, the national capital for habitat for humanity is there. And there's um there was a historic village, like an international village to explore. At one point it was closed. So hopefully that's still open. And then if you're into Civil War history, there's the uh prison camp that you can explore in Andersonville that's uh just real sobering, but it's it's a it's it's a great education if you want to. I took my kids there when they were younger. Just everywhere, everywhere in Georgia, and of course, go to to Renz, Georgia on Highway One and pull over at the Stuckies Candy Shop. We've got a little uh history exhibit there with all sorts of archival stuff about the Stuckies candy uh plant back in the 1940s, and we've got some of the original candy boxes and artifacts and uh photos lining the walls. So it's not just a stop where you can get some great deals because it's an outlet store, but you'll get a little piece of history, and we have an original Shoney's big boy. Some people think you're no I'm a Shoney. I knew I'm a Shoney's, but we have a we have a giant original big boy in the shop, and people loved getting a selfie with him.
SPEAKER_02:We go to Shoney's all the time on our road trips. There was even a Shoney's Inn somewhere in Georgia that we used to stay at when I was a kid. I can't remember where it was, but there was a Shoney's Inn attached to a Shoney's restaurant that we used to see Mars.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and if you visit Jackie's go by the Claxton Fruit Cake Company, you can go in there and they have a little outlet store. And then Vidalia's not far from there. And there's the Vidalia Onion Museum. So much fun.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. You may have to stop by on Tuesday if if the shop is open on Tuesday. Maybe we'll stop by on our way to Helen.
SPEAKER_00:I'll be there. It's open. I'll be there all next week except for Thanksgiving Day, where my mom has insisted I come home for turkey. So I'll be home eating turkey. But I'll be busy at my computer because we're getting ready for Black Fridays.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Get that done. Well, I hate to wrap this up because I feel like we could talk all day about these things. Um, but I want to thank you so much for your time. I know you're super busy and with all your meetings and things today. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast today.
SPEAKER_00:Always. Thank you, Amanda. I appreciate everything that you do, and it was an absolute delight to spend time with you.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Legal Field Podcast. For more content, please visit the Facebook page of Florida Ag Law or go to FloridaAglaw.com and join us next time on the Legal Field Podcast to see what's growing on the city.