You had me at "Spreadable Bacon"

It was Saturday, May 3 – a sunny, magnificently pleasant day in Philadelphia. I arrived at the South Street Headhouse Spring Festival to help out and work the stand for Philly Phaithful, a creative Philadelphia sports apparel company. Lo and behold, The Bacon Jams happened to be our neighbor. This wasn’t a coincidence, it was fate.

I watched with piqued curiosity – I also may have been drooling – as swarms of people surrounded The Bacon Jams table, everyone gleefully accepting a mini-spoonful of either All Original, Black Pepper or Red Chile & Garlic. Very rarely did anyone stop at one flavor, though, often electing to sample all three. Hours passed; morning turned into afternoon, afternoon into early evening. Other stands had lull periods without much in the way of patronage or even perusers. That was not the case for The Bacon Jams. There was always a line at least five deep, with passerby and stragglers inquisitively looking on, wondering what all the buzz was about. I could always tell the instant someone’s taste buds entered into a state of euphoria and fired off a synapse to his or her brain that The Bacon Jams was the real deal. Eyes widened, smiles formed and the taster would turn to someone else and point to the eight-ounce jar, as if to say, “You have to try this.”

I decided mid-afternoon that I couldn’t resist any longer. I had introduced myself to Eric and his sales associate, Anna, earlier in the day, but I had not yet asked to try the product. When I inquired about the best flavor, Eric didn’t hesitate – Red Chile & Garlic. Yes, I’ll take one of those, please. Amidst the chaos of people clamoring to try The Bacon Jams, Eric gave me his business card and I gave him that of my boss. He was looking for a printer to produce some bacon jam shirts, I was looking for another startup I believed in and wanted to be part of as it took off. I let Eric know of my interest to spread the gospel of The Bacon Jams and help in any way possible.

“Send me an e-mail,” he said. “Stick with me, we’re going to go far.”

I went home that night with a jar of Red Chile & Garlic, as well as a complementary All Original and Black Pepper that had been opened as samples but not finished. My housewarming party was that night, and all three flavors were used as dip for chips. The reaction was unanimous, resounding approval, with multiple people asking, “Where can I buy this?” The next day, I had my heart set on making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As I reached into the refrigerator for the raspberry jam, I saw the jar of All Original staring me right in the face. Oh, yeah, I thought, it’s time to get funky. You better believe I slathered some All Original on my PB&J to make it a PBJ&TBJ sandwich. Would you doubt me if I said it was delicious? I’m not exaggerating when I say that bacon jam goes on literally anything.

I sent Eric an email soon thereafter. He got back to me a few days later, and we set up a phone call for the following week. When we spoke, he outlined his vision for The Bacon Jams and where he felt I fit. Eric’s enthusiasm and energy are infectious. He believes in the product and the team and he knows he has something special going. I really didn’t need any further convincing, honestly, he had me at “spreadable bacon.”

The revolution is here, and the condiment world will never be the same. I can’t wait to do my part to make sure The Bacon Jams takes over.

~DK