Today we’d like to introduce you to Bianca Aaron.
Hi Bianca, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
This has been a journey, that’s for sure!
It all started as a mistake in the kitchen while doing holiday baking in 2002 – chaos ensued and WildSide was born out of the mayhem. Incredibly enough, people LOVED them and soon we were getting requests to have them at events, weddings, etc.
In 2008 I was at a crossroads – either go big with the pretzels or take an executive career path. I went through some of the steps to do the pretzels but ultimately went the exec route and continued to do the pretzels on a small level. In 2022 I retired and decided its now or never with the pretzels so we submitted for trademarks, had inspections, designed and created custom equipment, had a bagging machine built etc. In May 2024 we went live on a large scale and started attending festivals, fairs, Brewfests and other events as well as marketing to local businesses.
Growing up, I was raised by my grandparents – both of them ended up as entrepreneurs in their latter years and both grew their individual businesses through grass roots efforts. My grandma cleaned houses for over 30 years keeping the same clientele, and my grandpa who retired from road construction, started a business selling construction gloves out of his truck all over Kansas City to various artisan industry crews – he was known as the Glove Man by almost every type of construction crew in town. They were highly instrumental in shaping my mindset and outlook, and I learned a lot about grassroots startup, time management, customer service, and perseverance from them.
No one in my family had ever been a part of ‘Corporate America’ and out of pure curiosity I decided to get my college degrees in business/leadership, and enter into the corporate world to learn the ropes of how larger companies operated.
In my early 20’s roller derby was seeing a nationwide resurgence and Kansas City was one of the first cities in the nation to have a team form – the Kansas City Roller Warriors. I joined and a few years later became a co-director to help the league grow and flourish. We were ‘for the skater, by the skater’ meaning that we had no owners, no employees and everything that needed to be done was done by the skaters who also had full time jobs/careers and roller derby was a extracurricular activity with all ‘work’ being done on an unpaid volunteer basis.
As a co-director we were in charge of getting contracts with large venues for our games (Kemper Arena at the time, Hale Arena, Memorial Hall etc), developing our advertising and gaining contracts for billboards, TV spots, newspaper ads, marketing events, developing merchandise, making appearances at events, holding fundraisers, etc.
I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back – that experience was hands down the most instrumental experience for my business growth / business acumen and opened my eyes to what is needed and the massive amount of work it takes to build a successful enterprise.
During my professional career, I spent the majority of my time coaching and mentoring entrepreneurs on how to start and grow small businesses, gain market share, scale their operations to mirror their growth, advertise, get involved with their communities etc. That career built upon what I had learned with the roller derby experience and gave me a deeper insight into what it takes to be successful.
Over the years I watched dozens of entrepreneurs become either wildly successful, or fail and there were common denominators to both success and to failure. Ultimately, its up to each person whether they’re going to be successful or fail. Success is directly related to mindset, the choices people make on the daily and how they handle obstacles.
Knowing that, we are very dedicated to the success of this business. We’re new on the scene with this bigger scale, and we wake up and grind daily to ensure that these pretzels are a success.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There will always be obstacles, it’s to be expected and they are just part of running a business.
One big inherent obstacle is that we’re entering into the snack food industry – a highly saturated industry mainly run by large corporations and we have to make sure we’re bringing value to the table to get shelf space, and doing everything we can to help promote our product and make it known to the public. The good news is once people try it, they buy it – the product sells itself. So we are attending events, festivals, Brewfests and the like to get out and about and let the public know who we are and let them sample our product.
Time management is a constant battle as we are wearing all hats and doing all the things that large companies do with dedicated teams, but for us it’s just a few people to do all of those same tasks in our small business.
It is helpful to schedule out what days/times are devoted to paperwork versus production, or proactive efforts versus reactive efforts. It’s also incredibly important to block out ‘free days’ (aka days off) – if we don’t, then the next thing we know we’ve worked 60 days in a row with no time off for our own sanity.
Another huge challenge is figuring out what can be done in house versus what to outsource. If you’re not careful, a business can go broke outsourcing too many different parts and it can be a quick road to failure.
A great example is bags – we use one of the strongest bags on the market that’s also a resealable bag and has many layers – this is for protection and to guarantee freshness both on the shelf, and once opened. Hand labeling bags takes ALOT of time both in the actual labeling and in the printing of all the labels. If we switch to pre-printed bags and/or pre printed labels, because of the type of bag we’re using, the startup cost and minimum orders are astronomical. Printed bags would be a wonderful thing, but there’s issues with that – what happens if there’s a slight wording change, or a slight ingredient change on our bag and we have 80,000 pre-printed bags?
For that reason, we have made the decision to keep hand labeling our bags. We are incredibly blessed in that we have two retired family members who absolutely LOVE labeling the bags – Aunt Sis and Grandma Charlotte – they truly adore it and it helps us keep our costs down and our tasks in house!!
We’ve been impressed with WildSide Pretzels, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
WildSide pretzels are incredibly unique snack pretzels that are fun for all ages. We source premium ingredients, make them in small batches to ensure quality and seal them in high quality, resealable bags to help keep them fresh longer than the average snack once opened.
They are available in 4 addictive flavors and all 4 are also available in Gluten Free:
WildSide – Spicy, Zesty, Garlicy Ranch
MildSide – No Heat, Zesty, Garlicy Ranch
Campfire Cocoa – Spiced Chocolate & Cinnamon, Salty & Lightly Sweet, Hint of Heat, Sophisticated & Complex flavor profile
White Cheddar – Bold and Robust Cheddar Flavor
These pair incredibly well with adult beverages, with WildSide complementing beers and ciders, MildSide and White Cheddar pairing well with all beverages, and Campfire Cocoa pairing extremely well with whiskey/wine/cigars.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Mentors are highly important for personal development. Over the years I’ve actually learned more from people in other industries than the one I was in. I’m always on the lookout for people that are highly successful in what they do, have a very high code of ethics, and who have true wisdom and experience.
A truly successful person has traits that ensures success no matter what industry they are in or what career change they make. We’ve all met people who seem to have success with anything and everything they do. That is who I want as a mentor. When I find them, I start asking questions. If they seem like they are willing to share, I ask them if they would be willing to entertain deeper questions and if they’d be willing to take me under their wing and have regular conversations. Everyone I’ve asked to be a mentor has been happy to do so.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wildsidepretzels.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildsidepretzels
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559145068862
