Break it up

Successful sales jobs at two of the biggest companies in the Sarasota-Bradenton region, Tervis and LexJet, were nice, but not enough for Andy Yochum.

In September 2014 he went out on his own with Boardwalk Food Co. Products were a variety of beer bread mixes he hoped would be a unique spin on the take and bake. “My goal in life was to do my own thing,” Yochum says. “That's been burning in me for a while.”

Then reality set in.

The product wasn't an outright failure. He got into a few local stores, but success was minimal. “The biggest problem is customers didn't know what it was we were selling,” Yochum says. “It's beer bread. And they would say, 'What's that?'”

So 10 months and a major investment into Boardwalk later, Yochum made a bold call. He put everything on hold. He went to stores, talked to retailers and took products off shelves in at least 30 locations.

The mission: a switch from selling a mix for loaves of bread to a mix that makes bite-size poppers. It took another hefty investment, pushing the total dip into savings well into six figures. Yochum redid the packaging, altered the marketing and rebooted the sales pitch. “I basically put my entire retirement into this,” says Yochum. “If it works out it will be my retirement.”

But changing products and approaches is both a risk and an admission of a mistake — not easy decisions for any entrepreneur, especially a new one.

“It was a gut check,” says Yochum. “I had a real 'oh-my-God' moment. But I didn't want to let my ego get in the way. You have to be smart enough to do something as soon as you know a change needs to be made.”

Here's how Yochum hopes to differentiate his products in Boardwalk 2.0:

Yochum worked with a Ringling College of Art and Design professor on the packaging. The emblem is a bottle cap and craft beer, the surging industry trend, is more prominent in the wording the second time around. The colors are earthy, warm and inviting. “We want to connect to craft beer,” says Yochum.

Marketing materials, starting with the photos for websites and boxes, play up on the easy to make, easier to eat aspect of the products. Yochum debuted the new look at a trade show in Atlanta in July, and he says beer bread poppers were the stars of the show.

The redo allows Yochum to tap into the party/entertaining market with a product that can make dozens of bites, not one loaf. And while beer bread is a known commodity, that's less so for beer bread poppers. Says Yochum: “This is something that doesn't exist anywhere else.”

Going to bite size was also an avenue to new product lines, such as the recently introduced Boardwalk Craft Pretzel Mix. “The only thing better than beer with your pretzels,” says one tagline, “is beer in your pretzels.”

Yochum says the switch, while early to read too much into it, has produced two solid months of sales. He also recently signed a deal to get on the shelves at Beall's department stores statewide, a significant agreement that started late last month — well in time for the holidays. The dream-big goals include getting into Publix and other large grocers. “Total Wine,” Yochum says, “is our Super Bowl.”

Yochum says he has no regrets, either in going on his own or the strategy shift. He has experienced a little bit of entrepreneurial freedom happiness, and he loves it. “I'm working more than I ever did,” he says, “But I have more free time for my family.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon