This is the full transcript for Episode #223 of the Wild Business Growth Podcast featuring Desiree Haller – Sandwich Protector, Founder of SubSafe. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Desiree Haller 0:00
The word soggy just does something to the human brain
Max Branstetter 0:18
Hi, Hi there. Welcome back to the Wild Business Growth Podcast. This is your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting. And you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is episode two to the two to the three which is a mouthful. And today’s guest is Desiree Haller. Desiree is the Founder and CEO of SubSafe, which keeps your subs safe, and not soggy. And by subs. Of course, I mean, submarine sandwiches or, you know, heroes, blimpies, you know, hoagies, whatever, whatever in the world you want to call them. But subs, everybody loves them. And if you mix them with coolers, it is not necessarily the best match in the world. So SubSafe keeps them fresh, keeps them cool and keeps them not soggy. And in this interview, we talk how SubSafe came to be how to create a culture that is super entrepreneurial, and even has employees that go off to start businesses on their own one day. And the best kind of pickles, too many open containers of mustard, and pumping your own gas or not pumping gas. It is Desiree. Enjoyyyyyyyy the shooooooow!
Aaaaaaalrightyyyyyyy, we are here with Desiree Haller, Founder and CEO of SubSafe, a business super duper close to my heart because I love subs and I love eating. So so thank you for all you do for that world. But a really, really cool business that keeps innovating and innovating Desiree. Thank you so much for joining How you doing today?
Desiree Haller 2:10
I’m doing great. Thank you, Max, thank you for having me.
Max Branstetter 2:13
Of course, I’ve never felt SUbSafer. So thank you, but really excited, again to the SubSafe story and beyond. And one of the things that jumped out at me about your background is that you and your husband sold a boat to as part of, you know, the development of your business. And I know that you love being on the water. So can you share what made you sell the boat and kind of what your experience was mentally getting rid of that?
Desiree Haller 2:43
It wasn’t an easy decision, that’s for sure. The idea, the irony behind it all is that the idea, the concept started on a boat, and ended with us selling the boat to bring it to fruition. We were a young couple starting a family and we didn’t have a lot of extra cash capital to put into this initially. So we did things slow as we could afford it. And then it just ultimately came down to if we’re going to do this, and we’re going to place this first order, then we we needed a significant amount of capital. So it came down to us selling one of the biggest assets that we had at the time.
Max Branstetter 3:19
Oh, man, and what was? Well, we’ll pour one out for it real quickly, what was the best memory you had on that specific boat?
Desiree Haller 3:28
Probably just bringing the kids out on the weekend, we have sandbars near here. And we still we still very much live this life. But looking back, it’s you know, your kids are only young, once right for such a small amount of time. So seeing them in diapers on that boat is, is definitely definitely the best memory.
Max Branstetter 3:46
I’m just trying to make you emotional. No, I appreciate you appreciate you sharing it. But that’s really, really hard if you have to sacrifice something like that, you know, you hear about so many entrepreneurs that sacrifice a lot when building their business, you know, could be time, you know, the personal time, or it could be, you know, material possessions and could be even things that you live in or spend time and so that’s a that was a big, big decision. But what ultimately did that unlock for you in the business when you when you did end up selling the boat?
Desiree Haller 4:15
Well, we had gotten to we had gone through all the stages, right? We had gone through product development and r&d, and we had gotten prototypes, and we had done the patent process and the trademarking and all of that was we were able to do in you know, to start on time and as we could afford it, but when it came down to placing that first order for not only the product itself, but for the tooling, which is you know, especially with plastic injection, it’s very expensive. So we we just had to make a sacrifice and we just kind of looked at each other and said we’ve come this far, you know, we might as well go all in and at the end of the day I just remember telling him it’s our first order was 7,500 units and that was the smallest amount of for the MOQ that the manufacturer would do for us. And I just kind of said, Alright, if nothing else, we will find a way to sell those 7,500 units, we will find 7,500 sub loving people to sell these and we will get another vote. So, it all it all worked out in the end and definitely no regrets. I think if anything, it helps us have that extra hustle to really make a real sacrifice rather than finding an investor and having someone just give us money right from the beginning. And ultimately, I think that’s why we were able to obtain investors later because they respected our you know, our story and the sacrifices that we have made.
Max Branstetter 5:38
And for anybody who’s not familiar, including me, what is MLQ stands for?
Desiree Haller 5:44
Minimum Order Quantity,
Max Branstetter 5:47
Oh, MOQ, I thought was MLQ, I was like this. Okay, minimum order quantity makes makes me wonder what that means. And I’m just kidding. So let’s get to the sub save story. So you know, sticking with alliteration, I’m a sucker for alliteration. And I appreciate you having that in your business name with all the assets. But I love subs, you know, who doesn’t enjoy a good time on a boat or out in the summer with a with a cooler and you know, food and drinks and all that. So really, really just fun vibes all around your business. So how did this you know we skipped ahead a little bit at the start because that boat nugget is so fascinating. But how did this idea for sub save come about in the very first place.
Desiree Haller 6:31
So initially, the idea was my husband’s he, even before we got together, he did a lot of offshore fishing, he introduced me to that world. And especially here where we live, it’s not it’s not just you know, going down to the side of the beach or the water or the river and throwing a line it’s going 40 miles offshore and planning to be out for 12 hours, bringing everything you need for the duration of of these long trips. And you know, one of the easiest things to do for you know, any of us is stop there’s a you know, the subs restaurant on every single corner in America. Right? So like, what sounds better than a giant sandwich when you’re starving out there. And you’re in your you’ve been reeling in fish hopefully all day long. So yeah, the idea was my husband, he would always stop with get a sandwich. And then by the end of the day, half of it was floating in the cooler. Now whether that was because the ziploc bag leaks or, you know, it just you’ve left it in the wrapper and tried to position it on top. So you know that somebody else is in there grabbing a drink, and it’s falling to the bottom. And just it was just inevitable every single time he would come home and be this disgusting, soggy mess still left and the cooler. He just kept saying why why is there not? Why is there not a container for this? Why is there not something on the market. And you know me at the time of Spike has to be there has to be at I’ll go to bed bath and beyond. I’ll get on target online, I’ll get on Amazon, I will find you something that is waterproof. And that will work from not only it getting wet, but it getting crushed as well. Because you know, once you get smashed that, that already the integrity of the sandwich is already compromised. So I looked everywhere. And then I went back to him I think it was before Father’s Day or his birthday, it was one of those holidays. And I really wanted to come in the knight in shining armor and give you this sandwich container for this holiday. And I legitimately couldn’t find it. So he being my eternal optimist was like, Oh, well, we should do that. And I was like, Oh, how? Have you ever manufactured a product or brought you know, an idea to fruition? I certainly have it. It was just kind of that lightbulb moment in during that conversation where we realized that didn’t exist. And we felt that we could maybe do it but we weren’t. We weren’t convinced it took some time and pooling of some resources and some research to then get to the point where we decided we wanted to fully move forward with it.
Max Branstetter 9:07
That is so crucial that you were focused on the integrity of the sandwich because that is something that is very important to me as well. But that’s such an awesome organic story. Because I think so often the best business ideas come from experience it, you know, pain points that you’re seeing out there in the wild. And from your husband standpoint, it was literally, you know, maybe 40 miles offshore, but like this is something that he had seen time and time again, and that you guys thought there had to be a solution for it. And I just love that energy of well, we don’t see it anywhere. Let’s create ourselves. So I’m pumped up. I’m hungry as well. Thank you, but so sub safe. So what were what were some of the initial steps to actually you know, creating the product.
Desiree Haller 9:51
Long before we even had the the idea we were huge Shark Tank fans. I mean we just we are that couple that we’re watching Every episode, we’ve seen every single one. So we knew enough just from the show alone about the process. And I remember saying this to him, like, even though it’s not on the market doesn’t mean Tupperware, or Rubbermaid or one of these huge companies haven’t already patented it. And it’s just, it’s not, you know, on the market yet. So I again, was a little bit more pessimistic. And I was like, the first step, we have to talk to a patent attorney, we have to just find out if it’s already been patented, because even if we weren’t going to pursue a patent on it, which we did, we can’t be infringing on somebody else’s. Right, the last thing we went, it was a lawsuit. So that was where we started, we got in contact with a patent attorney and have them do preliminary searches. They didn’t come up with anything, we actually had two different patent attorneys we spoke to, because it, you know, I think I’ve mentioned it’s a big investment to really pursue pads, you know, you can get certain ones, of course, are cheaper and temporary, but we were just kind of like, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it, we’re gonna go after a full utility and a design pattern. And we’re going to just get as protected as we can. Because it’s, it’s a big step. And it was a lot of money to fund. So yeah, that was the first step. And that was the first realization that we had something that could potentially be a tangible product, and that we would be safe, moving forward with it.
Max Branstetter 11:24
How many iterations went into that initial SubSafe design?
Desiree Haller 11:29
Oh, man, the main thing that I would say about that, I would say we probably had five to six changes in the design from the beginning. And once we had the initial applications done for the patent, then we felt safe speaking to people about it, right, because the last thing you want to do is run around town, and especially the internet, talking about your idea before you’ve done anything to protect yourself. So we started talking to people, and that’s when we have friends and family. And they would come and give us ideas. For instance, one of the ideas was, well, why not make the ends originally it was just completely rounded. And then someone said to us, which we’re eternally grateful for, why don’t you flatten the ends a little bit, so then it can be used at the cut as well. And it will stand straight up not only in the cooler, but you without rolling over. But also, you know, if somebody’s on the boat and they forgot a cup, then they would then have it for that. And so that changed the idea that was actually a pretty expensive change, because we had already filed design applications at that point. So we had to go back and file new ones. But it ultimately ended up being such a great business move because we had now have a tricky word on this update. So I created a whole new product and a whole new use for this update.
Max Branstetter 12:49
So besides that versatility, what would you say is like the biggest differentiator besides you know, a sub safe container and like some other containers that you might find out there on the market?
Desiree Haller 12:59
Good question. So the other thing that we did was we created the subject to be three pieces. That way you can do the base with a cap and that’s for a six to eight inch sandwich or you can do the base with the the large piece and then it’s anywhere from a 10 to 13 inch sandwich. So we wanted it to be a versatile product to where you didn’t have to buy to, you know, you could eat half, cap it off, throw it back in the cooler free have a little more space in the cooler. The main thing is quality, the way that our threading with this silicone ring works together, it makes it completely watertight. And unlike traditional plastic storage containers where the lids can pop off, that means that you know you’re running potentially 30 miles in a boat and the cooler is bouncing up and down and people are in there grabbing beer and throwing stuff around and dumping beer in it and you needed we needed a very high quality container which is what we created the plastic is extremely thick. The threading is very durable. That’s what sets us apart and of course the fun colors are like really amazing colors.
Max Branstetter 14:06
I actually hate fun color No I’m just gonna say if you look at your site now you have like the original sub saved and then you have multiple versions of that you know different sizes, different substance sandwiches in mind. You also have wine safe you have like ice focus products like you really expanded to lots of different objects or foods or drinks that could you know come in handy when you’re out of the water out of the baseball voicecrack they’re out on the water or like you know just doing whatever you know having a picnic whatever you tailgating. How do you and team come up with these different I guess they’re almost like line extensions like these new types of products to add to your mix of your company overall.
Desiree Haller 14:48
It’s a combination of things. First being that we are our market right we are on the boat all the time that’s in our products, not just for boating. I know I always revert back to that because that is such a huge part of our life but It’s tailgating. It’s camping. It is golfers is hiking, we just have a really, really wide market beachgoers. But like I said that, that we’re living that life every weekend with our kids and being outdoors and packing coolers. So what we came to find out was, there aren’t any accessories on the market for the cooler except for the basket. There are a lot of coolers that do have a basket for you to kind of separate things. But if you are somebody who is planning to spend the entire day outside and pack everything that you need, the drinking ice, the drinks themselves, the snacks for the kids, the sandwiches, salads, leftovers, whatever, whatever is going into the cooler. Our job is to make sure the wine once you open a bottle of wine, it’s spilling out in the cooler or champagne especially. So yeah, that was that was kind of our goal to just keep evolving into you know, our slogan is A cooler lifestyle. And we really, truly live by that and just want to create products that make people that enjoy the outdoors makes their lives easier, and products you can rely on and know that when you open the cooler at the end of the day, everything is still intact,
Max Branstetter 16:15
A cooler lifestyle. That’s really cool. I appreciate puns a lot probably too much. What went into that tagline,
Desiree Haller 16:23
we tossed around a couple different ones. And I had two amazing employees at the time they both gone on to start their businesses, I’m so happy for them. I miss them dearly. But we were just tossing them around and I blurted out that one and they’re I believe their eyes lit up. And they’re like, that’s it. That’s the one. So we are a lifestyle. It’s a lifestyle brand. And it’s a brand to make your life easier and just kind of stuck.
Max Branstetter 16:51
You stumbled onto something there that if you hear about a lot with entrepreneurial leaders and entrepreneurial companies is that if you have awesome employees that want to start their own business one day, like, you have two options you can you can be like, No, we really want you here, or you can be like, you know, go for it. Like I don’t I totally don’t blame you. Like I’m in the same boat. You know, I’m so happy I started my own business. And sounds like, you know, you have a couple examples there and maybe even more of people that have gone on to do that. How do you navigate that when they ultimately came to you and said, You know, I have this dream somewhere else I want to do like, what would that look like from your perspective.
Desiree Haller 17:29
I mean, the initial reaction, of course, was sadness to see them go. But on the other hand, I was immediately flattered, because I knew that I also inspired them. And that makes me really, really happy just to know that I instilled in them some just characteristics or qualities that gave them the motivation and security to to just do something like that to go out on their own. And the other thing that may lessen to the below, I guess you could say is that they both still work very closely with us, and we still outsource our sort of our services with them, I still get everything in a pretty package with the boat with them. So it was the best case scenario. But no, I would never want to ever, you know, the potential of owning your own business is endless. And especially us, you know, at that time being we’re still a very small business, you know, so I can’t I can’t accommodate what they were worth. So I’m so glad that they’re able to do it for themselves.
Max Branstetter 18:32
Yeah, it’s like really bittersweet thing. But you clearly have created a culture there where you inspire people and you find people to partner with that are on the same mission and want to cool their lifestyle as well. What else has gone to shaping the the brand and kind of lifestyle aspects surrounding Saab safe to the point that you know, when when consumers see sub safe, they, you know, feel that kind of like boat adventure, cooler vibe.
Desiree Haller 19:02
I think a lot of listening to the customers and listening to the feedback has has really helped us evolve. We’re big on attending trade shows. I’m big on cash and carry shows, which is more like a boat show where we’re actually selling to consumers directly instead of typical trade show. You’re just looking for retail buyers. But nonetheless, you’re getting feedback at both. Besides that, it’s just choosing your influencers really well, so that you are in front of the right viewers, and that’s been big for us and how you advertise that’s certainly been a fun road to navigate with all the changes with Facebook and social media advertising. What we did in the beginning looks nothing like what we do now for success. Just trying to keep it cool. We’re getting my husband I are getting older, we just just had to rely on younger people to keep us cool.
Max Branstetter 19:54
You take that back you guys are young yourself. It’s so true that like forms of advertising And in getting the word out changed so rapidly these days, it’s like, it’s like, why even bother doing what people are doing now, it’s like, we might as well just, you know, invent some new form of communication for 10 years from now. But like, at the time of this recording, what would you say is working most effectively right now, in terms of advertising
Desiree Haller 20:16
right now is everything is all about tick tock and reels on Instagram, I cannot tell you how much I loathe the thought of getting on tick tock just because it was something new to learn. And I was so intimidated by it, I, like I said, I just I don’t know, I felt out of place. But now that we have gotten in there, and we’ve seen some great success, I highly recommend it. But that’s kind of where it’s at right now. For us anyway, and a lot of other Shark Tank companies, we’ve spoken to
Max Branstetter 20:46
shout out Instagram for literally taking any new popular feature from any other platform and making that their own. I mean, Reels is basically TikTok for Instagram, and it works really, really well. I mean, people are on it all the time. But like, what, um, what sort of strategy, you know, besides me, like, Dougie-ing as I do all the time, what other strategy is, like worked well on tick tock, or Instagram reels, as far as sub site goes?
Desiree Haller 21:11
I think just keeping it real nice.
Max Branstetter 21:14
No pun intended there. Yeah, exactly.
Desiree Haller 21:17
I didn’t even think about it when I said it.
Max Branstetter 21:21
It’s a cooler lifestyle. All right, I was
Desiree Haller 21:24
planning the photoshoots. And hiring the models and staging everything perfectly in the past, because it would either go to print, or it would go on our website, or, you know, that was kind of the weight will go into an ad. And we’re trying to capture that perfection. And now I think everyone is gravitating towards misstate, again, real realness. And they want to see me in the warehouse with no makeup on, you know, slinging boxes, because that is actually what happens, you know, four days a week, that is just connecting to people on just a more organic level is what seems to be working for us right now. And sharing the hardships to not making everything so pretty saying that, Oh, my gosh, today stopped. And that’s okay. And we’re tomorrow will be better. Yeah, that’s kind of what what we’re finding is working.
Max Branstetter 22:20
Speaking of getting the word out to people, you’ve alluded to Shark Tank a couple of times. So what you know, you hear a wide range of experiences with Shark Tank, but obviously, it’s great from a publicity standpoint, but a lot of different things can happen there. But what what was the biggest change that you’ve seen in your business since you appeared?
Desiree Haller 22:37
For us? It was more like what did it change, we had an incredible experience, we were a very, very new, we were I call us a baby company. At that time, we had only been I think it was right around three months that we had been just even had our product, and we’re even selling, that’s how new we were. And which is rare, usually, when you see the entrepreneurs pitching there, you know, a year or two, at least into their process. So we filmed we did get a deal. So the whole back end of our business changed drastically, the way that things were structured, we have business partners, it changed our capital situation, and then having the partners helping us and their employees and having that changed our business. And then we aired, right, and then the publicity set in and the sales and the exposure, and then the reruns. And, you know, so we have had, I mean, I can’t really think of anything that’s the same or would have been the same. Have we not done Shark Tank. But we’re so grateful for it. And we’re, you know, I don’t want to say one of the few but we are so blessed to say that, from beginning to end. It’s been an incredible experience for us, and kind of just the best case scenario.
Max Branstetter 23:56
I mean, three months, that is, like, inconceivable how, how well I guess a three month but like how early that is in the business and for being on a like a national stage in front of, you know, intimidating people like that. Like that’s, that’s crazy, you know, that’s I’m stressed thinking about it. Is there anything that you would have done really differently? You know, just knowing what you know about the business now versus like when you’re preparing that initial pitch, then
Desiree Haller 24:24
I don’t know that we would have done anything differently. I think that we kept it really real. We did take a little bit of heat for our sales. We hit $40,000 in sales when we went in there, but we didn’t have to go back to you know, keeping it humble. We didn’t have any money for advertising. So everything that we did was grassroots and just hitting the concrete eating the pavement ourselves. So I think a lot of people who watch Shark Tank or even the sharks themselves are expecting these big sales nice big numbers. But that comes along with, you know, the $100k they spend on Facebook ads, and they don’t comprehend that, you know, I was proud of myself, I still have $40,000 in sales, and in a couple months when
Max Branstetter 25:12
I was gonna say that’s like, that’s really I mean, I think most businesses are like barely any sales or like, you know, losing money in those first few months.
Desiree Haller 25:20
Yeah, yeah. And we were a 17 with one product, and it was $17. So we were so we took a little heat for that. But just like I said, Just six further explaining that to them. And, and explaining that, and they still replay the this one scene on the new episodes where I say, we put everything we had into this, and I was kind of heated in that moment, because they were, I think it was, I think it was probably Kevin giving us a hard time. And I was like, I don’t think you guys understand. We didn’t, we didn’t have a marketing budget. But it’s and we got the product. And I looked at it and I was like, well, now what do we do? So you know, we had to figure it out.
Max Branstetter 26:01
Figure it out, that is what you need to do as an entrepreneur, as well as a podcaster whether you are one of those or both of those are aspiring to be one of those or both of those. I have the newsletter for you. It is the Podcasting to the Max newsletter, it is a combination of podcasting and entrepreneurship. And you can sign up at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Now, let’s get inspired, inspired, inspired. You know, the like commercial, it says expired. inspiration and creativity. Let’s do it. So let’s switch gears a little bit, let’s SubSafe our way to inspiration and creativity, which doesn’t even make sense. But it always makes sense with sub safe. So rolling with it. But this is more you on the personal side, like how you stay inspired how you stay creative. And obviously you’re you know, you’re in very inspiring person inspiring story yourself. But whether it’s people or things you watch or listen to, you know, in addition to Shark Tank, like what really fires you up and gets you, you know, helps to keep your ideas flowing for the business.
Desiree Haller 27:02
I think it’s seasonal for me that I just go through different seasons where certain things work, and then they might stop working for a little while. So certainly, you know, there are certainly some podcasts. But right now what is really just probably my go to is we have a Facebook group that’s just for Shark Tank inventors, we are really close knit group, and we communicate all the time and we bounce ideas off each other. And I think that getting in there and seeing what other people are doing and people are very, we’re all very raw. So we share our successes, and we share our failures. And that’s just kind of been in making sure that I I have real relationships with other entrepreneurs, not just Shark Tank, just entrepreneurs in general, there’s always going to be somebody doing more than you or doing doing different than you that it’s working better. And so just just keeping conversations open with people is is really where it’s at.
Max Branstetter 27:59
What are some lessons on entrepreneurship and innovation that you see come up like time and time again, from this fellow Shark Tank alums? I’m gonna I’m gonna make you list all of them for 20 minutes. And I’m just
Desiree Haller 28:14
I think one of the main things is just be leery pretty much everything and everyone. That is huge, including
Max Branstetter 28:24
me, sorry. Oh, no,
Desiree Haller 28:26
no, you seem cool. But I’m just the retailers are, you know, there are a lot of, there’s a lot of gray area and a lot of things that you will experience as a entrepreneur. And really learning to go slow and read the fine print on things is just so important. I’ve I’ve done bad deals, where we didn’t end up making any money or lost even. And I know so many other Shark Tank companies, you know, you work with reps, and there’s just so many things that can if you’re not on top of it, that can go wrong and and there’s always somebody who wants to take advantage of you to make a buck. So I think that’s probably the toughest lesson that I have learned and continue to learn. If it sounds too good to be true. Chances are so yeah, that’s probably the the main reoccurring one.
Max Branstetter 29:19
I’m gonna get that printed and a giant sign on my wall. You seem cool. A quote from coolers. So thank you. I mean, it’s a lot. So great. Yeah, that community in so many amazing lessons to learn. How about outside of work? So you know, you mentioned the interests and you know, boats and being on the water and you know, having fun time on the water beach with your kids. What else do you do in your free time that helps you, you know, feel more creative or maybe come up with ideas sometimes.
Desiree Haller 29:50
I mean, I spend a lot of time on social media following companies, accounts of people who I aspire to be more like and especially branding and branding is such a huge, huge part of your business, and staying on brand and evolving your brand. Even just from a design standpoint, that’s big for me, I tend to be an anxious person because my mind never stops. So I’m huge on meditation and exercise. That’s absolutely key for me to be sane. Best way to say it.
Max Branstetter 30:25
Yeah, I’m with you, I always think back to like, when it’s like a really long day at work, and and like, finally lay down in bed, it’s like, you would think that you’d be like, you know, man, pass out instantly. And like, your mind would kind of like wind down. But no, that’s like, at least for me that the time where it’s just like, my mind is like, wide awake. And it’s just like, oh, like, let’s make sure you do this tomorrow, or, like, do this. Like, it really takes that effort? I see where you get into, you know, at exercise and meditation. You mentioned that, you know, you find inspiration from following accounts on social media. What are some, you know, brand, and or people accounts that are like, really, really inspiring, they follow.
Desiree Haller 31:06
Um, I follow a lot of brands that, that I see buying something one day, you know, so I follow cooler brands, I follow outdoor brands, just to see just to keep up with what they’re doing. And maybe even make sure they’re not doing what I’m doing. Right. So that’s part of it. But um, I love like the females that startup founders, I love following any sort of startup podcast. I am a faith-based person. So I follow a lot of faith based people because that always fills me up to
Max Branstetter 31:46
speaking of unusual questions, because I asked a lot of those, let’s let’s get to the unusual. So you on the personal side talking about, you know, pet peeves, quirks weird talents, so this totally has nothing to do with your business. Of course, you can tie it to it if you want to. But first off, what is a what’s a weird talent you have?
Desiree Haller 32:04
Well, we do a lot of dancing, when it’s just our family. And I’m not terrible.
Max Branstetter 32:10
Okay. Yeah, it sounds like you’re really good if you say it that way.
Desiree Haller 32:14
No, I have to it has to be like just the family and maybe a little bit of wine to for it to happen.
Max Branstetter 32:20
Maybe a little bit too.
Desiree Haller 32:21
Yeah, yeah.
Max Branstetter 32:23
How about pet peeves? What’s something that really just annoys you a bit?
Desiree Haller 32:29
I absolutely hate pumping gas. That is just I mean, I don’t know what it is. It gives me anxiety. I don’t want to stop.
Max Branstetter 32:37
You need to move to New Jersey. There you go. It’s a perfect.
Desiree Haller 32:42
Full service, right?
Max Branstetter 32:43
Yeah, that’s right. I mean, I grew up in Ohio. So it’s like, still really strange to me to like, go to a gas station and like somebody else does it for you. But if you’re somebody that doesn’t like pumping gas, then is perfect for you.
Desiree Haller 32:53
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I’m from Vermont, and they had a few, they had a few when I remember as a kid that were full service. And then in Florida, we just we just don’t have that. But yeah, that’s probably my main and then my husband does this thing where he’ll open something before the other one is finished, like it will open a new mustard when we still have half a thing, you know, you know, usually just couldn’t find the mustard for a sub sandwich that it’s about putting the sub state. But and yeah, that’s, oh, that one, that one gets me too. But then you, you have no more room in the refrigerator if you have to have everything. So I would say those two, I really don’t have anything negative to say, but we have the best customers. I mean, we just have the most down to earth people. They’re so amazing. Every once in a while you get somebody with that Amazon Prime mentality, even though we’re which we are an Amazon Prime, but if they order from the website for small business, you know, it might take a day to get it out. And then you’re on USPS time or UPS time and I can’t really control that and, and then once in a while you’ll get a customer. I heard this two days ago. Why isn’t it you know, already in my kitchen drawer, you know, and it’s like, oh, I can’t I can’t there’s so many things out of my control. And that’s so rare. Like I said, it’s but that’s probably the only thing from a business standpoint that irks me.
Max Branstetter 34:11
Yeah, Desiree. How dare you not drop everything else in your life and drive across country for me right now? Yeah.
Desiree Haller 34:19
Exactly. Or have the, the tools that Amazon has to make that happen for you. You know, sorry, I don’t have seven warehouses.
Max Branstetter 34:30
Probably like per capita. Yeah. And then How about how about quirks? What’s something a little bit quirky about your personality that maybe your husband your kids, business partner somebody calls you out for but it’s who you are.
Desiree Haller 34:41
I know I make a really funny face when I put on makeup. I get made fun of for that a lot. I don’t I like pucker up my my mouth and then I like scratch my nose a little bit. It’s not cute. It’s not cute at all. It’s just it’s a very awkward focus.
Max Branstetter 34:56
I’m sure I do that same face when I put on makeup too. So it’s fun. Let’s wrap up with some rapid fire q&a. You ready for it? Okay. All right, let’s go wild. What is your favorite type of sub of all time?
Desiree Haller 35:10
Plain old turkey and veggies, turkey.
Max Branstetter 35:12
Which veggies? What do you mean by veggies?
Desiree Haller 35:15
Okay, I like lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles.
Max Branstetter 35:18
We’re getting very granular here, but what type of onion what type of pickles
Desiree Haller 35:22
like the white sweet onions and dill pickles,
Max Branstetter 35:27
Dil Pickles, shoutout Rugrats. All right. So now that we know your full sandwich order, you mentioned your husband plenty of experience in offshore fishing, which I’ve talked with my dad about this because my dad’s always said like, it would be really, really cool to do like, you know, like a deep sea fishing or like something like that, like really far away. And it sounds like a really, really cool experience except, like my thing is I get seasick pretty easily. So I that would, would not be good. But what’s the craziest story or experience that your husband has from fishing that you know remotely? He actually
Desiree Haller 36:01
caught a Goliath Grouper one time, and I’m gonna totally butcher the weight, but it was bigger. So he’s what five, eight. It was bigger than him. So he was on the news with his friends. It required a couple of them to hold it up. It’s officially they had to throw it back. But that was probably his his moment. But we’ve together we’ve we’ve brought in some huge baggy. We’ve had some good good fishing experiences, that’s for sure.
Max Branstetter 36:29
That is a Goliath Grouper. Indeed, I can’t even imagine that giant grouper is very, very well loved. I imagine it’s quite the struggle to to pull it life side as one out of the water. What’s a horror story that either you’ve heard about or experienced yourself as far as like, food or drinks spilling in a cooler like that?
Desiree Haller 36:52
Oh my gosh, I’ve heard so many. As soon as people understand for the first time what our product does, it immediately triggers a soggy bread story. The word soggy just does something to the human brain. Right and like it just
Max Branstetter 37:07
especially soggy bread. Like it has such a I mean, there’s certain words that I won’t say him now to upset me. But there’s certain words that historically people have had very like little just kind of chills reactions to and soggy is soggy, soggy, soggy is definitely one of them. And since like you said that at the start of the interview, I’m like, Man, I just hate like soggy bread. That’s
Desiree Haller 37:31
awful. Yeah, yeah, nobody, nobody can stand soggy bread. So the I hear stories all the time where, you know, one of them was a really well known company. And both brands. And they were doing their annual I think they were taking out their, their board of directors or whatever. So they were people going from South Florida over to the Bahamas. And that’s probably at least an hour to an hour and a half trip by boat. And that’s if you’re if you’re really running, and they’re going somewhere remote. So they packed public subs for the entire trip and whoever packed the coolers, and we’re talking, you know, probably 20 people that they had to be. They were all completely soggy by the time they got there. So they ended up having a grill on the boat, one of the small ones that fit in the gunnels. And they threw all the bread away. And they just ended up grilling the meat and cheese and that’s all they had to eat until they were getting picked up by plane and then they were going to some swanky resort or something was going on. But they had no other food except for these sandwiches. And so anyway, they ended up placing a huge order with us when they found out about the product and telling us that that story. I was like this is why we do this. This is I know I’m not the only one to experience a failed sandwich in the cooler so
Max Branstetter 38:50
shout out shout out Publix, which is almost as omnipresent in Florida as Amazon warehouses. Last one, you’ve lived in both Vermont and Florida, which slightly different climate there. Besides the weather, well, it could be the weather if you want but like first thing that comes to your head is want to hear your answer. best reason to move to Vermont and best reason to move to Florida.
Desiree Haller 39:13
That’s tough. Okay, I love both places to the point where we even have a small little summer home they’re still Vermont is absolutely beautiful. If I can’t talk about the weather, then I can’t talk about this foliage, which is my favorite part. If you can’t say foliage then I would just say the it’s just fresh air. You just it’s slower moving, it’s less concentrated. It’s just a different vibe. My husband always says as soon as we land. So it was like you’re just happier here. And like I just feel like I can relax here. But then what’s not beautiful about Florida we just have we have so many incredible beaches and you can live a lifestyle outside all year round. And there’s just there’s so much to do and explore.
Max Branstetter 39:59
There is both But really, really cool places. My wife, Dana’s grandma Phyllis lives in Vermont up in Manchester area and so we recently recently visited her and you know, Dana and I are always when we go up there like We love going up there but if we’re going up there in the winter we’re always like, oh my god, it’s so cold up here like how do you deal with this? And fellas this past time was like, yeah, it’s cold but I love it like I love the air. It’s like it is like a fresher just like cleaner air out there. It feels like
Desiree Haller 40:29
Yeah, yeah, it’s true. We do a lot of skiing and even just skiing they’re supposed to outlast it’s just feels different you know, it’s there’s not as much pollution in the air.
Max Branstetter 40:41
Well, Desiree, thank you so much. This has been awesome. Just love what you do love the SubSafe story and could listen to your stories about fishing and you know, life-sized grouper all day. But thanks so much for coming on. And where is the best place for people to you know, try out sub safe as well as connect with you online.
Desiree Haller 41:00
Absolutely. So TheSubSafe.com is our website. We have all seven products and two new ones coming very very, very soon. And we’re also on Amazon and in Publix delis. And then with us personally @SubSafeCo is our handle for social media.
Max Branstetter 41:20
Super cool I’ll see you at the next Publix and Amazon convention. But last thing, final thoughts The stage is yours. It could be a quote, you know another awesome slogan words to live by whatever you want, send us home here.
Desiree Haller 41:32
I think if I had to give anyone advice, it’s just start somewhere. And if you have an idea, do not sit on it. Do not wait for somebody else to bring it to fruition. Just start somewhere and see it through and find someone who can who can help you navigate the road of product development because the world needs more entrepreneurs.
Max Branstetter 41:55
This is true, get started and do it safely. Thank you so much, Desiree, for coming on the podcast, sharing the SubSafe story. And thank you, Wild Listeners, for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast on your favorite app and tell a friend about the podcast. And then, go like deep deep or shallow sea fishing. I don’t even know the terminology, go fishing with them. Or just hang out at the beach with them and try out SubSafe. You can also find us on Goodpods, where there are pretty good podcasts and podcast people and recommendations. And for any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com and sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Until next time, let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
