This is the full transcript for Episode #342 of the Wild Business Growth podcast featuring Myles Powell – Myles Comfort Foods, Frozen Meal Pivots. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Myles Powell 0:00
I learned the hard way.
Max Branstetter 0:15
Hello, welcome back to Wild Business Growth this year, a place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning, turning wild ideas into wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, you can email me at and today is episode 342, and today’s guest is Myles Powell. Myles is the founder and CEO of Myles Comfort Foods, who makes delicious mac and cheese of all types. I’m talking home style. I’m talking buffalo style chicken. I’m talking philly steak and cheese. It’s mouth watering on mouth watering. And in this interview, we talk miles, pivots on pivots on pivots, the unique dynamic of creating something that’s sold in the frozen food aisle, and everything from finding a way into the store at Target and Whole Foods to the hottest hot sauce and tastiest bourbon he’s ever had, it is miles. Enjoy this year. I already. We are here with Myles Powell, founder and CEO of Myles Comfort Foods, one of the most delicious brands you’ve come across. I mean, if you first of all who doesn’t like mac and cheese, so it’s a good place to be before we get into the miles comfort food story, I think this when I was prepping for this interview is really, really cool, because, you know, I often reflect back and look back at, you know, previous entrepreneurs that we have, that we’ve had on and like, if you’re familiar with the entrepreneur space, the word pivot comes up all the time. And like so many entrepreneurs have have pivoted from one part of their career to the other, or within their business from one thing to another. And I think your story is really cool, because it’s kind of like pivot after pivot, like you’ve had so many amazing changes, and each of them has, like, a really cool story behind it. So we’re going to talk touch on all those pivot touch points that rolls off the tongue in this interview. But one of them, one big pivot that you had was pivoting from engineering and the civil engineering world to, like the entrepreneurship in the food world. What was it about engineering that, like, you thought you’d love and then you realized over time that you you thought you don’t love, yeah.
Myles Powell 2:34
So very interesting, man. When I was growing up, I used to love Legos, like Legos connects. That was my thing.
Max Branstetter 2:41
Wait, connect. I haven’t heard anybody mentioned connects in a long, long time. Forgot about those. Yeah, yeah. How much hours with that
Myles Powell 2:48
I was connects kid before I was a Lego kid. So I did that all day, right? And so naturally, my parents were like, oh, you should go into engineering. You’re good at math, and I was decent head science. And so leading up to college, I was, like, dead set on being an engineer. But after I started, you know, this process, I was terrible at it, like I in my class. I was one of those kids where it took twice the effort to get half the success right. And I was always frustrated. I could never get it, get it. And even when I graduated, there was like, empty feeling of, okay, now I’m ready for a career, but none of these career options are appealing. But I, you know, I ignored it. I’m like, Okay, I’m gonna get a paycheck. I’ll love it eventually. But man, my second day of my first full time job, I’m sitting at my cube. I’m looking at the walls, and I’m like, wait a minute. I got to do this every day for 40 years. And I my brain broke. I’m like, There’s no way. So that’s what really began this transition into. But what am I gonna do? I can
Max Branstetter 3:56
feel that it’s very real about the the thought, the scary thought of like, Wait, am I going to do this forever? And so it’s really cool that you, that you did something about it after you had that deep, like, really scary moment, and after you were probably exhausted from those years of building connects things, what was the first step that you made to actually kind of change your life like that?
Myles Powell 4:17
For me, it was kind of a natural progression where, you know, after work, this was the first time in my life where I’m living alone, I have that free time every day, and so I ended up just starting to cook a lot of, like, a lot of different recipes. It was a way for me to stay connected to my upbringing. It reminded me of home. I love to eat and I like to cook. So I did that a lot like it was every day. It was like making a full meal for one person. But then I started a food blog to express that that creates, it was like my outlet, right? And this is before Tiktok Instagram was just starting. So this is like you were at Facebook or you were blogging. When I started this food blog, I really got into it, and I got into. It so much that I ended up applying for this cooking competition on the Food Network, and it was very it’s one of those things where it was like a why not moment, right? I’m 2122 years old. What I got to lose, right? But I apply, and I actually got accepted to be on the show. And so, 22 years old, I rolled to New York. I compete in this Food Network Competition Series. I flame out Episode one because I’m a rookie chef, right? But I came home from that show and I’m like, Yeah, this is, this is what I want to do, I guess.
Max Branstetter 5:33
What was the most besides, like being on the show? What was the most, like, mind blowing aspect of being like you’re now on a Food TV show,
Myles Powell 5:42
man, it was a lot. So everything from it almost didn’t seem real at the time. One of the things was how much production goes into it. Like I, I was there for three days before even going on camera, and I was only on camera for 30 minutes or maybe an hour, right? I almost felt like they were, like, they were putting us in a box to, like, because they don’t tell you anything in this situation. They’re like, just show up and we’ll tell you from there. So you’re so you. I was a nervous wreck for days straight, so much so that, like, my nerves broke permanently. So now when I do things, I don’t get as nervous anymore, because nothing compares to that like I told you I was in grad school. It was a moment where I was doing homework at my kitchen table. This is after the show, after we after we filmed, and I’m doing homework, and I’ve got the Food Network going in the background, and I hear my voice on TV, I look up and I’m like, oh my god, I’m on a commercial. And that was, like, the most unreal moment ever.
Max Branstetter 6:36
What you were saying about how it kind of trains your nerves. This is a very like, silly example, like, it’s not even me, it’s just, you know, being a fan of sports teams. But I felt that same thing with like, if you ever as just a sports fan, if you ever experienced, like, a really, really bad loss. Sometimes the losses are so bad that it kind of like trains you for future years to be like, You know what? At least it wasn’t as bad as that one time. So for me, it was my junior year of college, I went to IU. We were like, number one basketball team, you know, it was like, if IU was going to win a title, it was going to be that year. And in the sweet 16, we lost to Syracuse, like, totally unexpected that year. You know, it was also like, you know, if they were going to win when I was at school, that was, like, the time for it. It was just total shock. And was like, I took that loss so hard, like, I struggled to accept it. And then going forward, it was just kind of like, you know what? Whenever, like, they lost, or whenever any of my Cleveland teams lose, not that I handle it the best in the world, but it’s never as bad as that one losses. So in a very different, twisted way, sounds kind of like what you experienced with the TV show.
Myles Powell 7:35
That’s what it was, man, like that was so surreal. And as quickly as it happened, it ended, and then it was like, back to reality. And it was like, I still can’t even to this day when I see it, it doesn’t look like me. And I’m like, i i That’s wild.
Max Branstetter 7:55
So you’re already a VIP guest of this podcast, because you use the word wild like you just naturally rolled it in. So you’re a true wild entrepreneur yourself. But let’s get to miles comfort food. So you foreshadowed the transition to food, the pivot to food and that sort of world. A little comfort food birdie told me that actually, when you when you started this business, there are a couple things different about it. One of them was that you were focused on, like sauces, like barbecue sauces, which is very different from what you’re doing now. What led you to, I guess, going into like, the sauce business
Myles Powell 8:34
my senior year of college, or leading up to it was the first time that I had an internship. So it’s my first time getting, like, decent money.
Max Branstetter 8:44
Quote, unquote decent, yeah,
Myles Powell 8:46
like, back then, I don’t remember how much was, few $100 a week, right? Maybe more, more, maybe 500 bucks. I don’t know whatever it was, it was, I was happy that. So that year was the first time I also had a full kitchen at the apartment that I was renting a town home. So the first paycheck that I got Guess where I went the grocery store, and I was I, it was like, that’s how I celebrated. And the one thing I decided to make was barbecue sauce. Like I my dad used to make his own. I just love barbecue sauce, and all sauces, right? So I was like, I’m gonna make my own barbecue sauce. And I did, and when I did, it was amazing, and I it was okay. Remember that for later. So once I graduated and was out on my own, I just had this like instinct to make more barbecue sauces and experiment with different versions and all that. And then I got to a point where I had this recipe that I really fell in love with, and I started sending out samples to people. They fell in love with it, and that’s when I went, Okay, if I’m going to launch a company, I know that this thing is something I can do really well. That’s how I’m going to start, without knowing anything about CPG, it was like, All right, let’s start at brand with barbecue sauce.
Max Branstetter 9:57
And what other sauces did you end up experimenting with? For you.
Myles Powell 10:00
You pivoted, yep. So it was a line of sauce. They were all fruit based. So, like our barbecue was a raspberry barbecue sauce. We did a pineapple buffalo sauce, which is the favorite one. We did a mango. It was like a buffalo barbecue mix. And then we experimented with other ones too. Like I did a whiskey, Apple whiskey at one point too. So it was fun, like I I thoroughly enjoyed making the sauces until I didn’t enjoy making the sauces.
Max Branstetter 10:29
Well, for the record, I like those all sound amazing. So I’m a huge fan of your, your business of all the business of your as well. What was the Insight along the way that made you change up. Actually, there’s as great as sauces are, there’s something about this mac and cheese world that’s pulling me
Myles Powell 10:47
so we’re doing this part time for a couple years with the barbecue sauces, and we had made some we had gained a small traction locally. We were in a couple of grocery stores. We’re selling online. We’re doing these farmers markets. But what happened was, I mean, if you know anything about a farmer’s market, it’s a grind to work those things. So I would set up 8am rain, sleet, hail, snow, be there for six, seven hours and then go home. And after doing that a couple years, number one, I was like, I’m getting really tired of this. But number two, the worst part was, like, if you’re setting up 8am on a Tuesday and you’ve got these barbecue sauces on your table, no one’s really buying barbecue sauce at 8am right? But they’re buying things that they can eat on the spot or produce. And I’m watching the lines form, and I’m sitting here just like, twiddling my thumbs, like, what can I do? So I started actually bringing food to pair with my barbecue sauce. And one of the things I would bring was mac and cheese, and I put my buffalo sauce on it. And people were like, oh, that’s the thing that I need every week. And then it was like, oh, I should make more of that. And I made more of that, and then introduced that concept to a retailer that I was already selling the sauces in, and it outsold the sauces, like, eight to one. And that’s when I decided I gotta focus on mac and cheese. Now, Oh, that’s
Max Branstetter 12:10
good. That’s just, like, Great entrepreneurship fundamentals that you were doing, right there was, like, I mean, you were getting out there in the first place, like you created something, you got it out there, and you got, like, quickly, well, probably didn’t feel so quickly through the sleet and hail and all that. Hail and all that, but customer feedback and user feedback about, actually, this is really good, and this is, this is the thing to focus on there. And then also, you had the mindset of staying open to that, hey, I’m not, you know, married to these sauces, like there’s, there could be a whole nother world out there. Exactly, great decisions all along there. The other point, before we get too far in this, the other point that you changed along the way is changing your brand name from eight miles to miles comfort foods. What shout out Eminem in the movie and appreciate a good pun so you couldn’t resist there. But like, I guess, what advice do you have for any entrepreneur out there who has a brand and is like, considering, like, it feels like a rebrand
Myles Powell 13:04
is needed, that’s a tough one. So on my end, the rebrand wasn’t solely because of the name, it was a bunch of factors. So we were eight miles for six years. What I ignored, and what kept happening was people would say either two things, either one, oh, you from Detroit, right? And I would say no, but I like the movie. Or they would say something along the lines of, oh, I don’t understand the name, like, and I would try to put meaning to the name as an afterthought. And that was very hard, like I tried to say at one point for do eight different sources, and it was like it was, it was almost being forced at the same time, the brand itself wasn’t built on a solid foundation for growth. Like the brand itself didn’t have enough meaning the logo, I mean, there was it was done. The brand, even when we got to 500 for 1000 1000 doors, it just things just seemed misaligned. So when we rebranded, it was a perfect time to say, hey, let’s also change the name to make it more meaningful and to have foundation to what we’re actually doing today. So we didn’t get rid of the name, but we made it the entity as the corporation, and now we’re under that. We’re miles comfort
Max Branstetter 14:14
foods. And I think comfort foods has such like a, I mean, it’s in the name, but it has such, like, a warm, satisfying feel to it. It’s almost like you’re being hugged by your brand name, which is pretty cool, that you have that connotation notation there, whatever it’s called. And now, if you check out your products, if you see them on the shelves or on your website, like the packaging looks great, the name looks great, like it’s very, you know, it’s very clear. It stands out what it is. Like any fan of mac and cheese, I think it’s like, the original Mac and Cheese is always so good, and then what you’ve did is you take it to the next level. It’s like, wait a second, we have, like the buffalo one, we have like a philly steak and cheese one, which, when I read those flavors, like my eyes and stomach just lit up. So you’re doing a good job with those. But it’s really interesting in the frozen. The Food space. Like, what would you say, like, the biggest differences about making, like, homemade, ready to eat right now the mac and cheese recipes versus, like, preparing something to be frozen food and, you know, distributed customers that
Myles Powell 15:12
way, you know. So I tell you a funny story. When I was first starting with the mac and cheese, I was pitching Whole Foods as one of my potential clients. Now i i I was lucky enough to already had conversations with whole foods. So this pitch came from like, years of just like grinding the pavement and getting to the right people at that point, though, what I was presenting to them was like a prototype of the mac and cheese, and it was basically exactly how I make it at home, freeze it and give it to them. The problem with that is it’s a lot of cheese, which means a lot of cholesterol, a lot of sodium, a lot of everything. So from a nutrition label standpoint, it does not work. It is atrocious. Like, I don’t get me wrong, it tasted amazing, but when they tried it, this is great. And they flip over either Nutritionals, and they’re like, oh, no, this ain’t gonna work. So that’s why this is so great. Yeah, exactly. So then I went, Okay, I gotta figure out how to still have it taste great, but be a little more nutritionally friendly without skewing all the way to being healthy, because then you get dentist, and there’s no point of doing what I’m doing. So it took two years, maybe even three, to get it to the point where Whole Foods finally went, Yeah, we like this one, but you start with the premise that I’m gonna make it like I’m making it at home, right, without having to add all this extra stuff that you can’t normally buy at a
Max Branstetter 16:31
grocery store. You mentioned Whole Foods, obviously, big, iconic store, retailer there. I heard that it was like a very non traditional way that you got the ball rolling with target. Can you share that, how you got distribution
Myles Powell 16:44
there? Man, yeah. So that was, that’s a moment I’ll never forget. This is 2019, the winter of so late, maybe December. So I was still working my corporate job, and I get a message on LinkedIn, and it says, you know, target buyer message, Hey, I’ve seen your brand at so and so location. I love it, but love the chat. Now, my first instinct is, this is spam. There’s no way this person is real. Cannot be real, yeah, Target, because at that point we were probably in about 200 store we’re not we’re still really small in the grand scheme of things, probably less than so I’m like, No, there’s this. Ain’t this? Ain’t it? So we end up talking, and it’s very real. So now I’m like, This is amazing. And leading into 2020, we all know what happens. So pretty much all considerations cease for months, but me being pushy, I probably follow up in, like, March, April, and I’m like, Hey, any anything I can do to help? Any word this guy, man, I still want a good friend of mine today. He goes, you know, right now, we are struggling as a corporation because we can’t keep shelves full because we’re having distribution problems. Frozen is the place to be, because everyone is panicking, right? Can you just fill up shelf space? Like, I’ll give you the authorization letter. Can you go to your local targets and put your product on shelf? And I’m like, Duh, yeah, I can do that. So every morning, before work and at night, I would drive my product to these targets. I walk in with a case, give the letter to a manager because it looks a little funny. And I’m like, read it. I’m good. I’m gonna put this on your shelf. And I did that for a couple of months, and was able to, you know, on board with the target system, get good sales data. They were finally able to catch up. And they were like, Okay, thank you. But now we’re gonna go back to normal here. But that gave them the confidence in me that I could deliver. And so months went by, literally deliver, literally deliver. Yeah. And then so when I when we reconnected, they were like, All right, we like you. Let’s get you rolling as an official vendor,
Max Branstetter 18:53
that’s an amazing opportunity. That sounds like a dream come true for any CPG or food brand of hey, we can you please fill up more of our shelf space. Yeah, it was so hard for that. It’s kind of crazy looking at your journey of like, obviously, at the start it was like you and your kitchen, your brand new apartment kitchen, making these sauces, and then the mac and cheese as well. Obviously, at a certain point, if you want to scale that, you just can’t simply be like the one person making that anymore. What’s been like key for the brand in terms of making sure that you can actually scale up your production.
Myles Powell 19:25
I learned the hard way. So when I went from in house production, so I did it in stages, right? Once I got to a point where I couldn’t, I was not legally allowed to produce in my home, I first went to a culinary institute that happened to rent out their kitchen at night when the school was not in session. So I did that three times a week. That was my first time using a commercial kitchen space, which is a blessing in itself, right? And like even how to use a dish pit like I looked I remember walking in the kitchen and being like, what is that thing like that you open up and you put dishes through? It’s not a dishwasher. It was very confusing.
Max Branstetter 20:02
Is that the thing that gets, like, when they open it, it seems super hot, like, it’s super steamy.
Myles Powell 20:06
Yeah, that’s the one I walked in. There’s no help there, so I’m just looking at it, like, okay, so, like, it’s like, you know, and even using and now my pots are big, everything is bigger, but I’m still very small. So I did that for a while, and then I moved to DC and got into a bigger space. Now I’m dealing with even bigger equipment. And as I did that, I kept learning hard lessons about multiplying your recipe, right? If you got a recipe that’s got eight ingredients and that’s for one and you got to make 10, you don’t just multiply everything by 10. It’s based on percentages, right? And I learned that the hard way. I make stuff, and I’m like, this tastes gross. It was very much trial and error for a while. As I grew I learned how to use additional equipment, and then I got into like, packaging equipment, like heat sealers. Like, it was all like, I would order stuff online, it would show up. And I’m just like, I have no idea how to use this. There’s no chat. GPT, YouTube is not where it is today. It was very much like, I’ll figure this out.
Max Branstetter 21:03
Is that kind of your mindset as an entrepreneur, of, like, the whole figure this out thing? Like, I’m curious, like, what? How you keep yourself open to figuring out and learning so many things?
Myles Powell 21:12
I think because my best learnings that when I bumped my head trying to figure it out, as much as it sucked at times, I now have 11 years of experience, and I’ve seen the bad and the good, like I’ve learned it the hard way. I’ve learned it the easy way, and that experience can’t be taught on a YouTube channel. Granted, I could have probably shaved a couple of years if I knew some of this stuff ahead of time. But hey, here we are. I think the process of engineering taught me that too, where, like I when I was getting my butt kicked trying to learn how to be an engineer, it was a lot of hard learnings and a lot of stressful nights. So I think that helped me out, too, where it’s like the whole problem solving thing that’s in my DNA.
Max Branstetter 21:53
Now it’s funny, you say that we had on episode 336 which I only remember because it was recent. Now I can’t remember all these we had um Sean David Nelson on from love sack. So just like, amazing story. But he he literally titled his book in podcast, let me save you 25 years. Because he’s like, there’s so many things that I learned along the way that would have saved me so much time as an entrepreneur. So like, his whole platform is, like giving back and trying to save entrepreneurs time. So it’s like, right what you were saying your story about bumping, bonking your head so many times, and those are the best learning moments. Can you share an example of that? Is something that you re really your head hurts a lot from it, but it was really
Myles Powell 22:31
important, man. So there’s so many of those moments. There’s a very specific thing that I remember. So this is when target, we were rolling out with target. And so target was the first time that there was an entire system that we had to learn, because before then, all of our dealings were done via email through a distributor. It was, it wasn’t too complicated. Here comes target, and they’re like, you want to work with us. Here’s a stack of things you need to do, forms and new distribution channels. And I don’t know any of this, but I was so excited that I was just like, I’m gonna wing it, because all I want is a PO and I checked off so many things, and there’s so many things that weren’t good for the brand that once we got on shelf and we’re selling through, and I started to learn I’m like, I screwed up, like, even from like, a pricing standpoint, I didn’t CPG is such an old industry. There are so many different codes and meanings and things like that. The buyers and the distribution partners, they just expect you to know it. They’re not going to hold your hand through it. So they’re just like, fill it out and get back to us. You know, we basically what happened was we were on shelf, selling to target at a price that we were losing money on because we just, I just didn’t know any better, right? And we were working with a distribution partner that we couldn’t afford their distribution rates. I didn’t know that, right, and it ended up really bad when we so when we rebranded later on, it was a full reset, new contract, new everything, because the old stuff, just like it would have, it would have bankrupt us 100%
Max Branstetter 24:02
so let’s get 100% to an area of your bit, or an area that your business is within, that I just find really fascinating, the frozen food aisle. So it’s a really unique part of of any store. There’s a lot of pros. I’m sure there’s a lot of tough parts of it as well, but I’m just curious, kind of how it works, like on the back end, but also from the consumer side, like, how do you handle things? I guess, from an ops side, knowing in mind that, like, your product needs to be frozen pretty much at all times until it’s ready to be consumed by the customer.
Myles Powell 24:33
I mean, I don’t even know where to start, so I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you, like, by the
Max Branstetter 24:37
way, Miles is recording this in an igloo, and, no, just kidding,
Myles Powell 24:42
I’ll tell you like, I got one thing that was a lesson to learn. So as you So, when you make the product and you hand it off to a distributor or you or you send it on, you know, however you get it from point A to point B, it’s going to change hands. Your job is to foolproof it as much as possible, something as simple as when. Get a frozen meal. It’s typically on the shelf facing you like this, right? And the bowl is also facing like this. So from point A to point D, if there’s any de thawing, that product slides to the bottom, and then it refreezes. Once it gets on the shelf and the customer gets it, they open and they’re like, where’s the rest of it. It’s there. It just looks nasty because it’s all in a little corner of the bowl. So one thing that we had to do is reconfigure how we package our boxes. So this is gets kind of technical, but the normal process was to put them in cases where they’re facing up. Then we say, well, why don’t we flip it so they’re facing down you’re doing stack them by twos. Something as simple as that can save you so much time and effort and increases customer satisfaction. Believe it or not, there was a point where we didn’t even steal our outer cases because I was like the labor behind putting tape on each and every time is out of control. We didn’t have the money to have a glue machine or anything like that, and there was no rules that said you had to tape it. That was a wild part. So we had it on shelf without tape. And every now and then someone would be like, this has been tampered with. We’re just like, No, we just don’t tape our boxes. Tampered with it ourselves. Yeah, yeah. And that’s not good, though there’s so many minor points that we just didn’t uncover early on. How about
Max Branstetter 26:22
on the oh, by the way, that was your second drop of the word wild. It’s just second nature at this point, I’m blown away. How about on the consumer side? How do you get food shoppers to consider even like meals from the frozen food aisle?
Myles Powell 26:37
Very hard. That’s that. That’s our biggest mission right now. Right? That aisle is one of the least traveled aisles in grocery stores, probably just because it’s cold, that’s my theory. Yeah, that’s one of it, right? But it’s also not the most exciting aisle, like, if you think about it, when you walk down, all the glasses are frosted over, so you can’t see the product very well. Traditionally, it’s been full of nasty, ultra processed foods, unless you’re getting ice cream or frozen french fries or veggies, that frozen meal category has just been seen as like, the last resort for a long time. Right now, we’re in a space where there are more real foods emerging in that space than ever before, and customers are starting to get hip to like, Hey, this is actually better than the fresh food that’s been sitting on the shelf for three days and that expires in two days. I can get this frozen thing that’s gonna last for a long time. It still tastes like a homemade meal, but it’s definitely your truck. You’re talking about correcting 50 years plus 100 Years of this thing that has been taught this way, but we’re getting there, right? I mean, I think that we’re from an educational standpoint, we’re getting there.
Max Branstetter 27:45
That’s a golden insight there. I think stores should just have like, a rack of, like, winter coats and parkas and to people to put those on, and then walk through the aisle and then they’re exactly, they’re good, like, it’s been all day there. What else? Well, you mentioned how you had to, like, change the ingredients to make sure that it was more nutritional with, you know, freezing it in mind and shelf life in mind. What other things have you had to keep in mind when it comes to knowing that you’re making a product that’s gonna be, you know, essentially, like on shelf in an icebox. Once for a while,
Myles Powell 28:18
we’re very fortunate that we took a very natural approach and worked out just fine, right? So we didn’t have to add anything weird to extend shelf life. It was more tinkering with the recipe to make sure the taste is optimized, but also that is at a price point that is doable. Now that’s a hard one too, because there is a ceiling for a lot of consumers of what a frozen meal should be. And the way to combat that, which we never did, was be very bold about price point and offer something that’s very unique in our category. We don’t feel we have the luxury of being like, okay, it’s $10 for this 10 ounce pack, right? So we have to keep that in mind too. Pricing is, yeah, that’s a that’s a hard lesson too, because pricing is value determined. Like, I personally would never buy an $8 Frappuccino at Starbucks.
Max Branstetter 29:16
Millions of people do me too. Nothing against frappuccinos or
Myles Powell 29:20
Starbucks, but the people that buy it see $8 of value the same way. I mean, there’s the name of product, where I’m not willing to pay for that, and then vice versa, where I’m like, I’ll pay top dollar for that, and someone else won’t. Right? It’s all about value driven how you communicate your value to the right person. That’s something you have to learn early on. A lot of entrepreneurs, we get into the game and we’re afraid to charge the price that will make the company work, because we look at our competitors or whatever’s happening, it’s like people aren’t going to like it. People buy what they think it’s worth to them. The same reason why, during a recession, Mercedes are still being sold, Porsches are still being sold. You got to be very confident about what you offer. What the price should be to fit that value?
Max Branstetter 30:06
Well, miles you provided endless value already, and we’re gonna put that to the test, because we’re gonna wrap up with some rapid fire. QA, you ready for it? Let’s go. This is the gauntlet. I apologize for how scary and intimidating these questions are. All right, let’s get wild. What is the hottest sauce you’ve ever
Myles Powell 30:27
had as a consumer? Yeah, easy. Um, well, what was it called Death Wish? I think it was called
Max Branstetter 30:34
anything with death in the name just, you just, know, it’s at least, like, Carolina Reaper. Like, yeah,
Myles Powell 30:39
man. It was one of those things where so funny enough, it was a gift, and me and my friends had a drop, and it was like crazy hot, right? Weeks go by, it’s still sitting in my my cabin. I’m like, I’m gonna try it again. I’m by myself, and I put a drop on a chip, and stupid me goes, I hand that very well. I’m gonna do it again. And I did it a second time. Like, my body temperature, like, like, the cartoons, right? It just like, I could feel the redness coming up all the top of my head. It was bad. So that was definitely the hottest thing.
Max Branstetter 31:08
Your eyes pop out of your head. Smoke comes out of your ears. Uh huh. Oh, my God, it was bad. Yeah, the whole spice thing’s really interesting, because, like, they, you know, there’s like, research behind it now that, like, it’s literally addicted. Like, spice is addictive, and so like, people are always like, you’re always seeking more spice. And I’m a sucker for that too. Whenever we’re at a restaurant and there’s like, a spicy option versus not, I’m like, alright, I’ll try it, as long as it’s not, like, too, too, too spicy. But yeah, there’s got to draw the line somewhere exactly, besides the TV production notes that you kind of hit on before. What else about being on that Food Network show, what kind of caught you off guard about being on camera and like on set like that.
Myles Powell 31:46
One thing was, you know how they over drum, how was the word? They make it very dramatic with dramatized, dramatized, to task, the size, yeah, something like that. So you know how it’s like, 30 seconds left and you see them scrambling, at least for me, I was scrambling into the last second. It was, it was wild, like, literally the last second I wiped my plate and pushed it to the
Max Branstetter 32:07
front. Oh, so that part was real. It’s not like a yeah, they finished 10 minutes
Myles Powell 32:11
ago. That part was real. What wasn’t real when I realized was how they frame certain things, like the I for that episode, I was the dramatic thing before commercial break. Now, in real in real time, there was no panic. It was a very simple solution, but they made it seem like I was the downfall, which kind of, but not to the point they made it look like, you know,
Max Branstetter 32:35
you provided all the drama for that episode. The producers must love you. Then, oh yeah, I was the guy all right, and then fitness, I know you do a lot of fitness, working out at fitness training stuff as well. What’s like an overlooked fitness tip many people don’t pay attention to but it’s important.
Myles Powell 32:52
That’s a hard question, because there’s so many from a fitness standpoint, I just tell folks, you do not have to over complicate things. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, what you shouldn’t do, what you can do, etc. Don’t over complicate your fitness. And remember, it’s 70% nutrition, 30% fitness. So if you go to the gym five times a week and kill it, but you’re eating a hamburger steak and ribs every day, it’s not going to do you any
Max Branstetter 33:17
good. You just described my week. Thank you.
Myles Powell 33:20
Listen, man, we all have bad news, right? I had pancakes this morning because I was like, I need pancakes. Yeah? And also, that’s another point too. Balance is life. My theory is, work, work for the gym, work really hard, four to five days. Treat yourself to a whatever you would like on a Friday night. You know, it’s as a reward. My pancakes this morning were my was my reward.
Max Branstetter 33:43
I can feel your happiness and contentment with those pancakes through the mic. Appreciate that. All right. Another totally different spot from your career. I saw that you worked at CVS for a bit. Oh, yeah. What’s the hardest part about working like in an actual store, you know, pharmacy, like store, like that,
Myles Powell 34:00
man, that was when I was in high school and into college. Honestly, this is not an exaggeration, that was my favorite job, like, but it but it was because the people I worked with, it was almost like high school part two. We were all kind of the same age. It was my first time making money, right? And it felt really good. I’ll just be honest. And so, and it was my first as my first real customer service job, so dealing with personnel adults as a 16 year old, right? It’s, I don’t want to call it humbling, but it’s your peak into the real world. I don’t know. And it taught it also taught me I love progression, like I felt good knowing I was doing well at something that the manager would like count on me for additional tasks. It made me feel like an accomplishment. I think that that sense of need of accomplishment, like chased me into college, and of course, after I graduated too.
Max Branstetter 34:56
It’s always really cool to hear about those high school jobs and what you can learn from it. And, like, obviously, you’re an example of that, of some of those lessons, you know, personal and professional, stick with you throughout your life and career. I was a, I had a summer job a couple years in high school where I was a t shirt printer with, like, ink, screen printing. Yeah, I realized that, like, one it was cool, because you, you know, we just, like, rocked out, like, listen to music the entire time. We’re, like, on our feet, moving around, and got to be really efficient, and attention to detail and all that stuff was great, and being consistent with it, but also realize i i could not do manual labor, like, that’s not for me. Like, you know, like sitting down, or at least, like working on a computer seemed pretty good after that, which pretty funny, but All right, last thing, what is like, the ultimate best beverage choice to pair with any of your miles, comfort food dishes.
Myles Powell 35:47
Good Lord, beverage. All right, so I’ll go adult first adult. I tend to think of this as like a Thursday. I just need I’m tired. I just need something that’s going to make me feel good mentally. I’m probably gonna do the philly steak and cheese mac and cheese and either a lager or, depending on feeling, I’m going whiskey on the rocks, like a shot of whiskey on the rocks. It just that combo. Man, it’s just like, it’s like a blanket. It’s like, I just like, all right. Things are good now, right? Man, on the non beverage front, I would say, I mean, I’m a sucker for a good lemonade. I, you know, I can’t go wrong.
Max Branstetter 36:28
My wife, Dana kills me for saying this all the time, but it’s very refreshing. It’s very refreshing, especially over the summer, early fall. It’s like refreshing. It’s what it’s all about. What’s your favorite whiskey brand?
Myles Powell 36:39
Man, I just, I just, I just bought one for the first time. It’s really good. And it’s downstairs. I can’t think of the name of it. I tend to stick with what I know. So if it’s a makers, I’m good with that. I haven’t had Jack in a long time. I would say probably a Woodford is always my go to, always good, yeah, I would say Woodford is always, that’s my number
Max Branstetter 36:56
one. Probably, yeah, that’s good. Yeah. I’m getting more and more into the whiskey and bourbon world. It’s a lot of fun. It is miles. Thank you so much. This has been awesome. Just love what you’re creating, and your story is super inspiring. And love the rebrand and the flavors and all that. I know, if anybody wants to try out or see where to buy your foods and what stores they’re in, they can go to milescomfortfoods.com, miles, thanks so much for coming on. Is there? Is there any other place that people can connect with you online or learn more about your foods?
Myles Powell 37:26
Yes, I’m on LinkedIn, a lot. So just my full name on LinkedIn, miles, Powell, and then all the socials, Instagram, Tiktok, I’m there as
Max Branstetter 37:34
well. Perfect. Cool. You can see you dancing to the latest trendy music. And then last thing, final thoughts. It could be a quote or just kind of a Words To Live By motto, whatever you want. Just one line bring us home here.
Myles Powell 37:45
So this is the line that actually got me into this space. Just a real quick background. When I was going to apply for the Food Network, I put a tweet out and I put the link out, and I was like, Wouldn’t it be crazy if I applied for this thing? And one of my best friends growing up, she’s family, she’s responded to the why not. And I turned that into my faint my favorite thing to say is not, why? Why not. And I think that’s a great motto to live by.
Max Branstetter 38:15
Should you live by that motto? Why not? Thank you so much, Myles, for coming on Wild Business Growth. Sharing your wild story, your Myles Comfort Foods story, and thank you our listeners for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more wild stories like this one, make sure to follow or subscribe to Wild Business Growth on your favorite podcast platform. Tell a friend about the show and subscribe on YouTube for the video versions. YouTube is @MaxBranstetter, you can find all things about the podcast, the Podcasting to the Max newsletter, as well as podcast production services at MaxPodcasting.com Until next time, Let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
