It was a typical Kentucky State Fair, sizzling and steamy in mid-August. Within the vendor corridor, Louisville native Dan Oliver was working exhausting to make a sale. In 2017, Oliver, the founding father of Dan-O’s Seasoning, was promoting his all-natural meals seasoning at state gala’s and flea markets. The recipe was one thing the house cook dinner had created 15 years earlier than whereas he was in faculty.
On that sizzling summer season day on the Kentucky State Honest, Oliver remembers one buyer particularly.
“There was a woman standing at my sales space who had taken a chunk and she or he stated ‘now, that is Dan good.'”
The intelligent praise did not instantly register with Oliver, who was deep in sale mode.
“I simply stored going with my pitch explaining the way it was all pure with no sugar and I confirmed her the substances,” he stated. “She repeated her line a few extra instances after which lastly stated, ‘cease, honey, take heed to me. It is Dan good.”
At that second, standing in his sales space on the Kentucky State Honest, Oliver stated a light-weight bulb went off. He realized humor mixed along with his excessive power, artistic grit and by no means quit perspective may go a good distance in boosting his gross sales.
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At this time, phrases like “Dan-O-Myte,” “Dantastic,” “Dangood,” “Put Some Dan-O’s On It,” and “Dan-O’s Fan-O’s” (of which there are thousands and thousands) are a part of his firm’s lexicon.
“I’ve at all times believed on this product and there are various moments within the Dan-O’s story the place I spotted ‘wow this was meant to be,'” he instructed The Courier Journal.
‘I knew in the event that they tried it, they’d find it irresistible’
For a man who likes to cook dinner, the Dan-O’s story is a dream come true.
“I may cook dinner for individuals all day lengthy,” he stated. “I find it irresistible. Cooking is what I like to do.”
A graduate of Trinity High School and the University of Kentucky, Oliver comes from a big Louisville household, all of whom he stated have an entrepreneurial spirit.
“I’m the youngest and felt just like the black sheep for a very long time as a result of I used to be at all times attempting to determine what I may do,” he stated. “My household thought I ought to develop into a chef however I did not wish to work in a company atmosphere.”
He labored in gross sales for some time after faculty, however left the company world and located a job within the kitchen on the former Diamonds, a bar with meals service in St. Matthews. One night, he served a buyer a rooster dish utilizing his authentic seasoning recipe, the one he’d created lengthy earlier than in faculty.
“The man cherished the rooster and stated I needs to be promoting the seasoning,” Oliver remembers. “I had been looking for my ‘entrepreneurial thought’ however I by no means thought-about it was the recipe that had at all times been in my again pocket.”
The recipe for Dan-O’s low sodium, no sugar, no MSG, no GMO, and gluten-free seasoning did not come from his grandmother’s recipe field. Oliver created his flavor-packed spice mix utilizing substances like sea salt, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, lemon peel, and orange peel.
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“At my first flea market, I went in hoping to promote round $1,000 price of product and ended up promoting over $3,000,” Oliver stated.
He believed in his product a lot that he gave away bottles to mates and strangers and steered they substitute their salt and black pepper shakers with the more healthy, low-sodium seasoning.
“I knew in the event that they tried it, they’d find it irresistible,” he stated.
How Dan-O’s Seasoning went from state gala’s to social media success story
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Tyler Watson tasted Oliver’s seasoning at a yard barbeque.
“I keep in mind saying to my pal, ‘Holy moly, these things is superior. What did you placed on this rooster?'” remembers Watson.
Inside a couple of months, Watson, who’s married with a few youngsters, give up his full-time gross sales job and joined Oliver promoting Dan-O’s Seasoning at commerce exhibits, flea markets and state gala’s.
“Well being and wellness and ‘good for you’ merchandise are what I had at all times offered and that is what intrigued me about Dan’s product,” Watson instructed The Courier Journal. “That and the truth that it makes meals style actually good.”
However then the COVID-19 pandemic introduced in-person occasions like state gala’s and commerce exhibits to an abrupt halt.
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“I did not know what I used to be going to do,” Oliver stated. “TikTok was comparatively new in 2020 and I believed I’d be capable of attain sufficient clients that I may preserve the corporate going.”
He was creating recipes and taking pictures video after video for the platform with little success when out of the blue, out of the blue, a crab cake recipe went viral and gross sales of Dan-O’s Seasoning skyrocketed.
“I stated I wanted to make $200 a day to outlive the [COVID-19 pandemic] and hastily, we would grown to doing a couple of thousand {dollars} a day and it simply stored rising,” Oliver stated.
The place to purchase Dan-O’s Seasoning in Louisville and on-line
With over 1.8 billion social media views in 2022 throughout the corporate’s social media channels, Dan-O’s web success has fed into success on the retail cabinets. Oliver has been in a position to herald a associate, Phil Crosby of Crosby Interactive, a neighborhood advertising firm. Crosby now runs the enterprise aspect of Dan-O’s Seasoning, whereas Watson heads up the gross sales division, which has landed Dan-O’s in Kroger’s and Walmart shops nationwide.
Clients can now discover Original, Spicy, Chipotle, and Crunchy (additionally referred to as The whole lot Bagel) on the corporate website. Domestically, the Authentic and Spicy varieties can be found at dozens of shops together with some Greenback Tree shops, Paul’s Fruit Market, Liquor Barn, Frank’s Meat & Produce, Morris Deli & Liquors, Rainbow Blossom and extra with plans for additional growth together with Lowes {Hardware}. Dan-O’s Seasoning can be out there on Amazon.
Including a little bit of zest to the corporate’s profile, within the spring of 2022, Dan-O’s Seasoning sponsored Kentucky Derby winner Wealthy Strike throughout the Belmont Stakes. The corporate sponsors different athletes like Louisville native and reigning NASCAR Tenting World Truck Sequence Champion Ben Rhodes, Eric Wood, a former NFL middle for the Buffalo Payments, skilled cornhole participant, Big Time Bob (Bob Vonch), Lucas Bogosian, a full-time skilled angler and Crazy Team Ridenfaden, a Louisville biking membership.
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All of the social media and retail success has meant Oliver can now get again to what he loved most about creating Dan-O’s Seasoning within the first place.
“I can do what I do finest, which is cooking (he creates about 10 recipes per week). I can change individuals’s lives in my very own little manner by means of wholesome seasoning and with my movies I can put a smile on individuals’s faces with my distinctive humorousness,” he stated. “I at all times believed on this objective and now I’m having enjoyable doing what I like.”
Attain options reporter Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com.
