Episode 267: She Launched a Gourmet Food Brand at 60 | Kristin Middleton on Bougie Gougies and Starting Over
Kristin Middleton started Bougie Gougies at age 60 after years of making her signature French cheese puffs for friends and family. In this episode, she talks with Kara about turning a homemade snack into a gourmet frozen food business and what it means to become a first-time founder later in life. They explore entrepreneurship, food manufacturing, and why resilience, joy, and female friendship are just as important as the product.
“Anyone can do anything at any age. I’ve reinvented myself multiple times. At 60 I really feel like this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
(00:00:01) – From Freezer Snacks to a National Business
(00:04:15) – Bougie Gougies and the Story Behind the Recipe
(00:09:00) – Starting a Business at 60 and Building Something of Her Own
(00:16:30) – Mental Health, Depression, and Rebuilding Twice
(00:22:30) – Female Friendship, Mentorship, and Big Support Energy
(00:28:00) – Getting Out There and Learning to Sell Herself
(00:33:30) – New Flavors, Gluten-Free Experiments, and What’s Next
I started making them in big batches and freezing them. And I just would pull them out of the freezer so easy and cook a few cook one cook many depending on who was coming to my house for dinner or just a drink or whatever, or say hello. And everybody loved them. They loved how the aroma when they loved it, when they walked in the front door.
That's Kristin Middleton. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is the Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
I'm really excited to talk to you today, partly because I'm really proud of you and your story and what you've accomplished. So let's tell everyone your name, where you are in the world and what you're up to.
Well, my name is Kristin Middleton to my friends.
I go by Kris and I am currently in Seattle, Washington. I started a company called Bougie Gougies a little over a year ago. And I make gougeres, or French cheese puffs. I call them gougies though. And I make them up until the dough form. And then we ship them all over the country frozen. Think of, think of like frozen cookie dough.
Where you just throw them back into your freezer until you're ready to cook them up. And then when they do, there's a delicious appetizer or whatever, waiting for someone.
Well, that's the part that I want to talk about because these bougie gougies are so delicious and they have such a great backstory as to why you created them.
So where did this idea come from?
I was introduced to gougeres when I was young through a family friend. Her name was Suzanne. And she was raised all over Europe, but mostly in Paris after World War II. But she was a Holocaust survivor and ended up in Paris after that. And she was the first Holocaust survivor that I'd ever met.
She ended up marrying someone from my small town in the, on the Washington coast. And she was really elegant, just a very, very elegant woman. Whenever we came over, and she thought all of us to my family and another family, that we were all her children. Because she never had children and could not have children.
And so she always brought these out for us and you could never get enough of them. So that's why I was first exposed to it. And then of course, over the years, I love to eat. I love to eat out. I've been served these many times. But then a few years ago, not even a few years, a long time ago, I started making them in big batches and freezing them about October, November, and I just would pull them out of the freezer so easy and cook a few, cook one, cook many, depending on who was coming.
To my house for dinner or just a drink or whatever or say hello and everybody loved them They loved how the aroma when they loved it when they walked in the front door because it just smelled so terrific all this great cheesiness cooking and then you when you see them they're all puffed up and They're just I found that people they're irresistible to people.
It doesn't matter how old or young you are Even my dog loves them
Okay. My dog does too. I shared that photo on Instagram where she had taken one or someone gave her to one at one of the happy hours and she hid it under my pillow. That's how much she loved it. She's like, we're keeping this snack for later.
And so you've been very generous in sponsoring the happy hours. I've been doing the small business meetups and you are sent down a whole bunch of bougie Gougies for everyone to try and they are truly gone in seconds. Like we take them out, they look great. We get some content and they, I turn around. I'm like, where are they all go?
Because everyone's eating them so quickly. And, you know, it's such a crazy experience to have, you know, we pop them in the oven just before people are supposed to show up and immediately they walk in the door and go. This house smells amazing. And I'm like, it's not me. It's the bougie Gougies.
Exactly. And that's part of what we want in terms of selling them. We want to, we're selling a great experience as well as a culinary experience. And that great experience just starts as soon as you're at the door.
Well, and it, it makes it so easy because there's so many things on Pinterest today about how to be a great host and what to serve for appetizers or at brunch or.
You name the activity, there's a lot of hosting going on. There's a lot of hosting influencers and it can feel really overwhelming that you're never going to be a great host, but having these stockpiled in the freezer really does make it easy. Like it sounds ridiculous, but you pull them out and suddenly people think you're a wizard and that you've spent all these days slaving away, creating these cougers.
And it's like, no, no, no. My secret is bougie. It's like when they had the commercials in the Seventies and eighties of the hand cream or the skin cream or, you know, the, maybe it's Maybelline approach and it's like, it's now that for hosting.
Yeah. I mean, it's just amazing how people react to them. And I, you know, I don't care if people Never say where they got them and pretend they made them i'm happy with that.
I'm happy if people share it Of course, I want would love people everybody to share it because I think it's such a great food item but however, you want to serve it pretend or not pretend just Serve them. People love them. You'll be the hit.
Well, and there's also so much pressure nowadays to have like healthy, clean food choices.
And for a kind of in the frozen appetizer category, these are very clean. Like you care a lot about the ingredients that goes into these. You spend a lot of time sourcing things like it's a, it's a good choice. If somebody wants to be responsible about what they're serving themselves or their guests.
Yeah, that's that's was really important to me when I started working on this as an actual business I use some of the finest gruyere and compte cheese. I probably just said the french word wrong that you can find out of france or switzerland high quality. I try to source as locally as possible for everything and as organic as possible sometimes you can't go organic, but you Like, for instance, my eggs are organic, but they could be, you know how do you go pasture raised, pasture raised and sustainable same with your milk, same with your butter.
But my goal is to keep as organic and clean as possible on that.
If you go back to eight year old you, would she have imagined that this is your business and this is how you're spending your time today?
Not at all. Was really shy as a child and and I was probably a little bit of a late bloomer as well And I also starting with eight on practice, but not at eight, but let's say at eight.
I had dreams Yeah, I knew that I wanted to do something. I my family Was incredibly, everybody was accomplished. And so I always knew that I was going to do something. I didn't know what I've had a few other tries and I've worked in lots of other, in, you know, businesses and things, but this is probably the one I'm most passionate about.
And it's my last business, I think, but eight year old me would never have thought that I'd be doing this.
Mm hmm. Yeah, you mentioned. Previously, we've been talking about how proud you are to start this business at the age that you have. So let's tell people a little bit about that. Like, what is it about starting a business now?
That you're proud of and how is it different than the other businesses that you've started before?
Well, I think let's go to the difference is for the last number of years i've been working for other people whether it be my family and I I was part of that family or I worked in a bank Whatever, but this is a hundred percent my own and I am now the boss boss and that's very daunting, but it's very exciting.
And I feel like in that sense, I can pull together what I liked in bosses and what I didn't like in bosses, and I'm trying to be. I hope to be the best form of a boss that I could possibly be. I'm not, I don't want to be in a situation where I'm ever yelling at people and dismissing people and being dismissive, I'm trying to make sure that it's a positive experience.
That doesn't mean I'm going to let myself be walked over because it's my money on the table doing this. No one else's. And so I will be firm and I will sit people down. And I, in fact, I just sat someone down this morning and we just had a nice little conversation about a few things. And so, yeah, I just want to It's just that opportunity to be something that I never had the opportunity to be fully.
Yeah. Yeah. I started this business at the age of 60 and most people would be, be retired. And I, I, I sort of was forcibly retired just because my family sold all our wineries. I knew it was coming for a while. And so I, My, I only worked in the part of my family business that had to do with wine. I'm passionate about wine as well.
And it was a great career. I started it without my family and working for other people and then came back and worked with my family and I loved it, I really loved it. But when it ended, I was very lost and I was semi retired and I thought, well, I'm going to go travel the world. And I was having a little, a little problem knowing what my identity was, who I was as a person, because I was always known to all my friends as kind of the wine girl, the wine expert.
And all of a sudden I was not that wine person anymore. And it was like, wow, I've kind of hid behind that persona for a long time. What am I now? Who am I now? Well, I was just starting to make plans to travel and of course COVID hit. So that we can talk about that later. Cause there was a port important.
Thing that happened in my life during COVID, but I couldn't travel. So I started thinking of other things that I wanted to do, and I'd always made the bougie Gougies for myself. And I just kept feeling like this would be a business and. So what? I'm 60. I do have a plan. So I did. I started it at 60 and said, I don't want to be just sitting around.
I'll be bored or I'm going to fall into a state of depression or something. And I can't travel quite as much as I want because my husband's a little older. And so we do travel, but he doesn't like to travel as much as I do. So I need something. And I was really passionate about Fuji Guji's. And I started researching, doing a lot of research and could not find anyone doing this anywhere.
I mean, I think there's been a few attempts and around, you know, occasionally, but it's, there's nothing on the market right now for it. And I just wanted to get there, you know, as soon as possible. And I actually, that's when I, I wrote, reached out to you. If you remember to help guide me through this process of getting everything set up.
So at 60, I started it. I plan to be out of it at the latest at 70. I figure I have a good 10 years and at 70, you know, I don't know where You know, maybe my husband's health is or where my health is, but I think that's a good time to exit So it means you know, you have to accomplish a lot within that 10 year period.
So there's a lot of Pressure as well, but I think anyone can start a business at 60. I still feel very youthful. I still feel very young I'm up and about every day. I do maybe go to sleep a little earlier than I used to at times, not always. And I think that I didn't want to think of this as my, the end of my life, starting at 60.
I wanted to still accomplish things. I I'd always wanted to accomplish more than I did. And I, this created a way for me to do this, do that.
Well, and there's, there's so much research and data about life expectancy extending and everyone being younger than they used to be. Like, it was crazy when I read recently that life expectancy in the, in the fifties was like 47.
Wow. Now it's 87. Like that's not a big jump from like, that hasn't been that in, in what, like a generation it's changed.
Yes
it's, it's wild because like. There are people who are 80 plus running marathons, ultra marathons. There's so much. Life left. And I also read something recently that if you're going to live to, I think it was 90 in this example, that when you reach 45, you're haven't even hit half.
Like you're, you haven't actually hit halfway yet of your adult life. Yeah. Because we have to start counting from like 18 or 20. And so there's so much more to do and I love seeing how people are taking it and stretching it. Like, thank you, Helen Mirren for showing that is possible in this celebrity world.
And accomplished. Yes. Yeah. But 60s young. And so there's so much time to do things. But I also think it's really unique that regardless of what age you're jumping in, you're committed to this being. Your business for 10 years and what happens after that will plan, but you're like, I've got 10 years to make this awesome.
Let's go say, and I think that there's power behind that because many other business owners are thinking like, Oh, I'll do this for who knows how long. And it's kind of never ending. And I think having a 10 year plan really contains it in a unique way where. You're going to go hard. You're going to make bigger, bolder choices because of it.
And there's, there's still an end game for you attached to it. Not the business, but you attached to it. I think that makes it way more dynamic and fun than how other people are framing their businesses up. As you've launched this business, what has surprised you in a positive way?
I think I've surprised myself. I didn't know a that I could set up a business this fast I didn't know if I would just you know jump on this run or I would You know procrastinate and not focus and whatever but that first year I mean I ran the entire year and I stayed really really focused so That's not always my normal and I So I have to say I'm proud of myself. I really am.
When we have we're starting to talk before we hit record you were mentioning about having battled depression and how that's played into Your passion for this business, as well as how you might give advice to your younger self. So tell me about that.
I think your younger self doesn't realize how much time you actually have.
And in my starting, probably in high school, I, it clearly developed that I had a depression problem. It's something that runs in my family. Some people are treating it, some are untreated. And I, it was an era of not, where you didn't really talk about these things very much, but I was lucky my parents in high school I was living at the high school I went to, it was a boarding school, and they had me go see the social worker who was on staff there, and that was very helpful because it was the first time starting with my talk therapy, as I call it.
In my when I graduated from college a few years later, I fell into a really bad depression not really knowing that it was a depression I couldn't get out of bed in the morning a lot of times. I didn't do much of anything for weeks on end and so, you know, then I was feeling like this time is going by and you're even harder on yourself But you have all these negative thoughts and you don't have confidence.
So I finally did start seeing someone and she kept saying to me, you know, I think you know, after we went through therapy for a while, she said, I do think maybe you need to get on some medicine and the medicine would help you. And I kept saying, no, no, no, no. It would never help me. I know it. And so she, after about a year or two, I finally said, okay, I'll do it to prove her wrong.
And boy was I proved wrong I and so that was the first time that I like to say that I had to rebuild my life I Had bad credit because I even though the bills would be sitting there. I couldn't pay the bills but once and I hadn't been working for a little while or a while Because I couldn't And I had probably, you know, my friendship group was very, very small because when you're depressed, you're also not really happy for other people.
You want to be, but you are not. And I also knew it was bad because I'm a huge reader and I couldn't even read more than two pages at a time for a year. And I'm a huge reader. So I did, I went on the medicine and it was great. And it, Basically changed my life in terms of moving forward. However, in my thirties, for whatever reasons I had a boyfriend that wasn't really into me taking medicine.
And so maybe I was unduly influenced and I went off again thinking that no, I mean, I don't need that anymore. I have been going so well for so, you know, another 10 years or so. And the same thing happened and slowly, but surely you realize I was right back in the same situation. And so I immediately, once I knew it was, Really bad again, and I got that boyfriend out of my life I went back to therapy and I went back onto medicine I had to actually switch medicines because the first medicine no longer worked for me wasn't effective anymore.
And so I and so for the second time in about 10 years i've had to rebuild my life again from pretty much scratch So during that period friends were having big getting on with their careers they were going from their first jobs and their second third and really getting into places and You It's hard to see that when you feel like you have not accomplished much at that point, and you've just been trying to fight to be who you really should be.
And so that's what I think anybody can do something at any age, because I did go on to have a career in wine after that. Separate from my family to begin with, and then with my family who was in the wine business. And I did do other little, you know, other things along the way. I. I always feel like there's, so you, you can keep going.
You have to keep going and that's what I said earlier. I'm getting a little bit off track I think but I said earlier about well, I don't even remember what I said earlier But anyway, it's just one of those things that at 60 I feel very confident that had I not had those experiences. I probably wouldn't be doing this today I might be a totally different person and taking a totally different path and but and so I've Reconciled a lot of my past, especially by doing this because I feel like this is this is my thing.
This is where I'm supposed to be right now doing this.
No, that's very powerful. I'd also love you to talk a little bit about. The friendship that you have with Anne because you guys have been friends for a long time. Yes
Yes My friend is has was previously a client of Kara's. So that's how I I met you. Anne Michaelson is her name and we met the first day of college at Scripps College out in Claremont, California and We were not the the first Best of friends then we were friends And I mean so much so that we lived in a house off campus with five girls our senior year And anne was getting married right after that.
I was not one of her bridesmaids Because we weren't she was closer to other people but somehow over the years through various life trials and things and happy times and bad and sad times we became extremely extremely close and it's been a great friendship because You She takes me seriously. I, and I don't mean that friends don't take you seriously, but I watch her and she makes me want to do more and makes me want to be better.
And I think we can feed, we feed off each other a bit. I also see with her husband, how he supports her in everything she does and has conversations and listens. And I want that with my husband. We are getting there. We, we aren't perfect, but it is, he is very much supporting me and behind me on this, but we're still work, we're work in progress.
Mm hmm. But Annie is very important to me. I knew her family. I know all her kids before they were born. I'm close to her children. Right. Right. In fact, Annie, sometimes I'll, I'll mention, well, I don't have any kids to take care of me when I finally get old. Cause I've never had children. She said, no, your family, my children will take care of you.
That's how close we are.
I it's just so special to see right. A relationship that can. Shift and adjust over time and everything that people go through and how supportive you are of each other. It really is beautiful to see and to hear about because there's so many reasons why great friendships can decline.
And it's powerful to see that you guys are supporting each other. When you both have everything going on, you both have businesses, you live in different States. It's very cool to see that the effort you put in to make it be as strong as it is today.
Thank you. I know. And I, you know, I've and drives me because I know her career was put for various reasons that I'm not going to go into personal reasons was put on hold for a while where she was raising her kids.
And it was a very tough time. And so once she had the kids pretty much raised or not quite, but enough of them, you know, raised, she went, I mean, balls to the wall on her business and finally developed that career that she always wanted with that business. So she was a very good example. Well, For me to observe.
That's a great segue into asking you, what is, what do the words powerful and ladies mean to you and do their definitions change when they're next to each other?
Well, powerful often when we hear the word powerful, you think of men and I want eventually the word powerful to mean women as well And I don't think we need to have the word ladies next to it but I also love the two words together powerful ladies because I feel like that's what i'm trying to become or Becoming because I am a woman and I am creating something that may be powerful And and and it is powerful because i'm doing it.
So that's powerful to me personally I went to an all Girls high school and I went to an all women's college and my mother basically the same thing and my mother was basically an What i'd say an early feminist and so supporting women all my life has been one of my most important things and and and hopefully Helping others push themselves up and get going in what they want to achieve as well.
I just feel really passionate that we as women have to keep pulling each other up and supporting each other.
Well, and to see yourself stepping into new levels of power as your life has evolved, you know, you've rebuilt your life twice. You've had multiple careers. You're now like have launched this new business and you're stepping beyond business owner into operations, marketing, leading, like there's so many things you're taking on.
Like, does it occur to you how, how much you've stepped into new levels of power since you've started the business?
Yes, it does occur to me because I especially that first year I accomplished so much this second year and we're not even a year of being launched of the product I mean I say the first year that's just starting the beginnings of getting this Business on paper, whatever one of the things i'm learning right now is that I have got I need to stay powerful and I have to force myself To keep going and being powerful.
This second year we moved so fast the first year that I think in by Kristin by january I was exhausted and now and now we're in an area that is not my comfort zone As much, and we're in the area where I am now responsible for all the sales. Not that I wasn't before, but we were still setting things up and just trying to get the that part going.
And I'm by nature, even though it doesn't seem like a lot of people, a lot of people, I'm a fairly reticent person and I'm not good about pushing myself forward, getting noticed. And so that's something that, and I never have been. And so this is something that I have to achieve. In order for this business to exceed succeed and in fact On that note I got I received your email about doing the podcast I've never done a podcast before and I was very nervous.
And so when I saw the dates to When we could record I my first thought was immediately go to the furthest one out Just go to the furthest one out. And then I started thinking and said, you know, Kristin, you've met with Kara, you've met with other people, sales, sales, sales, and podcasts, maybe one of our strategies down the road.
So you need to do this. So I, instead I forced myself to sign up for the first opening instead of the last opening.
That makes me so happy. I'm so proud of you. No, because it is, it's a scary thing. Like, yeah. Anyone who's listening right now knows how scary it can be to start promoting yourself, sharing yourself, selling your business. It's one thing to, as you said, to set up the operations and the systems and all the behind the scenes things. But when it comes to have to get out on the road and tell people about your product and not just tell them about it, but ask them to buy it. It's a new level of like, Oh boy, that you, we all have to get through.
I had the pleasure of getting to hang out with you at modernism week in Palm Springs, where you were part of the stag house that was doing their tour on the modernism circuit, and you were out there with. A tray of bougie gougies talking to everyone mingling like you were crushing it How did that experience feel?
And was it as scary as you thought or did that feel is it starting to feel more comfortable?
So When you saw me i'd that was my third day doing this, but it was by far the biggest crowd So i'd had two luncheons before that that evening cocktail party where I was getting used to it on one end It's not unlike with wine You When you're promoting your winery or whatever getting amongst people Trying to pour the wine for them and getting out there, but it it's still not natural for me And so it but it it's gets more natural as I go along and so I have but I have to make sure that I keep putting myself in those situations because it's If I don't I won't be going forward.
I'll start going backwards. And so the shag house and those three parties were incredible because they forced me immediately into I mean this there was no one there I knew At these events and normally when I do something I know a few people or something and I see their friendly faces and it makes it easier They're kind of telling people but I will say the first day was my hardest day pushing forward of those three days And I had some help there There with helping cooking and passing around.
But they were, my, my helpers were great. They have friends. And then my PR was my PR person. They just went out there and did it. And so I had to then start saying, okay, Kristin, you have to get out of this kitchen and making these and you need to be out there too. And just do it. So again, kind of like this podcast, you have to put yourself like, okay, I'm just going to walk out and do it.
It's scary. You know, it's just scary, but you have to do it.
Yeah.
Yeah, You have to be brave..
You do have to be brave. You do. I mean, it's, it's a word that keeps coming up lately about, you know, we had a conversation at the last happy hour about taking brave actions and. The conversation quickly went to how when we do take brave actions, things show up for us.
And, you know, whether it's synchronicity or law of attraction or the universe or God or whatever you want to believe is responding to you taking a brave action. There's a power behind doing what you know, you're supposed to do and jumping feet first and allowing the next step to occur. Like I, I personally just believe that.
It's being brave is probably the, the most fun you can have most of the time, because once you, it's like building confidence, it's like anything else that allows you to realize like, Oh, I can do that. Oh, what else do we want to do? Like it becomes a game at some point to say. What other scary thing can I take on?
Because once I do, like I'm going to expand and the possibilities I have access to are also going to expand.
Right. And being brave puts you in the position of being proud of yourself. They really go together hand in hand.
You know, when we've been talking to everyone this year, we've been asking people, how can we help?
What do you need? Powerful ladies is a big, powerful community. So what's on your wishlist or manifest list that we can support you with?
Well, I think the most important thing is sales. I need sales. You know, I'm self funding this whole business and so I need sales. And so I'm asking people to try out my product.
And I'm also asking for word of mouth from people to, you know, promote my, get people to my website, www. bougiegougies. com. And I'm going to spell that B O U G I E G O U G I E S. And signing up for my email list, trying my my product. If you love it, spread the word, please spread the word and try to be a repeat customer.
I, you know, right now I think sales, sales, sales is what's the most important for me.
And I have not met anyone who doesn't love them. Like even the people who are like, oh, I don't know if I should eat gluten. They're still sneaking them off Because they smell so they are it's amazing
I always said that like the events i've been doing in california, especially southern california.
All of a sudden everybody's kind of gluten free That being said, you, you challenged me the other day to start creating a gluten free one. We did our first test one yesterday in the kitchen and we had to tump it before it even got into dough form. So last night I was reading up, you know, so I eventually want to have something for gluten people, but it's not something I've ever worked on.
So it's a new challenge for me. But yeah, because people that are gluten free, they, they do sneak them. They do. Yeah. And not just one.
No, no. And that's, but that was the crazy thing, like passing them around at this, what, 200 plus people party at the shag house. People would walk by and be like, Oh wait, can I have another, can I take two?
It's not something that you can just eat one of. And it's unusual to get excited about a food that smells good, is high quality. Doesn't take long to cook. It's like you pop them in the oven, set the timer and you're done. And they're magically ready to have. I also love that you've been packaging them in a way where you could serve all of them at once, or you could just sneak out a few for yourself.
You've talked about making some and grabbing a glass of, you know, wine and reading your book and being super happy by yourself, enjoying them. So I do think it's also great to remember. That they're not just for hosting, but for self care too.
Absolutely. I mean, that's, and thank you for mentioning the packaging because you can just keep the rest in the freezer, open one of the packets, comes in three packets with 12 each in it, but you can open one of the packets, cook all of those right away, or just cook two and put a clip or put them in a Ziploc bag and put them back in.
And so, you know, I eat them on my own a lot. I I, they make a great dinner with a green salad. Simple, not a very heavy dinner if you're just having two or three, you know, three Or so but some people will have a lot more and yeah reading my book. I like to pull it up But I also just when someone comes over one person I have them available and if it's a big party I have them available, but you know, I definitely use them as a one person two person or more intimate appetizers And
in addition to working on a gluten free version, you're also developing some additional flavors right now.
I am. I'm working on a Cacio e Pepe. So with more, so my first one is called the classic and it's Gruyere and Comte cheese. Very classic. And now I'm going a little more Italian, and so it's going to be more, more pecorino based, a little parmesan, and, and, and a lot of pepper. And so, we just made our second test batch yesterday I haven't tasted them yet, because they hadn't been scooped yet.
I'm going to taste them either tonight or today. But my sister has lived on and off in Italy and Rome in particular most on and off during her life and she knows italian food and she cooks italian food so as soon as I have a Something that I think is worth it may not be quite there yet, but I think it's in the in the realm i'm shipping them off to her to say do these taste truly like What you would think a cacio e pepe gougere would taste like completely Along with what is it similar to what the pasta flavor would be in terms of the saucy, you know, pecorino in it, you know, because I want it to be authentic as well.
Yeah, no, I love it. I'm excited. I think developing new flavors that people are going to continue to love is also just fun. Right. It's right. It's a creative outlet. And you are such a global foodie that I'm also really curious, like what comes next? Because there's so many possibilities for future flavors.
Yeah. I, I mean, I, at the beginning of the year, I thought that I'd have, you know, just, you By the holidays next year three and I thought it would be the catch a Pepe as a second and then maybe one called the Spaniard is a third where you concentrate on like Manchego Manchego cheeses or some really lovely Spanish cheeses.
But if we're doing a gluten free one that may need to be. We'll see how it goes in terms of my creativity and how much time I have I kind of go between seattle now, which is my primary to a place in palm desert and I work out of both But i'm not always near the the commercial kitchen anymore as much as I was where all that is So it kind of depends on when i'm in town how fast I move forward on these things.
But Yeah. We'll see. I, like I said, the Spaniard, I'm a, I used, I've lived in Spain on and off quite a bit of my life. It's my second home in my mind. It's where I, I, where I came into myself in college and discovered who I was. And so I definitely want to have something that has a Spanish influence on it.
Right now, you know, people ask me about like something with chorizo in it. I really not getting into the meats right now because it would change how I have to run the commercial kitchen and how we make it and. And all the other hoops i'd have to go through that might be down the road But one other thing is that i've sort of I think that people are bringing up that I and I always think about it too is it would be nice to have like a a fig spread in a jar that you could sell or a little honey thing that you That we've had in a jar that you could sell and you could drizzle them on them On them or by the side and you could dip it.
I think that's I mean it's cheese So we know that cheese goes with so many things and I think that would be really fun I don't see that developing maybe until I think more clearly thinking about it in summer possibly
Yeah. Okay. Very exciting. Well, it has been such a pleasure to have you on the podcast.
I'm so excited for everyone to go and get their own bougie Gougies and tell us how delicious they are. But just thank you so much for sharing your story and your wisdom
thank you so much for having me. And thank you so much for being my consulted and guiding me through this process because I'm letting you all know out there.
Cheers. Kara is tremendously great at consulting with you doing your business. I would not be as far as I am if she wasn't in my life. And I really feel like she's a good friend now too. I feel like we've, I've really connected with Kara on that side too, the personal side, so. Keep doing what you're doing.
Thank you. That's so sweet
All the links to connect with Kristin buy yourself some bougie gougies get a secret discount code and more Or in our show notes at the powerful ladies. com. Subscribe to this podcast, wherever you're listening and leave us a rating and review. Join us on Instagram at powerful ladies and at Kara underscore Duffy.
And you can also find me at Kara Duffy. com. I'll be back next week with a brand new episode until then. I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
