Burnt Hands Perspective

BONUS SERIES: WFC - Meat So Horny: How a FinTech Exec Created BBQ's "Spiciest" Brand and Built a Business

Antonio Caruana and Kristen Crowley

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Bobby, founder of Meat So Horny (MSH), shares his journey from running a fintech company to creating a provocative barbecue seasoning brand that's known for both its bold marketing and quality products.

• Started the company after persistent encouragement from a friend, choosing the name "Meat So Horny" after listening to Two Live Crew in the car
• Initially wore a mask to hide his identity since he was running a multi-billion dollar fintech company
• Faced opposition from the barbecue community at first but won people over with product quality
• Creative partner Steve Colley developed the memorable branding and product names like "Rub Your Chub" and "Worth a Squirt"
• Products include rubs, hot sauces, premium cold-smoked salt, and Wagyu beef jerky
• Rebranded as MSH Nation to expand into retail while keeping the original brand for niche markets
• Successfully raised half a million dollars through crowdfunding in just two months
• Maintains a 40% return customer rate, one of the highest in the industry
• Plans to collaborate with Burnt Hands Perspective for future product development
• Values community over competition, willing to use and promote other brands' products

Come try our Wagyu beef that's been marinating in 100% whiskey with our smoked salt at 2:30! Visit mshnation.com and follow us on all social media platforms to learn more about our products.


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Speaker 2:

All right, kristen, here we are again, again and again. We got Bobby with us right here. This is going to be an awesome thing. So this is all off out of the kitchen thing. We're going to talk about what chefs like myself use for ingredients and what he brought to the table. Your story, dude, crazy right Meat so horny right.

Speaker 1:

So we were intrigued by the product because it comes out real inconspicuous, like on your shirt, msh. So tell us you got to say what it really means where that came from All right, so I'll explain the entire story.

Speaker 2:

Yes, do this.

Speaker 3:

It's going to be a little bit easier to understand what I tried to accomplish and where we're at now and how we grew and and and what the journey's been. At the end of this journey, we're writing a book. It's called the MSH Chronicles because what we've? Been through and the stories we have and the experiences have been absolutely wild and crazy and fun and a grind and it's just been incredible.

Speaker 2:

Let's say this is a five. Five stories, right? Five chapters. Which chapter are you in right now?

Speaker 3:

I would tell you we're in the third chapter You're going to give us some fucking great detail in three chapters worth of your life. Potentially it depends how much I want to go into it.

Speaker 2:

Go deep, bro. You want me to go deep? We're not here for the games. I'll end up on Oprah after this.

Speaker 3:

But basically I was running a fintech company, a very large fintech company, and I always had a passion with cooking. I've been cooking since I was six years old. We had one of those Viking stones in our kitchen and we had the middle of it was a grill, a gas grill, which is amazing.

Speaker 3:

So I didn't have to go outside, I would grill inside, so always had a passion in cooking and I always loved it. But the problem was I hated social media and I really disliked Instagram and everyone being on the phone. I'm very personal. I'd rather be in your face and talking to you versus texting and emailing.

Speaker 2:

That's obvious from when we met you.

Speaker 3:

Let's talk on the phone, let's get in person, let's collaborate, you know, I don't like this.

Speaker 3:

I hate to deal with my kids. My kids don't have an iPad. They're two and four years old. They're not allowed on the phones. Go outside, go play. That's amazing. They need to be doing that, sure. So, anyways, I was running a FinTech company and all of the digital aspects, and my buddy goes you really need to start a barbecue company. And I said I don't have interest in doing that Because I have to start social media. Everything's on social media, sure.

Speaker 2:

So a restaurant or a social media page? Oh yeah, or both.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, you have to have both. Yeah, so long story short. We were in the car and he kept bugging me and bugging me for six months and I said, fine, I'll do it, but we have to come up with a funny name. We were on a lunch break or taking a client out to lunch. After lunch, on the way you know, we looked at each other and we were thinking we're doing a lot of puns and all this. And then it came up to we were listening to music in the car and it was meat so horny and I said I go, I was dying laughing.

Speaker 2:

So two live crew came on and it just changed everything.

Speaker 3:

I didn't want to say that, but yes, and then I said meat, so horny, and I was looking on my phone and I said, ok, it's not taken, I'm doing it, I'm trademarking it the next day. So I took it. I wasn't taking. I was like, how isn't this taken? This is hilarious and everyone's so uptight lately and everyone's so offended and I'm, you know, everyone's got to loosen up. How are you going to live this life?

Speaker 2:

you know what's like. Why are you going to do it?

Speaker 3:

you got everybody's got you you got to go eat, have fun with your friends and family. You're laughing when you're cooking. Let's do it. So this is the funniest story of all. So I was running this fintech company and I couldn't have my face on the or my name on this company. This was a multi-billion dollar company, sure? So this is before cover. This is 2019.

Speaker 3:

I started wearing a mask so, like Alec Monopoly always wear masks when he was painting. No one knew who he was for a long time. So I was like all right, I'm gonna do what they did for the cooking world. So my first like, I took some pictures, put it online on Instagram and they're gonna kill me. My wife's gonna kill me, but I added her and her family as friends. I started following them and I didn't tell her I was doing this. So I get home the second day of starting this and she goes Robert, someone with a company called Mitsu Horny has a picture of food in our kitchen. What the hell is going on? Is someone going to take this? Oh yeah, it's mine. She goes what? What's going on?

Speaker 2:

So you didn't even tell her about this? No, I didn't know, because I was like, all right, I don't know if it's really going to work. I didn't want to get into it, and so it really started growing Was it, the mask thing that you think helped, the catalyst that people were just intrigued?

Speaker 3:

No, to be honest with you, everyone hated us in the beginning Hated the company A hundred percent. It's the funniest thing.

Speaker 2:

Because of the vulgarity of the name and stuff the parody of the name.

Speaker 3:

They didn't take us seriously. In the barbecue world, in the cooking world, they're like, oh, this guy, what a name it's like Marshmello, the. Dj like please. So we got blacklisted a little bit and then I was like try our products and then tell me, yeah, they're not good, but if you try our products and you like it, now you got to flip your switch and then that's what happened we. The name is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but the product is as good as the name.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you back it up. If your product is as good or better it has to be, your product has to speak. That's where the money's going.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean, here's the key. The key is your return customer rate. Sure, we have a 40% return customer rate.

Speaker 2:

It's one of the highest in the industry 40% of people come back, which means people are cooking a lot.

Speaker 3:

Cooking a lot. That's good and really we've grown the company over the past three, four years. We did a whole crowd-fundering exercise. We were on StartEngine, which is, I think, backed by Kevin O'Leary. We raised half a million dollars in a two-month period of time just on our followers. Wow, no marketing of it, no, nothing. We brought in influencers. I gave them equity in the company. We brought in influencers. I gave them equity in the company.

Speaker 3:

I wanted them to feel like this is theirs because it is theirs, sure, and I used that to our advantage and created a family. So we have Jacoby Ray, and one of the biggest people that helped me start this is my co-founder. His name is Steve Colley. He's a creative genius On all levels. On all levels I'm talking about. You know. I came up with the first three names of the run Rub your Chubs. We had Peckers, we got to go through those. And Horny Hex. So I came up with the first two of them. Then I brought Steve Culley. He came up with this brand.

Speaker 1:

Run through the names because people are going to laugh.

Speaker 3:

Worth a squirt Let me see this.

Speaker 1:

Hold on.

Speaker 2:

Let me see oh, so it's a Scotch, it's a Scotch bonnet, it's a Scotch bonnet. Okay, good, so you're a little Jamaican twist there, it's a Canadian hot sauce.

Speaker 3:

actually, it was made in Canada, okay. So someone sent me his hot sauce and I said, holy shit, this is a great Worth a squirt. I think so. That's what Steve Cully came up with rub your meat and squirt. And I said this is a perfect tagline.

Speaker 2:

I'm like Vanna White right now Look.

Speaker 1:

Show off your meat.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, steve, there's a nice bag for all those listening and not seeing. There's a bag here. What do you call these bags? A tote?

Speaker 1:

It says rub your meat and squirt.

Speaker 2:

And it says rub your meat and squirt. And I told them.

Speaker 1:

Will do. Thank you, sir. Yeah, great marketing, because we're seeing people at the World Food Championships walking around with this bag and you just immediately laugh at it. Yeah, I know where it came from.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you go get one. First thing I said when I got it, I want one Right.

Speaker 1:

He just said I want the bottle. Yeah, what do you think of this, Kristen? What do you think about Worth the Squirt? I love the Worth the Squirt. I love the name.

Speaker 3:

What else you with him? He changed the evolution of the company because of the branding yeah, branding's everything right. So brought him on that. We brought a lot of influencers on and we grew it and then we started you know this. We just came out with this is our new barbecue sauce. It's heavy whiskey based. We put in the most amount of whiskey that you can put in a product without calling it liquor before going being 21 and up for the alcohol commission steps a hundred percent.

Speaker 3:

So you get slammed with whiskey in your mouth and this is our sweet heat. It's called uh, hot and heavy. Sweet whiskey, hot and heavy, okay chicks hot on it. I didn't create that, that's all steve.

Speaker 2:

So let me ask you this while we're looking at this and talking about this, you're talking about the creation, the end of, uh, the inspirations, all that stuff. Yeah, you're. There's a lot of companies out there that are throwing labels. I've talked to this with another good friend of mine a lot. There's a lot of companies out there that will do the white labeling and put their herbs and spices just out for masses. They put their label on it, send them out. You guys are creating your, this is your recipes, correct. This is real food. This is real ingredients.

Speaker 3:

Your ingredient list is short, real, I think that's how it has to be. You have to give the consumer what they want and do it on a respectable basis.

Speaker 2:

When you're creating, are you creating this through a chef's eyes, in a sense, where you're tasting it, sampling it, getting people's response from it? Absolutely, you have to be with something called Rub One Out, which is gonna be my favorite because everybody on the planet rubs one out, whether they want to admit it or not. So everyone has to have a familiarity with this total. See, they're cheering in the background.

Speaker 1:

They like it. They love the name.

Speaker 2:

So this is great. Look at the label.

Speaker 3:

This is genius man. That's all the names after it. I would say, okay, I have this idea on this type of a rub, Let me go create it. And then I would say this is the idea and he would create the creative. So what we did was we're at the point now and here's Horny Hex, here's Rub your Chub.

Speaker 2:

Horny Hex Cajun Rub. Yeah, I love these. I mean, this is like some tattoo work or something.

Speaker 1:

Because it makes you smile and it makes you laugh immediately. And you taste it and you're like wow.

Speaker 2:

By applying the Horny Hex Cajun Rub Season to your meat Massaging. Oh, so generously, bro, I'm going to go Give me the rub one out real quick. You want me to read the rub one out? Okay, all right. Yeah, read the rubble now, but do it in the bedroom voice please. In the bedroom voice, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Are you ready for some hardball? It's game day. What better way of oh well, there we go. What better way of getting rid of tension before the big game than to rub one out with me, Brooklyn Chase. So who is Brooklyn Chase?

Speaker 3:

She's a pretty large star in social media.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, she is you don't know her, let's keep it at that.

Speaker 2:

Let's just say yes. I don't. I mean that's obviously I'm not her typical follower. I don't know who it is either. Tony does not know. I have no idea. Check this out right here Paprika, garlic, spices, onion salt, what?

Speaker 1:

more do you need in your life? That's it. I love it because I love this. There's nothing else in it.

Speaker 3:

Okay, and here's the rub. One Rub your chub. So this was the first rub I ever created Rub your chub. Rub your chub. This was the first. This is the OG. This is our number one seller. This I really.

Speaker 2:

Chapter one.

Speaker 3:

This is chapter.

Speaker 2:

This is intro. This is intro. Oh, wow so.

Speaker 3:

I made this. I went to Austin and I went to Franklin's Barbecue and that's 123A plate. Ribs is my favorite thing to smoke and eat and I wanted to create a rub for that and that is what I got out of it.

Speaker 2:

We be chubbing. We be chubbing.

Speaker 3:

It is one of the best all-purpose rubs that we have and it's just incredible. You can read the sign.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. I just love the ingredients.

Speaker 2:

Spice up. I don't have the bedroom voice. It's kind of weird. But hey, spice up, so it is the same one. Okay, that's it. That's your catchphrase. I like it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so play with your meat Right, and this is look.

Speaker 2:

Oh, here we go. Here it is Rub your chub. Rub your chub is the ultimate spice blend to liven up your sad, perfect, lifeless meat and turn it into a strong, tasty sensation.

Speaker 3:

I love that Steve, steve, our creative genius, wrote all of this.

Speaker 2:

Okay, Steve.

Speaker 3:

And if you want to get with Steve and you need creative genius. He'll do companies. He does everything.

Speaker 2:

I pimp him out. Yeah you got to at that rate.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I love it. Okay.

Speaker 3:

So, long story short. What happened was what happened was. So now we're in this new chapter. We have great people involved, we're getting more people involved than celebrities, and they all want to be a part of the ride, and I welcome it, sure. So what we did and while you're seeing MSH, this is our new. So think of MSH Nation as the companies right, yeah, it's the people that follow the nation. So we have Mitzvah Horning. We have Mitzvah Horning, we have Worth the Squirt hot sauces and now we have MSH and we have Crazy Freeze. So we have a freeze-dried candy line. If you like candy, go down there and try it. You'll freak.

Speaker 2:

I'm gonna try it. Absolutely, I'm down.

Speaker 3:

Because what I wanted to do was, when you go to events, you have all your sweet and savory and then you have the candy, so you have both ends of the spectrum, and it does really really well at conferences. Kids love them, adults love it. But long story short, the reason why we came out with MSH was because everyone's like listen, if you want to expand into more retail, which that's our next move, we have to be a little bit more conservative, which I completely understand. You got to simmer down.

Speaker 2:

There's a lot of there's a lot of when you get into the different aspects of everybody, all the facets of that marketing at that level is totally different, because now you have total different demographics. You have to, you have to tend to.

Speaker 1:

Well, there's a lot of controlling factors and we always say like the market is a cruel mistress because it will dictate where you have to tend to. Well, there's a lot of controlling factors and we always say like the market is a cruel mistress because it will dictate where you have to go and what has to change Exactly.

Speaker 3:

I mean, I'll tell you right now. You know, at conferences and championships and barbecue fests, when we bring meat so horny it's gone the line is around the corner. Everyone wants to take pictures with us.

Speaker 2:

It's fun. It's fun and it looks good. I can look inside of them in a container. Being a chef and stuff, I look at herbs no matter what they come in. So if I order something really nice whether it be something special from Asia, or I'm getting something from Italy the first thing I'm going to do is look at it and be pleased with the actual consistency of what's in there. I can tell of what's in there and I can tell after what's in there it's herbaceous, it looks good, a hundred percent so.

Speaker 3:

MSH is basically all of our same products rebranded as.

Speaker 2:

MSH, that's that bourbon rub to me. Yes, all right, so it's a maple bourbon rub.

Speaker 3:

So that's our second biggest seller.

Speaker 2:

Right now. This is what I wanted to see. Before I even say anything to you, I should have told you what I was looking for. I want to see crystallization in this as soon as I look at it, because if this is going to be a maple bourbon rub, the bigger the crystal, the more glaze you're going to get out of this. The more rub, the more Massive crystal. All that's going to happen, right, and that's what we want to see. We want to see that stuff melt down. That sugar's going to crisp up your meat and whatever it is you're doing is going to crystallize, right.

Speaker 2:

The terminology for that I won't get into here on this for the chef world, but there's a lot of technical terms that can be used for it. We know them, I know them, but for those of you who don't, what you want to do is see that. See that, yeah, it almost looks like glitter. Yep, and that's what we want. Is that to give me a visual of how that's going to final product out. Correct, it's going to actually end up as if it was a wet liquid at the beginning.

Speaker 3:

And you know what's crazy about that rub. Try it on vanilla ice cream, try it in French toast, I imagine popcorn.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that sounds good.

Speaker 3:

Try it everything. We have cold smoked salts. That's one of our biggest sellers. Have you had cold smoked salts? That's one of our biggest sellers. So have you had cold smoked salts? Sure, okay, I'm going to tell you, come down and you're going to try these and you're going to be like this is the best I will try them for sure.

Speaker 3:

The reason why is all of our cold smoked salt is small batch crafted. It's made by hand by one person, not multiple, but one person. It takes 24 hours per batch. That's the smoking process. Yeah, cold smoke every six hour it has to be tended new smoke. We have to take each tray. There's 50 trays. He's got to move and stir the salt every six hours. It's an intense process and when you open our salt you're like holy smokes literally I have to get this. And you even put our cold smoke on vanilla ice cream.

Speaker 2:

It's just like I'm gonna come because I'm a small, I'm a salt fanatic I love salt, oh, just I love different variations of salts.

Speaker 2:

Creating a good salt is just as much of an art as anything else in the culinary world. Right, you can get a piece of shit salt from the store, and that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about um certified, you know. We're talking about salts that take time, educated, a process, execution. People take pride in what they're doing. That starts with the salt itself. 100%, you know. If you don't have a good salt when you're starting, where did that salt come from? If that education isn't there, you might as well get the rain. What's that rain chick?

Speaker 1:

Oh, the Morton the Morton's iodized salt With the umbrella. Morton, the Morton's iodized salt With the umbrella. Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 2:

Iodized salt, but you know that's what we use in our pasta water. Or if you want to melt snow on your patio.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we get it from Italy. Good, perfect Nice. Yeah, we get it from Italy.

Speaker 2:

He's good with that Beautiful, that's amazing. And I'm talking about big rocks. Yes, are you grinding it down into a finer piece or you're smoking the rock itself?

Speaker 3:

No, it's the full rock. You can do your own grinding. I rather it be cold than hot because I can take off layers or add layers.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean. So with a nice smoked rock like that, that sounded good, huh Once you smoke the rock.

Speaker 1:

Once you smoke the rock.

Speaker 2:

So you take that rock and then you grate it off in a microplane over the top of a nice like confit lobster ravioli. I can see myself microplaning that and just getting that nice fine residual, that nice smaller rock, isn't it not a big rock? No, no, I'm talking about, yeah, I'm talking about a piece of, not a broken piece of nutmeg right, yeah, so I'm talking about a tiny microplane to get a get that down.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely, we have not done that yet, so I would love you to do some videos. Sure we can. We can do that, I will do that. I'll grate down peppercorns man 100%. You see what I'm saying.

Speaker 2:

So it depends on what it is I'm trying to get out of it, yeah, and the finer I could make that, the more flavor you're going to get, banging out 100%. So it's almost like if we're slicing a prosciutto yeah, think the thick piece is going to be way less flavorful than that melted because of the salt. The salt's going to melt faster, more evenly. It's going to distribute over your palate Salt's huge man. And if you're smoking it right, it's going to be great. Smoke the rock, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Smoke. So you know which brings us to this chapter. So we just partnered with an incredible Wagyu company called Plum Creek Wagyu. We have a ton of Wagyu over there. We're doing it under MSH, the MSH line. We're doing Wagyu beef jerky with our seasonings. We have it here. I think we have like two bags left. We brought 150. So you've got to try our Wagyu beef jerky. You're going to love it.

Speaker 2:

I'm here. I've got to try a lot of stuff down there.

Speaker 3:

Well, now I think we're done with the product making, but we're missing an Italian seasoning, which I'm a huge Italian nut with food.

Speaker 2:

That's right. Come here.

Speaker 3:

That's my stick Chicken parm.

Speaker 2:

Sure, that's your move, holy smokes.

Speaker 3:

So you're going to make something that infuses into the breadcrumb, or something like that. Why don't we?

Speaker 2:

make one together. Okay, let's talk. Why don't we make one?

Speaker 3:

together. Okay, let's talk. Why don't we make one together? Let's talk offline for sure, and you know we have a lot of things in the works and you know we're glad to be at the World Food Championship and did a partnership with them this year.

Speaker 2:

So you're traveling a lot at these events, you've written your name out there and you're taking advantage of that and getting out and meeting people like me. Meeting you of that and getting out and meeting people like me meeting you uh, it's, this is the place to do that. The world food champions. To me, this is an exciting event, man. There's a lot of energy here, a lot of a lot of inspiring people, a lot of just just influences coming from all directions, a hundred percent.

Speaker 3:

I mean then we meet people like you and then I I've met so many people at this event that we want to work together. We're going to do thisoder is another example. We're going to do something with them. I mean, there's just nonstop opportunity and there's so much talent we have and listen. And here's the thing I'll be the first one to tell everyone. I don't only use our stuff. There's other great stuff out there. Sure there is. Yeah, I'll never not be able to use it.

Speaker 2:

If you only use your own thing, you're being blinded.

Speaker 3:

You might as well put on blinders 100%, and I'll even mix my stuff with their stuff and show it on camera and I have no problem.

Speaker 2:

I think this is a community, and it's a community of art and love and it's a community of art and love and I that's that's why I'm so passionate about it and that's what you said. That's perfectly because the burnt hands perspective, the podcast itself, is designed for the restaurant community, meaning from the spices and herbs and your tries and tribulations to getting there, all the way up to the final product going over a pass, whatever it may be, our, our podcast is generally. We created this to really just go over the whole community of the restaurant, 100% the food service industry. Yep, and it's been a pleasure to have you on here Plug us in, man. Tell them where they can find your stuff, where's the best places to go.

Speaker 3:

So, mshnationcom, you can follow us on all our social media platforms with our partners, jacoby, ray, tober Williams. There's so many influencers that we have a part of this group and we're still growing and we're gonna be moving to more of that. Msh feel Meet. So Horny will always be there as the niche, but you're gonna see MSH take off.

Speaker 2:

Good luck and grow the entire business. I love to see it.

Speaker 1:

It makes me excited to see people in this profession expand Well, well and an entrepreneurial aspect of it because you came from that financial tech space so you understood the business and the money side, which a lot of people go into this for passion and they don't understand the business side. So you already had that acumen. But you kind of came in and said let's bring in all the social media marketing brilliantly because you had had all in a lot of influencer marketing.

Speaker 1:

You put that into every product. The names stand on their own. So you guys have done a fucking fantastic job with making it memorable because that's the biggest thing. If you walk away from this event and you say, what's the one booth you remember the name of it's gonna be your so horny yeah so I, it's, it's, I. I'm just glad you shared the story with us because I think it's inspirational to people to see it Anytime.

Speaker 3:

Anytime. Let's get together in a collab we are, and you know what we're going to do. John from 90 Day Fiancé, john McManus, is now a part of the team. I also forgot him. We'll bring him on here. We'll start doing more collaborations.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, sure.

Speaker 3:

And do things with more burnt hands. I, I think we could do some sort of a collaboration. Absolutely, that'd be fun.

Speaker 1:

We're all in. We love it. Thanks for having us on. Thank you, man, appreciate you. Good luck with everything.

Speaker 2:

I want to taste, each one of these. I'm going to get down there for that jerky. I'm going to get down there for the salt rock. You got it. I'm going to smoke the rock.

Speaker 3:

Smoke some rock Rub one growing their barbecue business. Reach out, we'll help you. Yeah, I'm going to help you. You've been through it all. I've been through it all. We be chubbing Come down. By the way, what we did was we have eight pieces of Wagyu out there. I have it marinating in 100% whiskey. I poured a bottle of whiskey in this. We're going to put our smoked salt on it. Then you come down for that.

Speaker 2:

Okay, then you come down for that. Okay, oh, we're there for that 2.30. I'm there, we're there at 2.30. Ciao for now y'all. Thank you Bye.

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