labels Sam & Oliver Sparks, Flare & Burst (dry spice labels)

[Sam & Oliver]

So here's a preliminary concept of 3 dry spices, I thought to take a slight risk with the colors to keep the dry spice lines separate from the wet sauce lines (as will be the two BBQ sauce lines):
 
Sparks is an adobo seasoning is a dry spice blend of salt, onion, garlic, cumin, chipotle and other delicious things.  It smells divine and can be used on anything from vegetables, potatoes and steak to pizza, fries, sandwiches and more.
 
Flare is a mango-chipotle dry spice that has a great nose and adds some mellow sweetness to things like mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash and even right on pork chops, etc.  Definite sweetness with a warm chipotle end note.
 
Burst heavily focuses on cracked 'gourmet grind' black pepper as it's primary nose and body.  I didn't go with butcher grind because it was too coarse.  Red pepper, Cayenne and other spices round this out, very close to concept of a steak or chicken grilling seasoning blend but with NO salt.  I know people argue whether to put salt on before or after grilling a steak, and I decided to err on the side of a) healthy and b) you can always add salt later which is c) another future line coming (smoked sea salt).  Salt can always be added later but not easily removed.
 
Here's the concept work (note, most fields are simply borrowed from the Cinder / Stoke line, but the label is not the same size as a woozy, this is 3x6" instead of 3.25 x 5.5".  Because of this, the center panel needed to be 1/2" wider so it didn't appear "boxed" by a white bar on each side when viewed.
 
Also to note: these are printed in 2 color in an effort to reduce cost of reproduction.  A 3rd color could be added but will require an extra plate and higher per-label costs.
 

 

 

 

 
Thoughts?  Too wacky with the colors?  To hard to read the colors?

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Sam & Oliver Fire Blends - Chipotle Adobo Seasoning
Sam & Oliver Fire Blends - BBQ Rub & Seasoning
 
Fire Blends says it's a spice mixture... with heat. And Fire is your thing right? It is the core. Embers, Stoke, all fire terms.
 
I'm big on the the next line just being what it is. "BBQ Rub & Seasoning" or whatever. Even hot sauce usually says Hot Sauce at the bottom, and BBQ sauce, the same. Sure you can see it through the bottle like you say but that doesn't mean we know what it is.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

Sam & Oliver Fire Blends - Chipotle Adobo Seasoning
Sam & Oliver Fire Blends - BBQ Rub & Seasoning
 
Fire Blends says it's a spice mixture... with heat. And Fire is your thing right? It is the core. Embers, Stoke, all fire terms.
 
I'm big on the the next line just being what it is. "BBQ Rub & Seasoning" or whatever. Even hot sauce usually says Hot Sauce at the bottom, and BBQ sauce, the same. Sure you can see it through the bottle like you say but that doesn't mean we know what it is.

+1

everyone is just expressing opinions..being that we are all in the 'spicy' family, i think these opinions should be taken at more than just personal feelings. these people know what they are talking about and from what i follow, express themselves from a consumer standpoint and not strictly from personal...

I am never basing feedback in here on anything personal.

When I see topics like this I expect that the OP is asking for a technical and critical eye from others. Further, I believe that sugar coating feedback can lead to mixed messages or sound passive aggressive (I reeeeaaally like them, but maybe you might want to consider changing these 3,742 things...)

It is always with the best of intentions that I comment, but I am one guy & could be wrong.

That said, I've also got some credentials as I've taken marketing classes and have now won 4 marketing & branding awards at various competitors.

But you're spot on - at the end of the day it's S&O's call on what to do - he's well within his rights to tell all of us to go pound sand. They're his products and he is the to primary decision maker.

But yeah - it's never personal. I may not always agree with S&O's, but I am rooting for S&O's to do well - if I weren't I wouldn't waste my time giving feedback.

I respect the way S&O's takes critical feedback - he gets it. And when you open yourself up to it, you've got to take the good with the bad and he gets that too.

Having been through the process several times I always appreciate the feedback for good or worse. I actually prefer the negative feedback because that's what will help me to improve the most.

 

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

LD, Exactly...
 
Just recently, I went back and looked at the first versions of my labels that I thought were the 'bomb diggity', and now look at and laugh.....
Always learning, observing, absorbing info....
 
I am in the process of significantly tweaking my labels for the next run I am gonna do prior to the NYC fest in late April. Should have my Reaper sauce and infused salt debuting as well..... Will be looking for critique's in the next few weeks myself! 

 

[Sam & Oliver]

Wow i havent seen the term "Bomb Diggity" outside of the 90's.

/hat tip

 

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

Wow i havent seen the term "Bomb Diggity" outside of the 90's.

/hat tip

 
word to your mother!
 
#current

 

[grantmichaels]

#unsubscribe

 

[salsalady]

Wow!  I am very late to this conversation and wrote comments as I viewed them chronologically.  Some of these comments have already been commented on and "resolved", but I will post them as they came up while I and SalsaDude were looking at the original designs for the 3 spice blends-
 
Colors-don't see the writing on the purple label
cartoonish
don't get it, 60-ish
Batman-Robin-Ka-POW!
spaceage- dated
 
Nothign wrong with keeping the same colors as other products, can tie in with brand recognition
keeping consistent colors between different areas keeps the brand consistent.   Keep the same colors for  a Cinders spice blend as a Cinders Sauce keeps continuity.
 
 
If you have a tag line....USE IT!!!!!!   I put "Naturally addicting!" on all the labels.....somewhere...............
 
 
Sparks-flare-burst-
For the postedn label designs....
Sparks= looks like stars not sparks, not consistent to the fire theme of S&O.
Flame= looks like a hippy flower something
Burst= looks like Pop Rocks not like hot sauce or spice powder
 
labels need to have something like "seasoning" or  "seasoned salt' or "seasoning blend"
 
Other label comments-
Burst seems to be a wild flavor thing-
family is looking for a better flavor than just a Spice EXPLOSION.  If the spice blend has hots and superhots, then EXPLOSION would be a good adjetive.  could be a good adjetive if used with other non-hot spices. 
 
The front label needs to be able to convert to other formats easily.  The front label must convey the company name, logo, product name and description.  ...
 
 
You should be able to cut/paste the front panel of your label and fully explain and represent everything about your company and product. 
 
Another random comment-
no-one cares what version of the recipe it is, they only want to see the version in front of them.
 
What is Adobo Spice?  If I use this with some chipotles, can I make chipotles in adobo sauce?  (Not really lookng for an answer for that just relaying commnets...)
 
 
OK- I think I'm caught up on most of the comments, they are not in order, some may be with or against some other comments posted.  Random at best, they are off the cuff comments from the Dude and I. 

 

[salsalady]

not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing-  Just noticing that the discusion of this S & O label- and many S & O- thread is about catchy names and "product lines" .....
 
Jeff- I'm feeliing like there's something that you need to EMBRACE and LOVE!  is it the dogs? is it the name Sam&Oliver?   Is it the basic label design with the angled color panels (which really are good looking!!!), the Fire-themed products, kitchy labels????
 
Some companies do very dark graphic designs with gothic bottles, that's cool, but when I see those things I think the focus is on the collector bottle, not on what is in the bottle. 
 
Make your Sauce or spice or rub or whatever!  Give it a label that is consistent with your product line, KISS!!! Seriously, amigo...KeepItSimpleStoopit  And Make a kick ass product!!!  Make a few product, make them well, sell the hell out of them and then add more.  Business success is not in how good a label looks on a forum.  It's how many bottles of Cinder Sauce sold at the local market last week. 
 
I Make (texas creek) -
BBQ Sauce
Chipotle Hot Sauce
Chipotle Mustard
SALSA
 
 
Lucky Dog makes-
Pink Label
Black label
Orange Labe
Red Label
Green label
 
 
(((['m waiting for Puce and Obergine Labels!!! )))   
XOXO @scott
 
 
 
 
edit- WOW- an that was after only 1 re-wine....sorry Jeff, let me know if I need to DPSE-
 
 
 
 
 
If the label needs to be explained, then it's not workiing. the label should state in no uncertain terms- 
 
maker (the brand name)
product (hot sauce, bbq sauce spice mix, extract, salad dressing)
general flavor (asian, bbq, sw) if necessary.....
 
 
 
 
 
Don't make me wonder wtf a Cinder Sauce is.  If I don't know and cant's find a VERY QUICK answer, I'm off to the nest bottle of hot sauce. 

 

[Sam & Oliver]

These were the literal 1st concept returns. I put it here so that others can see the process and share ideas. Along the way I get my own and work with the designer to create the final version.

I have no desire to make gimicky bottles for collection. If I wanted that i would be looking at irregular bottles and labels with more than 2 colors.

This is simply a fun excersize to show the progress as I bring 3 hot sauces, 2 bbq sauces and an array of spice blends to production out of the 75+ Recipes i have. I am starting from scratch.

When i started pre-production phase of Cinder I hired a designer with a specific list of criteria for the bottle.

• Simple yet bold design. Not too "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!" and not too generic either (white label with "Hot Sauce" on it... you know what I mean).
• Has to be able to be placed on a restaurant table without the owner or patrons cringing  (come on, I've seen some pretty crazy ones out there.  I didn't want a product like Devil's Anus or Fiery Enema, or Rubella.
• Has to be family friendly  (no pictures of gore, etc)
• 2 color labels (ok was decided for cost for now, I've got a great printer, the price is right and I like the 2-color designs for its simplicity)
• Must speak to an audience from 12 to 60, male or female, and not exclude any specific groups.  Since my products are as vegan as possible, I won't put meat or eggs on the product label's artwork.
• Wet Sauce is 3.25 x 5.5"
• Dry Spice is 3x6"

First thing we did was settle on a company primary, secondary and tertiary colors and he went at it designing concept art and prototypes.
 

That's it. Sky's the limit (with just two exceptions)

• I don't want a product that is all about dogs.  (Oliver's Bouncing Ball Hot Sauce, Sam's Bone Diggin' BBQ, etc) - while these are a theme, they are a theme about the dogs on the log and while the logo is a homage to my two pugs, I want the focus to be on the product.
• I don't like alliteration (Sam's Sensational Sauce, Tenacious Tenderizer, Fantastic Fries, etc.)  I never liked it and I don't want my product to use it.

 
I like the existing format of the white stripe front on a bold black background. This will stay the same:
 

 
For the wet sauces, the red areas are the color chosen for the product by heat level.  Red = Hot, Amber = Medium, and still deciding on green for mild or yellow.  I'll probably use something that is visually striking for my very hot when it's released in 2016.
 
The White area is the description.  LD mentioned something along the lines of fast identity of the product.  In this example of Cinder, you don't wonder what a Cinder sauce is.  It literally says "Habanero Hot Sauce" in white high-contrast immediately under the name Cinder.  I wanted Cinder to become the nickname it's referenced by, especially in a lineup of 3 or more sauces at my booth.
 

 
I get a lot of compliments on this label.  Maybe it's the red and black, with white as negative space, who knows, but I get as many compliments on the bottle's looks as the product when they taste it.  It looks great on a table without leaping off of it screaming fire, death, destruction!  I like this design as it's subtle but does attract at the same time.
 

I do want visual distinction between the wet, dry and BBQ lines. Hence why i asked for radical color change to see reactions. These aren't cranking off the press tomorrow, I have time. This is stage 1 of probably 25 revisions.

 

[Sam & Oliver]

Edit: Sorry for the multiple edits, there's only so much I can do with a cell phone

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

I'm with SL on keeping it simple.

It's one of the things I called out on your very 1st labels - pugs are whimsical.

I'm not getting whimsical on any of your labels.

I know you don't want a dog theme - and yet your company is named after 2 dogs and your brand logo is two dogs.

So uh, you're using a dog theme anyway.

And then you've got a fire theme - cinder, ashy, whatev's, etc

And now the spice rub line has it's own theme too?

Three themes on a little jar is way too much IMO.

Most of the feedback in here in one way or another had been the suggestion to simplify. THP said it, SL said it, I've said it - when you have so many directions at once the label is overwhelming - and that's not even including WHAT the product is. Looking at the proposed labels from the front panel I have no idea what this is supposed to be.

Using my own products as example - at the bottom of all but "Dia del Perro" there's a descriptor at the bottom front: "mild fire-roasted pepper sauce" or "extra hot lightly-smoked pepper sauce".

And 10x a day at the farmers market, With regard to Dia del Perro I now have to answer the questions, "how hot is that one?" And "what style of sauce is it?" because it's not on the front panel. It was a choice I made and I expected the result - I live with the consequences because I didn't want to frame off the beautiful artwork. But it's a missing element - fortunately the label is strong enough to grab consumers without that. It's my best selling sauce, partly because of the label art.

But it's still a pain in the ass - and I knew it would create that issue.

Back to your products, a description is MUCH more important than alliteration or a cute slogan or fitting a theme.

As for the size of the product line. It's taken me 3 years to go from 3 sauces to 4, then 6, then 7, about to be 8. There's no way i would put so many products out there at once. It's already going to be a challenge to deal with carrying costs ok 8 items, and having just re-made 4 varieties and about to make the other 4 it's pretty expensive to keep it all in stock. Too big too soon kills a lot of small businesses....you've got 75 recipes? I was a hobbyist for 7+ years - in my safe there are over 200 unique recipes, most of which are "production-ready" final versions, and each would make fine commercial products. But you have to pick your best 3-4 and roll with it. You have to decide which you think will have the most consumer appeal; which will fit the gaps in your lineup; which answer consumer demand. And hope you guessed correctly.

I launched with 3 sauces. My next 4 were all based on listening to my customers over a 2 year period, and tweaking recipes / heat levels / ingredients to suit the demand. I'm in the business of selling sauce, and expanding my line slowly has been a huge asset to that end, as I've been able to meet consumer demand directly with each subsequent sauce - I also had the confidence to make ~4000 bottles because I knew I had a customer base for them. Had I released 8 sauces at once I'm certain that I'd be out of business by now. I would have made what i guessed demand would be and probably would have missed.

Sometimes it's best to slow down - listen to your customers - react to the demand. If 5 people a day ask you for a sauce with no/low [sugar, soy, preservatives, salt, white vinegar, etc] in it, it would be shooting yourself in the foot to not offer that. And the only way to know is to start with a couple products and move forward from there.

Just offering my "been there/done that" advice - it's free to take or leave of course.

 

[Sam & Oliver]

I launched with 3 sauces. My next 4 were all based on listening to my customers over a 2 year period, and tweaking recipes / heat levels / ingredients to suit the demand. I'm in the business of selling sauce, and expanding my line slowly has been a huge asset to that end, as I've been able to meet consumer demand directly with each subsequent sauce - I also had the confidence to make ~4000 bottles because I knew I had a customer base for them. Had I released 8 sauces at once I'm certain that I'd be out of business by now. I would have made what i guessed demand would be and probably would have missed.

Sometimes it's best to slow down - listen to your customers - react to the demand. If 5 people a day ask you for a sauce with no/low [sugar, soy, preservatives, salt, white vinegar, etc] in it, it would be shooting yourself in the foot to not offer that. And the only way to know is to start with a couple products and move forward from there.

Just offering my "been there/done that" advice - it's free to take or leave of course.

 
Here's my line up right now as of 2/4/2015:
 
Wet Sauces:
1) Cinder - a Habanero hot sauce, heat level high
2) Stoke - a Chipotle pepper sauce, heat level medium
 
Dry Spices:
None Yet
 
Barbecue Sauces:
None Yet
 
Before Stoke, I was having a hard time selling Cinder since I had no secondary sale.  Either you liked it hot, or you walked, because I had nothing else to offer.
 
Stoke will fix this so at least you can buy a variety (one of each) or if one is too hot, here's another healthy alternative with less heat but super tasty and extremely versatile.
 
The 70+ recipes is, as you guessed it, my bag of shelved tricks that I came up.  Obviously I cannot produce them all.  But it's what I draw from when considering what to produce:
 
1) A hot (generic hot, whatever, just not a super hot) - this turned out to be cinder
2) A smoky medium (chipotle was right up the alley here) - this turned out to be stoke
3) A mustard based BBQ sauce - this will be one of two BBQs offered so I can get a foot in on BBQ - the mustard based one really has traction here in  CT, I have yet to have a single person NOT like it, so it's high on the "next" list.
4) Dry spices. - I got a really good deal with a good friend who has a spice shop.  I can get these made 25# at a time so I don't have to commit to much stock.  These are primarily going to be things on the table at my booth as add-ons due to their great armomas and versatility (marinades, dressings and other things you can DO with the spices) - just need labels, they are already produced for me and cased, I have to hand apply them. - no rush on these since I have some time before my first events start in May. - early to mid 2015.
5) down the road - a Connecticut Rib Sauce, a sticky rib sauce with some Cinder hab as a heat source - brisket, ribs, pulled pork, etc. - will be done in 2016
6) down the road - a strawberry brainstrain superhot that I've made for friends for quite some time now - will most likely be a limited product in 2016
 
That's it.  When I'm done I want 3 sauces available: Medium, Hot and Super Hot
When I'm done I want 2 bbq sauces available: Mustard BBQ and Rib Sauce
When I'm done I want a small array (3-5) dry spices, adobo, mango-chipotle, 3 pepper blend, smoked sea salt and maybe a super hot seasoning of some kind.
Some merchandise
Some promotional items (gift sets)
 
I'm not going to produce 70+ sauces  I'm crazy but not THAT crazy.  I'm not ready for the loony bin yet.
 
So I am dropping the individual names from the dry spices.  What it will be is the logo, line and then descriptor.  I'll have an updated label shortly for each.

 

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

I'm with SL on keeping it simple.

It's one of the things I called out on your very 1st labels - pugs are whimsical.

I'm not getting whimsical on any of your labels.

I know you don't want a dog theme - and yet your company is named after 2 dogs and your brand logo is two dogs.

So uh, you're using a dog theme anyway.

And then you've got a fire theme - cinder, ashy, whatev's, etc

And now the spice rub line has it's own theme too?

Three themes on a little jar is way too much IMO.

Most of the feedback in here in one way or another had been the suggestion to simplify. THP said it, SL said it, I've said it - when you have so many directions at once the label is overwhelming - and that's not even including WHAT the product is. Looking at the proposed labels from the front panel I have no idea what this is supposed to be.

Using my own products as example - at the bottom of all but "Dia del Perro" there's a descriptor at the bottom front: "mild fire-roasted pepper sauce" or "extra hot lightly-smoked pepper sauce".

And 10x a day at the farmers market, With regard to Dia del Perro I now have to answer the questions, "how hot is that one?" And "what style of sauce is it?" because it's not on the front panel. It was a choice I made and I expected the result - I live with the consequences because I didn't want to frame off the beautiful artwork. But it's a missing element - fortunately the label is strong enough to grab consumers without that. It's my best selling sauce, partly because of the label art.

But it's still a pain in the ass - and I knew it would create that issue.

Back to your products, a description is MUCH more important than alliteration or a cute slogan or fitting a theme.

As for the size of the product line. It's taken me 3 years to go from 3 sauces to 4, then 6, then 7, about to be 8. There's no way i would put so many products out there at once. It's already going to be a challenge to deal with carrying costs ok 8 items, and having just re-made 4 varieties and about to make the other 4 it's pretty expensive to keep it all in stock. Too big too soon kills a lot of small businesses....you've got 75 recipes? I was a hobbyist for 7+ years - in my safe there are over 200 unique recipes, most of which are "production-ready" final versions, and each would make fine commercial products. But you have to pick your best 3-4 and roll with it. You have to decide which you think will have the most consumer appeal; which will fit the gaps in your lineup; which answer consumer demand. And hope you guessed correctly.

I launched with 3 sauces. My next 4 were all based on listening to my customers over a 2 year period, and tweaking recipes / heat levels / ingredients to suit the demand. I'm in the business of selling sauce, and expanding my line slowly has been a huge asset to that end, as I've been able to meet consumer demand directly with each subsequent sauce - I also had the confidence to make ~4000 bottles because I knew I had a customer base for them. Had I released 8 sauces at once I'm certain that I'd be out of business by now. I would have made what i guessed demand would be and probably would have missed.

Sometimes it's best to slow down - listen to your customers - react to the demand. If 5 people a day ask you for a sauce with no/low [sugar, soy, preservatives, salt, white vinegar, etc] in it, it would be shooting yourself in the foot to not offer that. And the only way to know is to start with a couple products and move forward from there.

Just offering my "been there/done that" advice - it's free to take or leave of course.

 
I thought I had a good mind for business (well, I still do), but I am constantly blown away by the thorough, well thought out, crafted and smart advice responses/advice that LD shares. Kudos to you.  Always Be Learning!
 
I agree with virtually everything in this reply. I think Gemini Crow and I fall in the middle of both of ya. For me personally, I wouldn't have thought it was the best idea to go public with the company with only one product to offer. I did a lot of behind the scenes stuff with friends (who are in the hot sauce business) before I even announced I was doing my own thing. I was also very lucky to meet a chef/co-packer who is willing to do smaller batches of sauce for me. If my only option was to go with one of the biggies (ec. Endorphin Farms), I too could probably only afford to launch one sauce a year or so, and that is frightening. 
 
I was lucky to find a chef/co-packer to work with to help me get a few of the sauces (in my head) into reality, be allowed to manufacture 30-40 cases at a time, and be able (with a little additional help), start out the gate with 4 sauces and allow me to expand as i felt comfortable doing so. With two more 'products' i hope to unleash in the next 4 months, I too just made the decision to scale back, and will either discontinue (or make a strictly website only POS) 2 of my current sauces that I love but don't sell nearly as well as the others.....Yup, carrying 8-10 different varieties from show to show can get re-donk-ulous.....
 
follow your dreams, but keep one foot on the ground!
 
my .005 cents

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Sam, you may want to go with a new company for these labels. They can pick up where Cinder left off. Your Cinder label is really no thanks to them. They told you to drop the dogs because it was unprofessional, and they gave you that silly S&O with a tear drop logo. The rest was mostly member suggestions. These are the same people that gave you Pop Rocks looking labels for spice jars.
 
Just sayin'! If it goes from 100% proof of concept to 10% of that used, and 90% member input, they are basically just doing layout.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

 
I thought I had a good mind for business (well, I still do), but I am constantly blown away by the thorough, well thought out, crafted and smart advice responses/advice that LD shares. Kudos to you.  Always Be Learning!

Not sure what kind of mind I've got but I pound the pavement daily - I drag around 70 cases of sauce a week because I never know which will sell more week to week and I have wholesale deliveries to make and an employee to keep stocked. And when I add an 8th flavor it'll be 90 CS a week.

I had a mild, medium & hot - then extra hot - and all had small amounts of cane sugar. I underestimated the distain that much of the public has for sugar in CA. so my next 3 had no cane sugar, nor will my next. And when I get a chance I'll be revising my 1st 4 to get the sugar out of those.

Experience is the best teacher - supply & demand shows you what to make next. And never be afraid to adapt to demand or be flexible enough to change to suit your audience.

It's ok to follow your instincts to a point - but that same confidence can lead to an early exit if you're too zealous in your pursuits. At the same time you need to be able to recognize the difference between true consumer demand and the rabbit hole of what a couple people say they want.

Anyway, it's philosophy at this point.

I agree with THP - I don't think this design firm is doing you many favors. Layout is done - I'm not seeing what else they're bringing to the table.

Sam, you may want to...

His name is Jeff - Sam is one of the pugs.

 

[Sam & Oliver]

It's ok, Sam gets royalties.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

His name is Jeff - Sam is one of the pugs.

 
Well duh it's an abbreviated username. Your name ain't LD and Scovie ain't Scovie either. LOL.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

 
Well duh it's an abbreviated username. Your name ain't LD and Scovie ain't Scovie either. LOL.

True dat

I call him S&O in that context - "Sam" just sounds like you're callin him Sam.

 

[Sam & Oliver]

Play it again, Sam.
 

 
They negotiated with their agent for royalties in this currency.

Quick question; if There is a hot sauce named Ember, would that interfere with a product line called Embers
 
As in:
 
Sam & Oliver's Embers (dry spice line)
Chipotle-Mango Seasoning
Chipotle-Adobo Seasoning
3 Pepper Spice Blend
 
Where "Embers" is on every packaging label, sort of how Grillmates or Perfect Pinch is.

 

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

SCOVIE AIN'T SCOVIE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
 
 
the hell you say!

Not sure what kind of mind I've got but I pound the pavement daily - I drag around 70 cases of sauce a week because I never know which will sell more week to week and I have wholesale deliveries to make and an employee to keep stocked. And when I add an 8th flavor it'll be 90 CS a week.

 
You articulate your thoughts very well! 
I feel when I try and offer something up on the table, it is a convoluted jumble of streaming thought as I hear it in my head. And i feel it comes out that way in some of my posts....