Veteran Turns Childhood Flavors into Gourmet Salsa

CC’s Gourmet Products of Pinellas County

Tired of salsas failing to ignite his taste buds, Chris Crist took his passion for spice and created his own snack foods company. He started CC’s Gourmet Products in 2014 and quickly began perfecting salsa recipes to create his first product line, CC’s Salsa.

Crist separates himself from other salsas based on flavor alone. “There’s a bolder, more exciting flavor than you would get with a normal salsa,” Crist said. “What makes me different is that I try to meet the market of spicy food enthusiasts, like myself.”

Growing up in the southwest United States at a young age, he became acclimated to the flavors and ingredients he uses today. Many salsas sitting on grocery shelves right now have a miniscule difference between their medium and hot varieties, he said. Crist aims to make that distinction obvious in his recipes.

“From my mild to my hot is a very extreme step up to the next heat level,” he said. “I want to introduce something to the market that’s not currently being met.”

CC’s Gourmet Products has recently qualified and become a member of the Fresh From Florida Program hosted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Businesses in this organization must use products grown exclusively in the state of Florida.

Being an engineering student at the University of South Florida, Crist took advantage of the Student Innovation Incubator at USF CONNECT. During his time in the program, Crist had the opportunity to work with Jim Taylor, certified business consultant at the Florida SBDC at USF.

Since January 2015, Crist and Taylor have put in nearly 30 hours hashing out everything from distribution to finance and sales issues. The bulk of their time has been spent developing a marketing plan to get CC’s Salsa into retail superstores.

“Jim Taylor is a tremendous resource to not only our student incubator companies but also our Tampa Bay Technology incubator companies,” Stephanie Ashley, Director of Innovations and Incubation Programs, said. “It is an unbelievable opportunity for these companies to be able to come into their office space and know that they can walk across the hall and have this tremendous resource right at their finger tips.”

“While working with Jim Taylor the thing he really helped me out with was being more confident talking to business owners and industry professionals, finding the ways to contact them and finding new strategies to earn business,” Crist said.

In September 2015 Crist attended the Florida SBDC at USF CONNECT’s Entrepreneurship Certificate Program aimed to help business owners develop and grow their company. Several hours out of the 17-hour course were dedicated to industry professionals speaking about success strategies they developed along the way.

“I got to see the different ways to start a business,” he said. “The professionals helped me realize things I was missing being an entrepreneur and taking the right steps to start a business.”

Recently, Crist walked into a retail giant where he challenged the general manager to a taste off between his salsa and any other gourmet salsa on the shelf. The general manager agreed the bold flavors and rich spice of CC’s Salsa made for a hands down victory, yet nothing could be done because of limited shelf space. Competing for shelf space has proven to be an arduous process.

Crist and Taylor remain optimistic regarding major retailers across the country. In the meantime, they continue to work on distribution and marketing plans to help ease the transition into a large-scale gourmet foods company.

“If you’re looking to start a business I would absolutely recommend working with the Florida SBDC at USF for a lot of questions that you will just have on your own,” Crist said. “You’re going to be a lot faster coming to someone who can point you in the right direction.”