Boxed In

<Carrie> I got to figure out a new way to sell a biscuit, every day, whether it's packaging or partnerships.

Your art isn't just going to be on the front, it will be all over it.

<Gaie> A little bit of that juice.

<Rachel> If you've got the biscuit mix, we can handle the peaches.

♪ <Carrie> Everything has to be bigger.

<Tarah> This would be, size wise where we're looking.

♪ <Peter> Folks give us a call and we help them make foods at a larger scale.

<Carrie> Look at how big it is.

Am I even allowed to say Costco?

♪ <Carrie> I took my mom's best recipe and started selling handmade Southern biscuits.

Now I'm balancing a family, a business and biscuits every day.

Thank you so much.

I'm Carrie Morey, and this is How I Roll.

♪ ♪ <Tarah> Two years ago when we rebranded it was exciting, and it was... We almost felt like as a company, we were finally the company we wanted to be.

Now, we're competing, and we have to figure out, how do we not just be this little, hot little company that is from Charleston and makes everything by hand?

How do we make this for millions across the entire nation?

♪ <Carrie> We're constantly evolving and reinventing ourselves and coming up with new ways to sell biscuits.

<Tarah> How do you talk about nine flavors of biscuits that you've been talking about for almost 20 years?

You have to put yourself in new buckets.

<Carrie> A lot of that involves partnerships and packaging.

What are we passionate about, and who do we want to work with, and what can we do next?

♪ <Tarah> We reached out to a South Carolina artist, Dorothy Shain and we've hit her audience by having her custom design a party box and make it new and fun and exciting.

♪ <Dorothy> I'm Dorothy Shain Henderson.

I'm the founder and creative director of Dorothy Shain Fine Art and Design and I specialize in the sale of original art, fine art prints, textiles, wallpapers and products.

I have grown up in Greenville.

It's incredible.

There's a lot of art studios, restaurants on the river and the green space is incredible.

♪ My textile collection was born off all about Southern gardens.

So, definitely get a lot of inspiration from here.

It's a cool place.

♪ <Carrie> Let's go see Dorothy.

<Dorothy> I try to be really cognizant of who I work with and make sure that we share similar values.

<Carrie> Nice to meet you.

<Dorothy> Thanks for coming!

Working with companies like Callie's is definitely my favorite thing to do.

So, this is kind of like a rough color palette.

I just pulled lots of different things that I was like, Oh, this could be fun, but I like to kind of see where y'all are.

<Carrie> We're definitely the right colors: the pinks, the oranges, lavender, <Dorothy> Okay.

<Carrie> kelly green, bright yellow, <Dorothy> Okay.

<Carrie> I'm a bright color person, so.

<Dorothy> Okay.

I was thinking it might be fun to like incorporate some like bold China patterns.

If you have any or like something with a story.

<Carrie> Actually, in the very first year or two of Hot Little Biscuit, we only served on vintage China.

<Dorothy> I would love to maybe see some pictures.

<Tarah> One thing I want to run by y'all today is if we need a window on the box or not.

<Carrie> I like the window.

<Amy> Yeah, but why would you get a window when we are collaborating with a fabulous artist and that is what this whole package is going to be about all the art on this?

I don't know.

<Carrie> I hear you.

I think that your art isn't just going to be on the front.

It'll be all over.

It's in the creation of the box.

So I want to see both ways because what I don't want to do is hide the product, and then people are wondering what... it's beautiful but what is it?

<Dorothy> Right?

<Carrie> So where do we go from here?

<Dorothy> So once we kind of get a color palette down, and then I'll just really start like the actual work.

<Carrie> Nice, I'm excited, this is going to be fun.

♪ ♪ <Tarah> This is how it's currently packaged, <Jason> Okay.

<Tarah> and there's a lot of room at the top of the box.

So we are walking through what our biscuit packaging is going to look like in Costco.

This would be size wise, where we're looking.

<Jason> Right, and it'll go from, from top to bottom...Right?

<Lindsay> Oh, you would want it, <Jason> Yes.

Vertical.

you would want it vertical?

<Tarah> Doesn't that feel really tall?

<Carrie> The Costco order is great, but it, it presents new challenges.

<Lindsay> We might want to give ourselves a little bit of extra room, <Jason> That's fine.

<Lindsay> depth wise, so maybe you go half an inch more.

<Tarah> Is there any concern for how this fits in someone's freezer?

♪ <Carrie> Costco likes things big.

So everything has to be custom and bigger for them.

<Tarah> For example, our pimento cheese container instead of being a 12 ounce, we've doubled that.

<Carrie> Look at how big it is.

<Lindsay> Are you happy with it?

<Carrie> I am, I just don't understand why people need to eat in this kind of quantity.

<Amy> I don't know why you...why, why you care about other people's eating habits and the consumption of quantity?

<Carrie> I don't know, Because it stresses me out.

Costco is big.

They want volume that we cannot produce in our... out of our tiny little production facility.

Their volume for a 12-week period is bigger than what we've done in a year in some of our products.

So...it's massive.

<Lindsay> It is absolutely amazing how much product can come out of that space, but when you talk about shipping into somebody like Costco who was buying truckloads of product, 30 pallets at a time, there's just no way to be able to make that happen.

<Carrie> That is the Callie's Hot Little Biscuit way.

We always fly the plane, before we completely build it.

[laughs] <Lindsay> We need to make sure we get the finances right, we need to make sure operationally that we're able to scale for growth.

♪ music fades out ♪ <Carrie> In order for us to grow the Costco business, we must find capable co-packers.

We're meeting with a group called Elevation Foods, and they've come down today to talk about making our biscuit crackers.

<Peter> Really, folks give us a call and we help them grow and make foods at a larger scale.

<Lindsay> A co-packer is somebody that can help us to automate, has the people in place and the space to be able to make the product in larger volumes that we just simply can't do here.

<Carrie> Y'all want to go in?

<All> Yeah.

<Carrie> All right.

They're here today to watch us make all of this stuff that we want them to make.

So they're doing the last batch of crackers.

So do y'all want to see how this goes down?

That will give them an idea of what we're doing, but then they can take it back to their facility and add in their efficiencies that will hopefully drive cost down, drive time on task down.

<Employee> So, right now I've got four bags of our flour in the mixer and it has four pounds of butter, salted butter, as well.

<Peter> It's amazing to see folks hands in biscuit dough, punching it and flipping it.

The little nuances to it are... that makes me excited.

<Carrie> So, then they portion them out, one pound, only because this is as big as it can go.

This is kind of where we run into the roadblock of, you know, she can only do a certain size, because this gets to be too wide for the bands, <Employee> ...and then they get put out here, holes pricked, cut and baked.

♪ <Lindsay> They really want to understand our process.

<Peter> That's a butter... <Carrie> Butter.

<Peter> Butter brush.

<Carrie> Pretty easy.

<Lindsay> They want to make sure that if we are producing these on a larger scale that we have the ability to maintain the integrity of the product, which Carrie has worked so hard for.

<Peter> Great food can be at scale, but you still have to keep that love and passion inside of it.

<Carrie> Here's some more that just came out.

<Peter> You know the little secret recipe for what's here is amazing and it gives a great texture.

They're good.

<Carrie> Yeah.

Some of them I see in the package are a little lighter.

<Peter> A little blonde.

<Carrie> I like them a little <Peter> a touch more color.

<Carrie> toasty.

<Peter> I think there's some opportunity to work together on maybe new flavors, new ideas, new pieces.

<Lindsay> The main point of today was for them to see our food.

<Carrie> Any more biscuit cracker questions?

<Lindsay> We haven't decided yet.

The next step is probably to taste some product that they have mocked up for us.

There's a long way to go.

♪ ♪ <Dorothy> Based off the ideas we initially talked about, we are going to put together just some black and white drawings, probably 10 to 15 different little elements that we can play with and place in different places, um, before we get to the color part.

♪ What we're building and drawing right now is a Hot Little Suppers design element, and maybe we want to add a biscuit on top.

This whole box really was a play off Andy Warhol's cookbook from the 60s.

There's an element of play and like lightheartedness in both of our works.

I love all the dishes that he used.

Carrie talked about her China, that she used a time in Hot Little Biscuit.

So I was like, 'Gosh, this allows me 'to play with like such fun shapes of platters 'and kind of like serving.'

It kind of added like a whimsical element.

♪ They had talked about a potential window on the front of the box, I think it's fun to approach those elements as creatively as possible, and I thought how fun would it be if it's the window to an oven, baking the biscuits?

You know, it's definitely like a 1950s oven.

I'm going to play with that as the window into the oven.

If we wanted to play with some color, just for fun, give them some ideas.

♪ You know, Carrie loves some bright, so let's just play.

What if we made the background green?

Not loving that purple.

So, I feel like I'm getting this to a point that I like.

I really am excited about the window and the incorporation of the window in the oven.

So, I hope that gets to stay and I hope it's on the front of the box.

♪ <Tarah> Okay, so Dorothy has come back with a few layout options.

<Carrie> Okay.

<Tarah> So, what do you think?

<Carrie> Were you working with us when we had a vintage stove in the, um, in the production kitchen?

That's where I used to do like all my testing like, it looks just like that.

<Tarah> Really?

That's what it reminds me of.

<Tarah> Oh my gosh.

How perfect.

<Carrie> Meant to be.

Meant to be.

And so she's got all of her like party supplies, your China, and then this left panel.

I'm just obsessed with.

All of her hand drawn like confetti biscuits, blueberry biscuits with your China pattern.

<Carrie> Look at The Joy of Cooking book <Tarah> Yes.

with the biscuits.

<Carrie> Uh.

It's good.

<Tarah> She shared a few color options.

<Carrie> Oh good.

<Tarah> So we told her, party, pop of color and that you love warmer tones.

<Carrie> Well, I know I'm - Are these the three?

You know what I like.

<Tarah> Is it the pink one?

<Carrie> It is the pink one.

[Tarah laughs] This is easiest thing I've done all day.

It's fabulous.

I don't have any changes, and thank you.

I know the hard work starts now, but I'm going to go back to reading a boring contract.

This is fabulous.

♪ ♪ Tarah and the marketing team are always keeping things fresh and finding ways to create buzz and something to talk about, whether it's packaging or partnerships.

We're working on a collaboration with a South Carolina peach company.

We take a hot biscuit that you might not think of for summertime, turn it into this peaches and cream shortcake dessert kit.

♪ <Rachel> We always say the best peaches come from the Sand Hills of South Carolina.

We have about 850 producing acres of peaches.

That includes around 40 different varieties of peaches.

Our job really starts in May.

Um, that's harvest season for us.

We have the best pickers in the world.

♪ <Carrie> So, your hand pickers just know by the look and the feel and the touch of... <Rachel> That's right.

<Carrie> When to pull it.

<Rachel> And the color.

♪ <Carrie> Everybody thinks a majority of peaches come from Georgia but really... <Rachel> Really... <Rachel> ...is the peach state.

<Carrie> South Carolina, <Carrie> is the peach state.

<Rachel> That's right.

♪ This machine actually takes several pictures of each peach.

That photograph will tell us how big it is in diameter, how red it is, if there's any imperfection.

It can even see internally sometimes if there's a cracked seed.

<Carrie> With this camera, you can pick out the peaches that you're going to give to me?

<Rachel> That's exactly right.

<Carrie> That's amazing.

♪ I love seeing the whole process, but I can't wait to get in the kitchen with Rachel and her mom and make a peaches and cream biscuit.

♪ <Rachel> I'm sure she's got a peach cobbler coming out of the oven.

<Carrie> Well, I will bake biscuits for peach cobbler any day.

[Rachel laughter] ♪ <Gaie> Hey.

<Carrie> How are you?

<Gaie> I'm good and I have a peach cobbler.

<Carrie> You have...What a great way to be welcomed.

I'd love to taste it.

Can we?

Can we get any...?

Oh look.

<Gaie> We can sure cut into this.

And of course I love to, to eat it when it's just out of the oven.

<Carrie> Yes.

<Gaie> It's just so wonderful.

<Carrie> I'm going for the crunchy part first.

<Rachel> Yes.

<Carrie> This is delicious and the texture is...it makes it.

<Gaie> ...a big meal <Rachel> Mmm hmm.

<Carrie> What a great way to be greeted.

<Gaie> So what are you going to make for us today?

<Carrie> I thought I'd make a peaches and cream biscuit.

This is a part of our collab with the peach box.

<Gaie> Okay.

<Carrie> And it's our shortcake biscuit that I've already actually stamped out.

We're just going to bake them, and then we're going to macerate some peaches whip up some cream and build a peaches and cream biscuit.

<Gaie> Oh, that sounds delicious.

<Carrie> Sound good?

<Rachel> I can't wait to try it.

♪ <Carrie> Alright, the biscuits are in the oven, and now we need to macerate the peaches.

<Gaie> Okay, so we're going to peel our peach.

<Carrie> Do you start at a certain...Does it matter where you start with the knife?

<Gaie> No, it doesn't matter.

I like to start at the top.

My daughter says, can you peel it all the way without letting the skin break?

<Carrie> That's pro with a knife.

That's hard, <Gaie> and then the pit comes out.

<Carrie> Mmm hmm.

<Gaie> And then we cut em like that and then we have our peaches, cut up.

<Carrie>...and do you get to taste a little piece, just to make sure everything's okay?

<Gaie> Yes we do.

<Carrie> Mmm.

Okay.

I learned this trick on Instagram.

<Gaie> Okay.

<Carrie> Pliers.

<Gaie> Pliers?

<Carrie> To get the pit out.

So you just go down <Carrie> And kind of grasp onto it.

<Gaie> In the middle?

Here it comes.

Look at that.

<Carrie>...and the peach is still intact.

<Gaie> I have never seen that and it is... <Carrie> Isn't that cool?

<Gaie> A great trick.

<Carrie> So, you always need a pair of pliers in your kitchen.

♪ <Carrie> Perfect.

I think that's plenty.

<Gaie> Is that going to be enough?

<Carrie> Yeah.

So I'm just adding a little vanilla and sugar and a little lemon juice too.

<Gaie> All right.

Keeps the peaches from going dark.

<Carrie> Brown.

<Gaie> And it also adds some nice flavor.

<Carrie> Yes.

Okay, so then I usually put that in the fridge and let them sit for about 30 minutes.

<Gaie> All right.

♪ <Carrie> Now we wait.

♪ I think they're ready.

I can smell them.

♪ Let's let them cool for a minute and maybe we can make some cream.

<Gaie> Okay.

<Carrie> Cold bowl.

Add a little cream.

[whisk beating] It's a good workout.

You want to try?

<Gaie> Nothing better than... <Carrie> Working for your supper?

<Gaie>...and working for your cream.

[whisk beating] <Carrie> You want a turn?

<Rachel> I heard you might have to pass the bowl.

<Carrie> We might...yes.

It's getting there.

It's getting there.

[whisk beating] <Gaie> Oh, that's great.

<Carrie> Yep, that's ready.

<Carrie> A little juice in there.

♪ So, I just fork it in the center.

♪ A little peaches, a little cream.

<Rachel> Oh, yes.

<Carrie> I'd like a double, double stack.

<Rachel> Double peach.

♪ <Carrie> A whipped cream sandwich.

<Gaie> Wow.

<Rachel> Wow, that looks delicious.

♪ <Gaie> Little bit of that juice.

[Whew!]

Doesn't that look great?

<Rachel> It really does.

<Carrie> Now it's time for my favorite part of the day, the eating.

<Rachel> Yes.

♪ <Rachel> Oh, wow!

<Gaie> That is delicious.

<Rachel> That biscuit is so good.

Mmm hmm.

<Carrie> This collaboration, if we can get the packaging down, is a hit.

<Rachel> If you've got the biscuit mix, we can handle the peaches.

<Carrie> I'm, I'm all in.

<Rachel> Alright let's do it.

<Carrie> Let's do it.

♪ The Dorothy biscuit bash boxes are ready.

<Amy> Aren't you happy that I'm driving.

I'm safe.

<Tarah> It's been, a nice relaxing ride.

<Carrie> We're going to debut the boxes at Oak Hill Cafe with my friend Chef David.

<David> My name is David Porras.

I am from Costa Rica.

I wouldn't say we have a set cuisine.

We kind of explore other cultures.

We recipe test and make it our own.

<Amy> So, what's going on tonight?

<Carrie> He is doing a seated like coursed out dinner based on Hot Little Suppers' cookbook.

How much longer before we get there?

<Amy> Three minutes.

<Carrie> Okay, okay, okay.

[engine revs up] Oh.

<Amy> Let's see what this baby can do.

[laughter] <Amy> Oh, am I going to get a speeding ticket?

<Carrie> Please, get me there safely.

There it is.

So cute.

♪ <Carrie> I'm scared.

♪ <Amy> Holy smokes.

<Carrie> I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared.

All right.

Let's just do this.

<Amy> Thank God for a big car, coming in.

<Carrie> We need a bus.

♪ All right, I'm going to go say hi to David.

♪ Hi Chef.

<David> Hey, how are you?

<Carrie> Great.

How are you?

<David> Yeah, good to see you.

<Carrie> Alright, so on the phone you were telling me about your riff on French onion soup and I am dying <David> Yeah.

<Carrie> to see how you're going to serve it.

<David> You want to check it out?

<Carrie> Yeah.

<David> Okay cool.

We took these onions and worked to get the center out and then we're using these bowls.

They're going to sit over here.

So, we're going to put it here and import the soup and just trying to try for this, like we're very careful.

The biscuits, I had these two ideas.

Put it on the bottom.

<Carrie> Biscuits on the bottom.

<David> Or put it on top.

It's up to you.

<Carrie> I've already written the recipe.

I like to see your rendition of it, I mean... <David> I think to me its like it has to be the X Factor, like the secret.

<Carrie> Why can't you put them on top and on bottom?

That's me, I'm all about more biscuits are better.

<David> Okay!

[laughs] Me too.

[laughs] <Carrie> Alright, well, I'm here to help.

I'm going to get my apron on.

Make the biscuits and then you can put me to work.

I can wash dishes.

I can do whatever.

<David> Awesome.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ <Dorothy> Hello!

<Carrie> Hi, how are you?

<Dorothy> Great!

<Carrie> How amazing is this?

<Dorothy> Thank you!

<Carrie> I absolutely love it.

It's just the most adore... <Dorothy> I love it too.

<Carrie> and my China.

I mean everything.

<Dorothy> Thank you.

<Carrie> It's just, You didn't miss a detail.

<Dorothy> ...and Tarah.

I feel like huge shout out to you, too.

<Carrie> Yes, <Dorothy> It's fun to see it go from like an email and just a conversation to something tangible.

So, that's good.

<Tarah> I'm so ecstatic on how this turned out.

<Carrie> This makes me want to have the oven on all of our packages because it says exactly you know what to do.

<Carrie> I'm excited.

<Dorothy> Me too.

<Carrie> Alright, I hear the buzzer.

I've got to go check the biscuits, but I'll be back.

♪ <Dorothy> Tarah, put the menu together using the elements from the box.

We're giving people some fun colors to, so they can color their menu during dinner.

♪ <Carrie> It's beautiful.

It smells delish.

It looks delish.

♪ <David> People are getting in the house, so I want all hands on deck now.

♪ Grab the soup.

♪ Fill this, I'm going to do the biscuit.

♪ ♪ ♪ <David> I just want to do a little of this cheese oil.

<Carrie> It's way better than anything I could ever do.

It's pretty impressive.

♪ ♪ ♪ <Woman> You did an excellent job.

<Dorothy> Thank you.

Thank you so much.

You did color, I'm honored.

[Man laughs] <Woman> It makes me kind of feel young again.

<Man> I love all the art.

I'm going to take it home and finish it.

♪ <Dorothy> It's a good coloring crowd.

They're very talented.

♪ ♪ <Carrie> We come bearing gifts.

[women awe in amazement] The one thing I've always said about potential new partners and potential new customers is explore that idea.

Everybody needs to leave with biscuits.

<Dorothy> Biscuit batch box.

<Man> Wow.

Thank you.

<Carrie> You learn something.

You develop a new relationship ♪ and it may evolve into something that could be the next big thing.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪