"Together Talks" feature #90: Bucket of Bread presented by KLS, freight company
Some Background on Bucket of Bread
For today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the privilege to interview Bucket of Bread and Founder, Chris Wysong. Are you ready for delicious and healthy baking experiences? Look no further than Bucket of Bread!
Their baking kits are made with certified organic ingredients, preservative-free, vegan-friendly, and super easy to prepare. Simply add lukewarm water to the recyclable bucket, mix, and you'll end up with dough that can last up to 2 weeks in the fridge. This gives you complete flexibility to make a variety of baked goods. Start making garlic knots, pizzas, cinnamon buns, breadsticks, pretzels, bagels, naan, doughnuts, or even more with recipes available on their website. Bucket of Bread is Veteran-owned and shares profits with charities fighting food insecurity and combating hunger in America.
Visit their website for more information and order a bucket today (PROMO CODE at the bottom)!
Credit to Mom
The idea of Chris's company was formed in August 2020. Before he implemented his idea and created his company he had some previous experience with bread, even earning a nickname. He credits and also blames his Mom for his passion with food that ultimately turned into bread. He told us that growing up she made sure he knew how to cook so he could always take care of himself. He was always with her in the kitchen learning and as he grew older he became the guy who always was making dinners for friends, family, or even a charity event. His cooking prowess expanded to baking where he eventually became known as "The Bread Guy".
At 3 AM, Chris woke up with an idea in his head, I need to take everything I'm doing and put it in one bucket. This needs to be a business. Put everything in a bucket to as a guide to help people was his quest. May 2021, Chris fully launched Bucket of Bread. Another phase of his transformation to "The Bread Man", was when Chris was serving in our military overseas. In the picture below, you can see where he partnered with Iraqi Army to make bread for their forces. After forming his company, Chris had a vision for what the company could become. He has set up where a part of the profits are shared with charities fighting hunger. Chris has partnered with a growing number of non-profit organizations located across the country. Visitors to his website can send donation buckets directly into the hands of those that need food. Donated buckets are even tax deductible.
Quality
Bucket of Bread begins with a 100% recyclable package. Within those buckets are ingredients that are used to mix and bake. On the outside of the bucket is step by step instructions to make it not only and easy process, but a fun one at that! The package is also a double threat because you use it to help you not only make the product, but then store it as well. Using the bucket, the bread will last for up to two weeks within the fridge. On top of the creative delivery system and storage, the company excels in the product itself. The product is made without preservatives, no fats, no oils, no dairy, no eggs, and no added sugars. These baking kits are even completely vegan friendly! Bucket of Bread is the premier baking kit!
Partner with KLS
KLS offers LTL and FTL for both dry and reefer transportation.
Our nationwide coverage provides companies a reliable, consistent, and dependable logistics partner to handle your trucking needs.
For more information on how we can help call our office today 708-980-0920 or reach us via our email quote request here!
Just go for it
Waking up with the vision to start a business speaks volumes to Chris's mindset when it comes to business, "Just go for it". He told us that initially it seemed like every step needed took forever, but in reality everything moved so rapidly. Starting was half of the battle for him. The other is being organized and understanding the challenges to accomplish. Chris is a self-proclaimed "sticky note guy". He always has ideas written down of what he needs to do, would like to create, anything that can possibly help grow his business. For him
Can you reflect on a goal you set that you achieved and how it made you feel?
Just do it, start the company. Seemed like forever, but looking back it was so fast moving.
Sticky note guy with ideas, maintain with little tiny goals set as you go. That is how he settled on the name of the company. He had gone through 304 notebook pages of ideas and names until he settled on the one he liked the most, Bucket of Bread. And even cooler of a story, the cartoon mascot was actually an evolution of an old drawing he had did in middle school. He updated it to include the properties of his new business and then connected with a local college student who digitalized BOB!
Being an entrepreneur, the aspect Chris appreciates the most is the ability to talk to people he would have never met. He attributed this to when he first started out and was at local markets and sampling. But having the opportunity to make that connection and receive instant feedback is so important to him. He had an idea to create a product that brought enjoyment to others and enjoyment with the experience. Hearing positive feedback is such validation for him and his company.
Like any business starting, funding is always a huge challenge. Chris said sacrifices had to be made and a new understanding of how to operate, but he said that a huge pivotal moment was when he received grants. That extra funding helped give him some relaxation and laid the foundation to create even more. His suggestion to anyone with a business is stick your neck out, "Apply anywhere and everywhere. There are so many opportunities. Sometimes you have to be creative or resourceful to find them, but just give yourself a shot. Worst thing they can do is say no."
Baby steps add up
As we head into the new year, Chris's goals for the upcoming year are continuing to expand the reach of his customer base. He hopes to get further into retail and understand distribution is the key to the next phase of his growth. But despite the new challenges, Chris wants to remain true to why he started this company, to create a thing that works. He believes that remaining aligned with his original mission will allow him to build his company in the right way. And within time, the money and growth will come. As he shared, "Embrace the fear of the unknown. You will learn it as you go."
Chris shared with us one of the most impactful decisions he made this year. He scaled back his live events, because he wanted to step back from his business and look at it from another perspective. He wanted to view it how customers were viewing it. This led him to make two huge changes. One, he added a second size, half a bucket. He said this was instrumental for people who live alone or those who can't consume the full bucket. Second he realized there was a better way to package the ingredients. He now has it separated which makes it even easier to assemble, and gives a longer shelf life. Chris also acknowledged how this will be even more crucial as he continues to scale.
Running his company, Chris attributes the growth to sticking to the plan of baby steps. In his mind, continuing to achieve the smallest wins and stacking those is how he builds this to what he wants it to be. "The bigger off a business this becomes, the bigger impact it can have on someone's life. That is my mission.", Chris explained. That is why he states the importance of celebrating the micro-wins. There is so much that Founders can get caught up in, so many distractions, but in his estimation by celebrating those little wins it is a form of self-validation. And it gives you the energy to continue moving forward to conquer the next obstacle.
Resources
During our conversation we started to discuss various resources he found helpful for anyone thinking of starting their own business. Below are the numerous options he listed.
Get a hold of the state university – The University of Wisconsin in Lacrosse, like others, houses the Small Business Development Centers. They'll walk through your ideas with you and help you through business plan development. In Chris's case the SBDC also connected him to the legal department of the University. There law students took on the project to protect his logo and business name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
SCORE – retired individuals with great networking capabilities. Use them and great help.
Bunker Labs is a great starting point for Veteran owned businesses.
Unique to Wisconsin is the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) also assists veterans with the connection to the Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOC).
Get Involved in your communities through chambers and other similar groups.
Listen to podcasts and sign up for free classes. A great resource for the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) space is Luke Abbott's V-DRIVEN – He is a Logistics professor and offers his expertise to emerging brands. Another great one is from Ramone Vialla with The Story of a Brand podcast where he helps tell the unique entrepreneurial stories of 1000+ Consumer Brand founders.
Piece of Advice
Our conversation with Chris ended with him sharing his piece of advice.
"Don’t be scared, just go for it. Take your goals and come up with a plan to get there. Create a line chart to get there or put together a vision board to figure out how to fill pieces in to get there. Try to do whatever it is you want to do. You'll face challenges and roadblocks, but you will get through it."
Promo Code
And as thank you for reading the 'Together Talks' use coupon code: 'KLS10' to get 10% off your order for all of the upcoming 2024!
Interested in being featured with "Together Talks"?
KLS is booking our upcoming schedule now!
Contact us as we would love to learn your story and share it amongst our audience.
Weekly we provide 2 companies our platform to expand their reach courtesy of our campaign. Let's collaborate!!!
In Closing
KLS wants to thank Chris Wysong, Founder, of Bucket of Bread for today's "Together Talks" feature. Keep up to date with Bucket of Bread by following their newsletter on their website, check it out here. Follow along for the Bucket of Bread journey with their social handles below!
Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with Bucket of Bread feature #90
*Klimson Logistics Solutions is an Industry Leading Customer Service 3PL. Our focus and commitment to our clients has us striving to be the BEST customer service 3PL for LTL, FTL, Reefer, and Drayage in the country. KLS, freight company, is a 3PL providing nationwide logistics solutions. KLS shipping services include: LTL freight, FTL freight, Reefer LTL freight, Reefer FTL freight, and Drayage. Klimson Logistics Solutions thanks you for viewing our marketing campaign, "Together Talks". If you have any interest in being featured or questions regarding your freight operations please contact us today!
Why KLS?
Our precise and reliable effort.
We handle every shipment with the exact same process. It does not matter if you move one shipment a year or ten per day, you will receive the same level of customer service from us. When we started this company, we had one goal in mind, treat every shipment like it was our own. With our vast knowledge of the industry, we understood what a customer would want from a communication standpoint. We applied that process to be the standard here at KLS. Our reliability and being able to depend on our consistency is why we have such long-standing relationships with our clients.
Our Process?
Every shipment in our industry starts with a quote. We are firm believers that time is money, thus we strive to have quotes back in a 5-10 minute reply time for LTL and FTL, any FCL quotes are at the mercy of the carriers getting back to us. For LTL we have the flexibility to quote both off of NMFC and also Density depending on the carrier. Utilizing our services, you’re allowing us to use our expertise to class your freight accordingly to ensure we are providing the best rate we possibly can.
Once a quote has been submitted and a client chooses to proceed with KLS handling the arrangement of the shipment our full process begins. We create the BOL that will be used for the shipment. If it is a new location for our system, we will obtain all the important/special details (reference numbers, contact details, shipping hours, closed for lunch, dock/doors, etc.). We meticulously build every detail into our software for all future shipments involving that location. After we have both locations built and necessary reference numbers have been applied we will tender the shipment to the carrier. We use this method because it provides us a real time pickup number from the carrier to obtain updates prior to pickup. Our staff will either email the BOL directly to you or to the shipper (at your request) the minute after the tender has been accepted by the carrier. LTL carriers require a 2 hour window prior to close time in order to schedule it for a same-day pickup attempt.
The following morning you’ll receive an email from us. It will either provide the reason the pickup was missed (driver’s trailer filled up, driver missed the close time, truck broke down, shipper said no freight, etc.) or if the pickup was successful you will receive the PRO (tracking) number from us, along with the eta for delivery. Our staff will track it throughout the duration of transit and advise if anything happens that will alter the estimated delivery date. The day the shipment delivers we will email you with confirmation and the POD (Proof of Delivery), should you require it.
Your shipment has been quoted, scheduled, picked up, and delivered. The next step is waiting for the carrier to invoice us and make sure the rate matches up. If it does, we close out the invoice from the carrier in our system and automatically your invoice is created and sent to the requested party at your company. In the event the carrier has an additional charge on their invoice “Variance”, we will never send you an invoice with an additional charge without first identifying you of the charge.
Let us repeat, NEVER WILL WE JUST BILL OUT AN EXTRA CHARGE WITHOUT YOU BEING NOTIFIED.
You are our customer, we represent you. Should the carrier provide an extra charge on an invoice, “Lift gate, additional weight, reclass, detention, etc.) We notify you of the charge via email first. Second, within that email we identify what is required should you choose to dispute the charge. Again our goal is to honor your request, if you want to dispute, we will dispute. During a dispute we will provide you updates every step along the way. Once a dispute is closed out, whether it is approved or rejected, then we will invoice you as the invoice has been resolved.
For reference, our company only had 6.2% of all shipments go to dispute in 2022 and we successfully won 91% of those disputes on behalf of our customers.
This is our process for every single shipment you move with us. We don’t cut corners, we don’t hide from difficult situations. We believe in being available, honest, and transparent. We don’t ever want to tell you that a shipment is lost, damaged, misrouted, but it is our duty to notify you the second we find out something has gone wrong. We hate to present bad news, but it is part of the job. What you can guarantee is that we will work a shipment all the way through and turn over every stone until we get a resolution for our clients.
Services offered?
Our core business is LTL and FTL. Within these options we have options for both dry and refrigerated/frozen. We also offer FCL/Drayage options. Our company as a 3PL has nationwide options and services clients across the US.
Let’s breakdown our services more in-depth
LTL:
Standard and Guaranteed
CFS (Imports & Exports)
Tradeshows
Hazmat
Anything that is on a pallet can be moved LTL. Typically LTL is up to 10 pallets, but the sweet spot for a carrier is 6-8 pallets at most for an individual shipment. LTL quotes are good between 5-30 days depending on the carrier. LTL can be quoted either via NMFC or density to determine the class (we do this for you).
Volume:
Anything over 10-12’ of space in the truck is the technical rule for a volume shipment. When we run a quote for you we will determine if it qualifies for volume and provide you a rate if available. Volume moves allow you to get a reduced rate for larger shipments. The caveat to volume shipments it the quotes are only valid for 3-7 days and they move on capacity between terminals. If a terminal is backed up they will move their LTL freight first before the volume freight, which can lead to longer transit times for volume moves.
FTL/Dedicated/Expedited: 53’ Dry and Reefer 26’ Box trucks with lift gate Sprinter Van The main difference for FTL vs LTL is space and transit time. For standard pallets you can fit either 26 or 30 pallets in a 53’ dry van. The other main difference is transit time, for FTL each day counts in the transit time, whereas LTL does not count the day of pickup, weekends, or holidays in their transit time.
Reefer/Frozen:
LTL and FTL
We specialize working in the CPG space with food manufacturers. We regularly deliver to
the following locations:
Kehe
UNFI
Core Mark
DPI
Wegmans
Cugini
H.T. Hackney
Netrition
HEB
ALDI
Chambers and Owens
EBY Brown
Nassau Candy
Harris Teeter
Wakefern
NU INC
Long Distribution
What makes KLS different?
There are thousands of freight brokers and 3PL in our industry. Barrier to entry is rather easy and agents or owners will often hire sales people without any intention of properly training them. It results in high turnover for many freight companies and a forgettable experience for the client. We choose to operate differently through our consistency. We truly care about doing right by our clients and prospects too. While we would love to help provide our services to every company we speak with, that just isn’t realistic. We won’t always be the right fit for every company that moves freight and that is ok. Our authenticity as a shipping company sets us apart from the competition and that is backed up by our testimonials. We also run a marketing campaign bi-weekly called “Together Talks”. We interview, highlight, and promote two businesses every week. Our goal is to grow our network, make new connections, and learn something new with each collaboration. Check it out on our website and if you’re interested in being featured reach out.
Our company also runs a year long charity promotion. Book your first shipment through KLS and we donate to the charity of your choice in your name. Our way of thanking you for giving us an opportunity to show you the KLS way and what makes us one of a kind. This entire package is what we offer to every prospect and every client. Our goal is to help provide answers that customers may have when it comes to shipping. We want to always be available as a resource and will always offer a lending hand whenever we can.