How She Rolls

<Mason> We have the biggest order that we've ever gotten.

<Amy> We have to make 400,000 biscuits.

<Mason> When the major stores take you on you have to be ready.

<Kelly> We're going to have second shifts, weekend shifts.

<Amy> What is that?

<Carrie> I mean, this has been so stressful.

<Kelli> Packing 240 cases Tuesday.

<Ashley> No one knows the math like we do.

<Amy> One person usually comes not two.

<Mason> This cannot be right.

I mean this has to be a glitch on the distribution side, <Carrie> I'm freaking out.

What are we going to do with all these biscuits?

[door slams] <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.

[bright music] >> We have the biggest order that we've ever gotten to date in the history of this company.

It is 827 stores that will each be carrying three flavors of our biscuits.

>> In my head, two truckloads need to be ready by the end of July.

And then a plan in August to create a backstop.

<Amy> Because of this new order, we have to make 400,000 biscuits.

It's stressful.

<Kelli> So yeah, we're going to have to start doing extra shifts, we're going to have second shifts, weekend shifts.

We're hiring, probably twice the staff we have now.

So it's going to be a lot.

<Mason> When the major stores take you on, they really take you on and you have to be ready.

<Carrie> I saw the numbers on that.

<Mason> I started here eight months ago.

And at that time, we were getting one to two larger orders for these chains.

And now we have 10 that are coming in within a three to four week period.

So that's significant growth.

<Carrie> She's just starting.

But Mason is on it.

<Mason> Hey Kelli!

It's Mason with Callie's.

Hi!

Because I can work from anywhere.

I just stay at home.

I think we feel good about the quantity sold.

My office space that I used to work in is now taken up my 11th grader and between having a dog and two kids and phone calls to make and everybody's on a zoom call.

We're all trying to be respectful of the noise level but so far so good.

Why don't we set up a call with your team and our team?

What does next Monday look for like for you?

<Carrie> I just think it's the beginning.

She's on a roll.

<Mason> Thanks, Kelli.

Bye.

[upbeat bluegrass music] <Carrie> We have been talking about doing a sausage biscuit for quite some time and our co-packer just started making an all natural sausage and sent us samples.

What's that temp say?

<Savannah> Yeah.

Well, it's going down - 130.

Maybe it needs more fat, like more fat actually.

<Carrie> So Savannah had the great idea to add some fat.

Butter is our fat of choice.

It will keep it from getting too dried out and continue to cook because we need it to get to 160. really 165.

The more fat, the more flavor!

Alright, so what do you think?

10 more minutes?

<Savannah> Yeah.

<Savannah> I'm coming!

<Carrie> They look good.

<Savannah> We made it to 160.

<Carrie> No!

<Savannah> We did.

160...160.

<Both> 165.

It was almost an hour cooking these little bit of sausages, and that's going to take too long.

So we need to cut down on the timing.

<Carrie> So I think a few things we need to cook it when it's - <Savannah> thawed, - thawed.

<Savannah> Yeah.

<Carrie> Add a little bit of butter, 375, covered the whole time.

For 20 minutes, that'll be the next steps.

<Savannah> Okay.

<Kayla> Occasionally, Ms. Carrie's daughters will come and she'll have them help a little.

<Carrie> Yesterday, I let her be at home by herself, I gave them a full list like I do every day of all their to dos.

My guess is that they were glued to their phones and not paying attention.

Our youngest dog who was potty trained has now decided that it's fun to go to the bathroom in the house and poop on my nice rugs.

So now you've lost your phone.

Now you're going to come work for free.

And I'll micro manage you.

How's she doing?

<Kayla> She's doing great!

<Carrie> Don't let her sit down.

[jazz music in background] Child labor.

Kayla, be hard on her.

[jazz music continues] <Producer> When is the next time you'll be coming back to box things?

<Sarah> Hopefully not for a while.

<Kelli> There's so much to produce.

There's so many orders coming in, about double of what we were doing last year.

[dramatic music] <Kelly> We're taking 240 cases of buttermilk on Monday, packing 240 cases of buttermilk on Tuesday, making 240 cases of buttermilk on Wednesday.

And then on Thursday, we're doing 120 cases of sharp cheddar, and 20 cases of cheese and chive.

<Ashley> Yes.

A pallet is typically made up of 240 cases, in every case of biscuits there are six boxes.

<Producer> So how many biscuits is that?

<Kelly> 8,640 <Ashley> Nobody knows this kind of math like we do.

<Kelli> We have a lot of orders coming in.

So it's definitely happening.

[dramatic music] <Amy> It's about 115 degrees in here.

And the air conditioning is on full blast and they're all wearing masks.

So not only are they working harder, faster, more efficiently, they're also, probably burning more calories because they're wearing this mask while they're in here.

We've got a lot on our plate.

So I think you know by Wednesday, Thursday, we're going to have a solid plan to go forward.

<Carrie> I knew early on I needed somebody that I could really trust to run the business.

<Amy> My mom was a stay at home mom and I was a stay at home mom and Carrie talked me into coming to work for her.

And I worked for her a few hours a day, back in the day 16 years ago, when here we are, built this business together.

About a month ago, I took on a new role of being the Director of Operations for the entire company, instead of just the Callie's biscuits production facility.

We can give them wholesale pricing for our products, but we cannot discount the shipping.

I think that I would be described as I am black and white.

There's never any gray.

I'm going to hold you accountable.

We're going to get the people.

Don't worry.

She doesn't need to call you when somebody quits either and all that.

Call me.

I'll talk you through it.

Somebody has to be the heavy and I'm the heavy and that's how it's always been.

<Carrie> We work really well together.

I mean, she does not mince words.

Everybody knows that what Amy says she means it.

<Amy> She was my roommate in college.

She was my roommate after college.

So she'd probably be my roommate now if we both weren't married.

[laughs] And I feel certain that we'll probably live together.

Maybe down the road when we're old like the "Golden Girls".

The one thing I remember about growing up, is my mom always had a meal on the table.

And as much as I don't want to cook every night I still cook.

I'm making country fried steak.

<Jason> Oh yeah!

I like me some country fried steak, <Amy> mashed potatoes and butter beans.

I've always used a knife to peel potatoes and that's just how I like to do it.

It's not the easiest way.

I found some speckled butter beans and my daughter and husband laugh because my husband's from up north and he calls them lima beans, but they're butter beans.

[slow bluegrass music] <Amy> I'm going to mix Coca Cola with yellow mustard as my base and then dip it in flour and then the oil.

So Carrie always fusses at me.

She's like, please just invite me over for country fried steak.

She knows I'm making it tonight.

What is that?

That is funny.

Sorry that scared me.

<Jason> Do I need to get the fire extinguisher <Amy> No.

[laughs] [phone rings] Will you turn my phone off please?

Ooh, that scared the heck out of me.

<Jason> It's Carrie.

She would like to Facetime.

<Carrie> Hi.

[jazz music] <Amy> We just - I just had the (bleep) scared out of me with the - my butterbeans just boiled over.

That was embarrassing.

<Carrie> You can't say (bleep) on national television.

They'll bleep it out.

So Carrie calls me, 10 times a day.

I call her 10 times a day - Facetime.

We don't ever call each other on phone or text.

We just Facetime.

We are very lucky.

It is very odd.

It's almost like an Oprah and Gayle thing.

<Carrie> I wanted to make sure you were on task.

<Amy> I'm working here.

<Carrie> Okay, sorry, <Amy> I'm not lounging.

Goodbye.

This is cube steak and I am dredging it in a yellow mustard, Coca Cola 50-50 mixture.

And I'm putting it in the flour, salt and pepper and flour.

And I'm going into the oil.

[sizzling and popping] I leave the house at 7 am.

My son leaves at 6: 30.

My husband leaves at five.

And before my husband falls asleep at 7 pm, I know I can get everyone to the table for a good meal, hear about their day.

Did you get your religion test back?

<Amy's son> Got a 100 on that.

<Amy> And then nobody else talks to me for the rest of the day.

[harmonious music] <Carrie> I am so excited.

A fast food biscuit is seriously one of my favorite things.

This is our second sausage tasting and I'm hoping that we're getting closer to the final product.

<Savannah> It's smells really good.

<Carrie> Oh, my God.

It's like taking me back to my childhood.

So I'm wondering if it needs like a little butter.

<Savannah> Oh, like a maple butter.

<Carrie> Oh, see, you think sweet.

I think savory like a mustard - mayo might be the perfect thing.

It's so good.

I think we're onto something.

<Savannah> Yeah.

<Carrie> Y'all need to taste and give us your honest feedback.

[upbeat bluegrass music] <Kelli> We're just producing so much here in the bakery that we are just packed full to the brim right now.

<Carrie> We actually just found out we got into 250 more stores.

So we have moved from packing a pallet once a week and putting it in storage to packing a pallet five days a week.

And we have an off site storage facility that's just right down the road.

<Amy> For the past 14 years, we never did a pallet a day.

So our entire world just changed, at the drop of a hat.

[bluegrass music] <Storage Employee> How much is it?

<Kelly> 240 <Amy> Everyday, twice a day, this is what we have to do because we don't have enough storage.

God.

Brrr.

<Kelly> Imagine one person having to crawl in here.

<Amy> One person usually comes, not two.

<Kelly> Alright.

Last one.

<Amy> Praise Jesus.

[bluegrass music] [door slams] <Mason> Wait.

This is not 827 stores.

This is 100 stores.

This cannot be right.

Hey, it's me.

<Carrie> Hi!

<Mason> Hi!

Do you have you have a second?

<Carrie> Yeah.

What's up <Mason> Are you sitting down?

<Carrie> Yeah.

Why?

<Mason> Okay, so I just got the final store list.

And it's <Carrie> Oh God, is it like 1200?

<Mason> No.

It is 100.

100.

Not 827.

100 stores.

<Carrie> Mason.

No.

We have planned for 831 stores.

We have made the biscuits.

We made two truckloads of biscuits.

That's like a half a million biscuits.

<Mason> You haven't heard anything from them?

<Carrie> Mason, no, but I'm freaking out.

Like, what are we going to do with all these biscuits?

So no, we cannot accept this.

<Mason> This has to be a glitch on the distribution side.

<Carrie> They will do the right thing.

I mean, we're a small business.

This just cannot be.

<Mason> I'm on it.

So I'm going to get in touch with them.

Are you - Can you be make yourself available this afternoon?

Because we need to get - <Carrie> Yes!

<Mason> Okay, great.

<Carrie> And we don't want anybody to know about this yet.

Let's not create panic.

Except for in me.

<Mason> She's going to shift gears.

We'll figure it out.

I mean, we always do, we always figure it out.

[birds chirping] [kids playing] <Carrie> We're making meatloaf, which is Sarah's favorite.

So let's do the scalloped potato top.

And then while it's baking, we'll fry some shallots and top it with that.

You don't want to you don't want to hack away at it.

<Sarah> Huck.

<Carrie> Try to stop start at the top in one fluid movement.

<Carrie> Steady.

There you go.

I'm trying to teach Sarah the basics of cooking.

If you can get your children to cook something that they love to eat.

A lot of times you can get them hooked.

Take these and you're going to put them on the towel because we got to dry them out.

<Sarah> Where are those going to go?

<Carrie> We're going to layer them on top like a gratin.

And you got to move quickly, because they will drown.

So.

I love to take a classic recipe and try to modernize it and do a new take on it.

So I want you to do it really neatly, layered like that.

Good.

This is a total experiment.

How can we reinvent it so we're trying the scalloped potato gratin on top.

Okay, I want you to come separate all these little guys into little rings like this.

And then you can take this guy.

Bring it in here.

You want to get all the excess flour out.

So do that.

Supper is, it is a grounding space for me and it helps me get through the most stressful days.

You still have time to clean before we start.

Cause what do you need to do in the kitchen?

<Sarah> Always clean.

<Carrie> Test it with one.

<Sarah> Oh, it smells really good.

That's really fast.

<Carrie> Okay, so it's ready.

So I'm just going to add a few more.

You don't want to do too many at once.

Roasting carrots 400 degrees.

30 minutes.

Olive oil, salt, pepper.

Yep.

What is the temperature on the thermometer?

<Sarah> It's 167.

<John> Oh, perfect.

<Carrie> Yeah, you can pull it.

I wonder why these didn't get crisp?

It's almost like you got a broil it.

<John> Just let it be.

It's an experiment.

So can you move them please?

<Carrie> It's not really pretty either way.

<John> Right?

<Carrie> It did work.

Okay, we're ready to eat.

<John> Awesome.

<Carrie> Meatloaf with fried shallots, sauteed spinach.

Roasted carrots with French goat feta, pistachios, flat parsley and green onions.

That's it.

I think this makes the carrots adult, adult-ish.

<Sarah> I love meatloaf.

[birds chirping] <Carrie> The sausage biscuit testing is almost done and we are also going to be looking at the packaging today.

<Ashley> Alright, so those will take about 30 minutes to heat up and then we'll taste test and see where we are with the process.

Guys.

<Carrie> Oh, hi.

<Ashley> All right, we have some sausage biscuits to taste.

<Carrie> Oh, I'm very excited about this.

<Ashley> This one's identical to what we tasted a few weeks ago.

Okay, and then this one is after we cooked the sausage patty and let it drain a little bit before we filled it into the biscuit.

<Carrie> I love a meeting that has eating.

<Ashley> Right!

<Carrie> If I'm going to eat breakfast this is what I want, like an ode to a good gas station or a fast food biscuit.

Sausage biscuits are my fav.

Ah.

It is delicious.

And it does not need any butter or any kind of you know how we originally thought maybe a mustard butter, <Ashley> or jam or something.

<Carrie> No.

It's good.

A tangy buttermilk biscuit with a flavorful all natural sausages.

<Ashley> Mmm hmm.

<Carrie> Do y'all agree?

<Tarah> I agree.

I totally agree.

<Carrie> When I'm tasting the sausage biscuits obviously I want the flavor of the sausage and the buttermilk biscuit to come through but then it's so much more than that.

It needs to texturally work.

It needs to not fall apart.

It needs to not be too greasy but not too dry.

There's just so many different variables to try to get it to the perfect texture.

Alright, let's talk packaging.

<Tarah> Yes, I'm actually going to suggest a paler green.

Just looking into color psychology, the green behind it kind of references health with being an all natural sausage biscuit.

<Carrie> I don't know, I am definitely gravitating towards the yellow with the red, because it reminds me of fast food.

<Tarah> Can I ask why do you want to be reminded of fast food products?

<Carrie> Because I told you, this is why I would eat this.

If I'm going to eat breakfast, this is what I want to eat.

It brings back a memory of I guess childhood, when the earlier days when we would go through the fast food drive through.

I could tell that Tarah didn't love that I wasn't going for her green, but we've got a few months before when I'd like to launch it.

So we're good.

This is major progress.

<Ashley> Absolutely.

<Carrie> Appreciate it.

<Tarah> Ultimately, it's Carrie's story.

And so if we can tell that story of Carrie being young and going through the drive thru line, that's something that every single person can resonate with.

...our final mock up here, and we're actually going with kind of like a reddish orange.

And like a almost like a highlighter yellow.

Yeah, I think it's going to look good.

It's going to work.

[upbeat music] <Mason> We are a small company.

But we, we're ready.

We've been making these biscuits for almost 16 weeks, we thought we were going to be in 827 stores but the store list that we received was only for 100 stores.

This is a problem that we need to solve.

<Carrie> Like you get on the phone and don't get off until you get the answer you want.

If you don't get the answer you want, hang up and call back.

And that's what she did.

<Mason> So we were able to speak with the person that we originally presented to and I got the news and so I wanted to tell her in person.

<Mason> Hi <Carrie> Hey.

What are you doing here?

<Mason> I have some good news.

I have to tell you in person.

I just heard from our broker and we're back.

All 700 plus stores.

[Carrie sighs] We're back.

<Carrie> I mean, this has been so stressful.

This is amazing.

<Mason> So amazing.

So we'll get all the details.

<Carrie> I know you haven't slept.

I haven't slept.

It's been unbelievable.

Are we sure?

<Mason> I'm sure.

<Carrie> Can we get it in writing?

<Mason> Yes, we'll get it in writing but I had to - <Carrie> Can we get it in blood writing.

<Mason> You're holding it to, holding them to it.

But yes.

<Amy> Mason, you are the bomb.

The error turned out to be their fault and not our fault.

And it was just something that was inputted incorrectly, Mason, she's not going to stop until she gets the answer that she wants to hear.

<Carrie> Well done.

Good job.

<Mason> Thank you.

<Carrie> Yeah, I'll buy you a margarita just like old times.

<Jered> So in the last three months, I've probably packed about you know, 50,000 to 75,000 biscuits.

<Carrie> Just everybody coming together as a team to make it happen in a short period of time is definitely worth celebrating.

[bluegrass music] <CheChe> We made millions of biscuits in the last three months.

It's getting busier.

It's not slowing down.

[bluegrass music] <Amy> Just one fun fact, we put up 25 pallets in all of 2019.

We have put up 50 in 60 days.

It has been amazing.

Well, they work with their hands.

It's labor intensive.

It's not easy work.

I sit behind a computer all day long.

And I do recognize that their arms and fingers and legs and feet are tired.

We lost a production manager.

We lost about five bakers.

We lost several packers.

And the extreme amount of volume that came out of here is nothing less of remarkable.

And you deserve every bit of this spoiling this week.

So thank you so much.

<CheChe> It feels good.

Because sometimes we think that is going unnoticed.

And...it's great.

<Amy> Y'all want to get a crate and sit on it down here with me.

We had a really nice lunch I splurged on the lunch, which they know I'm so cheap, I would never do anyway.

But they deserved every bit of it.

<Carrie> This animal that she took over and managed and delegated that is, to me, key in a leader is to be able to delegate and manage and motivate all at the same time and Amy killed it.

<CheChe> We were challenged and we handled it.

We're a team here.

And we're amazing.

[bluegrass music]