Rising Stars: Meet Mike Otis of Raleigh

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Otis.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Growing up, my dad, Ed Otis, a World War II Army veteran, had a great barbecue sauce recipe he got from my grandmother, I believe it was in the late 1930’s, Whenever I asked him for the recipe so I could make it to take on camping trips with my friends, he refused to give it to me. His response was always the same, in a gruff voice he’d say, “Your not old enough to handle the recipe, I make the sauce, when I was 21 you can have it.” He would then go make a batch of the sauce for me. For years, it became a running joke between us, but he would never give up the recipe to me. At 18, I joined the U.S. Air Force and when I had turned 21, in my birthday card, written on a 3 x 5 index card was the base recipe of what is now Battle Tested® Craft Barbecue Sauce. (I still have that hand-written 3 x 5 recipe card)! I started playing with the recipe over the years adding different herbs and spices to get it to where it is today.

For years, I’d make single stove top batches for friends as gifts and the response was always the same… Why aren’t you selling this? You should have this in stores!

Not knowing anything about the food business I just kept making single batches for friends for decades, but the idea of actually making it for resale in stores was always in the back of my mind. In 2018, I sent a mason jar of sauce to a friend, who shared it with a friend that wrote for Forbes magazine and had helped get seven different invention products on Shark Tank (not food products but physical inventions). When he tasted the sauce he asked what it was, my friend told him his friend (me) made it. His response was, “You better tell him to bring it to market.”

After decades of hearing this, and having the thought of creating a national brand never leaving my mind, My wife Deardria and I decided to jump into the most competitive category in all of food… <i>Barbecue Sauce</i> with our own brand, Battle Tested® Craft Barbecue Sauce. Many of the people I spoke to, confided in me that this was not the smartest move one could make, especially having absolutely no experience in food production. In fact, I was encouraged by people not to do it and was told that I would never get into stores and would lose everything I put into it, which was literally EVERYTHING. I emptied bank accounts, retirement funds and ran up a few credit cards. I belief is this, if you’re going to do something and you want it to succeed you have to go in 100%, “Burn The Ships”… no going back, continually move forward, success is the only option. Was it scary? Frightening. But also exciting at the same time. In two and half years we we’re in over 1,000 store locations including Food Lion, Publix, Harris Teeter, Wegmans, Lowes Foods and other grocery stores.
Battle Tested® is an All Natural, Gluten Free, Gourmet Craft barbecue sauce that was North Carolina Specialty Foods BBQ Sauce of the year in 2022. We are also getting ready to launch our rubs (seasoning) line as well as Battle Tested hot sauce.

We now have a food broker, EngageCPG, and, we’ve expanded our Battle Tested® Brand into the coffee space with 3 different coffees, Founders Roast, 1783 Patriot Blend and JP-8 Jet Fuel.

We just pitched Publix on picking up our line of coffees and are meeting with other grocers as well for both our sauces and coffee and we look to keep growing and expanding.

As a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Company we continue to work and help others by donating a portion of our profits to 501 (c )3 organizations working with veterans and our community first responders.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Has it been a smooth road? No, it’s been beyond bumpy. Financing has always been the key to success. I’ve boot strapped this venture all out of pocket. Finding the right people to work with is key. The first food broker we signed with, who came very highly recommended with decades of experience, cost us close to $30,000 in cash and they brought absolutely nothing to the table, zero sales, not one customer. Same with the investment “guru” we were refered to who promised to bring investors on board within 2 weeks of signing with them, that cost us another $15,000 and again, nothing brought to the table, not one investor as promised. All sales and investment money has come from me. Costly lessons learned for sure.

Production costs and packaging all cost funds. Another challenge… shipping costs have doubled since we started this. And, even if you get into stores, you then need to put marketing dollars behind your products to drive sales. Social media, TV, radio, in person events, store sampling and more to drive sales, Being a one man band from producing, sales, logistics and everything in between can be challenging, no doubt. But we continue to move forward building the Battle Tested® Brand.
As the saying goes, “If it were easy… everyone would do it!”

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My background is not in food, it’s in media. I’ve worked in radio and television most of my career and served in the Military for 22 years. I was the lead media escort during the first Gulf War working with the first Media Pools including Dan Rather and Scott Pelly from CBS news as well as many others. I was a radio disc jockey, news videographer, reporter and a even a TV weatherman. I was an on camera spokesperson for Chevrolet and other companies and still write and produce radio/TV/Social media commercials and do voiceovers on commercials. I fell into the food business almost by accident and now it looks like I have a whole new career ahead of me!

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Be careful and do your research on people, I’ve worked with many people who profess to being a “Mentor” who were only in it for the money. Don’t just take someone’s word when they offer to help. Ask questions, ask for referrals. Look for “not for profit” guidance before you pay someone to mentor you. If they want money up front, that isn’t a mentor, that is a paid consultant and you want to make sure they are the right people to guide you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BattleTestedBrands.com
• Instagram: @battletestedbrands
• Facebook: BattleTestedBarbecueSauce
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/battletestedbbq/