Charlynda Scales, Founder, of Mutt’s Sauce and
Director, OH Taste Foundation
- Tell us about your career journey and how it has shaped you as an individual.
I’m on a mission that is bigger than me. I never had dreams of owning a company or being an entrepreneur. My grandfather spent countless hours putting together the perfect recipe for a specialty sauce. He served on active duty as an aircraft mechanic during the Korean and Vietnam War but was passionate about crafting this recipe. When he passed away in 2005, we thought the recipe was lost. My mother revealed in July 2013 that he had left the original handwritten recipe to me, his granddaughter. This was a shock to the family, but I felt a sense of immense responsibility to carry forward this legacy. I was on active duty in the United States Air Force when she told me. After some careful thought, I decided to start Mutt’s Sauce, LLC, and share his sauce with the world. I left active duty in 2015 and joined the Air Force Reserves to give me more time to focus on scaling the company. In total, I’ve served over 18 years in the military, and have been an entrepreneur for over a decade.
- With the inspiration behind Mutt’s Sauce being your grandfather, can you share the process of securing your intellectual property?
My grandfather, Charlie “Mutt” Ferrell, passed away from cancer shortly after my college graduation. He was the first person to salute me when I was commissioned in the Air Force. Eight years later, I was on active duty, stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The sauce my grandfather made had been a main staple in my family since 1956. Since he passed away, no one had ever had it, because no one knew how to make it. It dawned on me that it might be gone forever; I called my mother to lament about it. ‘I’d been meaning to tell you something,’ my mother sighed on the phone. ‘Your grandfather asked me to give you something before he passed away.’ When I saw my mother again, she handed it to me — an envelope containing a single piece of paper.
It was the only written copy of that recipe, which he had kept in his wallet.
I asked, ‘Mom, what did he tell me I had to do to get this recipe?’ … ‘Nothing. He just gave it to you,”. Call it cliché, but I dreamt of walking into the little country store that sat on top of the hill where we lived. In the dream, there was nothing in the store except bottles of sauce. On every shelf. With his face on it. I woke up, opened my laptop, and searched the Internet for free mentorship.
I found an organization called SCORE and told them I wanted to make this sauce for friends and family. They encouraged me to start a business because you never know where the path will lead but you want to start with a good foundation. I didn’t know anything about the food industry, let alone sauce. I humbled myself and resigned to learn everything from scratch. At my first appointment, I met my mentor. John Soutar is maybe a couple of years younger than my grandfather if he were alive. John smiled and exclaimed that the checklist I needed to do was how to make and sell a tomato-based food product. ‘Just do step one. File your business license and we will move at the speed of determination.’ That speed is as fast as you’re determined to make it happen. Four months later, we had our first production day.
Protecting intellectual property is exactly like you’d imagine if you’d heard of the story of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. You cannot trademark or copyright a recipe. If there is a method to it- like a specific way you flip a pancake- then you can copywrite the method. But the actual recipe must be protected by doing trade secret agreements with anyone who comes in contact with the recipe, and physically locking the recipe away. That’s what I did in the first few months of owning Mutt’s Sauce LLC.
- What challenges did you experience while trying to get the sauce into production?
When I started Mutt’s Sauce, I bootstrapped the company, using funds I was saving to buy myself a new car. During the nascent stages of my company, I was not thinking about my return on investment, and after receiving earnings, one of my earliest purchases was one thousand custom writing pens. I don’t know why I thought the pens would help my business, but I cringe at the thought of wasting money on things that did not yield a return. One of my mentors asked me how much sauce I sold by handing out pens. “People need to taste and believe,” John said. “A customized pen doesn’t make me want to buy sauce.” It was an expensive lesson. I have one pen left, and I keep it on my desk to remind me to make smart financial decisions.
- The market already has different types of condiments. What sets Mutt’s Sauce apart?
As the saying goes “there’s enough room at the table for everyone to eat well.” The perfect customer for Mutt’s Sauce is someone who values convenience and flavor. It’s usually a mother between the ages of 25-45 and has the buying authority in the house. She’s not a chef, but she appreciates a good meal. This is the target market I started to see purchasing Mutt’s Sauce the most. I spent time at festivals and farmer’s markets doing listening sessions as I sold products. Their feedback helped me shape my target market.
Mutt’s Sauce is the only barbecue so delicious you would also pour it on a salad. And our fans do exactly that. It’s thicker than hot sauce but thinner than traditional barbecue. My grandfather was heavily influenced by his time in Asia, so instead of liquid smoke or Worcestershire, you’ll taste hints of soy sauce.
- Mutt’s Sauce has gained recognition for its versatility. How do you navigate product development to ensure both innovation and consistency in meeting customer expectations?
I love the versatility, but recently we had to make business simple and narrow our focus. We used to call it a specialty sauce. It still is, but the average consumer thinks in buckets: is it hot sauce, barbecue, salad dressing, or ketchup? The answer is now “barbecue”. We dropped the gluten-free flavor recently because it didn’t have the return on investment to justify maintaining a minimum of $20,000 worth of inventory. We now have three flavors, Original, SweetNSpicy, and Ghost Pepper. The innovation is constant because customers are always sharing with us new ways to use it, which we then reshare to all our followers. (I personally love Mutt’s Sauce on tacos and as a marinade for salmon now.) We also embraced a hyperlocal retail strategy. Instead of trying to be in grocery stores all over the US, we can make the same amount of revenue by just focusing on Ohio contracts only. Anyone outside of Ohio must purchase via the website, muttssauce.com.
- As a minority-owned business that has been operating for some time, What lessons have you learned?
Life happens. You cannot go on the journey alone. People will be affected by your decisions. You must communicate your expectations, projects, and anything in your business that will take up your time. Balance doesn’t exist, so make sure you tell your inner circle when you need to work. If you communicate, they feel more involved versus alienated. In addition, ditch the phrase “I don’t have time.” Everyone has time, it’s what you choose to do with it that will make a difference in the outcome of your life. Make time for the people you love.
- Why is it important to have mentors?
First, there’s a difference between mentors and advisors. I’ve had a ton of advisors, but only a handful of mentors. Mentors are invested in your life- the whole person concept, not just the business. They understand that your personal development and well-being will affect the company. They make more time for you because they are bonded to you on a deeper level.
Mentors like John Soutar stepped up and reminded me that ultimately I’m on this journey to take care of my family in a way that my grandfather wanted to. My grandfather just ran out of time. When I met Daymond John, we discussed growing up with a single mother, and how I didn’t have financial literacy growing up. It changed the game for my mindset in scaling Mutt’s Sauce.
- What advice would you give to other businesses on how to grow and scale?
- Stay humble but remove the ‘scarcity mindset’. I was humble to a fault. I didn’t believe I should have great things, especially wealth. It’s taken years to break out of the scarcity mindset and realize that if I work smarter and truly internalize “I deserve great things”, I will get to my goal of being able to serve others via philanthropy and being a full-time mom and public speaker a lot faster.
- Be gracious and take care of your people. Thank people when they help you, especially your team.
- If you’re not good with finances (or organized) find someone who is. Quickly.
- Know your job. I used to love celebrity gossip sites/magazines. (I still do) Now, I find myself reading or listening to podcasts. It’s funny, but you need to feed your brain with information that will feed into the success of your business.
- Embrace failure and rejection. Not everyone likes Mutt’s Sauce but with every no’s.. there are 3 yes’s. Take the lessons learned and keep pushing.
- Don’t forget to ‘get a life’. In your pursuit, don’t forget to take care of yourself. Date night, hang with the kids, or my favorite— going to sleep. Don’t neglect the things that keep you going in the long run!
9. As a veteran-owned business, how has your military experience influenced your approach to entrepreneurship?
The core values of the military, Integrity First, Service before Self, and Excellence in all We do, bleed over into my leadership style. Veterans are great at entrepreneurship because they understand serving others. The greatest fallacy of business ownership is “I won’t have to work for anyone.” You work for everybody.
- How do you approach innovation in the food industry, and what strategies do you employ to stay ahead of the competition?
The food industry is ever-evolving. As an entrepreneur, you need to embrace always being a student. I take calls with my peers to learn how they are operating. In preparation for pivoting to e-commerce during the pandemic, I watched endless videos of packaging design. I visited warehouses and even went on Amazon and bought all of my ‘competitors” products to see how they did distribution.
- Tell us about the OH Taste Foundation and how it empowers its recipients.
The OH Taste Foundation is focused on growing the local economy by providing resources to food entrepreneurs. The OH Taste Foundation provides the groundwork for future success by establishing incubator kitchens, financial literacy programs, and agricultural and workplace development initiatives.
- You’ve recently launched the 6888 Kitchen Incubator. Could you tell us more about the initiative and its purpose?
It all started with a desire to serve the community. The concept for our premiere project- 6888 Kitchen Incubator- is being led by three local businesswomen — Charlynda Scales, founder and CEO of Mutt’s Sauce; Dabriah Rice, owner of Divine Catering and Events; and Jamaica White, a self-described “serial entrepreneur” with a background in business development. We were connected by the Downtown Dayton Partnership through our shared belief there’s a need for a shared kitchen concept downtown.
The kitchen will be used primarily by food startups and entrepreneurial chefs, but this space could also be used for food trucks or caterers to meal prep before their events downtown. Not only will this be a space for people to cook, but the space will also be used for events and classes. There will also be the opportunity to purchase food made from the kitchen. The current focus is getting the word out about this venture and establishing a crowdfunding campaign to raise the remaining funds for the project. Of the $6M buildout, we successfully raised $4.3M with zero debt. We opened in March 2024, and currently have 9 business owners operating in the space, with a current capacity of 25.
Our namesake is The “Six Triple Eight”: Paying respect to American heroes
The 6888th was the first and only all-Black Female Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit to be deployed overseas during WWII.
The unit was active from 1945 to 1946 and consisted of 855 minority women under the Command of Major Charity Adams (resident of Dayton OH), Captains Mary F. Kearney and Bernice G. Henderson.
- Will the 6888 Kitchen Incubator model be rolled out to other parts of the country?
Our business model would work in any city that has a food desert or food insecurity issue. We would gladly consult on a project or, down the road, help develop the concept in other locations.
- As a leader in both Mutt’s Sauce and OH Taste Foundation, how do you manage to balance the demands of running a business and leading a non-profit organization simultaneously?
Whereas I don’t subscribe to balance, I do make sure to 1. Create processes and systems that make it easier to manage responsibilities and 2. Communicate with family and the team early and often. If I’m doing a kitchen tour, I’m not with my family, and vice versa. My co-founders and I are all mothers. Our calendars have family time and outside obligations blocked, and we do well to respect and work around those boundaries.
- What keeps you motivated to continue doing what you do with OH Taste Foundation?
It took 4 years just to open the doors of our first project (6888 Kitchen Incubator). What kept me going was the impact we were making in the interim with our financial literacy program, Sharpen the Axe. It personally lights a fire in me to share knowledge and experiences with someone else in hopes it makes their journey a little easier than mine.
- You’re a published author, what inspired you to write your book?
Regardless of where you are in your entrepreneurial venture, you are likely going to find yourself hitting rock bottom at one point or another. Whether it’s because something has happened in your personal life that threatens to derail your professional life, or it’s a financial hit you did not see coming, or it is succumbing to peer pressure, rock bottom can seem like the end of your journey. But it doesn’t have to be. My book, Rock Bottom Has a Trampoline, goes through the most likely and unlikely scenarios that any entrepreneur may find themselves in, explaining the importance of surrounding yourself not with like-minded people, but with like-hearted people, and providing the secret sauce—real-life solutions—on how to turn every rock bottom into a trampoline.
I’m proud to say the book has been endorsed by Daymond John, but even more so, friends and strangers who have been given hope from me sharing the depths of rock bottom I was blessed to climb out of over the years.
- What could be the soundtrack for your life?
During the pandemic, it was “I Don’t Know What I’m Doin’ (I’m Just Doin’ It)” by Splash and Bubbles. I gave birth to my son in March 2020, and my company had zero projected revenue.
Now, things are looking more hopeful. When I’m speaking at events, I will pump myself up by listening to “Alaska” by Maggie Rogers.