A Marketplace where Local Makers Collaborate, Learn, and Grow—Karen Rzepecki—Mason Jars Makerplace

Richard Jacobs:  Hello. This is Richard Jacobs with the future tech podcast. I have a Karen Rzepecki, the founder of Masonjars.com. So Karen, thanks for coming.

Karen Rzepecki:  Hi, thanks for having me.

Richard Jacobs:  Yeah, tell me about, Mason Jars. What was the idea that sparked the website and the whole initiative?

Karen Rzepecki:  Yeah, well, actually I’m a maker. I make a product for Mason jars, the brand’s called reCap. And in the process of selling it and going to trade shows and meeting people, I felt like there was a gap, for makers like me, you know, smaller brands that are really trying to grow. There wasn’t really a good marketplace, online marketplace, to do that. It’s really expensive and cumbersome going to trade shows to try to get wholesale accounts and marketplaces like Amazon is just really noisy and easy to get lost. They have, Amazon has over 5 million sellers. Same, with all the big marketplaces. So it’s really hard for small brands to get noticed. And then I also, when I did trade shows or just reached out to other entrepreneurs, I felt like there was this real collaborative movement of makers and folks of original brands that wanted to work together and leverage each other. And it was really collaborative experience versus competitive. And so I wanted to tap into that and create a marketplace that could showcase original brands and do it in a way that had a really close connection with consumers.

Richard Jacobs:  Okay. So what kind of things are you fostering the marketing of, on the side of the display on the site? It’s not, is it just your own products or is it a whole bunch of small business, local brands?

Karen Rzepecki: Yes, it’s definitely a marketplace. So it’s not just a website for my own brand, it’s opened up for other brands. We have about a hundred other sellers, either on the site or in the pipeline to be launched. And our hope is to grow it to 2000 or more original brands. Again, we allow them that platform for these brands to sell direct to consumer, or tap into our wholesale network and sell wholesale. And for our customers, what we wanted to do is provide an experience that allowed people to understand how to make something with a product, how to not just go in and shop, shopping you know, important people like to do that, but also tying it to the experience. And so we really have a lot of rich resources that people can use. For example, if they want to learn how to ferment, we have the information there to help them throw it and they can buy the products that go with that experience or if they have this stuff at home that they can do on their own, that’s fine too. So we wanted to create something that we were able to connect consumers, buyers with actual makers so that they can learn and grow.

Richard Jacobs:  So what’s the theme of all the brand? is it self-sufficient living or is it just things in the home or how would you characterize the people on there?

Karen Rzepecki: Yeah, self-sufficiency is definitely a theme. But really we’re trying to focus in on kitchen-ware, pantry and garden and we feel like we can really make a difference in those areas because it’s really, a symbol of Mason jars, right. How to make your own food and eat healthily and create things whether it’s for yourself, your home and your family or giving as gifts. So it’s really very much around making a small batch and we focus on the kitchen-ware, the pantry, and garden and there are other things too. There are things that would be maybe characterized as they come in. Certainly, we have some pet things and kids as well. But it’s all about that home and garden experience.

Richard Jacobs:  Okay. So, within home and garden, I guess there would be like growing your own vegetables for maintaining your own foods, maybe gadgets or recipes to make fun desserts that are diet friendly or low sugar or things like that. I’m just pulling out topics, are these some of the things that would be highlighted on the site for instance?

Karen Rzepecki: Yeah, exactly. We have this really nice posts on making pickles. And so we actually had one of the interns that were working with us, met with his grandma and spent the summer with his grandma, learning how her special recipe for making pickles and he shows step by step how to do it and you know, shows him picking the actual cucumbers from the garden, gives you the recipe, shows you, you know, what all the ingredients you need, all the products that would help make the experience better. So that’s like one example of a lot of people, younger folks might not have learned from their parents or grandparents. They might have some memories of pickles or jams or some specialty foods. But a lot of people haven’t taken the time to actually learn the craft. And so we’re helping with that process.

Richard Jacobs:  So what are you seeing the community likes most or reacts to most?

Karen Rzepecki: Well, it’s funny because our site is Msonjars.com. So a lot of people coming to our site are interested in mason jars in general. And some of the most popular posts are really when we post things that are informative about mason jars. So that gains a lot of attraction and things like I mentioned that grandma’s pickles and we show specifically how to do different fermentations. Those are really popular. We have an eBook, we try to have a lot of free with purchase eBooks that go into much more depth than maybe the blog posts will and we have a fermentation eBook that’s extremely popular that gets a ton of downloads.

Richard Jacobs: So, the world of fermentation for instance, okay may I just ask you a few details like what kinds of things can you ferment and what are some of the benefits of fermenting your own foods?

Karen Rzepecki: Yes, I think there’s a huge education around gut health right now. So a lot of people interested in eating healthy, being healthy, have really been learning about their gut-biome and how eating different foods help that and fermented food is one of them. And there are so many fermented foods out there. Obviously, beer is an example, chocolate is an example of fermented foods.

Richard Jacobs:  You said chocolate?

Karen Rzepecki: Oh yeah. Chocolate is a fermented food and so is tea. So, yeah it’s a process that kind of changes the chemistry of the raw food, makes it more easily digestible. And we spent a lot of time talking about how to ferment vegetables because, you know, years ago people did a lot of canning and well there’s still are a lot of people canning, it’s a lot of work, and what I love about fermenting is it’s a great way to get a variety of vegetables and pack them in the jars, do the fermentation process and it is extremely easy. The fermented vegetables are delicious and they’re shelf stable. You keep them on the shelf while they’re fermenting. So it doesn’t take up a lot of refrigerator room or anything. So, a lot of people are interested in vegetables. We have a lot of good recipes like one of the more popular ones is a Giardiniera where you have the cauliflower and garlic and carrots and peppers, that’s a really, really popular mix, as well as the sauerkrauts. We have sauerkraut that’s Ginger Orange sauerkraut, apple sauerkraut that is phenomenal. It’s actually one of my favorites. It is so delicious, very easy to make. And what’s cool about this, you know, putting together or ferment, it’s easy. All it does is sit on the counter and, based on however much time you need to create. It could be a week, could be four weeks. When you have like people over, you have a really interesting meal or an addition to a meal that was really easy. And that’s one of the things I love about it is because you can come off as being a really good cook without a lot of effort and there are other things that are fermented as well. I’m just now getting into meso, it’s something I think is going to become more popular.

A lot of people aren’t making their own meso. Those have very limited resources in the US, expertise in the US so there’s only so many books available, but that’s a really fun product to make. And then, other fermented items are like Kombucha. Kombucha is extremely popular right now. Expensive to buy, you know, you go into the store and buy a bottle of Kombucha it’s going to be like, five bucks, definitely three to five bucks. If you make your own, it’s significantly cheaper. And all of this it’s called a SCOBY. You use this, symbiotic culture, of bacteria and yeast and that’s along with the black tea and sugar and becomes a Kombucha. And then there are interesting things you can do with the flavors.

Richard Jacobs:  That’s really cool, interesting. So you have people that actually sell the kits to make these products or at least provide the recipes. Like you interview them for the website or they’ll post or like how do you interact with the people in the world of whatever yourself?

Karen Rzepecki: Yeah, exactly. So, for example, I have a private company reCap and we make kits to help people use for making your own kefir, or Kombucha or fermentation. But as far as like kefir Kombucha, I don’t sell or get involved with the cultures, the Scobies that you need to actually start the starters. And so, we have a seller that is doing that. That’s their expertise. They sell kefir cultures or Kombucha cultures. And then they’ll sell other products that help the process go easier. So, that’s the beauty of a market place. We’re trying to bring in different original products that help with a certain solution and working across the makers for these solutions.

So that’s kind of the point, of our focus. And then we can create and we do have the videos and we have eBook and we have the blog posts that help you follow along.

Richard Jacobs:  Where do you see things are evolving right now and where do you want to take the site?

Karen Rzepecki: So, we actually want to get more involved and deeper into the small batch pantry. So, I’ll bring up meso as an example, that’s one where we’re going to be reaching out and seeing who’s making this meso for sale to others because it’s a somewhat complicated process because not everybody’s going to make it themselves. So maybe somebody wants to make it themselves. But then what’s cool about that is grabbing products and trying products from others. Another probably more specific example would be hot sauce, right? Hot Sauce is actually pretty easy to make and that’s a fermented process. So you would take the peppers, you put it in a brine, you ferment it for however long and then you blend it and you can create some really interesting hot sauces fairly simply. But what’s great about like hot sauce, for example, is trying other people’s stuff. And so we do have some hot sauces and chilies and so forth on our sites, small-batch products that people can buy. And that’s the beauty of the small batch pantry that where we see our future is really getting all these different local specialties that you’re not going to find in a store. They’re made with, you know, tender loving care, with organic products probably from their own garden. And just sharing those experiences and different flavors and sharing how it’s made and so people can try to make it themselves or just support other people who are putting the effort into making it.

Richard Jacobs: Interesting. Any new trends coming up? I guess this small batch pantry concepts, we can include all kinds of fermented foods, preserved foods, I mean it’s a whole world in there, it makes sense that’s where you’re headed.

Karen Rzepecki: Right. Exactly. Like honey, one of the areas of our focuses is honey and maple syrup because you have so many small makers, farmers that are creating their own batches and honey specifically is unique from hive to hive, the properties are unique to that area.

And I foresee being able to have a site that people can go to. Let’s say, for example, I’m headed to Asheville, North Carolina, which I just happened to do last week. Well, they’re in a season where everything’s popping and I have allergies. It’d be great to, within like months before I go, get some honey from that region and start using it and seeing if that makes a difference to help me acclimate when I go to that region. So there’s a lot of benefits with having regional food and trying it even prior to visiting the region.

Richard Jacobs: Well, so do you primarily sell the recipe in the Do it yourself stuff or do you do Done for you? Meaning if I wanted to stock my pantry with little samples of the special honey and Kombucha, do you offer like a packaged service where I can buy some of these products or do I have to make them myself?

Karen Rzepecki: Oh No, no. Right. This is definitely products to buy. We provide resources and help if somebody wants to make it because we think there are a lot of benefits, but no, these are products to buy so that you don’t have to go through all the work.

Richard Jacobs: Do you have people requesting stuff and then maybe if you get enough requests for something, you can commission someone in your network to go make it and offer it for sale? If they had a new product come onto your listings or coming to your universe, what’s the process there?

Karen Rzepecki:  Yeah, so we, we actually reach out and find makers through searches and then they also find us. So we have an application process. It’s pretty robust. We get applications every day from makers who want to sell on our site. So, it’s twofold. People finding us because everybody’s always looking for a new outlet to sell. And then us just doing our searches. We look for quality products. So, our marketplace is different from Amazon and another respect is that we have to approve it. So sellers are definitely vetted. We check out their brand, we check out their quality, we make sure that they can fulfill orders, we make sure they’re ready and if they’re not, sometimes people contact us when they’re not ready. And, you know, that’s okay. We can help give them some tips on what’s needed. Some people are really just new and maybe they just started with the product and they haven’t figured out how to fulfill orders or they don’t even have good photos. And we help them understand, hey, this is what you need to have good product photography, this is what you need to create the copy to make this a compelling information. So we help the newbies to get to a place where they can be on the site.

Richard Jacobs:  Okay. When you look at the products that Amazon has or you know, local grocery stores and stuff like that, how is the stuff that you’re showcasing different? I mean, I know obviously it’s not some big brands, but what do you notice is the most striking differences between like the mom and pops are the small brands that sell this stuff versus the big companies that are selling?

Karen Rzepecki: Yeah, the personal touch. They just even the packaging and in the notes that you get with the products and just the amount of attention that they put and love that they put into their product. It’s just so obvious. They really care. They care about their produce selection, you know, where are they getting it? Is it organic? The other thing that’s different with us is, you’re going to see a face with a brand. This is not some corporate entity that’s trying to, fake out some sort of persona to green-wash what they’re doing. These are real people that all have a story behind their product. They created it for a reason and like we have some dog care products on our site as well. And they started, well, maybe the dog had a problem with its fur, or the owner took their dogs for walks and their paws kept getting injured. And so they created a paw balm. So, there are stories behind why the makers have created their product and they put a lot of their own personality and care into the products. I think that’s the difference and we’re very transparent. Anybody selling on our site, they have to tell us where it’s made. And it’s not like you can’t have a product that’s made in outside the US or China or anywhere, but we’re looking for full disclosure. And that’s another difference with our site, I believe and our marketplace than others. We really try to tell the full picture so that people that are conscious consumers can have all the information. And make good choices.

Richard Jacobs: Very good. So what’s the process for people to find out more? Do they just go to masonjars.com and then browse what they want to buy or look for the applications if they want to apply?

Karen Rzepecki:  Yes, exactly.

Richard Jacobs:  Interesting things you want to bring up like as you’ve gone through this journey and created this site in this community, any insights you’ve gotten that surprised you or has it led to how you live your life and what you eat and what you do?

Karen Rzepecki: Yeah, I’ve personally so much enjoyed working with the other makers and getting to actually test out their products. That’s part of the process. They have to send a sample so that we can review the quality and experience and what’s interesting, there are some things I thought, but you know, they contacted us and they were like, oh, I have such a product and I want to sell it on your site. And we’re like, okay, yes, send it in so we can look it over. And at first, I’m like, oh, I don’t know. This doesn’t seem too interesting. And then once we received it, it’s like what you touch and feel it, and then you think about all the things that can be done with that product, you get very excited. So, it’s great to keep very open-minded, about the makers and their products and really seeing where it can go. So, that’s been really a lot of fun.

Richard Jacobs:  So, again people can go to Masonjars.com and I appreciate you coming on the podcast.

Karen Rzepecki:  Thank you so much for having me.