LAKEWOOD, Ohio — “Everybody loves food here. We really do. We're a food city,” said Christopher Tarr, one of the founders of Branch Barbeque Sauce and Root Cellar Food Storage.
And Cleveland has shown its love for Branch Barbeque Sauce, which combines the flavor of barbeque and ranch dressing. Its origin, dates back four years, to a beach volleyball league, whose players take their snacks seriously.
“We're joking around. We threw some extra flavors out there. One of the guys on our team is a food engineer. He made it the next week as a joke and brought it in and people tried to buy it,” explained Tarr.
Tarr thought he had "lightning in a bottle" or at least some really good sauce. Within 6 months, Branch was in 300 grocery stores, with 5 different flavors.
Restaurants followed. So did Canal Park, home of the Akron Rubber Ducks. Its fast growth pushed the company into a larger space and a new business venture called Root Cellar Food Storage.
“So, we're helping companies, small business companies start with their online sales, they provide the boxes, and we'll provide all the extra work,” said Tarr.
Located in Lakewood, Root Cellar Food Storage can store food before heading out to customers, including refrigerated and freezer space. In addition, Tarr and his co-founders are sharing their knowledge with others, creating a food business incubator.
“Because there's a lot of people who helped us along the way and expected nothing in return,” said Tarr. “And knowing that you made someone's life a little bit easier, even if it's for ten minutes, it's worth it.”
Within weeks of starting, they had clients lined up, and there's room for more. Tarr believes the Root Cellar would be great for food trucks. Because Cleveland has an appetite for the next big thing.
“Clevelanders, Northeast Ohio, everybody loves food. They love trying new things. They love working with you. They love to support local,” said Tarr. “And with that sort of mentality, it's really sprung up a lot of good and interesting small businesses that we feel we can help.”
What's in the future? Possibly expanding into other cities. If the Root Cellar can work here, Tarr believes it will work elsewhere too. For now, they want to keep the growth local. Building a tight-knit food group to support one another.
“We'd love to create a nice big community for everybody,” said Tarr. “They can get together because there's so much there are so many good people in the city of Cleveland that there's more than enough to pass around and work together.”
