Today we’d like to introduce you to Stanley Alford.
Stanley, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Out The Mud was born in 2016. When my family relocated to Houston after losing everything in our home to a devastating flood in Monroe, LA, we arrived in Houston in search of work with a few clothes, some diapers, and other essentials for our newborn. My business partner, Jecorey Bowman, and I got started by simply hauling our crawfish trailer around looking for an area to set up, boil, and sell crawfish. Our first spot was located off Main Street near the NRG stadium. We had great success there but ultimately decided to move our trailer set up on Dowling, now called Emancipation Ave. From 2017-2018 we use to serve the crowds at the nearby bars on Saturdays and Sundays. This was really cool the people in the 3rd ward were like family. They always told us that the quality of our food was unmatched. On any given weekend, you could find us serving smoked boudin, crawfish etouffee, meat pies, and of course, authentic Louisiana crawfish. Although we had some great times doing pop-ups, we needed to make some changes to better position the company.
In 2019, we decided to focus mainly on catering. This would allow us to minimize risk with crawfish’s shelf life being extremely short. Sadly, with both partners working full-time jobs, we didn’t put much energy toward moving the business forward. However, something happened in 2019, though unfortunate, sparked the movement and work ethic that you see today from Out The Mud. This tragedy I speak of is the death of Nipsey Hussle, a unique strategist and businessman known for teaching business principles in his music, such as ownership, equity, and mailbox money.
Nipsey’s slogan was TMC, The Marathon Continues. We wanted to adopt that mindset and apply it toward our personal business, which just happened to be crawfish. Throughout the remainder of 2019, while crawfish season was over, we strategized on how to make 2020 the year to remember for our business. We had great plans instore for 2020 but Covid-19 interrupted. Our 2020 was off to a great start. We had improved our marketing, spent more time branding and as a result, we had crawfish boils scheduled all the way to the end of the crawfish season for 2020 prior to the effects of Covid-19.
But I can truly say God was watching over us. While some catering and food establishments were crumbling during the pandemic, our pots were just heating up. Out The Mud introduced the “Boil In A Box”, which is A Crawfish Boil placed in a Cooler and delivered to your doorstep. After posting our services of the “Boil In A Box” on Facebook and Instagram back in March, our phones haven’t stopped ringing yet. Our company has truly soared because of our Boil In A Box, which gave us the opportunity to provide contactless delivery at a very critical time. We have tripled our revenue goals for 2020 and launched a marathon inspired crawfish T-shirt that’s available for purchase on our website.
I’d like for it to be known that the success that Out The Mud is experiencing is largely due to our new addition to the team which is my wife Jamie Alford and our operations manager Lang Washington. I don’t have the words to explain their commitment toward making Out The Mud a household name But we consider ourselves very lucky to have their leadership and dedication on our team.
We are currently delivering Authentic Louisiana Crawfish to Houstonians all over. So far, we’ve had the pleasure of delivering the “Boil In A Box” to several wedding ceremonies and also Houston’s own Lil’ Keke. Life is Good and so is Crawfish.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of our main challenges early on was getting the word out about our services and capabilities to do crawfish boils. We were new to the market as a business and as a family so we didn’t have a huge network of friends or family in Houston to spread the word for us. I got cards printed up and past them along to everyone I came in contact with. Although we did land a few boils that way, it was difficult persuading people to spend several hundred dollars with us to do a crawfish boil when they never heard of Out The Mud.
We also had problems with being consistent with promoting and branding the company while working full-time jobs and having families at home. While doing pop-ups, we also realized that we were taking a huge risk because if the crawfish didn’t sell, we were stuck with the cost. If any other food doesn’t sell, you can refrigerate and sell it at a later day. Unfortunately, in our business, the crawfish comes from Louisiana fresh out the water and needs to be cooked and eaten in 2-3 days tops. So let’s just say it cost us a lot of time and money to grasp this concept of product management.
Please tell us about Out The Mud Crawfish & Catering.
Out The Mud Crawfish & Catering specialized in crawfish and seafood boils, whether in your back yard or a large corporate setting. We will surely enhance the event with Authentic Louisiana Crawfish and seafood. There are a few things that make us different.
- We now deliver crawfish to your doorstep (Boil In A Box) just simply schedule your delivery at outthemudcrawfish.com
2. We have 30 + years of experience eating crawfish in Louisiana. We bring that same Authentic Louisiana flavor to Houston and surrounding areas..
3. We offer specialty items such as Smoked Boudin, Louisiana meat pies, and Louisiana smoked sausage.
We are most proud of our ability to provide crawfish to families during the pandemic. It is our belief that crawfish bring people together socially and creates smiles. Seeing the smiles on those customers’ faces meant the world to us when their Boil In A Box arrived.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite moment would have to be when my mom purchased a new trailer home. It was probably nothing but a used trailer home to everyone else but to me, it was literally a breath of fresh air. Our old trailer was pretty run down and had every issue imaginable. When she purchased the new trailer, It felt really good to have a place that your friends could actually visit without me being embarrassed lol.
Pricing:
- 15 Lbs. Boil In A Box; 15 Lbs. of Louisiana Boiled Crawfish, Corn, Louisiana smoked sausage, and potatoes. $110
- Crablegs & Shrimp Boil In A Box; 4 Lbs seasoned snow crab legs, 4 Lbs extra large gulf shrimp, corn, Louisiana smoked sausage, and potatoes. $160
Contact Info:
- Website: www.outthemudcrawfish.com
- Phone: 318-471-4410
- Email: outthemudcrawfish@gmail.com
- Instagram: @outthemudcrawfish_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Outthemudcrawfish
Image Credit:
SC Photography
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