Truffle Shuffle – Jason McKinney
#005 – Truffle Shuffle. Today’s interview is with Jason McKinney from Oakland’s Truffle Shuffle. Truffle Shuffle has an incredible “pandemic pivot” story. Co-founders Jason McKinney, his wife Sarah McKinney, and Tyler Vorce all cut their teeth together at Napa’s famous French Laundry Restaurant.
In 2018, they set out to start an “honest truffle company with the goal of sourcing honest and sustainable truffles directly from hunters to bring them to chefs in America”.
In 2019, they incorporated truffles into other products and inked a global deal with Whole Foods.
Then, in 2020 when the pandemic hit, they had 20 lbs of fresh truffles and NO customers. Eighty percent of their business was with restaurants and restaurants were shut down.
They were dead in the water until a private club in San Francisco approached them about doing a virtual cooking class for their members. Truffle Shuffle had an idea – could they package up 100% of the ingredients needed for the class, including some of their truffle inventory, and send them out to the participants? The club loved the “white glove service” and Truffle Shuffle’s pandemic pivot was born.
Truffle Shuffle offers a true EXPERIENCE, not merely a cooking class. Your box arrives at the end of the week with EVERYTHING you need for the Sunday class, even down to the properly portioned butter and salt. They also include a mixer for a specialty cocktail, you’ll have to supply your own alcohol, however.
From time to time you’ll find surprise guests – The San Francisco cast of Hamilton, Wu-Tang Clan, and Snoop Dogg to name a few. They’ve also done a great job incorporating local up-and-coming artists and Bay Area food companies. Though the Zoom room may include hundreds of people, the team does a great job of interacting with participants, sometimes “pinning” participants on the screen to show off their dish.
Anyone can do this! The experience is very family-friendly and you don’t need any cooking expertise – they show you how to do everything. You just need a computer or smart-phone and come ready to have a good time. Classes usually sell out by Wednesday of each week so don’t wait around.
They’ve racked up some impressive stats in 2020: 600+ sessions / 200,000+ guests / 100,000+ meals.
Be sure to stick around ’til the end to hear how Jason became a chef. It is a great story.
If you like the interview, you can see more. Truffle Shuffle will appear on Shark Tank – April 16, 2021, on ABC at 8 pm.
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