[00:00:05] Ad Read: This week's episode is brought to you by Oracle NetSuite. For more than 20 years, Oracle NetSuite has helped organizations grow, scale, and adapt to change. Used by 16,000 customers in 203 countries and dependent territories, NetSuite is a global leader of cloud-based applications. NetSuite's Cloud ERP for the food and beverage industry can help you with inventory, order management, e-commerce, financials, and CRM. With many customers throughout the industry, NetSuite has experience supporting businesses like yours. For more information on how NetSuite can bring your food and beverage brand to the next level, visit netsuite.com slash taste. And now, Taste Radio.
[00:00:55] Ray Latif: Hey everyone, I'm Ray Latif and you're listening to the Top Podcast for the food and beverage industry, Taste Radio. This is episode 150, which features an interview with Mary Marygrace Sexton, the founder and CEO of Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company, who discussed her 30 years in the juice business and how she built a company that brings in over $60 million in annual revenue. Tune in on Friday, February 22nd for episode 22 of our Taste Radio Insider podcast, which includes conversations with Harmless Harvest CEO Ben Mand and Michelle Simon, the president of the Plant-Based Food Association. Just a reminder to our listeners, if you like what you hear, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we'd love it if you could rate both Taste Radio and Taste Radio Insider on iTunes. Three decades ago, Mary Marygrace Sexton launched Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company with an ambitious goal, give Americans across the country access to high-quality, fresh-squeezed juice. While the dream was big, the company's launch was comparably tiny. Marygrace started the company in a production facility about the size of a one-bedroom apartment, and the first bottles were shipped in a delivery truck borrowed from a local meat company. Natalie's, named after Mary Grace's first daughter, has since grown by leaps and bounds, and its juices are now sold in over 30 states and 40 countries. The company has remained family-owned and operated, and Marygrace says that its commitment to quality and customer service have been the same since day one. In the following interview, I spoke with Marygrace about the origins of Natalie's, the two rules that she had when starting the business, and navigating challenges within the competitive juice category. She also explained why she's determined to change her leadership style, discussed the company's succession plan, and spoke about how she's preparing her daughter to take the reins. Hey everyone, it's Ray with Taste Radio, and I'm on a call with Mary Marygrace Sexton, the founder of Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company. Marygrace, thank you so much for being with me. Thank you for having me. You mentioned this is your first podcast interview. Thank you so much for doing it with us. I feel honored.
[00:03:03] Marygrace Sexton: Well, thank you. Again, a little nervous, but you know, we're gonna work through this.
[00:03:07] Ray Latif: Indeed, indeed. And now where are you calling from?
[00:03:09] Marygrace Sexton: I'm at the juice plant down in Fort Pierce, Florida.
[00:03:12] Ray Latif: Is the juice plant, is that where the juice plant's always been based?
[00:03:15] Marygrace Sexton: So he's been based in Fort Pierce, Florida. We just bought our third building to expand into, and we have extended to Charlotte with a marketing office about two years ago. And we do have brand ambassadors and salespeople all around the country. And actually we have three that are international.
[00:03:32] Ray Latif: Now let's back up a bit. What motivated you to get into the juice business? And when did Natalie's get off the ground?
[00:03:39] Marygrace Sexton: I believe it was 1989. I always need to check that. And it was just kind of a labor of love. My, it was my husband's idea and you know, and some people, you know, have ideas and some people are doers and I'm just a doer. So I just thought, well, perhaps it'd be helpful if I just got started and while I had my other job and a baby and I just did that and he encouraged it. And so it just kind of happened.
[00:04:02] Ray Latif: And your husband at the time was part of, he was in the produce industry, right?
[00:04:06] Marygrace Sexton: He was, he ran the family packing house and they were citrus growers. Also though, he has a master's degree in finance and economics and he is on a lot of bank boards and co-ops for Ag First and Farm Credit. So he's been in banking also.
[00:04:22] Ray Latif: He was in banking and then you got into juicing. What were you doing before juicing?
[00:04:26] Marygrace Sexton: I was a business manager for a group of radiologists. I had always been in medicine since I started working when I was like 16. I worked for a dentist and then I just worked for radiologists and I was their business manager.
[00:04:36] Ray Latif: And did you continue on with that job while you started the company or did you just kind of put everything aside and say, Hey, I'm going big or going home?
[00:04:45] Marygrace Sexton: No, I did. I did stay with the radiologist for a while. And then, you know, I mentioned that I might have to, you know, pursue this interest that I had been working on. And they asked me to stay on as a consultant for a short time. And then they got another business manager.
[00:04:59] Ray Latif: So Mary Grace, I read a profile about you and in it, you had said that when you launched the company, you started with two really important rules. The first one was never lose money, which is an obvious rule, but very hard to follow for entrepreneurs and never take on debt. Why were those two things so important to you?
[00:05:18] Marygrace Sexton: Because at an early age, I saw my mother live in poverty, and I saw how challenging it was, and I saw her make decisions that were just, they were just sad, sad decisions that she had to make because of an economic reason. And then as I became a young adult, I saw myself, not that I had any debt, but because I stayed away from that, I had one charge card that I paid off every month just to get my credit. But then it did come a time when I had to make a decision, a life-changing decision because of economics, and I thought, this is just wrong. And I said, I'll never go into debt. But that propelled me even further, even though I didn't have debt, the decision I was making was because I didn't have a lot of savings. That's what really propelled me on to just working really, really, really hard and saying, I never wanted to make another decision about like that or have to make one because of something like that.
[00:06:06] Ray Latif: So the company has never taken on any debt?
[00:06:08] Marygrace Sexton: No, we did. We did. Well, when we went from our 2000 square foot building into our first 65,000 square foot building, the county offered us industrial revenue bonds. And so we did entertain that. And what happened was, is we realized that we probably weren't taking on enough debt. It was like for a million dollars that it didn't warrant all the legal structure and legal bills that went along with getting industrial revenue bonds. So that might have been a mistake, but we always kept enough cash in the bank to pay them back. And I was advised not to pay them back because the interest rate was so low and I was making more money in the bank with the savings. So we did have industrial revenue bonds. It was small and the county just really wanted us to move here. So it was just important.
[00:06:50] Ray Latif: So, but it wasn't equity financing. It was traditional debt.
[00:06:53] Marygrace Sexton: Yeah. Yeah. Yes, it was.
[00:06:55] Ray Latif: Interesting. Was there a time in the company's life cycle when you broke your other cardinal rule, never lose money?
[00:07:02] Marygrace Sexton: Yes. Okay. So what happened is we had a recall and when we were a small company, I guess I was naive. We didn't have recall insurance. And so as we were growing and became an international company, um, I guess I was working and didn't pay attention to that, unfortunately. And so we had this international recall. There was Juice Co the way to Japan and the FDA came in and they said we were statistically linked to a foodborne illness. And I said, what does statistically linked mean? So that's a whole nother story. So the CDC was working with me trying to explain that, and then the FDA more or less put a stop to that communication. And so I was dealing just with the FDA, and we were statistically linked. And I said, OK, we brought in three specialists. One came all the way in from California. We wanted the plant searched. They found nothing in the juice product, and they found nothing in the plant. But while that all was going on, obviously, it was very expensive because we didn't make Juice Co a couple days, number one, and bringing back the, when you have an international recall, you bring the product back here and destroy it. And that almost devastated us. We were small and it was very harsh. And the FDA was relentless and I'm sure they were just doing their job. And my husband said, I said, Bob, I don't know if I'm going to make it through this. And he says, you have too much character, go back to work. I said, okay. So we went back to work and the boys were on the way, the sales team was on the way to the PMA food show. And they said, we have no juice, Mary Grace, you know, the FTA says, do not serve that juice. And they said, what are we going to do? I said, you're going to go to the PMA. You're going to go to the food show and you're going to just greet our customers and, and just do what you can do. I said, but we're not, not going to go. I wish it had not happened, but we all learned a lot and we all worked really hard.
[00:08:52] Ray Latif: How much money did you lose from the recall?
[00:08:54] Marygrace Sexton: Oh my God. It was a lot. I don't know the exact amount. That was like 15 years ago.
[00:08:59] Ray Latif: Wow. It sounds like if you have to bring it back to the States and destroy it. I mean, just doing that sounds like it was pretty expensive.
[00:09:05] Marygrace Sexton: Right. And the Japanese customers didn't want to let it go. They said, Mary Grace, we've tested the shoes. There's nothing in it. I said, you know, when the FDA says that's what you do, I said, the one thing we did was we were, we bought high, high quality fruit. That's what other people did not do.
[00:09:19] Ray Latif: With high quality fruit, often with high quality, any ingredients often comes high retail prices. What was your pitch to retailers? What was your pitch to consumers? How'd you get both of them on board?
[00:09:32] Marygrace Sexton: When people purchase Fresh Squeeze, I think they understand that the price is going to be higher. And when you realize that, on my part, I tell the employees all the time, we have the best customers in the whole world. Everybody wants our customers, because we have the best customers in the whole world. They're knowledgeable about food. They're knowledgeable about the authenticity of the juice. And it's very important. The customers that we have, they're higher scale retail stores. And they're the ones, you know, educating, in my opinion, because back then we had no marketing budget, none. Okay, which is, which is sad, but it's true. And we it was just word of mouth. And it was just the quality really sold itself.
[00:10:11] Ray Latif: Competition in the juice category has changed pretty dramatically since you started. Yes. How has your marketing strategy evolved? You started with no marketing, you've got to have some marketing now.
[00:10:20] Marygrace Sexton: Right. Well, you know, about seven years ago, Natalie came on. Thank God. She's our vice president of marketing. Yes, she did. And she came on and she had just come back. I mean, I'm just her history was that she graduated college. She went on the world race where she served in charitable for like 11 months, went to 11 countries and she did a great job. And then she just said, OK, well, come on. And but she has a natural, a natural gift for it. And she rebranded us at the perfect time. You know, we were going along as, you know, as Orchid Island Juice Company. And then one of our international customers said, Orchid Island Juice Company is too hard to say. And so they were having a hard time overseas saying that. So they said, change it. So we were in the process of changing it to Natalie's. But then, thank God, she came on and she rebranded us. She rebranded the label. It's funny, once in a while she said that, but it's almost a little embarrassing because we had not done too much in, what was it, probably 23 years at that point. We sold a lot of juice. We were doing a great job with selling quality and customer service. But then when you say, when it twisted and all these juice companies came into place, we were very fortunate to have her come on at the perfect time.
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[00:11:45] Ray Latif: At what point do you see yourself as stepping back and stepping away from the day-to-day operations and handing the company over to the next generation, to your daughter?
[00:11:56] Marygrace Sexton: Well, obviously we have to build a succession team that works well with her. And we have two people on that now. We have a director of sales and we have a COO that we brought on seven years ago. And so we'll build a succession team, which we've been working on, which is not easy either to bring outside executives from large companies into small businesses. It's difficult. I try to explain it to them. but it's rather different. You know, the chain of command, it doesn't get confusing, but like some of the people complain that I don't follow the chain of command. So I practice really hard to follow the chain of command. And then I nicely say, listen, I got to go around this cause it's not getting done fast enough. So she's very, very good in business. She has a natural, a natural gift. Sometimes she pushes me. That's what scares me. She pushes me. I mean, she does it nicely. She's a perfect lady about it, but she pushes me. Not that she scares me, but I hope I can keep up with her.
[00:12:58] Ray Latif: What are some of the key lessons that you've learned over the past 30 years that you think are most important for her to take with her as she grows into this new leadership role?
[00:13:09] Marygrace Sexton: I think understanding people, there's more to what appears to people. And there's something in them that drives them or doesn't drive them. And understanding people, I think, is really important. I know that people would say, oh, well, I don't understand people because I'm gruff or whatever. But I'd like to think that I really take the time to look at people and think, how are they feeling?
[00:13:34] Ray Latif: I read in an article that quote, you're known for being a hard driving results oriented boss that will never change. Is that accurate?
[00:13:46] Marygrace Sexton: Well, yes, but I'm going to learn how to do it differently by the grace of God. You know, that's, that's my goal is to become a better CEO and I'm going to do that. And I mean, they're going to start communicating through someone else if that makes it better, but I can't change. People all want me to change. You can't change and be who you are. Some people don't understand that.
[00:14:06] Ray Latif: What do you mean by that? You can't change and be who you are?
[00:14:08] Marygrace Sexton: I mean, you can change some of your things. You can change habits, but you can't change the characteristics that God gave you or else you wouldn't be who you are. And as a CEO, I'm trying to give the same message just to a different generation. Remember 30 years ago, if you were gruff, it was okay. You know, if I was a little gruff and like, I love people. I love all my employees and I take it very personal that when they come to work here, I have to make a company that responds to their needs. And so that's my job. Just like them getting the label on the jug right and buying the best fruit is really important. My job is to provide for them to the best of my ability. And I take that very seriously. And so I don't want to change my message. And I really don't want to change, if you want the truth. I just may change the way I deliver my message. That's what someone's telling me.
[00:15:00] Ray Latif: I appreciate your candidness, because it's not something we often hear. And hey, if that's who you are, and that's been a successful approach to leading your company, and clearly your company has had quite a bit of success, then keep at it. But you did say you're trying to teach your daughter how to be a different kind of leader. What kind of leader do you think the next generation of Natalie's needs?
[00:15:26] Marygrace Sexton: No, I think she's a good leader. I said, I just wish she would change her personal life and not take the work home.
[00:15:31] Ray Latif: I see.
[00:15:32] Marygrace Sexton: I don't want her end up being a workaholic. She's a good leader. She's a good leader. And really, it's just the message. It's the way that I present the message is what I have to work on. Like my brother said, my oldest brother said one time, he said it a couple of times, that I try to take square pegs and push them into round holes. And that's because I care about people. I know that my first boss gave me an incredible opportunity. He did. I didn't go to college. And if it wasn't for the discipline that my first boss taught me on my job, I don't think I would be a CEO. And my mother did teach me a good work ethic. And God did give me the talents that he gave me. But other than that, I think it was your boss is important.
[00:16:10] Ray Latif: You mentioned discipline. What does what does discipline mean to you? How do you define discipline?
[00:16:15] Marygrace Sexton: Discipline means just, you know, staying very, very, very focused on what you're supposed to do and getting it done and getting it done better than you thought you could do it.
[00:16:25] Ray Latif: Mary Grace, you mentioned this cycling, an important part of your life. What role has cycling played in your life and your life as an entrepreneur?
[00:16:33] Marygrace Sexton: OK, I just want to clarify something in the beginning, because I don't want anybody to think I'm getting off track. OK, cycling is like a dream. It's just something I enjoy. I was a workaholic. My brother tried three things to get me to stop being a workaholic. And then little Billy brings me my bike. That's my little brother. And he gets me a bike. And that was just the end of it. It was just wonderful. That's a dream, OK? My goal is to be a better CEO. So there's two different things. So the cycling, it kind of focuses me. It makes me feel better for sure. I'm sure everybody who exercises knows you feel better, but it just lets me focus on something else, concentrate on something else for a little bit.
[00:17:10] Ray Latif: So when you say you were a workaholic, were you working 24 hours a day? Were you at the office day and night?
[00:17:16] Marygrace Sexton: Well, I was at the office a lot and then obviously with technology that was just coming in you can work on all your accounts receivable and everything at night. It's really good for me to ride I ride really early in the morning, it's good for me to ride before I come to work and I didn't start that until the girls were that was out of college and Lucy was in college.
[00:17:34] Ray Latif: Technology allowed you to do work at night. Technology also can be kind of distracting and keep you from doing a lot of things that, well, folks used to do before they had an iPhone in their hand all the time. And that has a lot to do with the foundation of your nonprofit, AGAP. What's the mission and purpose behind the nonprofit?
[00:17:55] Marygrace Sexton: Okay, I think it's just to educate people on the harmful aspects, because back when I was working, you know, like you could get into your accounting software, but they didn't have all these other distractions. And I'm not one to be distracted by it, but I do see how it affects life. And right now, I truly believe it's affecting the workforce. I do believe it's affecting our workforce, every level, every level now, I believe.
[00:18:18] Ray Latif: When you say it, what do you mean by, what's the it?
[00:18:21] Marygrace Sexton: The excessive technology that we've gone into in the last few years, it's a lot different. In my opinion, it's a lot different. It's distractive. It takes away so much personal time that you could be doing something else and with someone else. And the workforce, I'm really serious. I think it's very, very distracted.
[00:18:40] Ray Latif: So what spurred the creation of AGAP? You know, when did you realize that this is something you needed to do?
[00:18:47] Marygrace Sexton: Well, I realized it was happening, but then my granddaughter was born. And Natalie and Lucy, I would like to work with them on it, but obviously they're adults. But my granddaughter, she was only like six months old. She had never seen a screen. She had not seen any technology. She's on no technology. But my husband's phone was on the other side of the room. And all of a sudden, I see her head turning towards it. And I thought to myself, that is just wrong. There is something in there that's drawing her attention. And I know that sounds really weird, but that's when I said, this has got to stop. It has to stop. And the AGAP, while a lot of people are writing books about it, what we literally do is we have reprieves. where we invite people away for a weekend and when they check in, they check their phone right out. The phone is taken away from there and it's locked away. Then they continue on for the weekend, they have fun, they meet new friends. Sometimes they go camping, sometimes they just stay at a lake house, sometimes they just cook dinners. But for the whole weekend, they're together with no phone.
[00:19:47] Ray Latif: That sounds pretty nice. And it sounds like, again, something that you and I might've experienced growing up, but yeah, it's difficult for this generation to have that experience. Mary Grace, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time. I was so excited to talk to you because I've consumed Natalie's Juice Co a long time and there is a difference for sure. And I appreciate what you do making the juice and I appreciate you taking the time again with me here today on Taste Radio. So thanks.
[00:20:17] Marygrace Sexton: Thank you very, very much.
[00:20:18] Ray Latif: All right. That brings us to the end of episode 150. Thank you for listening, and thanks to our guest, Mary Marygrace Sexton. You can catch both Taste Radio and Taste Radio Insider on Taste Radio.com, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, and Spotify. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
