Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Rouse.
Trade Street Jam Co. is a minority & woman-certified small batch jam company founded by Ashley Rouse. Ashley, who’s been a chef for almost 15 years, created the name for the company in 2008 while living in an apartment on Trade Street in North Carolina. Now, some 10 years later, Ashley and her Brooklyn-based company create fruit forward and clean tasting vegan jams that are low in sugar and high in flavor. Her jams are best used in craft cocktails, BBQ sauces, glazes for meats or vegetables, baked goods, yogurt, overnight oats, salad dressings and more! She teaches jam classes to kids at underprivileged schools and aspires to use residual jams to feed the less fortunate, two efforts that are near and dear to the owner’s heart.
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?
No, it hasn’t been smooth, but learning to become comfortable with being uncomfortable has helped paved the way. Also, listening to God and allowing him to guide my steps has brought me success in so many ways. Struggles include everything from fulfillment issues (breakage), to finding someone to help manufacture, to hiring without having money to do so, to having to handle everything myself! Outsourcing good help has been very tough, especially without any outside capital to assist.
Trade Street Jam Co. – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We make low sugar, vegan jams that are good for the culture! It was important for me to bring a product to market that was healthy and clean because Americans and blacks in particular struggle from issues like diabetes and obesity. Our products contain 3-5 g of sugar per serving (most jams have 15-18) and have no preservatives or weird ingredients. We also love to educate our customers about how to use our jams. While they’re great with toast or yogurt, they’re also bomb in cocktails or over roasted meats or veggies. I’m proud of the growth we’ve been able to achieve in just four short years without any outside investment.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
It’s currently happening now! We’ve reached record sales in 2020 and this year has been amazing for me, ironically enough. I’m blessed to see this type of growth during such tough times. I recently got featured in the New York Times, and that was pretty awesome.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tradestjamco.com
- Email: info@tradestjamco.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/tradestjamco
Image Credit:
Jakob Wandel, Regina Foster, We Are Harbinger, Alex Joachim
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