A small group of local foodies have united behind their love for bacon, and are hoping to hit it big time with their newly developed Bacon Jams, a spreadable version of the the “it” food. When I first heard of the idea, it made perfect sense — a version of bacon that can be used when you don’t have time to pull out the frypan. Turkey clubs, hors d’oeuvres, omelettes? Just scratching the surface here, but I wanted to learn more, so I asked one of the founders Bruce Kramer how this fabulous project came to be on Kickstarter. Town Dish: How did this bacon-loving group come together for this project? Was someone making bacon jam early on and then you built a team to scale it up?
Bruce: Lauren and I homebrew together and are members of the West Chester BUZZ homebrew club, so we’re always looking for fun beer-based foods. While brewing one day I mentioned I had a ton of jalapeño peppers from a friend and challenged Lauren to make something with beer and the jalapeños. It is probably worth mentioning that Lauren is a food scientist by degree and did culinary training at CIA (excellent attributes for a homebrew partner), so she usually comes up with fun out-of -the-box foods. One of them was bacon jam. Over time we cooked it a few times and would serve it to friends and family, where it frequently received a “this is great,” and “I cannot believe I have not seen this before,” type reaction. Fast-forward a year and change. During a lunch with Eric, who is also a foodie, I mentioned bacon jam, and he was immediately interested in tasting it and learning all about it. He already had a project on Kickstarter and was interested in doing additional campaigns on their site. Lauren and I got together and made a batch and Eric, like everyone else, loved it and his entrepreneurial brain starting working. He had Mike, a chef and restaurant owner, taste it. Mike fell in love with it and started firing off flavor combos and ideas for applications and we were off. We all got together in what we now call “Jam Sessions” and made batch after batch of product to experiment with flavors and profiles.
Town Dish: How did you come up with the name Bacon Jams?
Bruce: Eric and Mike were in Mike’s basement creating what would become the Kickstarter video, listening to a song about bacon when Mike said, “the logo should be a pig with shades rocking out on a guitar.” Eric said, “Jamming on the guitar. They both exclaimed in unison, “Bacon Jams!” while jamming on their ever-present air guitars! We all know that bacon rocks, but people are just now finding out that bacon also can jam!
Town Dish: What’s the basic process for making bacon jam?
Bruce: We start with quality slab bacon and render it so we have flavorful, perfectly cooked bacon as a base. A very small amount of the rendered fat is used in the product to cook the vegetables and aromatics, but most of the fat is rendered out of the final product. Lauren has become proficient at making bacon soap because we have more bacon fat than we know what to do with, and stay tuned as that may be our next bacon project. Once the ingredients are caramelized, we add beer, spices, the bacon and then reduce it to a jam.
Town Dish: What’s the team’s biggest challenge in scaling up this operation?
Without a doubt, this is the big one. Kickstarter can also magnify the problem, in a good way. But you sometimes see a project where they are seeking $4,000 and raise over 100K. That is a good result, but nonetheless it is a problem. We have planned for all possible outcomes, such as just exceeding our goal, finishing at 3- to 5-times goal and doing more than 600% of goal. If the Kickstarter starts taking off like wildfire, we will close levels and extend delivery dates so that we can accommodate our backers and not miss expectations. Making sure we can handle what Kickstarter delivers is critical, which is why we want to be in local markets next month. We want time to test our process and procedures and make sure they stand up to real-world deliveries.
Town Dish: Is Bacon Jam available anywhere now?
Bruce: Currently it is a friend and family distribution with no public sales. We are looking to get into some farmers’ markets and similar venues next month to get some immediate feedback from those who walk up to taste it. I hope to be able to update you shortly with where we can be found.
Town Dish: I saw Michael is involved with the Conshy Cafe. Do they serve bacon jam there?
Bruce: We currently use the kitchen at Conshohocken Café to cook The Bacon Jams, so we have an approved workspace. Mike has regular specials with The Bacon Jams at the café, such as a burger or breakfast sandwich. I think after the next menu reprint is when to look for it as a standard item. Many of his counter regulars have been drafted to do taste testing between different formulations we have tried.
Town Dish: What’s your favorite way to eat Bacon Jam?
Bruce: That is a fun and tough question as there are so many things to do with it. In general, I would tell a new customer to think about cocktail hour. It is just such an easy match to have with crackers, cheese, nuts and fruits that are typically served for a cocktail hour. It can also be used in cooked hors d’oeuvres, like the original goat cheese and panko jalapeño poppers Lauren produced. My friend Sharon just loves it in baked Brie. A burger topping or a fast BLT is a no brainer. I love to make a quick fried egg sandwich for breakfast and that is probably my personal most-frequent specific use.
Town Dish: What are some other unique uses you’ve come up with?
Bruce: Dropping bacon jam on top of a perfectly fried scallop is a much more manageable task for most home cooks like myself instead of dealing with the problem of both burnt and uncooked bacon wrapping the same scallop. I have had it in a peanut butter sandwich, spinach salad, club sandwich and made ice cream with it, so really it goes anywhere. Mike has made Brussels sprouts with bacon jams, which is delicious. I saw an episode of a cooking show about making chocolate truffles over the weekend where they made it look easy enough that I intend to try making a truffle with The Bacon Jams this week.
Town Dish: Where are you hoping to distribute Bacon Jam after Kickstarter?
Bruce: Our new website should be live soon and it will be the main source for ordering The Bacon Jams after the Kickstarter project. We are confident there is room in the market for a product like The Bacon Jams, which are unique and very different from anything else out there. The Kickstarter project is like our market test-focus group, and exceeding the goal on the Kickstarter project will help us to launch The Bacon Jams brand. We have many more flavor and blend ideas that we believe will give us the ability to expand the market and continue to excite our customers. Ideally we will raise enough funds from Kickstarter to be able to buy a booth at the fancy foods show.
I had the chance to sample two of The Bacon Jams — the original and their red chile and garlic. The original really tastes like a smokehouse bacon and would make for an excellent BLT. The red chile and garlic was my favorite of the two, though. I loved the first slight rush of heat and then a surprising sweetness that reveals itself in the finish. For bacon lovers, this definitely is going to be a new favorite condiment to have on hand to add that bacon goodness to your meals and snacks.
