Turkey Benedictine and Bacon Sandwich and housemade Cherry Coke. Photo by Chris Witzke.
THE SOY OF COOKING With the opening of its Eat Your Bourbon Marketplace, Bourbon Barrel Foods comes into its own as a complete lifestyle brand. Written by Bridget Williams Perennially clad in a chambray shirt and apt to run his fingers through his tousled blonde hair when talking, Matt Jamie projects an aura that's more SoCal surfer than gourmet food guru. Being cognizant of his confidence to a fault makes Jamie an approachable leader who readily admits that trials by fire are what have ultimately led to the global success of Bourbon Barrel Foods (BBF), which he founded in 2007. Soy sauce is BBF's raison d 'ĂŞtre. The deceptively simple composition of ingredients in a bottle of soy sauce belies the present intricacies of running a business on a global scale that has its fingers in everything from cookbooks to charcuterie. Jamie's wise decision to age his soy sauce in repurposed bourbon barrels (what he calls his "sixth ingredient"), allowed him to hitch a ride 66 slmag.net
on the wave of interest in bourbon that has made the Bluegrass State's native spirit a boon to many sectors of the economy. When we last profiled BBF in our November/December 2013 issue, the company's portfolio boasted approximately 15 products, the bulk of which were developed in partnership with Woodford Reserve. Today the total number has burgeoned to 90 (and growing), heralding a paradigm shift Jamie said has taken place largely within the past three years. BBF is a singular sensation with few if any companies having a similar business model in the gourmet food category. Jamie credits learning to lean on the expertise of his team, which includes advisors who mirror his emotional investment in the brand, as essential ingredients in BBF's secret sauce of success. He jokes that the most important woman in his life is his CFO.
