Right About Now with Ryan Alford - KOSMO - CEO and Founder of Kosmo's Q

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

Welcome back to The Radcast! This weeks guest is the founder and CEO of Kosmo's Q! Kosmo shares his inspiring David and Goliath story, and shares some BBQ secrets.To get your hands on some of Kosmo's BBQ check out his website https://kosmosq.com/Check out Kosmo's youtube channel, and follow him on social media!Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KosmosQTwitter: https://twitter.com/KosmosQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5EauthorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kosmosq/?hl=en If you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, let us know by visiting our website www.theradcast.com. Check out www.theradicalformula.com. Like, Share and Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/RadicalHomeofTheRadcast or leave us a review on Apple Podcast. Be sure to keep up with all that’s radical from @ryanalford @radicalresults @the.rad.cast @nick_weaver If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

You know, God gave me a couple paths. Preach, protect, and provide. I was like, I couldn't preach. I couldn't protect, but I couldn't provide. And I was like, I will never in my life experience that feeling again. And that's when it all started. But I'm telling you, everything you see in a grocery store, for the most part, I would say 97 to 98% of the things you see in the grocery store for the most part 90 i would say 97 to 98 of the things you see in the grocery store are only there because of the price and that's it well and you said that if you think about it from the customer journey yeah the there's only a couple reasons somebody quits

buying from you you know you them off or you quit selling to them. You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. I'm Ryan Offord, your host. Today, we're bringing the heat. We're bringing all the heat. We're bringing all that barbecue heat with my friend Cosmo from Cosmo's Q. What's up, Cosmo? What's going on, Ryan, man? Thanks for having me, brother.

Yeah, man. My pleasure. You know, your people hit my people who hit me. I'm like, I'm going to talk to Cosmo. Cosmo blowing up. Got all the youtube videos going he's got everything i love which is damn steaks and and i'm a meat guy i'm like carnivore city over here i'm like damn i'm i gotta get me some cosmo on on the podcast speaking of my soul right yes it is south carolina boy you know we know we got that i don't know the north carolina south carolina thing they always say i'm a vinegar based barbecue guy i don't know if that was north carolina south carolina or somewhere in between but uh i guess my mom was from fayetteville north carolina so maybe that's where i got it from

yeah yeah i tell you what i made made that in my house probably 15 years ago. Straight vinegar base. I made it test batch, and I've never been able to make it in my house again. My wife will not allow that. I don't know what it is. You either love it or you hate it, I guess. You know, the tang. I don't know what it is, but, man, that stuff sets in the walls,

and it's hard to get out. The vinegar, the smell. But, see, if you like it, you like that smell. I'm like my mouth's watering thinking about barbecue. I think I've probably found somewhere in the middle because now they've got the vinegar base, but it's got half sauce, half sauce half vinegar i don't know yeah yeah somebody put tomato paste in there and they said we'll eat it up a little bit yeah but i

will say i'm a equal opportunity barbecue eater you know i did i've i've rarely met a sauce i didn't like have you tried any of ours no dude no oh man i'm telling you i'm gonna change your life forever oh well we'll see i'm i'm i'm open i'm ready i'm i will i won't say anything i know i've heard nothing but great things but uh so what's going on in oklahoma man just the heat right now. We're just out here, you know, slinging rub, selling sauce, you know. Yeah. I know you've got a crazy story.

We're talking to Cosmo from CosmosQ.com. Talk to me, Cosmo. Your story's pretty fascinating. I love the, I don't know, rags to riches. I don't ever like when someone says that necessarily about me, but I came from the lower middle class myself. I love the, I don't know, maybe the David and Goliath, which is the way you think it was phrased on your website.

Let's talk a little bit about your story, man. Well, my story started way back in 1971 when I was born. And I'll give you the brief version right now. I was burned as a child at 17 months old. And I spent the majority of my adolescence growing up in the Shriners Burn Institute in Galveston, Texas. So needless to say, I'm not going to say school wasn't the top of my list, but school wasn't the top of my list. Like, you know, I woke up usually every day in some sort of pain from this, that, a surgery or whatever. So I wasn't that good at school. And as I started getting older and, you know, I just realized that, man, I'm different.

And I was always told, sit down, shut up, you're wrong, do this, follow the rules. Why can't you follow the rules? Go sit in the corner, you're in detention. I was always finding myself in trouble, and I just never could understand why, because I would sit there and look at somebody, and I think a lot of entrepreneurs probably do this. They sit there and they watch somebody do something, and inside the head they go, well, that's dumb.

Yeah, I've spent my whole life doing that. well that's dumb yeah no you know i've spent my whole life doing that and and i would but unfortunately you know i i didn't have the ability to just keep that in my head um it would also exit my mouth which ended up getting me in a lot of trouble so i ended up uh leaving school uh i think it was 11th grade i think i showed up for my 12th grade year and stayed about 45 minutes, and I was like, no, I'm out of here. So I ended up just working, you know, working the factories and, you know, partying and hanging out and having a good time. And then I started raising a family, and then I was like, well,

all this has got to end. And I was like, what do old people do? I was probably 32 at the time. Now I'm old people. I'm officially old people now. So I was like, what do old people do? I was like, well, shit. You know, you freaking wake up, you know, you put some meat on the smoker and you mow the yard and you weed eat and you, you know, trim trees and stuff.

So that's what I did. And I remember I bought my very first smoker and I went down to Walmart and bought it. And I bought a chicken and I bought a beef chuck for some reason. I don't even know what I think. Beef chuck, some Eckerd sausage. And I put all this stuff in there and i mowed the yo i just bought this thing all day long and we sat down to have dinner as uh my wife and i and our three kids and it was absolute garbage like It was unedible. Ryan, I'm telling you right now.

The only thing I could equate it to was if you drug a piece of tree bark through dog manure and then put it in. It was bad. I'll never forget that. What really stuck with me is I had to throw it away. I'll never forget that. But what really stuck with me is I had to throw it away and I'll never forget the look in my wife's eyes. Like this is I said, this is funny, but I like this rocked my soul as she lifted the dumpster open and I was throwing it away. And I just I just felt like I can't, like I can't provide for my family. Like, you know, God gave me a couple paths, preach, protect, and provide.

I couldn't preach. I could protect, but I couldn't provide. And I was like, I will never in my life experience that feeling again. And that's when it all started i love it man and uh provide you you buy it but you got a lot to cook it you know like it reminded me of my mom trying to cook a burger or something you know like just doesn't work yeah it did not work for me. It did not work for me, but eventually I started getting a little bit better. Yeah, I'd say so. And then I thought, well, man, I saw something on TV,

and they had these barbecue competitions. This was before the Internet. There was no YouTube. Facebook was around, but that was, you know. Emphasy. Yeah, emphasy. YouTube wasn't even around. And so there was no place to go and look.

There was no place to find this information. So I was watching something, and I saw a competition on TV, and I thought, well, shit, I could do that. So I loaded up the minivan, went down there, and I'll tell you, two trailer loads in my minivan, two trips full of everything from garden hoses to chimineos. That's a funny story. I'll tell you that sometime.

And ended up winning ribs. Couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. Won ribs. And I was hooked. And I started competing Couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. One ribs. And I was hooked. And I started competing from there on out. And, yeah. How did you, I read, you know, watching my videos and, like, all that.

I was reading up. At the time, in your first competitions, you were mixing, maybe blending others' things together. Is that right? Even in your first competitions, you were mixing, maybe blending others things together. Is that right? Even in your first win, is it kind of like a Frankenstein, you know, like, you know, in your laboratory mixing things up from other people? Yep. Yep. So in, in my head, it started coming, like I would go to the store and I would buy, you

know, like two barbecue sauces and I would say, well, and I would buy two barbecue sauces. And I would say, what happens if you mix these? And I would try that. And then I would try mixing some honey with it or some molasses with it or something to sweeten it up. And that's when it hit me. Man, you really don't have that many options in a grocery store. I mean, you think you do. you really don't have that many options in a grocery store.

I mean, you think you do, but I'm telling you everything you see in a grocery store for the most part, I would say 97% to 98% of the things you see in the grocery store are only there because of the price, and that's it. It has nothing to do with the taste or the quality of it. Is it purely because they can buy it at a low enough rate to resell it? Bingo. Yeah. Yeah.

Bingo. And that's when I thought, man, I'll start making something of my own. So I made some rubs and did this, that, and the other thing. And then that's when I really found out that, like, man, this is the craziest thing. I remember the first time i told somebody this out loud um i thought man they're gonna they're gonna think i'm absolutely a psychopath but i can in my head i can i can taste the flavor in my head before i ever have it on my tongue. When you're making it? I don't even have to be making it.

Currently, we have a cherry habanero barbecue sauce. And I don't know if anybody's ever tried to make a barbecue sauce with sweet fruit. It's hard. It's really, really hard. Try to mix a tomato and a cherry and make it taste good. It's difficult. But I told him, I said, man, my buddy, he's a food scientist. And I told him, I said, dude, I have this flavor stuck in my head. And I want you to close your eyes and I want you to taste a barbecue sauce, but it tastes like the best cherry pie you've ever had in your life.

And he was like, he didn't understand it. But then after, it took us 18 months to make that barbecue sauce. 18 months and three different forms of cherries. Because cherries aren't all the same. There's sweet cherries, there's sour cherries, and there's cherry concentrate, there's sweet cherries or sour cherries and uh there's cherry concentrate there's cherry sweetener you know it's just but after we did that i was like okay like i when i tasted the final version and it matched what i had inside my head i was like okay this is a gift this is a gift

from god uh and i'm going to try to use it to the best of my ability which was very little at the time what is it so is most you know educate myself and the listeners if i'm tasting sweet sauces i mean i know ketchup plays a big role is it mainly sugar that's just made it sweet i mean is it or you know like when you say fruit's hard to get you think of fruit being sweet when you eat it but translating that into a sweet sauce you know is is most of what we taste that's sweet in most sauces just sugar yes yeah most of them are sugar and i know sugar sugar. I know sugar in moderation isn't bad. Eating a bottle of sugar, come on. You've got to tell people. It's crazy. People say, well, some of your sauces are pretty sweet. I'm like, yeah, but if you're sitting down having four to six Mountain Dews a day, believe you me, I'm the least of your worries. Four to six Mountain Dews a day, believe you me, I'm the least of your worries.

Yeah. But you can sweeten it with sugar. That's what we use. We use all natural sugar. Yep. The fruit also sweetens it. And then there's also other sweeteners out there, high fructose corn syrup, which we don't use that. And then there's all the chemical versions that are supposed to be good for diabetics. Stevia, you got all the supposedly natural, but I don't know that any of it's natural.

Artificial sweeteners, I guesseners i guess super loose all that stuff the uh so we transitioned from uh from using others to to making our own talk to me about how cosmos q the you know that once we started transition and when did we start making our own? So I started making my own as I started competing a little bit more. I started toying around with rubs because I just, I realized that the rub, it makes the meat. The sauce is like the, the, the whipped cream on top, but the rubs I was getting in the store were just,

they just weren't good. i wouldn't be like i if i wanted ribs to taste a little bit sweet i wanted to add some brown sugar to my rub i couldn't get that in the store it was it was salt and you know that was pretty much all that was in it was salt yeah um but but then there you know, I wanted like a smoked paprika with a cumin or something like that. I wanted, you know, so I started making my own and I started competing and I would win here

and there and people would ask me, hey man, like your brisket really tastes good. What was that rub? I was like, oh, it's this rub I made. And they'd be like, You mind if I get some? I said, well, yeah. I'll sell you a pound or two pounds or five pounds. Sure.

So I would just sell them rub and ship it out on PayPal or just have them pay me through PayPal. just have them pay me through PayPal. And the day the company started, though, is back in the day, there was two injection companies that pretty much owned the market on beef injection for competition. And I was using one of them, and this person happened to be at a competition I was at,

and I just couldn't get it to taste right just didn't taste right to me like to me it just didn't taste right so i walked over to him and i and i should preface this story he's actually a friend of mine now and i don't know i've never you know i even may have heard this story through somebody else, but he's a really good guy. I just probably caught him at a bad time in his day. But nevertheless, this is a story, and this is what happened. And I walked up to him, and I said, hey, man, I'm using your injection here. And, man, it's just not coming out the way. I'm trying to thin it down. It seems a little strong or this, that, and the other.

I said, do you got any advice for me? He said, yeah. And he was standing inside of his trailer at the barbecue competition with the door open with his arm. And he said, yeah, read the directions.

And he shut, shut the door in front of me. And dude, I'm telling you right now that went up a, I was humiliated and embarrassed. B, I'm a customer. I bought this from you. And that's what really started the company.

I said, okay, well, if he won't help me fix this injection, I'll make my own. And that's what I did. I tracked down a company that could help me. And they told me absolutely they'd be willing to help me. And they would sell me, I think it was 100 pounds at the time. And I didn't have no money. I think at the time I was, I was working, I was working a route job,

just, you know, driving a hazardous waste truck around, you know? So they asked me, they said, okay, you know,

what's the name of your company? And I didn't have a name of the company. I had no name. I had Cosmo was my nickname. And on the barbecue circuit, you would say like cosmos q you know for cosmos barbecue uh some people the big pizza heads call it za just z-a for pizza you know they just call it za so i said uh it's cosmos q i didn't have no company i was praying to god he didn't ask me for anything else because i had nothing the next thing he asked me was how am i going to pay and i was man i was just put on

the spot and i said i'm putting on my credit card and my wife did not know this at the time so i put it uh i put the 500 order on my credit card, and the product came in. She goes, what are you doing? I said, well, we're in the injection business now. She said, how did you get this? I said, I put it on the credit card. I said, don't worry. I said, I'm going to sell it.

I'm going to sell it, and whatever I sell will pay for this, and not only will it pay for this, it will buy the next batch and then the next batch. And then, and then we'll just keep going from there. And that is the one and only time I ever took a loan from this company. And I took it from a credit card. That's fascinating, man, that not many people could say that.

And the fact that it just took one, you know, and then it went from there you did what you said you're gonna do the uh i like more there's a lot to unpack there i like more that nothing nothing starts a better business than a scorned customer well and you said that if you think about it from the customer journey yeah the there's only a couple reasons somebody quits buying from you you know you piss them off or you quit selling to them yeah that's right you know

man it was a for you and uh then you went ahead and started your own the uh but it just goes to show you man i mean life's short like i i have little patience for anybody that just can't give somebody the time of day or help somebody especially when they're there i mean you know you're there in front of them he can't give you two minutes to tell you what how to you know cut something down or do something a little different you know it sounds like he's uh maybe had a bad day or learned from his ways but at the same time there's a lesson to be learned there you know people will will there's a saying people will forget what you say but they'll

always remember how you made them feel yep and you're exactly right you are exactly right and um you know i'm sure if he had a take back that day you know he would take it back but you know, I'm sure if he had a take back that day, you know, he would take it back. But you know, what would we have started the company? I don't know. Yeah. I know. I wasn't,

I wasn't, I was never thinking, you know, 50 million in sales. I was never thinking that. Yeah. Is that where we're at? I was just pissed off.

Is that where we're at now? These days? Um, we, we made it across $50 million. Yeah. Yeah, I think we have. What was the official start date of the company? It was 2009. I don't know the exact date when they always ask me that on any kind of form.

Like, when did you incorporate? I always put January 1st. You know, like, I don't know. Yeah. So, yeah, it was in 2009 is when we incorporated, and that's when I started my website building service that lasted for the next probably six seven eight years um and we actually we actually built an e-commerce site you know before e-commerce was even a thing there was there was no e-commerce site yeah and i i uh i had a wordpress i think it was a not a word it was just a blog yeah and then

i would just put pictures up there with a little description. And then I figured out how to put a PayPal button on there. And then I just put that little PayPal button on there, and that's how I shipped orders. And we shipped them out of my hallway closet. It was just a little, you know, you got the three drawers and then the cabinets on the top. That's where my whole shipping operation was for, you know, probably two years. Right out of the house. I mean, that's a lot of these stories, though.

That's the game, man. You know, and you start slow, low, and, you know, you grow from there once you build a customer base. I mean, what's been the marketing and business growth practices? I mean, you know, like, I imagine going, it's a very, I don't want to say niche audience, but, you know, going to the shows and winning the awards, imagine that amplifies, you know,

within that core audience, and then it kind of, the word of mouth goes from there, I would think. The crazy thing was is I did it for years. Years and years. Ended up winning the world championship. Ended up, between myself and the teams we sponsor, we have eight or nine world champions.

So, I mean, I've been to the Jack Daniels, American Rule, Memphis in May, Houston, San Antonio. Like, we've been to the Jack Daniels, American Rule, Memphis in May, Houston, San Antonio. We've been everywhere. But for me, I remember sitting there at a competition. And this is really before marketing as we know it was marketing as we know it. Facebook said, we're going to let you run ads. And it was like they told us that week

and then I was sitting at a competition that weekend and back then it was about $1,000 a weekend to go to a competition. After you buy your meat and fuel, all the things. It's about $1,000.

And I was sitting there and I was just, I ain't gonna lie to you. I get angry and shit changes in my life. That's one, usually for the worst, but this one for the good. I sit there and I was like, I'm sitting here by myself. My family's not even with me, so I'm not happy. And I'm paying $1 thousand dollars to be unhappy. What would happen if I took that money and I started running ads to my website, just promoting my website.

And back then it was like, it was, it, you know, I'm sure you remember it, right? It's back. It was like,

Hey, look at me go here. There was no, there was no funnel. There was none of that. No, you didn't need a funnel because it was ripe for the taking. You had organic reach on Facebook. You ran ads and boom, like a bonfire.

So that's what I did. I started the next week running ads with absolutely, I don't think anybody knew what they were doing when they were running Facebook ads in the early day. We were just, you know, it was just when, when Facebook said, Hey, we'll show you to a million people. They wouldn't kid. You know?

And then, and then I was like, Holy crap, man, this, this actually works. So I kept that, I kept that shit secret. I didn't tell nobody. You weren't sharing that secret. You kept that off the the off the barbecue circuit yeah you wouldn't be talking about that i'll give you that brown sugar but i'm keeping them facebook ads that's too funny uh it it didn't quite as easy anymore you know funny uh it it didn't quite as easy anymore you know now facebook yeah the game has changed now there's a hundred different platforms and you know it's all about content which i know you've done you've you've been in the youtube game you know for a while got over 300 000 followers on youtube

and doing your you know i see you i see you see you on the, on the video, doing the video thing, which we, we encourage clients to do. We have to pull teeth to get clients to, uh, you know, engage with that stuff. It looks like you've been pretty successful. Yeah, I think back, back in the day. And once again, like I'm not sitting here trying to say like, you know, I do something. I didn't know anything. All I know is I'm going that way, and if something stops me, I'll go under, over, around, through. I don't care. I'm going.

But I was sitting there, the customer's shoes, if I could ask the guy that rejected me when I was asking for advice, what would I say to him? And all I was looking for was just, I wasn't looking for secrets. I was just looking for the next step. Like, can you help me to barbecue better? And it hit me. I was like, I don't need to push my product on you because I'm not a pushy guy. I hate car salesmen when they're, you know, oh, is this your first time visiting? You know, I hate that, man.

I'm like, hey, let's have a conversation. Get people to know, know like and trust you and i'm sure every marketer has heard that for years now but like that that was inside my head you know years ago and i was like why don't we just have a conversation this is this is how i do barbecue so i i went and bought a camera and i was hell bent. And if you've ever watched any of my old videos, oh my gosh, they are bad. But it started the conversation. Yeah. And I just wanted to show, I just wanted to, what I have,

I want to give it to you freely take it don't take it but just know that if you want to know how to cook a steak that won me ten thousand dollars here's the recipe yeah you learned early what a lot of people struggle to learn which is it's not about pushing the product it's about helping people and educate or entertain and the business comes with it you know like it follows behind it may not be as immediate as the cash register ringing but it it builds that relationship with thousands if not millions of people that you have never met they They get to know you, though, like, and trust you before they meet you. And so many people struggle with that. You know, they just, you know,

they have, it's the card of their mentality, you know, offer product, product price. Well, that's the easy thing. That's easy to do. The hardest thing to do is to take on probably the worst person in your life, and that's your inner self telling you that you can't do it, you shouldn't do it, why would anybody listen to you, you don't know what you're doing. And just so everybody knows, we all feel that way. I'm the CEO of this company, and i have no clue what i'm doing

all i know is is that you know what got me here i just need to keep just keep pushing forward and i'm going to make mistakes and that's okay yeah you know it's 100 okay our ego is getting away you know everybody's got ego you know like that's the biggest hurdle it's like i mean it's 100 okay our ego is getting away you know everybody's got ego you know like that's the biggest hurdle it's like i mean it's cliche but they say you know the biggest hurdle is the mirror you know and we're all like self-conscious or you think this you think that and you know but then today people want to people want to know people. You know, they like your product. They're going to use your rub. They're going to use, you know, whatever you're doing.

But, you know, they like it. It doesn't have to be perfect. Well, you're right. But, yeah, man, so you started YouTubing, telling people how to cook good steaks. And, you know, I'm sure that just like it looks like, the crowd came along. Yeah.

Yeah, the crowd came along. And, man, it was a – I never thought that, you know, I would own a company. And I remember driving home one day, and I was just – I hated my job. The people were nice, but I physically hated my job. The people were nice, but I physically hated my job. On Sunday night, I would physically get sick to my stomach because I didn't want to go back. I had a friend of mine tell me one time. He's a Navy SEAL. He said, do you know what happens when you die?

I was like, no. How the hell would I know that? Like, you know. He says, most people think that their life flashes before their eyes, but what really flashes before your eyes is all of your regrets. And I was driving

home and I thought, if I laid my head down and had five minutes only with my thoughts what would i think and what i just imagine like i could see it like i visualized myself laying there taking my last breath with my family around me around me and when i passed, I do not want the thought to be in my head, why didn't you even try? Yeah, man. It's powerful when you start thinking about it and you think about how fast time moves and you got one shot at this. Yeah, one shot and you're gonna mess up a lot you know and that's okay but i so that's what that's when i was like i quit my job i'll never forget i asked my wife i said hey i'm thinking

about quitting my job she's like it's about time you know that surprised you that she said that. Yes, it did. But once again, we go back, you know, I had a prejudiced thought in my head that wasn't it wasn't factual. It wasn't reality. It wasn't true. Yeah. That was me telling me a story I wanted to hear so I could stay in my comfort zone and not seek discomfort. And then she said that, and I was like, shit, you know?

Now I got to go. Now you got to do it. You got to take that first step. So where do we go after the injection stuff? We got rubs. We got, I mean, you know, Cosmo's Q's quite the lineup now. Yeah, after the rubs and the sauces, I was sitting around one day. We used to go to eat wings quite a bit. And I was like, man, these guys like dump, like absolutely dump,

way too much sauce on these wings. And it's just everywhere, you know. And I thought, oh, my gosh, I wish it would be nice. If you had a wing dust that, you know, was flavored, that you could just season your wings with. So, you know, if I wanted Nashville hot, I could get Nashville hot. If you wanted salt and vinegar or garlic Parmesan. So that was my next thing.

We, we came up with wing dust and I think now we have 12 flavors, 12 or 13 or 14 flavors. And yeah, it's the, it's my new favorite way to eat wings. Especially when I'm out like, you know,

at a tailgate or something, because I don't got to go to hit the shower, you know, to get all the sauce off of me. Yeah. I need a bib for mine. They give you the alcohol wipes. I'm like, can I get the alcohol beach towel?

Yeah. Sauce everywhere. Yeah. a whole beach towel yeah sauce everywhere yeah so yeah we we uh um transitioned over into selling wing dust um we also got uh years later we did release a line of uh we do have a line of wing sauces that I think accompany the wing sauce or the wing dust well. We have a line of clean eating rubs. I believe there's five or six of them that are sugar-free. There's no sugar in them. So if you're a keto, paleo, or you're or you're just wanting to, you know, cut sugar out of your diet, we have those. Our latest thing is we've been launching our own accessories, grill brushes, gloves, sprayers, grill mats, chicken stands. And that has really been successful.

And based inside of the Cosmo Cube product family, it just all really goes nice. Yeah. All right, I got a good zinger for you. How you feel about classical, like, wood fire, smoke, and doing all that stuff versus the Traegers? Yeah. That's a great question. And just so you know, I think I have probably the best answer that pisses somebody off or pisses nobody off. All right.

Because I'm one of those guys. I have the best stick burner you can buy in the world. Actually, I got two of them. And I also have a trigger on my back porch, on my patio. So here's what, let me, short answer, I don't care. Okay. Whatever you're going to use to get you out there cooking for your family and enjoying your friends and spending quality time with the people you love, I don't care.

Can you make it taste just as good either way? I have won in competitions on a pellet cooker, and I've won on a stick burner. And I know guys in competition that can beat the brakes off of you with a pellet cooker and I've won on a stick burner. And I know guys in competition that can, you know, beat the brakes off of you with a pellet cooker. And I know guys in competition that can beat the brakes off you with a stick burner. Are they different flavors? 100%. Yeah. 100% they are. But it's, you know, it goes back to what you like. And here's the way I see it. Are you one of those people that you know you don't know that

much so the the you know the the learning curve is far lower on a pellet cooker i wish i'd had one when i got started you know i had to learn fire management like at first and most people don't know fire management and then you have those you know the people that say if you're not using a stick burner that's a microwave and most of those people don't even know fire management. And then you have those, you know, the people that say, if you're not using a stick burner, that's a microwave. And most of those people don't even know fire management for their stick burner because I've ate some of their food too. And it's, you know, it's trash. So if you don't know fire management or you don't want to learn fire management, I would say, get you, get you a pellet cooker, whatever you want. There's a bunch of them out there. And if that's your entry point, use it.

Learn it. And then if you – because once you move to a stick burner, it's more hands-on. Now you have to run it, and now you have to understand the difference between lump charcoal, the difference between barbecue briquettes, the difference in wood. And most people say, well, you know, my buddy Timmy chopped down a tree. No, you've got to know what wood you can use, what wood you can't use. And even if your buddy Timmy chopped down a tree and you've got all the free pecan you want,

there's another question that 99.999% of all stick burners out there have no clue about. What's the moisture content of the wood? I like to use between, I really don't like to go below 11, but 11 to 14. If I can hang around 12 to 13, that's, you know, but that's what I like to use. Yeah, doesn't burn too fast, doesn's what i like to use yeah burn too fast doesn't burn too slow burn too fast doesn't burn too slow so in my mind uh which is better i would say whatever you want to do to get your barbecue going all right you hear you heard it here folks only on the radcast cook it how you want it i've got a traeger at the lake so i use it but

it's because the lake i gotta it's got to be quick and efficient you know but i grew up around both the uh wood fired way and the traeger way but now it's pretty damn convenient on the traeger i gotta admit well and and and here's what they don't get credit for. They have almost single-handedly exploded the barbecue industry here in America. High tide raises all ships. Yep, exactly. What's your process for development? what's your process for development?

I mean, I've heard now we've brought the full arsenal out of rubs and sauces and wings and accessories, so maybe focusing more on the food side of it. I'm sure you've got it down to a science now, but what is that journey? You just have a process for developing new ideas. Usually I'm sitting around drinking. What are we drinking? Jack.

All right. There we go. I'm a buddy guy myself. Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah. You should come out to Club Cosmo. Oh, yeah. When I get to Oklahoma, I'm coming to Cosmo's house.

Oh, yeah, for sure. But usually I'm sitting around, and I'm sitting there going, like I have a thought in my head, and then I always try to say it to somebody to see how they react. And if they look at me and go, you know, eh, you know. But if they look at me and they go, how the hell did you think of that? Then I go, okay, I'm on to something. Because most people don't realize it's so true in life.

You know, humans are nothing but an animal that you can stop with the shiny thing. And barbecue competition, that's what you want. You want them to take one bite and stop for a second and go, what was that? And the same way in the ad industry. You want them to stop and go, what was that? Well, in the same way, when I, when I, when I ask somebody a question, I'm looking for to stop you and intrigue your mind and you'll, what the heck is that? That's usually how I do it. I will say the majority of the time it's products for me.

Like, I don't know if you can see this. I can't see it. Like, this is one that is not on the market. But I was sitting around and I was like, man, I sure would like some Hot Cheetos wings. So I made some Hot Cheetos wing dust. What goes in hot Cheetos wing dust besides crumbled up Cheetos? There's a lot of cheese, a lot of buttermilk, a couple spices, a little bit of zip, you know?

Yeah. A little bit of heat. Okay. But that's of heat. Okay. But that's how I do it. That's the crazy thing is like I'll sit around and go, man, I want Hot Cheetos wings. So I'll make it and go cook Hot Cheetos wings. But I always sit there and I go, can I fool you?

Can I fool you in the thinking that this is really made with Hot Cheetos? Right. You know, and I'm just using that as an example. And that's when I know if I can fool you, then I'm sitting there going, okay, what else can I do with hot Cheetos wing dust? Can I put it on barbecue chips? Can I put it on popcorn? it on barbecue chips can i put it on popcorn you know can i put it on you know on a quesadilla you know that's that's how my mind thinks oh yeah multi-purpose i like it i want some hot

wing cheetos dust come on man on on uh i didn't even hit the market yet you know is it gonna hit the market uh yeah at some point i can't not i mean obviously i can't call it you know hot cheetos you know i can't you know because you know and i don't want to i'm a firm like i don't want to step on anybody's toes. But, yeah. Spicy, crunchy thing. Yeah, spicy, crunchy thing that looks like a belly club. So from the brain of Cosmo to your table. It's not farm to table, friends.

It's from Cosmo's brain to your table. That's's the process there's a lot of room in my my head dude it baffles around in there for a while what's um where you want to take all this man i mean you know you cross right at crossing over 50 million total in sales growing new accessories like What's the vision? The vision for me is I want Cosmos Q to be widely sought after by every barbecue fanatic worldwide. And it's not that I need you to buy the product. It's the knowledge behind it. I want to empower people to make great barbecue.

Because I will say this. Mostly men, it's shocking how many men go, oh, no, I can't do that. I'm like, what the hell? Why can't you? I don't know how to do that. Well, I didn't either. But if you could watch a couple videos you know

and I could show you would you do it well yeah but I don't know if I can still do it so I need to break down that wall you can do this you know even if it's a hot dog start there we're empowering

people worldwide to barbecue that's what i just heard is uh what's the accessory road i mean you ever gonna develop your own grill um i don't i don't like saying never um i don't have any desire for that. Just for the supply chain. Yeah, right. It gets a little hairy. Right. And then just the space they make up.

It would have to be, I would have to have a strategic partner. Using the brand or something. Yeah. I love it, man. You're all in Oklahoma? Yep. Yep. Well, we have some remote positions

stretched out around the country. Yep. Where can people find all your stuff besides Cosmosq.com um we are in ace hardware we have some products in amazon shields buckies i don't know if you ever been to bucky oh yeah buckies oh man that's bucky's a vibe and of itself. You can obviously find us on CosmosQ.com K-O-S-M-O-S-Q.com

Did I say Amazon? Yep. You can find us on Amazon. Search for CosmosQ. If you want to find somebody close to you, on our website up in the top right hand corner, we have a store finder. So it'll tell you the closest outlet to you.

Hey, man, I've enjoyed this. Well, thank you, man. Me too. I want to stay in touch, and I've got to get me some Cosmos Q now. I'm going to send you something. I'm going to give you my email. You shoot me an email and I got you. I'll take care of you.

Cool, man. Where can everybody find you on social media? Besides just search for Cosmos Q. Cosmos Q, you can find us Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and shit. That's all the ones I don't know.

You've got them all covered. That's cool, man. I've really enjoyed it. Hey, guys, you know where to find us. We're at theradcast.com. You can search for Cosmo, K-O-S-M-O. You'll find all the highlight clips from today, even that Cheetos dust that's hidden behind the desk that nobody knows about.

We'll show you some highlights from that. You know where I'm at, at Ryan Alford on Verified on all the platforms. Go follow me on TikTok. I'm blowing up. We'll see you next time on Radcast.