Dan-O’s Rides ‘Rocket Ship’ From Flea Market to Walmart in 5 Years

When Dan Oliver says “Yum yum, get ya some” these days it makes a big splash.

That’s because the signature social media sign-off of  the founder of Dan-O’s Seasoning is now seen by nearly 3 million followers on TikTok, plus several million more on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest and elsewhere.

While some of those hungry browsers will go straight to his website to purchase whichever variety of Dan-O’s Seasoning piqued their appetite, even more will go to the closest Walmart or Kroger or several dozen other national retail chains that now stock his growing line of spices.

It’s a rapid sales success story that even the founder still has a hard time getting his head around today, as his company went from flea markets in Louisville to end caps in thousands of local stores in under five years.

“June 1, 2017 I did my first flea market,” Oliver said in a recent conversation with PYMNTS Editor-in-Chief Matt Nesto, in which the former bartender explained how he would travel around to fairs and festivals selling his seasoning and that everything was just getting rolling when COVID hit.

“Fast forward to March 2020 and that’s when I had to pivot because everything changed,” he said. “Instead of me doing flea markets and traveling it was like, ‘OK, what are you going to do now that you can’t do that?’” he added, noting how this moment of crisis became his biggest and best opportunity to take his brand to the masses.

“So, I totally pivoted over to social media, TikTok, and making three or four videos a day and then you know, it just took off like a rocket ship,” Oliver said, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Staying Connected

While the multi-million-dollar Dan-O’s of 2022 is a far cry from the “$8,000 and a backpack” that Oliver started the company with, he says the key to success is staying connected with his customers.

“The cool thing about social media — TikTok, YouTube and whatnot — is that it’s still kind of the same thing,” he said. “I’m not actually handing [a sample] to you on a toothpick but I still get to connect with people.”

How connected?

Well, in the past week alone, his last 10 recipe video clips have been viewed more than 6.5 million times — and that’s only on TikTok.

Today, Oliver’s warm Kentucky style and passion for food have made him a celebrity chef of sorts, and even spawned a branded line of hats, T-shirts and accessories, in addition to sports sponsorships and other appearances all aimed at spreading the word about his new line of spices.

“I was kind of like, ‘Wow, why didn’t I do this three years ago instead of all this hard work?’” Oliver said in reflecting on his conversion. “It’s still a lot of hard work, but the social media strategy was the way to just really explode.”

And by explode, he said, what got the Walmarts and the Krogers of the world really interested was the fact that Dan-O’s had all this engagement “with sales just going through the roof” and everybody asking where they could get it since not everyone wanted to buy online.

Still Growing

As big as Dan-O’s has become in such a short time, Oliver says he’s only scratched the surface yet of the total seasoning market that’s out there and still has big plans to grow, hire and add new products, like the newly launched Everything Bagel spice which marked the brand’s fourth flavor in its budding line.

The tricky part, of course, is to capture the growth and budding interest but not stray from the origins and ethos of the guy at the flea market.

“We have some core fundamentals here at Dan-O’s that we always want to maintain,” said Tony Meadors, the company’s new VP of procurement and product development, including the commitment to natural, low-sodium, no-sugar products.

“Where can we pivot off of that flavor profile into a new space but still retain that flavor that we really, really want?” Meadors posited, noting that was how the idea to add Everything Bagel came to be, and how other entries will soon follow.

“So we continue to do that and we want to make sure that we still have that signature flavor profile that’s going across all of our products as we continue to grow be able to bring more options to the public as we go forward.”

While Oliver readily confesses that he’s “not the numbers guy,” he also says that his time and energy are best used doing what he does best — making social media content.

“The sky’s the limit,” he said. “I guess everybody’s got to eat, right? So, my market is everybody.”

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