Meet Loren Bass | Higher Education Professional & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Loren Bass and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Loren, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I look at risk as opportunities versus challenges. I’m not a very “play it safe” person because I enjoy experimenting and pushing myself to new levels, in both my career and entreprenurship. By viewing calculated risk as opportunities I can be creative with engaging with others, assessment, and creating various solutions to a problem. Weighing the opportunities against the challenges is usually in reference to time, money, location, or all three.

Risk has played a major role in my life, it’s a reason that I believe I am so resilient. I don’t fear failure and it allows me to experiment with risks from an adventure perspective. Failure is only an opportunity to learn a new lesson rather than a measure of success, for me.

What should our readers know about your business?
LB’s Chili Bar started a a chili only business in 2019, simply because my friends wanted me to make them chili in the summer and I always viewed chili as a cold-weather dish. When people are willing to pay, I am willing to cook: demand and supply. It also just made me feel valued that they wanted something that I created.

I’m most proud of my 2020 sause tasting event. It was a private event, but it allowed me to run wild with ideas for the future. An extensive menu created ideas for future events, a food truck as well as a brick and motar location. Immediately, the event gave me content to discuss with customers at farmers markets which have been my bread and butter income avenue. I am excited to rebuild my brand since it began to boom in Chattanooga, TN, but my full-time career impacted my location and now I am in Florida.

I found the most success in Chattanooga, but it’s because I was living there for about two years so it provided time to grow a clintel. With each move, I have to assess my target aduience and what transitions are happening in the market. Inflation has mad a big impact, not everyone desires to spend money on items that are not essential during a recession so online sales have not been strongas of late. It hasn’t been easy keeping the business going, I have closed online sales seveal times due to lack of shipping supplies and just moving a lot. Also, shipping wholeslae orders cost me more than I made so I had to evaluate that it wasn’t the right time for shipping larger orders.

It was a great experience to have several features: Master P Reviews (YouTube), a news feature in Chattanooga, as well as a food video by Tabitha Brown using my sauce in a vegan dish.

My biggest lesson so far is sale as a pace that aligns with consumer demand. Don’t move too fast because sitting inventory on’t profit until it sells. I listen to Earn Your Leisure podcast and sometimes the business can feel more like a liability than an asset if I am trying to move at someone else’s pace. I have to be strategic with no only identifying my audience, but also being avaiable to the audience that wants the product. My career impacted that many times, which led to me needing to pull back to assess things.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I miss Chattanooga, TN, I would have a lot to say about that area, but now that I am in central Florida, the week would consists of:

Sunday Church at Live Church then brunch at Maya Cafe Lunge followed by visitng Cranes Roost park for a evening walk in Altemonte

I don’t do much on weekdays, it’s pretty chill after work. We would have wine and watch Bones or Castle on tv and stay in. If we stepped out it would be something light like Top Golf in Orlando (food, fun, and drinks).

Friday evening would be great to relax at the Daytona Beach and enjoy the sunset, breeze, and wind down from the week.

Saturday farmers market in Sandford on a Saturday morning then brunch at the Stubborn Mule or wine tasting at Lakeride winery & vineyards and bowling.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to shoutout my friends who have been great support through the journey. Shunterria and Osbelkis has spent time at events with me engaging with clients and making sales; Janiece was an official tast tester from the start of the chili to the transition of the sauces. Katorah has provided great feedback on marketing and label design. Whitley and Kieya have been amazing with ideas and feedback. Anthony has helped with marketing to his network and pushing the brand. Ricardo, Shyilik, Kara, Chris, and Fiki gave awesome feedback on product flavors and meal ideas. Cortez was astounding with supporting on the accounting and financial projections as I looked to scale over time. Chantia did her thang in the kitcen as my chef for the sauce tasting.

My family has also been great with promoting the product to their networks to help with scaling.

I really have an amazing support system.

Website: www.lbschilibar.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/lbschilibar

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lorenbass

Twitter: www.twitter.com/lorenbass

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lbschilibar

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW5CEx41EQS5qPlPUxlaEaw