The Hidden Costs of Turning a Hobby Into a Product-Based Business with Ryan Thompson
In this episode Ryan Thompson, founder of Astro Blends, unpacks the lessons and sacrifices behind building his seasoning line from scratch while balancing a full-time job, family life, and entrepreneurship. Ryan shares what inspired him to move from private dining to launching his own product-based business, how he learned to price his products correctly, and what it truly means to grow a small brand in today’s competitive market.
The Origin Story
When COVID-19 hit, caterers saw events canceled overnight. Private dining came to a halt. Watching small business seasonings boom during the pandemic, Ryan recognized an opportunity to reach more people with a product rather than being limited by event-based services.
From 15 Spices to Six Signature Blends
His all-purpose blend took about two years of trial and error testing, adding, and removing ingredients. "It started out with maybe 15 different spices and seasonings. I refined it down to I think it's now seven or eight, taking away things that I felt like, okay, this probably isn't going to do too much to the flavor."
The other five seasonings came more quickly because Ryan had mastered his process and developed a strong sense of taste and flavor memory.
The Pivot: Letting Go of Catering and Private Dining
In 2024, Ryan made the difficult decision to stop catering and private dining entirely to focus on Astro Blends. The decision came down to several factors:
Burnout: "I was tired. In all seriousness, it was a tough decision to make and it was one that I spent majority of 2024 debating."
Loss of momentum: Despite booming in 2019 with multiple events every weekend (sometimes working until 3 AM, then driving two hours to another event), Ryan never regained that momentum post-pandemic.
Family priorities: "My kids are getting older now. They have activities that I wanna be a part of. My parents were active in my life, so I wanna be active in my kids' life as well."
Recognition of the end goal: "Catering was never the end goal. I don't like to lose, and I already knew that this was never the end goal."
The Reality of Service-Based Business
Ryan shares the harsh realities of the catering industry:
Client expectations: Post-pandemic, clients had different mentalities: not wanting to pay fairly or constantly changing requirements without understanding cost implications.
Physical toll: "Working an event, you're going on hour 12 of work, but technically based on the contract, it's only hour six or seven. Having to do that continuously takes a lot, especially when you got a family."
The one-person problem: Clients wanted Ryan specifically, not associates. "When I have to tell them that, well, no, you're not gonna get me, you're gonna get an associate—they're like, 'Well, I don't know this person.'"
The Breaking Point
Ryan describes walking out of an event where clients kept adding last-minute changes beyond the contract. "If we prepared an event for egg rolls, you can't just come to us and say, 'Well, we don't wanna do the egg rolls anymore.' You've already spent time, money prepping. I'm the type of businessman that if we have an agreement, we're gonna honor that agreement."
Marketing Strategies: What Actually Works
When asked about effective marketing strategies, Ryan is clear: for him, social media ads have outperformed email marketing for conversion rates.
"I've done the email marketing. People will open the emails, you'd be like, oh great, they read the email, but they didn't buy. When I run social media ads, it's totally different."
The Instagram-Ready Strategy
Ryan's approach stems from his restaurant industry experience during Instagram's food boom in 2014-2015. He told the young chef he worked with: "We gotta put this stuff out that's Instagram ready. We want people taking pictures of the food that when it sits down in front of them, it's Instagram ready."
Why it works: "People are impulse buyers, and they either are going to buy based off of smell, taste, or sight. If they see a product that looks good or they see the aftermath—the dishes—they're gonna be like, 'Oh, he made that with those seasonings.'"
Third-Party Platforms: Pros and Cons
Ryan has experience with third-party marketplaces and learned valuable lessons about profit margins.
Direct sales profit margin: 70% profit, 30% cost of goods
Third-party platform profit margin: Dropped to just 10% profit
Why? Fees for ads, platform cuts, taxes, and shipping costs all eat into margins. "I went from making, potentially, let's just say $5 a bottle. I'm making 45 cents. I'm like, hold on, this math ain't mathing."
Would He Do It Again?
Yes, but differently. "I think I will get back to it maybe with a different approach now; maybe one or two seasonings so the costs have been readjusted. Understanding your cost of goods is key."
For future third-party platform success:
Pay for ads to move product
Start with limited SKUs
Price appropriately for platform fees
Build social media presence simultaneously for credibility
Key Takeaways
For aspiring food entrepreneurs:
Take time developing your product—quality matters
Social media ads outperform email for conversion
Understand profit margins before using third-party platforms
Protect your recipes and brand identity
Don't sacrifice family and health for business growth
On pivoting:
Recognize when something isn't the end goal
It's okay to let go of what's not working
Consider what you have capacity for in each season of life
Build businesses that can weather uncertainty
On branding:
Invest time in distinctive packaging and labels
Get honest feedback (even if it hurts)
Make sure branding matches product quality
Trademark your brand to protect your work
What's Next for Astro Blends
Long-term, Ryan wants mass distribution nationwide—grocery stores across the country. But he's learned to build strategically rather than rushing.
Visit Primo & Cruex to shop Astro Blends.
