Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Extreme Ownership in Action: JR Rodriguez's Path from Maintenance to Plant Management | Manufacturing Series

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Extreme Ownership in Action: JR Rodriguez's Path from Maintenance to Plant Management | Manufacturing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:18
today's guest is Jr. Rodriguez, the assistant plant
0:22
manager at HB Speciality Foods. This company is committed to
0:26
delivering superior food solutions for the future,
0:29
offering services across food processing and supply chain
0:33
management. Their facilities have earned top
0:36
safety ratings and they continue to grow through innovation and a
0:40
focus on high quality standards. Jose has an extensive background
0:45
in food production, manufacturing and maintenance.
0:49
He graduated Magna cum Laude with an Associate of Applied
0:53
Science from the College of Western Idaho, specializing in
0:57
welding and metal fabrication. Before joining HB Specialty
1:01
Foods in 2022, he held leadership roles at Fresca
1:06
Mexican Foods and gained hands on experience in fabrication and
1:10
maintenance. Today, he uses this expertise to
1:13
maintain high production standards and Dr. efficiency at
1:18
HB. He's also dedicated to improving
1:20
processes and delivering quality results.
1:23
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1:56
All right, back to our guest today, the Assistant plant
1:59
Manager, HB Specialty Foods, Jr. Rodriguez.
2:02
I appreciate you making the time to Share your story today.
2:05
Thank you, Sir. So Jr., you earned a degree in
2:09
welding and metal fabrication, and then, as I understand it,
2:14
you applied those skills at Mike's Metal Fab and United
2:18
Metals Recycling for a few years.
2:21
I'm curious what first drew you into the field of welding?
2:25
So actually back in high school I did some welding shop classes.
2:32
It really kind of appealed to me.
2:34
I find welding in general to be very calming for me.
2:40
Just being under a hood, kind of staring into a puddle, doing
2:44
some things. I also, as we spoke about a
2:46
little bit before, my dad was a very hard working guy.
2:51
So I was very driven to kind of do something with my hands and
2:57
and be able to to create something from from nothing.
3:03
I'm curious about say more about the sort of the how you find
3:08
welding to be soothing. Is it sort of just this like
3:11
total focus, like kind of shutting out the rest of the
3:14
world and like, I'm right here? Yeah, it it, it definitely for
3:20
me is is able to kind of get me to hyper focus on on the moment,
3:25
kind of what I'm doing and kind of drown everything out and and
3:29
it's almost peaceful for me. Yeah, that's interesting.
3:34
I interviewed somebody a few weeks back that worked in works
3:38
in the asphalt industry and he explained sort of the not the
3:45
process that they do on the road with laying the asphalt, but
3:48
what they do inside of the factory as something very
3:52
similar. He he finds himself and a lot of
3:56
his Co workers find themselves in this zone of just like
4:00
complete and total focus on what they're doing and they're
4:03
working so hard, but at the end of the 8/10/12 hour shift they
4:07
feel amazing. Is it kind of similar for you?
4:10
Very similar, very similar. So that's kind of why I was
4:15
drawn to the maintenance side of things.
4:16
It's because I have kind of just working with equipment.
4:19
It's kind of the same hyper focus trying to figure something
4:22
out. And I was going to ask, you
4:24
know, how did that transition from welding to food
4:28
manufacturing first come about? So I was at a company doing some
4:34
general maintenance on heavy equipment and was not
4:41
necessarily in a field that I enjoyed very much.
4:44
I just kind of started looking. This position kind of came open.
4:47
So I decided to apply and I was very intrigued by it because
4:53
actually growing up, my dad worked at the tortilla factory
4:55
and for us, the Mexican food, they make tortillas.
4:57
So I kind of had a background in tortillas and understood the
5:00
process, understood some of the equipment and thought, you know,
5:03
I could probably do a pretty good job here.
5:06
So I applied and and and did maintenance there for for quite
5:09
a while before we kind of transitioned into other need.
5:13
And how did the opportunity specifically at HB Specialty
5:17
Foods, happen? So I happened to meet a really
5:22
good gentleman by the name of David Kleiss at Fresca, who for
5:28
all intensive purposes, one of my mentors.
5:30
The guy is amazing. I've kind of learned a lot from
5:33
him. He started not long after I did
5:38
at Fresca and we kind of, you know, grew a pretty good bond.
5:43
He was able to kind of see something in me to help me
5:46
transition into kind of some of the leadership stuff at Fresca.
5:50
And then he decided to leave for other opportunities and ended up
5:53
here, which was a company he had worked at previously.
5:58
You know, Long story short, he decided to, you know, go
6:01
elsewhere and, and move out of state and, you know, basically
6:06
recruited me out of Fresca over here and, and sold me on the
6:12
company and the people and, and kind of the, the culture.
6:15
Here. And what had you been doing
6:17
specifically of Fresca before you made the move?
6:19
So, you know, at the end of my kind of tenure there, I was
6:25
basically the title was plant manager, but I was essentially a
6:28
production manager for kind of day shift operations, running
6:32
everything on the production side of things.
6:34
You know, looking at day-to-day operations, hiring, firing, kind
6:37
of all the stuff that leaders do day in, day out, making sure
6:41
that things are optimized, making sure that, you know,
6:43
numbers are good and that people are happy.
6:46
And what was it about HB that you were sort of hooked on?
6:51
You know, the culture here is very, it's very family oriented.
6:58
The, the, the key difference for me between kind of what I was
7:01
doing, what I am doing is, is I'm able to focus more on my
7:06
family, even though I'm in the similar position here where I, I
7:13
do a lot of the day-to-day and deal with a lot of the
7:15
operations. But at Fresca it was very, I was
7:19
never kind of in the moment, even when I was at home because
7:21
I was always worried about work and it takes, it takes a toll on
7:26
you. You know, I was working a lot of
7:27
hours. I was, I was starting to see
7:29
some, you know, health things from it and decided that it was
7:32
time to make a change because I wanted to be there.
7:34
You know, I, I, I look back and I can say that I don't really
7:38
remember my kids being Uber little because I was working so
7:42
much. So I kind of missed out on them
7:44
being babies and some of those things.
7:47
So I craved that. I, I wanted to be somewhere
7:49
where I could, you know, focus on home as much as I focus on
7:51
work. They'll be able to feel like I'm
7:53
accomplishing work. And that's essentially what what
7:58
sold me on this was, you know, when, when we initially talked,
8:02
he said, you know, it's not going to be, yeah, you know, the
8:05
9000 hours a week that you're working right now.
8:07
You're going to be able to kind of, you know, we got a good team
8:09
in place. Everybody kind of knows what,
8:13
what, what they, what they need to do.
8:15
Everybody handles their position.
8:17
And you guys are all just kind of trying to build towards
8:19
something better. And you'll be able to have that
8:21
that family time that you're you're missing.
8:24
That's really cool. Explain to us what maybe first a
8:29
little bit of the history of HB and then what it is that you
8:34
guys are doing there today? So they've been around since
8:38
1994. You know, we just celebrated our
8:43
our 30th anniversary last year. The original owner is still, you
8:48
know, with the company he developed one of the first
8:52
voting systems for French bread. A lot of people don't know that
8:57
there are certain things that go on French fries when they're
9:00
mass produced to keep them crispy and not kind of going bad
9:03
and some of those things. So he developed that back in the
9:06
night and then. Funding that gets applied.
9:09
To the yeah, like, like, like a like a just a clear coating that
9:12
kind of sprays on French fries like a bad.
9:16
And then just kind of from that develop, you know, to where we
9:19
at are at today. You know, we're a company now
9:22
that, that we still, you know, our, our our big kind of driving
9:28
force right now is still the potato industry.
9:30
We still do a lot of coatings and things for fries.
9:33
You know, if you've ever had a French fry, I'm sure you've
9:35
probably had one of our coatings.
9:39
We do, you know, panko bread for various companies to put on, you
9:49
know, protein such as fish and chicken and some of those
9:51
things, you know, various batters for appetizers and
9:54
things. We're, we're, we're essentially
9:57
an ingredient company for, for other final processing.
10:01
But you know, a lot of our coatings won't allow the food
10:05
that people eat. So that's what you guys are
10:07
known for is, is coatings like food coatings.
10:11
And so you're not the one that's applying the coating to the
10:16
potatoes or the French fries. You're the one that's selling
10:18
the coating to the company that applies, OK?
10:21
They apply it to their own foods.
10:23
And so I don't know if it's trade secret, but like what is
10:27
in a typical potato coating that helps to keep it fresh?
10:33
You know, it's various things. You know, there's flowers and
10:36
starches and things. I mean it's nothing too too
10:39
crazy, but can't give away all of our secrets.
10:41
Fair enough. All right.
10:43
I I had to ask though. I.
10:44
Had to ask. Right, Right.
10:45
Absolutely, Absolutely. So clearly there, you know, I'm
10:49
guessing you guys have got competitors in this space, but
10:51
what's what sets you apart from that?
10:53
What do you guys do that's different and special?
10:55
You know, we are extremely relationship group.
11:01
We really try and maintain good relationships with everyone we
11:05
work with. We try and make sure that they
11:09
are that we are adding value to what we are trying to, to sell
11:13
them. I mean, we're not just selling
11:15
them a product. We are going from, you know,
11:18
development all the way through final process.
11:21
You know, we're bending over backwards to ensure that that
11:24
they have what they need when they need it.
11:26
Sometimes it creates a little stress on our end, but we do
11:30
everything in our power to ensure that the customer is our
11:32
main book. And I don't want you to give me
11:36
any customer names, but I'm curious to understand sort of
11:39
the profile of your customer. Would it be like a McDonald's or
11:44
Burger King, like a fast food restaurant?
11:46
Would it be like the bags of frozen French fry companies that
11:49
you know I buy in the freezer section?
11:51
So, so kind of all of that under the sun, we kind of do a little
11:54
bit of all. OK.
11:57
And what are some examples of other types of coatings you
11:59
mentioned sort of the panko we got the French fry coatings?
12:03
Like, yeah, you know, we do. We we do some batters that go
12:06
on, you know, proteins and things different kind of chicken
12:12
batters that end up on, on certain, you know, fast food
12:17
type chicken sandwiches and things.
12:21
You know, HP Specialty Foods emphasizes superior solutions
12:26
for the future of food. Kind of curious from your
12:29
operations perspective, what unique or innovative processes
12:36
as the company spearheading to kind of stay ahead of those
12:38
industry demands? You know, we're constantly
12:41
looking at innovation, we're looking at new product lines,
12:44
new things that are kind of coming down industry wide to
12:49
ensure that we have whatever solution is needed for the
12:52
customer coming up. You know, recently we've got
12:56
some big projects going on at some of our other sites to kind
12:58
of move our business a little bit in a direction that is more
13:01
in line with what our customers are needing as opposed to what
13:06
we're currently doing. But you know, we're, we're
13:09
constantly looking at what we can do to add value, like I said
13:14
to to our customers. Can you say more about the types
13:19
of things that you're moving towards that the customers are
13:23
asking for? You know, just various, you
13:27
know, we're, we're looking at things like obviously a lot of
13:32
the foods that we we are currently producing and battered
13:34
that we're currently producing are fried.
13:36
We've moved away from, you know, we've tried to innovate and do
13:39
some things so that people are able to air fry and do some of
13:41
those things. There are.
13:45
We're looking at, you know, kind of the trends in removing gluten
13:52
from some of our products, making sure that we're able to
13:55
stay up with the some of the organic things that are going
13:58
on, trying to make things a little bit healthier while kind
14:01
of staying in our in our space. That has to be difficult.
14:04
I mean, if your recipes are formulated, you know, to have
14:08
wheat and gluten based products in them, you know, that's an
14:12
important component. I don't understand food science
14:14
that well, but to be able to kind of like hold everything
14:18
together and then to reformulate, you know, and take
14:21
it like that really important component out.
14:24
It's got to take, I would guess, a lot of R&D.
14:26
It does, it does. And we've got a really good R&D
14:29
team here that that is constantly, you know, tweaking
14:32
and and working on things to to ensure that, that it still
14:37
tastes good. Yeah, well, that's the most
14:39
important part. Right, right.
14:41
Right. You can get somebody to buy
14:42
something once, but if you want them coming back, you want that
14:45
repeat business, it's got to taste good the first time.
14:49
Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And so I, I'm curious if sort of
14:54
the, the cross operational experiences that you've had are
15:00
coming in handy at HB, you know, kind of your background and
15:04
welding has, you know, some of the lessons from that been
15:07
helpful and the things that you're doing now there at HB.
15:11
It definitely does. It definitely gives me a
15:13
different perspective when kind of looking at the way we
15:17
function operationally. I'm very driven by making sure
15:20
that equipment is running efficiently and well.
15:23
We're constantly looking to make sure that we are not throwing
15:29
money at something that isn't worth, you know, kind of keeping
15:34
running at some points. I think it helps just having
15:38
that, that mechanical kind of background to look at things a
15:42
little bit different. You know, I, I've worked with a
15:43
lot of operations guys that are always kind of looking at, at
15:46
the number and, and, and the final product count, but not
15:49
kind of realizing what it takes to kind of keep all those
15:51
numbers where they're at. So is that also part of your job
15:57
responsibility kind of looking at those numbers you, you know,
16:00
driving to the PNL? I, I, I, I try and keep up with,
16:05
you know, all of our product throughputs, our efficiencies,
16:11
you know, I'm always trying to look at things to ensure that I
16:14
do carry a recently received a Six Sigma Greenbelt lead.
16:20
And so I'm, I'm looking at, you know, continuous improvement
16:23
constantly. That's impressive.
16:26
Congratulations. And you mentioned working on or
16:34
towards organic certification, are you?
16:37
Guys, we, we are certified. We've got, we've got a lot of
16:42
products that are certified organic already.
16:44
And are you able to do those all under the same roof?
16:47
I'm not sure how the rules work. Or do you need a separate
16:50
production line for that? So for our gluten free side of
16:55
the business that is totally separate production line,
16:58
separate building to keep everything segregated.
17:00
You know, on the on the certified organic stuff, we
17:06
generally have some really deep cleans that we do and, and make
17:09
sure that nothing is crossed and terminated and we've got a lot
17:12
of checks and balances in place to make sure first date.
17:15
Yeah, how many folks report to You Jr.
17:20
Oh, I mean I like to say 6th, but when you're talking the full
17:24
plant we're we're closer to about 150 in operation.
17:28
OK. You guys have one facility?
17:31
We've got facilities in Nampa, ID, we've got a facility in
17:36
Cookeville, TN and we've got a facility in Bullitt.
17:38
And which one is it that you're responsible?
17:40
For I'm in Nampa. OK.
17:44
Which Nampa is also the site of our kind of corporate
17:47
headquarters. And you say 6, but really 150,
17:51
so is that sort of six and then those six oversee kind of even
17:56
more folks, OK, right, right. And so the the folks that report
18:01
to you, what are their roles? So it's three production
18:07
managers, a QC manager, we have a warehouse manager.
18:14
OK, let's see. Are there any books, podcasts,
18:23
or other resources that have been helpful for you, either in
18:27
personal development or career development that you might
18:30
recommend to other folks? So many, so many.
18:33
I could, I could, I could have a list.
18:35
I, I'm a big reader. So, you know, at the top of my
18:38
head, I would say 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by
18:42
Stephen Covet is, is probably my top tier favorite.
18:49
You know, extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin is
18:53
a really good one, followed up by Doc.
18:58
It's essentially like the title says, learning to take ownership
19:04
over everything that you have control over and some things
19:06
that even you don't control. Being able to kind of humble
19:09
yourself enough to know that, you know, if your team fails,
19:12
you being able to, to really just command and on what you
19:21
should. I think what gets lost a lot of
19:25
times with with with all of us, myself included, sometimes is,
19:29
is we have a tendency to when things go bad, we forget that
19:33
we're we're ultimately responsible for those things
19:36
because we haven't either given polls, given the feedback
19:41
necessary or we haven't followed through with the.
19:47
So just it, it for me, it was a really kind of eye opening book.
19:51
It it's also centered around, you know, kind of they were both
19:56
Navy Seals. So it's a lot of, you know, kind
20:00
of how it applies in the military, how it applies in the
20:02
real world and some real life scenarios and things in
20:05
business. It's a great, it's a great book
20:08
and. Then you were starting to
20:09
mention another one in there before I jumped in.
20:11
Oh yeah, they, they, they also wrote one a follow up to that
20:14
called dichotomy of leadership, which is, which is another
20:17
fantastic kind of view of of kind of the two sides that you
20:23
got to be when you're, when you're a high level leader, you
20:25
know, you have to be the bad guy, but you can't be so bad
20:27
and. So what's it like for you when
20:31
you have to be the bad guy? How do?
20:33
You appreciate that, you know, I, I just try to be as
20:37
respectful as possible and and you know, I, I, I want to top
20:40
facts. I don't, I don't see it as, I
20:44
don't try to ever look at it as completely negative.
20:47
I'm trying to offer feedback to get somebody to be as successful
20:50
as they can. You know, not everyone accepts
20:53
that feedback all the time. And ultimately people do not
20:55
succeed always. But for me, it's, it's always an
20:59
opportunity for me to, to kind of talk to somebody and learn,
21:03
get, have them learn, you know, exactly where they stand.
21:07
Again, I think on the extreme ownership side, on the extreme
21:12
ownership side, you do have to owe them both the good and the
21:15
bad. So myself included, if, if
21:18
somebody's offering me feedback and it's not something that I
21:20
want to hear, I'm not going to be happy about it.
21:21
But I I respect it enough to to understand that that is their
21:26
belief and sometimes that that is on me to change that belief.
21:31
You know, and I think this is actually a good point to kind of
21:33
do a little segue on because, yeah, getting that sort of
21:37
constructive or even critical feedback isn't always easy to
21:41
hear. But when we're able to drop our
21:45
guard and not be so defensive about it, it can be an
21:48
incredible opportunity for growth.
21:50
Can you think of a time in your working past where that came up,
21:57
somebody came to you with some feedback, that man, was it what
22:01
you wanted to hear? But you look back now and you're
22:03
pretty grateful for it. Wow, that's a, that's a great
22:08
question. You know, I think there have
22:11
been a few times in my career when, when I have been offered
22:13
some feedback, when I was pretty defensive in the moment,
22:17
particularly actually I mentioned them earlier, David
22:20
Kleist, There was a time at Fresca when, you know, we, we
22:28
were talking career growth and path and things and, and, and he
22:32
frankly came up to me and said, well, you're not ready.
22:34
You know, it's not anything you want to hear.
22:39
I had pretty lofty goals at the time and aspirations and, and he
22:43
was straight and I, you know, I respect him for that.
22:45
He was that's, that is a very difficult thing to tell
22:48
somebody, you know, when, especially when you don't know
22:52
how that person's going to react.
22:54
But you know, I look back on it now and I think that was kind of
22:58
a, an even greater motivator for me to, to get ready and to, to
23:02
work on the things that that I would lack.
23:06
Did he give you specific feedback on H&R?
23:09
Kind of need to work on XYZ he. He, he did, he, he, he was
23:12
really, you know, transparent and you know, my strength and
23:17
both, you know, my weakness at the time I was, I was still kind
23:19
of hot headed and, and to his point, didn't always accept
23:25
feedback very well, which is something that I've worked on
23:30
since. You know, I, I, I try to always
23:32
keep an open mind because as he put it to me, then you know it,
23:37
you don't see it, but other people do.
23:40
And that generally is, is bigger than what you think.
23:44
I mean perception is is unfortunately the reality of of
23:48
most situations. That's a good way to put it.
23:51
Perception is the reality for for most situation in most
23:54
people. How I'm curious, how did you go
23:57
about kind of working on some of those things?
24:00
What did that personal development look like for you?
24:02
You know, I started kind of humbling myself and, and
24:07
swallowing my ego. I, I, I have a tendency to be a
24:14
very prideful person and kind of just kind of pushing some of
24:20
that aside. I also started doing a lot of,
24:23
you know, reading and, and things to, to kind of look at
24:26
some different perspectives and, and see what I could, could
24:32
learn from people that are a lot smarter than I am.
24:36
But it's really the key, right, Is admitting that there are
24:39
other folks out there that we've got a lot to learn from where,
24:44
where does your drive and your work ethic come from?
24:47
Because you know, I can, I can see sort of the, you know, the
24:50
trajectory of all of this. It's like, you know, I had lofty
24:54
goals. I, you know, I wanted to get
24:55
somewhere, you know, I wanted to get there quickly.
24:59
You know, you've, you've got, you know, some get up and go in
25:02
you, is that something you feel like you were just born with?
25:04
Was it learned along the way? You know, my dad instilled that
25:11
in me when I was really, really little.
25:15
The one thing that that I can say that I have learned more
25:18
than anything from my my dad and my mom both is you really
25:24
sometimes just need to grit your teeth down and and do the work.
25:28
You're not gonna nobody's gonna save you.
25:31
Nobody's here to to hold your hand.
25:34
You're going to work for everything that you're going to.
25:36
You're going to get in this life.
25:37
Do you want some big things? You're going to have to work.
25:43
Want to shift gears for a moment, Jr. and maybe talk about
25:46
a serious challenge that you've overcome in your life.
25:49
Maybe it's personal, maybe it's professional, maybe the two
25:53
intertwined. How'd you get through it and
25:55
what did you learn? I so full transparency, I was,
26:02
I'm pretty, I was pretty heavy into drugs in, in my younger
26:06
years. I'm a recovering addict, been
26:11
sober for, you know, 21 ish years.
26:15
It, it was some of the darkest times I think I've ever seen.
26:21
I look back on kind of the trajectory of, of what all that
26:26
did and some of the anger and things that I had.
26:28
You know, I could say that my parents were both kind of hard
26:33
nosed grit and worked. And I think as a as a younger,
26:38
younger guy, I didn't really fully appreciate what they were
26:41
trying to instill in me. So I kind of rebelled and, and
26:43
did some things that that I don't want to say that I'm not
26:48
proud of. I mean, nobody wants to be that.
26:50
But I, I have been able to turn the page and, and, and look back
26:54
and think to myself, you know, yeah, if I did that just Sky's
26:59
the limit. You know, I, I, I have to thank
27:03
my wife as well. I met my wife at a time when I
27:06
was kind of in the middle of the crossroads.
27:08
And, and to this day, I tell her that she saved my life.
27:11
She was able to kind of calm my, my thoughts and my, my kind of
27:19
wild side enough to, to see something in me that I didn't
27:23
see in myself. And that was kind of able to put
27:27
me in a place where where I was able to kind of deal with some
27:29
things that I needed to deal with just, you know, from call
27:34
it trauma, call it whatever, from just past experiences.
27:39
And I look back on it now and it is definitely, like I say,
27:42
probably the hardest thing I've ever done and overcome.
27:47
But truthfully, I didn't do it alone.
27:49
You know, I did it because of my parents.
27:51
I did it because of my wife. I did it, You know, I have a
27:56
huge support system, which kind of drives me is the, the, the
28:00
one thing that I have learned in this life is that everybody
28:02
needs somebody in their corner. It doesn't matter how strong a
28:07
person is. It doesn't matter, you know,
28:09
what the person has done. Everybody needs an advocate to
28:13
get to to be able to lean on at some point.
28:19
What an incredible story There. You met your now wife at a time
28:24
when, you know, you were still struggling to figure out which
28:27
way was up. And I mean, she sounds like a
28:30
real gem, you know, 'cause she. Oh, she's amazing.
28:33
She's amazing. We've been married.
28:35
It'll be 20 years next March and.
28:38
And she was she was a big part of your getting into recovery
28:41
and, and, and sort of tackling these demons it.
28:43
Sounds Oh yeah, Oh yeah. She's she's by far the the, the
28:48
one thing I can look at and daily and think, you know, I'm
28:52
blessed that you are in my life because if you were not, I may
28:55
not be here. Wow.
28:58
That's powerful. Have you been able to take any
29:04
of that? I mean, you made, what did you
29:06
say? Everybody needs somebody in
29:07
their corner, right? You went through this hard time.
29:11
Thankfully, you didn't have to go through it alone.
29:13
You had your wife, you had your parents.
29:15
Are you able to bring any of that sort of philosophy?
29:18
Everybody needs somebody in their corner to your work
29:20
environment. And and how you approach your
29:23
employees. Yeah, absolutely.
29:26
I'm very much now driven kind of that's that's kind of my drive.
29:30
And and I want to make sure that everybody around me I I want to
29:35
be the advocate for for anybody that I'm I'm working with
29:39
anybody that you know, I'm reporting to reports to me,
29:43
reports under me. I want to make sure that
29:45
everybody has that one person that they can, they can turn to
29:49
and, and help them accomplish whatever goal they have and
29:54
whether it's professional, you know, personal, whatever.
29:58
How how does that show up for you in a day-to-day basis?
30:02
You know, I again, just like my company, I'm very relationship
30:06
driven. I, I want, you know, I check in
30:08
constantly to see if we're, you know, how, how my guys are
30:12
doing, how the people on the floor are doing.
30:14
I am constantly making sure that you know my values line with
30:19
their goals so that we have a mutual kind of win, win attitude
30:25
when it comes to what we're trying to accomplish.
30:27
I ultimately know that for me to be successful, they have to be
30:32
successful and by person. So.
30:36
Are you a parent? You have got any kids?
30:37
I I am, I am. I have two little girls.
30:40
How old are they? So 10 and 9.
30:43
OK. How do you try to teach them
30:46
some of those, some of these lessons that need somebody in
30:49
your corner? The sort of the grit and the
30:51
determination? I'm very much the, I, you know,
31:00
I, I, I, I sometimes look at it, I think I'm a lot like my
31:03
parents were with me at times where I'm very kind of to the
31:07
point and, and I, I like to say that I'm a realist.
31:11
I, I, I don't try and sugarcoat things with them.
31:13
I try to be as honest with them as I can about kind of
31:16
everything under the sun that I can that's appropriate.
31:19
I mean, there's some things they ask me that I'm not ready to
31:21
have a conversation. And then I'm just, you know, try
31:27
to be as consistent as I can and spend as much time with them as
31:29
I can and know that regardless of what comes up, you know, it's
31:34
we're A-Team and we're going to get through whatever it takes.
31:37
All of them, not just. I'm someone who believes in the
31:41
power of daily practices. Do you have any habits or daily
31:45
rituals that you go through that are kind of an essential part of
31:49
your day? I I do I do I have a general
31:53
timeline. I'm a I'm a very much a a
31:55
creature of habit. I, you know, get up every
31:59
morning generally hit. We have a home gym that we've
32:04
we've started so you know, I'll hit the gym four or five in the
32:08
morning, work out for an hour or so get ready for my day.
32:15
We'll get here, kind of do some things here, but you know, my,
32:19
my, my drive is to be out on the floor, you know, within a couple
32:24
hours of getting here and just making sure that I see try and
32:26
say good morning to everybody that that I see.
32:30
Sometimes a good morning is all somebody needs to to have a
32:33
better day. You know, by the time I end my
32:37
day, I'll go home and and the first thing I do is just, you
32:42
know, go and make sure that my girls had a good day.
32:45
Kiss the wife or know that that I missed her.
32:48
And then we spend some time together and just kind of do the
32:52
family thing. You know, I'm, I'm guess I'm a
32:54
pretty, pretty normal guy. Just have my, my little quirks
32:59
on in, in things, you know, like I say, a, a mental timeline of
33:02
things getting done throughout my day just to make sure that
33:05
that I'm on track. If we were to talk a year from
33:11
now, Jr. and you're celebrating something, what would you hope
33:15
that is? I mean, I know I'll be
33:20
celebrating my 20th year anniversary with the wife.
33:24
That's the big one. It is, it is.
33:26
We've been looking, we've been looking for a while at it.
33:31
You know, originally there was a plan of us a baby having a big
33:35
wedding. We didn't have a wedding when we
33:38
got married. We just kind of eloped and there
33:42
had been talk about having a wedding.
33:45
I think that we've kind of both decided that, you know, kind of
33:49
everything that recently happened in our personal life
33:52
is, is maybe we're not going to do the the wedding per SE, but I
33:56
think we're going to definitely still look at what we're doing
33:58
about. Some kind of a celebration?
34:02
Yeah, Yeah. Do you want to give voice to
34:06
anything that you're referencing there?
34:08
Things that have happened recently.
34:12
You know, just as, as we, as we spoke earlier, you know, my mom
34:17
recently passed away from complications due to been a, a,
34:25
a hard, you know, month. Yeah, for a little.
34:30
I'm sorry to hear that, Jr. What What have you found has
34:34
given you strength? What have you been able to lean
34:36
on during this challenging time? You know, work was amazing.
34:43
They really allowed me to be there for my family.
34:49
You know, I had to leave. I'm kind of an emergency time
34:53
and moved out for a little bit. I mean, they didn't blink an
34:56
eye. My my, my team that I work with
35:02
has been a supportive and you know, my life an amazing.
35:10
We've got a really big support system that have been really
35:13
amazing and and helping. Yeah, that's terrific.
35:19
As you look back, what do you think was the best decision you
35:23
ever made for your career and why?
35:31
Honestly, going in, going back to school and getting my degree
35:34
in welding has been probably the the biggest godson.
35:37
I work, I work in a manufacturing plant making
35:42
windows for seven years previous to that.
35:44
And one day decided that I, I needed to do more.
35:50
So we kind of, you know, did the scary thing.
35:54
I quit work and, and went back to school and it's, it's been
35:58
great since. I mean it, it allowed me to kind
36:01
of hit every goal that I've kind of set for myself up to this
36:05
point. Any advice for folks that are
36:07
listening that there's something that they're afraid to do, sort
36:11
of take that big next step and the fear is just kind of
36:15
blocking them at the moment? Definitely.
36:25
At some point you definitely have to to face that fear head
36:28
on. As scary as it may be, you have
36:38
to find that guiding light to kind of get you through the, the
36:44
struggle and the hard time that, that you may face in the short
36:47
term. But ultimately the, the end of
36:52
the road, it's, it's everything that you, you, you hope it can
36:56
be. And, and most of the time, even
36:58
for me, it was, it was more than I thought.
37:01
It. Has been.
37:04
You're talking about courage. I know that innovation often
37:07
times requires a dose of courage.
37:09
Is there something maybe at HB or, or even before where you had
37:16
to kind of, you know, face fear and, and be a little bit
37:18
courageous to introduce an innovation into the workplace?
37:27
Yeah, I mean, I think here at HB, I've definitely been a
37:34
proponent of changing some things culture wise and just in
37:39
the way we do things day-to-day that that has it's been met
37:45
always with, with, you know, positive feedback and things.
37:49
But just being able to kind of put myself out there and and
37:55
speak up on the things that I feel that definitely.
37:59
Yeah, What's one thing that you wish more people understood
38:03
about your industry, Jr. What we do, we often, we often
38:11
times get asked, you know, what exactly do you guys do?
38:17
And, and you know, I, I try to give people that kind of high
38:20
level answer of, you know, we make batters and codings and
38:22
things. But there's, it's amazing to me
38:30
after working here, you know, the last two and a half, three
38:33
years, how much effort goes into everyday items that people take
38:42
for granted. My boys are going to eat some
38:47
chicken Nuggets tonight that probably have an ingredient that
38:51
you guys produce and and French fries with it too.
38:55
Almost certainly. Almost.
38:57
Certainly we never think about it.
38:58
It's just it's there in the bag. I have no idea how many people
39:02
or different companies got involved and, you know, making
39:05
that come into our freezer and into our our.
39:08
Dinner table, right, right. It's, it's, it's definitely eye
39:13
opening. It was eye opening for me, even
39:15
coming from, you know, a similar industry coming here and kind of
39:22
truly understanding what goes into everything that something
39:28
as simple as a coating, right? And you and you call it a simple
39:31
coating, but I mean, I, I know, but yeah, I, I know different.
39:35
I mean it it it takes it takes quite a bit.
39:37
Yeah. What's something you enjoy doing
39:39
outside of work? You know, I'm an outdoors guy.
39:43
I I like, you know, being up camping, fishing, hunting.
39:47
I haven't been hunting in a while, but I do really enjoy
39:49
being outdoors. Anything near water I love.
39:52
What do you like to hunt? You know, it's been a while, but
39:57
you know, bird, so we'll do duck hunting or pheasant is fun, no?
40:06
I just got one more question for you Jr.
40:07
But before I ask it, I want to do 2 things.
40:10
I want to invite everybody who's listening today to go ahead and
40:13
hit the follow button on their favorite podcast app so you can
40:17
continue to get more great interviews like we've had today
40:20
with Jr. Rodriguez from HB Specialty
40:23
Foods Jr. I also want to let people know
40:26
either the best way to get in touch with you or to follow your
40:29
story or that of HB Specialty Foods.
40:32
What would that be? You know, our websites a great
40:36
resource for what kind of what we're doing.
40:38
Definitely in the process of maybe doing some things there
40:42
to, to make it user friendly. There has been some high level
40:50
talks of, of doing some things to, to kind of really put a
40:55
better understanding of, of our process out there.
40:58
As far as myself, you know, I, I have a LinkedIn that people can
41:03
contact me on. I can't even remember the name
41:07
of it right now. I think it's like Jr.
41:08
Rodriguez, 81. We'll put a link to your
41:12
LinkedIn profile on the show notes and same for the company
41:16
website, which we'll also give voice to
41:18
nowhpspecialtyfoods.com. Last question I have for you Jr.
41:23
As you look to the future of HP Specialty Foods in the next,
41:27
call it two to three years, what are some of the most exciting
41:31
changes that you see coming? Oh, just so many, you know,
41:37
we're aggressively looking to to grow our business.
41:43
With a lot of that comes obviously a lot of major change,
41:47
new challenges that present themselves as some of those
41:51
growth headache kind of manifest.
41:54
And again, we're we're actively seeking new opportunities in our
42:00
space. So there will be new product
42:06
launches and and lines and things that that we're we're
42:09
working on. Any acquisitions that you think
42:12
might happen or is this going to all kind of happen ground up
42:15
internally? I think, I think a, a majority
42:18
of it is going to be ground up internally.
42:20
You know, we, we are looking at expanding our business in our,
42:23
in our current three sites. And then, you know, outside of
42:26
that, it just kind of depends on how the ball peaks roll.
42:29
Yeah, I don't know that this would apply in the role that
42:32
you're in, but a lot of my guests love to talk about how
42:36
they're dabbling in or using AI in some manner.
42:41
Has that hit your radar at all yet?
42:44
Very little. You know, we will use, you know,
42:49
some of the AI platforms for brainstorming.
42:55
We've recently done that. But, you know, across my
42:59
individual day-to-day, you know, not much, yeah.
43:03
That makes sense. Very much operational and
43:06
dealing with, you know, physical equipment and making sure that
43:08
it's up and running and the folks are, are, are doing what
43:11
they need to do. Right now.
43:14
Well, Jr. Rodriguez, I want to be the
43:16
first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your
43:19
story with us today. I really appreciate it.
43:22
Hey, I appreciate it, Sir. Thank you.
43:24
Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories
43:27
podcast. Thanks for learning with us
43:29
today.