Ag Biz Podcasts

The Oma & Popies story traces back to 2014, when Gail “Oma” and Jan “Popie” Zarr tried some ho-hum hot wings at a Bowling Green, Kentucky, tavern and felt compelled to brag about their favorite Idaho wing sauce.

Intrigued, bar staff invited the Kuna couple to their kitchen, where the Zarrs attempted to replicate the Idaho sauce on the spot. The Zarrs’ unique take on the recipe was a hit, and they discovered a promising small-business niche as sauce makers.

The Zarrs shared their business origin story on episode No. 199 of the Meaningful Marketplace Podcast, which aired Sept. 18 with a special co-host, University of Idaho Extension food processing specialist Janna Verburg-Hamlett. Oma & Popies was among nine Idaho small food businesses featured on the podcast from Aug. 21 through Oct. 16, thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Northwest and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center.

U of I is a center member, and Verburg-Hamlett serves on its Idaho Steering Committee, as well as its Building and Connecting Food Entrepreneurs Theme Team, which financed state-specific podcasts. Episodes were also funded for center member states Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Wyoming. USDA established its regional food business centers to support a more resilient, diverse and competitive food system, serving as a node for small and mid-tier food and farm businesses.

Recurring hosts of the podcast are Sarah Masoni, director of product and process development with the Oregon State University Food Innovation Center, and Sarah Marshall, founder of Marshall’s Haute Sauce. Episodes are 45 minutes long each and focus on creative approaches food entrepreneurs use to overcome challenges. Colette DePhelps, area UI Extension educator of community food systems, who is U of I’s principal investigator with the center, and Katie Baker, formerly with FARE Idaho, also each guest co-hosted an Idaho podcast.

“Our theme team decided to sponsor a year of the podcast, and every state was assigned two months,” Verburg-Hamlett said. “I found different Idaho food entrepreneurs that are in Idaho and we interviewed them on the podcast.

The theme team will sponsor additional state-specific episodes in 2025. Verburg-Hamlett will help record the Idaho episodes in July and August, and they will be released from September through October.

The theme team has also paid to send regional entrepreneurs to the Summer Fancy Foods Show in New York and the Winter Fancy Foods Show in Las Vegas, where small food business owners introduce their products to major retailers.

Participating in the Las Vegas show helped the Zarrs tap new markets in Texas. The Zarrs make and bottle their Oma & Popies products at the U of I Food Technology Center in Caldwell, which offers processing and educational assistance to aspiring food entrepreneurs who wish to produce packaged foods for resale.

“For us, it’s been a godsend. I don’t foresee us ever owning our own facility,” Jan Zarr said. “Having that facility, I only have to worry about what we’re doing, how we’re producing it and having that food plan. I don’t have to worry about the building itself and the equipment.”

The following Idaho businesses were featured in podcasts: Northern Latitude Foods, Ballard Cheese, Free Spirits Beverage Co., Roots Potato Chips, Oma & Popies, Snacktivist Foods, Hummuna Hummus, Dilly’s Pickled Veggies and Hillside Grain.

Published in Catching Up with CALS