Growing up Roy Elswick learned from an early age that the success he would achieve in life would be dependent on the work ethic he put forth. Following his father’s death when he was 13, Roy began working in the food industry to help his family make ends meet. Roy wore many hats in the industry as his success grew. He spent years traveling and helping build house name brands like Kentucky Fried Chicken and BBF. Eventually he wanted to test the market with his own product and on April 29th, 1980 at 7:30 AM Roy began Tasty Bend Foods. In time he would come to build one of the most recognizable food brands, not only within West Virginia, but nationwide as well and it all spurred from an idea that was homegrown.
“My goal was to make biscuits and gravy and cornbread like my mother made them. She made homemade from scratch biscuits and gravy like no one else could make them,” Roy said enthusiastically. “So I went on a journey to make it where you just had to add liquid to it and it would be shelf stable and it that it would taste just like grandmas and that’s what I did and that’s what happened. And the next thing I know is I’m getting calls from people like Paula Dean that wants us to make her recipes for.”
Tasty Blend Foods got its start, as many brands do in West Virginia, at the farmer’s market in Charleston. It was there that Roy teamed up with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and started introducing the public to Teays Valley Biscuit Mix, a shelf stable mix that needed only water added. Not only was Roy showcasing his product to those visiting the market but he saw it as an opportunity to collaborate with the surrounding vendors as well.
“It was a produce stand. It’s not there anymore it’s across the street but that’s the first place we debuted our products. And when we did that people went nuts over it. They equatedbiscuits and gravy and homemade apple butter all together. All of us vendors got together and put the stuff on the biscuits.” said Roy.
Since then Tasty Blend Foods has sky rocketed as a trusted brand within the industry and are now producing products for high-profile names such as Paula Deen and Buddy the Cake Boss. Despite the success the sentiment remains the same for Roy and Tasty Blend Foods, in fact it was a large reason they moved the manufacturing plant they had in South Carolina back to West Virginia in 1987.
“We are so dedicated to the state of West Virginia,” said Roy with a large smile on his face. “It’s cheaper in South Carolina to operate and I moved of South Carolina to come here because it means more. We have such unique products and we want the people of West Virginia to use our products. We have worked very hard to produce West Virginia products. Our products are really a West Virginia favorite.”
Roy and his team are so devoted to the homegrown spirit and identity that even the processing machines in their new 22,000 square foot state of the art bakery are designed to produce biscuits like his grandmother made. The bakery is just the recent addition to their 86,000 square foot manufacturing facility and office headquarters that houses 82 employees.
“The bakery is kind of our golden egg,” he exclaims. “We have went through every piece of equipment and even designed some of our equipment to make biscuits just like grandma makes them. We have designed our mixers so that they have special arms that will mix the dough just like grandma. Then it goes through an extruder.”
At the end of the day the most important thing to Roy and Tasty Blend Foods is that they’re able to operate within the mountain state. For him, being able to give back to a place that has given him everything is what matters most.
Roy leans back in his chair and grins, “I am home. I am finally back home. I went to school at Chandler Grade School in Orchard Manor. I went to school at Woodrow Wilson Jr. High School in Kanawha County. I went to school at Dupont High School. And I’m home and I love to be home.”
