Paunchy Elephant Issaquah, WA
My name is Tamyra McKay. I’m the Founder of Paunchy Elephant. As a Seattle resident for 30+ years, I have long enjoyed the short but incredibly beautiful Summers here in the Pacific Northwest. I started Paunchy Elephant with the help of my mom, who also loves Summertime and all things barbecue.
Mom's barbecue sauce recipe has long been a favored gift of friends and family. At some point she mentioned wanting to sell it in stores and over time, after a bit of research, our brand was created. I've even added personal food and drink favorites of my own as additional product lines, as drink-mixing and experimenting with different flavor combinations are a hobby of mine. We operate the business as a family and have worked to incorporate things we're passionate about beyond food like social, mental, physical, and environmental health. Our hope is that when people see and purchase our products they know that they are supporting not just a family business but farmers and other meaningful, impactful social initiatives.
In addition to wanting to share her sauce recipe, we wanted to share the love and laughter that we have when spending time together as a family over food and drinks. Whether on a solo road trip, working from home, or taking a much needed break between meetings we would like to be a part of the busy, the happy, the celebratory, the reflective, and the relaxing moments.
As a social purpose corporation, while we are a for-profit business, we go out of our way to put people over profits. We source local, fair trade certified, and organic ingredients for use in our products. We use local suppliers and vendors wherever possible. Our product packaging is environmentally conscious. All of our products come in recyclable, glass bottles. The labels are all printed in a partially wind-powered facility using water-based inks. 10% of net profits at Paunchy Elephant are donated to social, economic, and environmental causes. We understand that people need equitable pathways to prosperity. All Paunchy Elephant staff are paid living wage, given ample benefits, given on-the-job training, structured mentorship, and access to founding members.
We would like customers that shop with Local Yokels to know that while we are a small, family-owned and operated business that’s still fairly new, we are working hard to bring names, faces, people, transparency, and the spirit of the community back to packaged food production. We want our business to be known for giving back, for providing moments of joy, and for our love of community just as much as our ability to hand-craft great tasting, high quality food and beverage products.
