The Mindset That Makes You Unstoppable with Ed McCaffrey

0:00You probably know Ed McCaffrey, All-American at Stanford, three-time Superbowl winner, and he is all that big. We're going to go through and talk through all the things that he's doing with McCaffrey brands. Ed's going to tell us why his mustard is the best mustard in the world. And I can actually agree with that. We're going to talk about and find out how many bones John Elway may have broken in Ed's hands. And we're also going to find out what his favorite route was in football. Ladies and gentlemen, I present All-American Human Being, Mr. Ed McCaffrey. you're listening to mick unplugged hosted by the one and only mick hunt this is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable i'm rudy rush and trust me you're in the right place let's get unplugged

0:56Ed, how you doing today, brother? I am doing great. Thank you, Mick, for that very kind introduction. And congrats to Stanley. One, it was an honor to hear that he even knew who I was, but that he's up for the Hall of Fame is pretty cool. Hopefully he'll get in in a few weeks. Fingers crossed that he definitely gets in. Ed, you know, I'm honored to have you on again. Been a huge fan of you all of my life, even though as a Patriot guy, you know, the Broncos were always our nemesis. So you guys always beat us. You know, Shannon Sharp has this famous little scene where he's calling the National Guard because the Patriots are horrible.

1:31But I've always been a fan of you. And more importantly, not what you did on the field, but what you've always done off the field and not just post career, but even during your career. You were very involved in communities. You were always a giver. And that's something that I admired and it stuck with me. So I just want to give you your flowers and say kudos to you for being that all-American human being that you're our brother. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. You know, if you look back at that video, I was sitting right next to Shannon when he was calling in the National Guard. It's pretty hilarious.

2:04I think it was Rod and I were looking at him and wondering what the heck he was doing, but he was having fun. And he's still having fun. But, yeah, we used to have the best of that matchup when I was playing. Certainly the tides turned there for a while. and now both the Broncos and the Patriots are looking good. Who knows? They may face each other in a championship game at this point. As long as it's in Foxborough, though, because we do not win in Mile High Stadium. Yeah, I don't want to fly to Foxborough, so I'm hoping it's here right here in Denver, Colorado. But also, you know, regarding, you know, philanthropy and giving back, you know, I've always just believed it's important to use your platform to make the world a better place and however you can do that.

2:46And for me, you know, it was, you know, through our foundations and through running football camps, whether it be, you know, for 10 years, we did one for young athletes with Down syndrome. We've done stuff for kids from military families. And, you know, now my son Christian is very involved with his foundation and he supports the military as well and has a project called the Logan Project where they're putting in video consoles in the children's hospitals all over the country. and a lot of other NFL players are participating with him and doing that in their NFL cities. And it's so cool to be able to be in a position to give back in that way.

3:27And so I know you do as well. And so many NFL players do so much good in the community. And sometimes you hear about it, sometimes you don't. You don't really do it to have people hear about it. But certainly it feels fulfilling to me and to Lisa and to our boys who feel that it's important to give back. So thanks for acknowledging that. And I just want to say to anyone listening that, you know, if you really look into what all the players and a lot of the coaches and organizations are doing, in my neck of the woods, it's the Penner family. It's the Walton Penner group. And all that they're doing, they're bringing alumni back.

4:04They're donating tons of money to schools. They did a thing where they donated helmets to every single public school in Colorado so that the football players are safer. and um you know it starts with the owners and the leadership of the the NFL teams but it trickles down to the players and then you know those players on those teams feel the same sense of fulfillment when they're able to give back to their communities wholeheartedly and you know my my oldest son um coaches high school football at Air Academy out in Colorado Springs and so you know when I told him that I was interviewing you and I purposely didn't tell you this offline He was like, just let Ed know that he inspires me to give.

4:45And he's 25 years old and now he volunteers his time in the communities just because you're someone that's inspired him. So your reach, man, on the philanthropy part, but also, you know, a lot of people don't grasp just the time, energy, and effort that goes into that. I mean, you probably spend more time away from home than you do at home, but you're doing it from a giving perspective. And that's something that my son was able to see being out in Colorado, just like how how dynamic you are, not just in the Denver community, but across the state of Colorado. And it expands into other states as well.

5:30I know in California, you're doing a lot. And it's just something that I'm proud that my son sees that. And that's something that as a dad, as a father, you hope that those principles get instilled in your children, but you never know. But it takes people like you that they can see, oh, it's more than my dad that does these things. It's people like Ed McCaffrey. It's people like Robert Irvine, who I need to introduce you to as well with his foundation. But you guys are providing spark for younger people that when I was growing up, I didn't see that. But now you provide it so that people see it.

6:03So I need to give you kudos for that. Well, thank you. I'm glad to be a part of it. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, Ed, you know, I talk a lot about. what I call my because. It's that thing that's deeper than your why. If I were to ask you, Ed, what's your why? You probably tell me all the cool things that you do. But if I said, but why? What's the deeper reason? I call that your because. So if I were to ask you today, like Ed McCaffrey, what's your because? Why do you continue to have this passion and the purpose that you do in life with connecting and impacting others? Yeah, that's such a great question.

6:41I think people think about that all the time and sometimes maybe reevaluate and potentially that cause could change. But I've always been part of a team. I love being part of a team. I love providing value to other people. So in terms of our businesses with McCaffrey Brands LLC, we're in the business of making good food taste better. Everybody eats, everybody. You know, food brings families together. Food brings people together. It's something that we all share. It's usually a happy time when you're able to celebrate with other people and sit down and break bread with them. And so, you know, it's a real simple, simple goal.

7:23Help make good food taste better. You know, when I was an athlete and my wife, Lisa, played soccer at Stanford, I played football. We'd walk down to the market and grab a sandwich. And it was, you know, a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, onion on a Dutch crunch roll, if you know what that is. We'd go down to Mali's Stone Market in California down the street from campus. And I'd have the same sandwich every single day. And after a while, you know, it gets kind of bland. I would put spicy brown mustard on it and to make it a little more flavorful and taste a little bit better. And I was eating really healthy, you know, nonfat turkey burger and chicken and really lean protein sources.

8:04And so it was a way to, you know, make my meal taste a little bit better, brighten up my day just a little bit. It's a little thing like we're not reinventing the wheel here. We're not some huge tech company. We're just trying to bring a little bit of joy into people's lives like it did for me when I was trying to eat really healthy. And so that's the goal. And then we branched into healthy snacks this past year. And the goal of McCaffrey Brands when it comes to our healthy snack category is just to make healthy food taste great. Because most healthy food, especially packaged goods and snacks, they don't taste all that good, right?

8:35You add protein to them and they get medicine-y and chalky. So it took us probably five years to finally create a great-tasting, healthy snack. And so we have what I consider to be pretty good flavors in chocolate chip cookie dough, fudge brownie and birthday cake. But they taste great, in my opinion. Now, I'm biased, right? Because when it came to taste testing our mustards and our horseradish sauces, it was me that got to do all the taste testing, which is the most fun part of it. So we went out to various manufacturers and tasted hundreds of different iterations and flavor profiles until I came up with the ones that I like the best.

9:12and the mustard and horseradish sauces were created before my kids were born right this was back in the 90s when i was still playing but our healthy snacks we found an incredible manufacturer that created a phenomenal product for us um recently but my kids you know i have one coaching for the dolphins one playing for the 49ers one playing for the commanders my son dylan is helping me with the business now he's an outdoorsman and they all eat really healthy and are athletes and so um but they're for athletes they're for anybody who wants to just eat a little bit healthier, but doesn't want to, you know, you know, choke down a stick of chalk where they're trying to eat healthy.

9:49Right. And so, so, but, you know, I guess going back to your question, you know, being a former player as part of a team, being a coach who coached many teams, being the CEO of a small business requires the help of a lot of people. So we have a website team, an accounting department. We have a PR marketing team. So there's about 20 of us all together that are working really hard to grow our business. And it's being part of a team together, right? It's working together to be part of something bigger than yourself to provide value to people. And that, I guess, I guess that gives me fulfillment. I love working with other people.

10:29I love being part of a team. I love trying to provide value to people in this world. And we do it by, you know, through our food products company. There's lots of ways to do it. We run camps in the summer, which we still do with our family, just because we love football. And my kids had such a great experience at camps growing up. We wanted to continue to give back what we knew about that sport. But I guess it all comes back to being part of a team and having some control and direction in terms of where we are going with our business and with our team, and being able to help others become better while I'm learning at the same time and, you know, getting the right people on the bus.

11:10So we have a wonderful team and it's fun to work with the people. I'm lucky. I'm blessed to be around a lot of wonderful people who are great at what they do, you know, putting them on the right seats on the bus, making sure everyone is using their skill set to the best of the ability, challenging them, right. And helping bring out the best in them and they, and they help bring out the best in me. So, uh, you know, for a while there, when I was retired, I've been retired multiple times. Um, you know, it gets lonely and, and I did some things on my own, but I found I just, I just love working with other people, you know, and, and sharing in those successes and overcoming those adversities together.

11:46Totally agree. And, and the mentality that you have is spot on. You know, I, I talk a lot. And one of my mentors, Carl Esther Crumpler, was coaching me last year. You know, he was like, you know, Mick, you talk about joy, you talk about happiness. But what about fulfillment? Shouldn't that be like what you measure? And it totally changed my outlook, not just on me as a human, like me individually, but also my teams. And so we started focusing on what fulfills us. Right. And a lot of that went to getting people in the right seats. Like I can admit I got it wrong, putting people in the wrong seats.

12:26They're loyal. They're going to do the job, but that job might not have been fulfilling to them. Right. It might not have been the fulfillment. So I think you talking about that as a leader is spot on, man. So kudos to you for that. I want to go back to, you know, you starting McCaffrey Brands and what that really meant for you and and what was your true purpose of saying this was what you were going to do but then putting the energy behind it because you know a lot of people have a bunch of great ideas and a lot of people start a bunch of projects and they never complete like what was your commitment to it yeah well in the beginning i had a business partner who i worked with in the 90s i was still playing man we broncos were still lining up against the patriots and um my business partner ty had done other projects.

13:16He did cereal with Flutie Flakes. Maybe you've heard of those. And he's worked with John Elway and worked with Josh Allen, worked with all these players over the years. But back then it was Ed's End Zone O's. It's me jumping through a little Cheerio. It's kind of cool. But I did it partially to raise some money for our foundation at the time. Some of the proceeds went to our foundation. We still donate some of our proceeds today to charitable endeavors, which is a cool way to just raise, raise some money for good causes. But we're a for-profit business now, but for, for 20 some years, we had Ed's and Zonos for a couple of years.

13:51We had Eddie Mac and cheese for a couple of years. We had some other food products, but our mustard's the best in the world. It really is. And, and, you know, I, I didn't do a whole lot for the business. I was coaching, you know, after I was done playing, I was coaching. I worked for some other companies and some other industries and I never, really even attempted to grow the business. My business partner kind of ran it and we had just this phenomenal product that sold even long after my retirement. It's the longest running food product that my business partner has had in his pipeline. And it's because the product's phenomenal.

14:27It's not just the fact that there were a lot of Broncos fans that bought a collectible. It was that, you know, maybe in the beginning that was the case, but over time, this is a really incredible premium product. It tastes really good. Today, I'm known either as Christian or Luke's dad, right, or the mustard guy. The mustard guy. We sell mustard. And, you know, so, you know, Ty had worked with Newman's Own, and we kind of took that fun approach of putting my picture on the label, and we had fun with it. But after I was done coaching, I had to make a really tough decision on whether I wanted to grow the business or whether I wanted to let it ride.

15:08And, you know, I decided, you know, after working with Ty and restructuring our company and hiring Ty back to work with me, that we really had some potential here. There was a great opportunity. I love that people loved our product. And I thought, you know what, we could do more with this. People really love our product, and we can create other products that people will love, and we're in a good position to do it. It starts with having great suppliers, having great manufacturers, having people, great distributors. But we had to grow a team. It wasn't going to happen just with me and Ty working out of our house.

15:45So I really decided to invest in the growth of our company. And when you're an entrepreneur, it's always a risk, right? You have to invest. But to invest, for me at least, I have to believe in what we're doing. And I believe in who we can bring together to help grow our company. And so I knew I had a rock star in Thai, but we decided to increase our reach from just brick and mortar to online sales. So but it all started with just having a phenomenal product and me seeing this as an incredible opportunity to work with other people to create more phenomenal products to bring value to people by making the food taste better.

16:26And so we created a website, brought on a PR team, brought an official accountant, hired a couple of other people to work with us, signed agreements with major distributors and other major retailers. But it did take a huge investment and a belief in what we were doing. And I brought people into our company that believed in what we were doing and that found that fulfillment by growing our business and creating new products. And, you know, again, it's simple, but it's making people's food taste better. Everybody eats and everyone wants their food to taste better. And we're in an interesting position where we can do that because we have phenomenal manufacturers that we work with that will create any products that we want.

17:07So we made that decision about a year and a half ago. And we've, you know, more than doubled our sales in a year. And it was due to really just incredible teamwork and a belief in our vision and our mission. And but that's always the goal. Like everything we do, you know, when I was a player, everything I did was based on whether or not it would help our team win a Super Bowl. Yeah. Will this help our team win a Super Bowl? Right. And if it didn't, I wouldn't do it. Whether that meant getting your sleep or eating right or getting treatment or studying the playbook or whatever I did was to help me become the best player I could be to help my team win a Super Bowl.

17:46That's the kind of attitude we have with McCaffrey brands. Everything we do is to help bring new creative premium products to market that make people's food taste better, that provides them value. And if it doesn't, then we won't do it. And if we believe it does, then we will do it. And so far, that's been our recipe for success, if you will. And that's why you are a phenomenal leader, man, because that's the mentality that it takes. And, you know, you've talked about your mustard being the best mustard in the world. And I will co-sign on that because I've been able to have it and sample it as well, too.

18:20What goes into creating the best mustard in the world aside pleasing Ed McCaffrey's palate? What goes into making that happen? Oh, we could sit here and talk about that all day. But for me, right, I consider myself a super taster. Now, anybody can claim that, but I love food. If anything, I have to try to eat less food because I love food so much. So when we started with our line of mustard and horseradish sauces, again, it was to make the very healthy bland foods I was eating taste better. But so many people have hundreds and thousands of recipes that they use horseradish and mustard for. But you want to use the best.

19:00we're a premium product where we use healthy ingredients, which means we need to get really high quality ingredients to be able to make our mustard. And then we have to have an incredible manufacturer who we found that will help us create our flavor profiles until we get the one that we like for whatever category we have. And right now we have six SKUs. We have spicy brown, we have yellow, we have chipotle, sriracha, we have horseradish, smoky horseradish, and we're coming with a whole bunch of more creative sauces and mustard products in 2026 and 2027. But for me, I've really found a lot of value with our manufacturers who help secure the best premium ingredients and have, honestly, the manufacturing facility, because these are multi-million dollar facilities.

19:48I mean, tens of millions of dollars to create the type of facility that can make premium products with the healthiest ingredients. And so it took a long time to find the right manufacturer that is reliable, that's accountable, that you can work with. And we were very lucky, very lucky with the manufacturers that we work with, with our mustard and horseradish products are the best in the world. You know, we rely on the collaboration with mustard makers whose families have been in the business for hundreds of years. And so I don't think you just make the best product in the world by chance. We relied on hundreds of years of experience and of families who have made mustard and horseradish sauces.

20:34And so we really lucked out with our manufacturer. We really did. So now that's at a very high bar for all of the other manufacturers that we work with. And so we, by working with our original manufacturer, have been able to understand what it takes to be able to deliver consistently premium products. And it's not just the actual quality of the price, not just the taste, right? It's being able to deliver that consistently. But then you get into the business side of, you know, all of the contracts that we have with the suppliers that provide the ingredients to create the mustard in the plant. And then you get into distribution and pricing and negotiating with retailers and online.

21:20And it's a whole to do, right? Which is why I had to bring in a lot of extra people who had expertise in all these different areas to help me run the company. So as founder and CEO, I oversee all processes, but make sure that I bring in people that have expertise in different areas that we can continue to grow. But for me, it's down to the people, right? You know, I have to really identify the best people for us to work with. And so far, so good. I mean, it's in that's preparation, right? It's due diligence, researching the people that you're working with. It's determination, like being willing to work through all of the different issues that you might have running your business.

22:02And it's a little bit of luck. You know, I'll admit it, a little bit of lucky that the people that I partnered with ended up being really good, high quality people that care about their businesses and our business as well. I think you can discern that in certain people. And this is me giving you another shout out for the mustard, because I do agree. And I'm usually not a mustard guy, especially Dijon, but like yours is amazing. The perfect binder for crab cakes is your mustard. And when I'm out in Colorado, I always stop at a spot with my son and my turkey sandwiches always have to have your mustard.

22:41So I promise you, this is me talking to the viewers and the listeners. When he says it's the best, he's literally not lying. So, Ed, where can people get the McCaffrey brand products? Well, first of all, thank you, because we do it for you. We do it for people who find some value in having a great tasting quality product. So that makes me so happy when I hear that. Every time someone enjoys our product, it puts a smile on my face. So thank you. And send me your recipes as well. We love collecting recipes. And we'll at some point put them on the website just so people can share some of the things other people are doing.

23:20But in terms of finding the product in Colorado, we sell at King Soopers and City Markets. We sell at Safeway and Albertsons. So you can find them on the shelves of those retailers. We sell online with Amazon and we sell on our website, mcafreebrands.com. So the easiest place to go is just to our website, unless you live in Colorado. Now, our Protein Bites have been selling in King Soopers. We're hoping they're in Safeway next year. They are at Dick's Sporting Goods. Dick's Sporting Goods has been an incredible partner of ours. We're in 200 stores nationally, up to 400 stores next year nationally.

23:55And we have all three of our SKUs, chocolate chip cookie dough, fudge brownie, birthday cake are all on the shelves at Dick's Sporting Goods stores. And the orders keep coming in. So, so far, so good. We've had great retail partners as well. So, I want to thank all of them. And if you want to find our products, that's where you can look. Right. And so, I will tell you this, too. So I was at one of the Dick's in Denver and I got the chocolate chip cookie dough. It's not supposed to be that good. I promise you. It's not supposed to be that good, brother. Well, I appreciate it. No, you know, and I wanted our first three SKUs because we're going to come out with more.

24:30But our first three SKUs, I wanted them to be delicious. No doubt about it. Like we can't err on these not tasting great. So who doesn't like chocolate chip cookie dough, right? But it's healthy. That's the difference, right? You can have these and it tastes incredible for a healthy snack, plant based protein, gluten free, non GMO, super healthy. A lot of people with allergies can eat these with no problem whatsoever, because I know that's a big thing these days. All healthy ingredients. And and so we think we think they're absolutely delicious. You know, they're in a Ziploc bag, as you can see.

25:01So you can you can eat one bite, three bites, stay under 100 calories, get your protein intake. and or you can eat the whole bag like I do once a day and get 20 grams protein. You're talking about one bite, three bite, bro. Like what happened was I immediately had one bite in my son's car. We get to his apartment and I got a glass of milk and ate the rest of them. I was like, these are healthy, but they taste delicious. So kudos to you and the team and everybody that's involved in making it. Ed, one, I'm honored to have you on, man. I know you're busy and I got to let you go, but I can't do this justice without ending with my quick five, five rapid fire questions and McCaffrey ready.

25:45Your favorite route to run was what? Fade route in the end zone. Knew it. Knew it every time. Your favorite football memory is. Superbowl 32. John Elway taking a knee on the last play of the game. We were in the victory formation. Watch that last second tick off the clock. and the Denver Broncos won their first Super Bowl in Broncos history. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So my uncle played in a Pro Bowl with John Elway's starting quarterback. He was starting receiver. He said in practice he caught a pass from Elway and it shattered his pinky. So my uncle no longer has a bone in his right pinky because John Elway broke it.