Jovana Lea Simic, owner of JDM – How “blue pot” took over Manhattan

Do you remember the small enameled pot our grandmothers used for measuring in their recipes? Here, it was blue, and the recipes highly unorthodox for that time. They were mostly not accepted before I started experimenting with flavors as a child and trying my hand at recipes in which I wasn't even sure what the names of the ingredients meant, nor where they could be found. It was a thorny road of twenty years, and the blue pot remained a constant through all the ups and downs. From the moment I decided to dedicate my career and my life to food, I knew that, no matter what I do, it would be called “Little Blue Pot”!

This is how Jovana Lea Simic, owner of the JDM company and the creator of Little Blue Pot begins her story for eKapija. This top quality brand was established less than two years ago and the luxury jars quickly found their way to the customers. Apricot jam with thyme, plum jam with rosemary and cherry preserve with black pepper are sold, besides Serbia, in the far away American market.

– The product was initially meant for export to the American market, with specific parts of New York – Brooklyn and Manhattan – being targeted first. In the meantime, people in in Serbia started showing interest as well, and the product is currently sold in one gift shop and two restaurants.

Jovana Lea Simic opted for entrepreneurship “suddenly and without planning to”.

– I worked in the corporate system, but I felt unpleasant in an environment of bad interpersonal relations and I missed a sense of belonging. After nearly three years, I had had enough, I decided to quit and start thinking about being self-employed. I knew that it would be something related to food, as gastronomy has been my passion for twenty years and something I have a strong emotional attachment to.

As she had had no previous entrepreneurial experience, nor contacts in this area, Jovana Lea Simic spent several months thoroughly researching all options, from concepts to the administration. In time, she arrived at the idea to export luxury products, made from her own recipes and under her own brand, and she founded JDM in Belgrade in April 2015. She had a partner initially, but the cooperation ended very quickly, so she continued on her own.

She monitors Little Blue Pot throughout all its stages of development – from the concept, creation, development of recipes, supervision of production and global distribution. Jovana Lea is, by the way, the first person in Serbia to use spice herbs in jams and she's proud of her recipes. The producers were also carefully chosen by her, but in the new season, she's nevertheless opted for new cooperators.

– I've carried out thorough research, but also some field inquiry – who's got the technology and what kind of people they are. Still, I've entered the second season with new cooperators, with whom I've found the common language more easily and who are more flexible and open to innovations in the process. What's interesting is that they've found me, thanks to various written announcements and an occasional media appearance. I'm pleased to see that the dynamics of doing business is changing and that an increasing number of companies are open for modern models of cooperation and win-win combinations.

Even though JDM mostly manages its own brand, if the opportunity arises, they export products of other brands as well.

– I help entrepreneurs improve their processes and I'm actively working with the young – our interviewee says.

Thrill at first taste

In order for her product to reach the connoisseurs most easily, Jovana Lea Simic tries to have Little Blue Pot participate in all gastronomic or artisan events, where all products can be tasted and purchased.

– By being present in select facilities and gastronomic events, I manage to target potential customers who already know how to appreciate the quality and are mostly great lovers of good food. At the Brussels fair and tasting events in the USA, people were surprised how concentrated the taste of fruit was and that the texture could be truly felt, which is mostly impossible in most generic brands, due to over-processing and watering down the fruit with juices and pulps, while adding pectin.

JDM has big plans for Little Blue Pot. They intend to expand to new markets and include themselves in new distribution channels. Jovana Lea reveals that she has ideas for new delicacies.

– For the time being, our product is sold in the United States of America in specialized gourmet food stores, but I've also come across great interest by the HoReCa sector, in the sale of luxury gifts... Also, I've recently made many new contacts in Serbia, so interesting new models of cooperation are being planned. I plan to expand my portfolio as well and to get further involved in the sphere of gastronomy, but that's in the future.

“They keep asking where my boss is”

When you run your own business, it's all up to you and it is absolutely necessary to use all the help you can get, believes Jovana Lea Simic, who is one of the candidates for the Success Flower award.

– I'm an active member of the Association of Business Women and I also cooperate with a dozen other associations dealing in education, promotion of entrepreneurship, marketing... Among all those people, there's always someone there you can talk to or get advice from, share your entrepreneurial troubles and thrills with.

As an entrepreneur, she's witnessed various reactions in her environment. Nevertheless, she believes that discrimination is still a problem.

– I'm asked too often where my boss is or who the “real” director is, whose money has been invested and so on. My fuse gets progressively shorter when faced with such reactions and when somebody communicates with me arrogantly, so I've started reacting very severely in such situations. I'd rather be perceived as an “angry young woman”, not to use some other expression, than to passively support any kind of discrimination by being silent.

On the other hand, she also meets serious business people and food connoisseurs, with whom she promptly establishes communication and starts sharing ideas.

– At the same time, I've had great experience with institutions and haven't met any of the “evident” obstacles which have become a bit of a myth. I deeply believe, as my practice has shown, that, if you approach people with a smile and if you are open to suggestions, there's no reason that you will be refused when in need of help. If you approach them aggressively and if you're not well informed, it's likely that you'll receive an adequate response in return – our interviewee says.

M.M.

JDM d.o.o. Beograd

UPŽ Srbije

JDM Belgrade

Jovana Lea Simic

Jovana Lea Simic biography

entrepreneur

female entrepreneurship

Little Blue Pot

New York

Brooklyn

Manhattan

gastronomy

jam

fruit preserves

apricot jam with thyme

plum jam with rosemary

cherry preserve with black pepper

export of food to the USA

export of food to America

export of food to the United States of America

artisan events

Association of Business Women

Success Flower