Rising Stars: Meet Not Bad Cooks Ash Clifford & Shawn Campbell

Today we’d like to introduce you to  Not Bad Cooks Ash Clifford & Shawn Campbell.

Hi Ash & Shawn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Besides each other, food is our next biggest love. We have always shared a passion for cooking even while long-distance with Shawn living in Denver and Ash in Boston. What each other was eating, cooking, or drinking was a big part of our lives. We both love sharing new recipes, techniques, kitchen equipment, and most importantly sauces. Every time we planned trips to see each other we always planned a night to cook together too.

At the beginning of 2020, Shawn was working on opening Northside Eatery & Market in the highlands, and Ash marketing consultant in Boston. In March of 2020, Ash was on-site with a client in California when they announced the state of emergency. She had another work trip planned for Denver the following week so it was decided that Ash would stay with Shawn in Denver until “it all blew over”. When she landed in Denver we rushed to stock up on the essentials. Those essentials for us included kitchen equipment, cast irons, and an immersion blender.

The first few weeks that Ash was in Denver were the first few weeks of Shawn’s restaurant being open. The little time that we got together outside of work was spent in the kitchen together. We would, and still do use any excuse possible to cook for friends and explore new recipes. At the end of 2020, Shawn stepped away from the restaurant to pursue working for himself as a photographer. That time allowed us to work together on new ideas and spend even more time in the kitchen which we absolutely loved.

Shawn started photographing the meals that Ash was making, and the @notbadcooks Instagram was born. Ash started meal prepping for our friends and testing out different recipes, but soon found a strong calling to create something more. We both enjoyed the freedom that working for ourselves was providing and thought why not find a way to put both of our skill sets towards a project together. During a long drive on a road trip to Kansas City, the concept for Not Bad Sauces was hashed out and we applied for our first event to sell our sauces with Made By Us.

As soon as we returned from that road trip, we put our heads down and started bringing Not Bad Sauces to life. We had previously been asked for jars of our pesto and chimichurri, so we started with those as our foundation. We wanted to find a way to show our personality through what we were doing, so we started thinking of fun ways to name our sauces. Our chimichurri became Jimichurri, named after Ash’s dad Jim, one of our most enthusiastic taste testers. Peter’s Pesto is named after the Clifford family dog. We have since added a few new sauces to our lineup, like our strawberry lemon sauce No Strawblems and have plans to introduce our salted caramel and more in the coming months.

We have always felt a strong desire to create something that would not only be a component in bringing that happiness to someone else, but products that are sourced locally and support the community.

You can find our Not Bad Sauces at various farmers markets around the city. Our weekly schedule can be found on our instagram @notbadcooks !

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We found from the very start of our relationship and Not Bad Cooks that we work extremely well together. We both have strengths that complement each other. We are incredibly lucky for our supportive network of family and friends who have helped us tremendously along the way with especially with trying our latest, not bad creations.

A challenge we are working to overcome is our sauce’s shelf stability. Shelf stabilizing our products will allow us to ship outside of Denver and for us to find retail placement in stores. We want to use a preservation method that fits our beliefs in maintaining the quality of our sauces.

Our biggest struggle is really our own desire to grow, but that feels like a positive struggle. There have been a few hurdles along the path getting to where we are today, but we feel confident in each other and our newfound community to continue to problem solve and grow our business.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Ash – I’ve primarily worked as a marketing and operations consultant from companies in tech to cannabis, and everything in between. I went to college for entrepreneurship and have loved focusing on startups for most of my career. The excitement and challenge of bringing a concept from idea to market really drives me.

Shawn – I’ve been working as a photographer for just under 5 years now. Since picking up a camera, I have always strived to learn and grow as a creator. Having spent the better part of the last 7 years in the hospitality industry, I have gravitated towards capturing images centered around food and beverage. Check out what else I shoot in Denver @shawnxcampbell !

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
We love the people and the creative energy Denver radiates. Things feel possible here. Everyone we meet is a transplant which may be why the community feels so strong. We all left our homes and moved here for the same reason, Colorado.

We tried to think about what we like least, but can’t think of any dislikes worth mentioning. Denver is our home.

Contact Info:

• Email: hi@notbadcooks.com
• Website: notbadcooks.com
• Instagram: @notbadcooks

Image Credits
Shawn Campbell, Semi Decent Media