- Covington chef Tom Hull’s Origin Trade Goods specializes in Cajun- and Creole-inspired sauces, spice blends, and jerky.
- Hull’s brand has partnered with Slavnik Family Coffee, an online marketplace promoting U.S.-based small businesses.
- The collaboration provides Origin Trade Goods with a new platform to reach customers and support local entrepreneurship.
What started as a chef’s side project to bottle bold Cajun and Creole flavors has evolved into Origin Trade Goods, a Covington-based food brand that’s gaining momentum through new local partnerships.
Covington-based chef Thomas Hull, the brand’s founder, previously worked at Rich’s Proper Food and Drink, located at 701 Madison Ave., before it shuttered in December 2024. While in the kitchen, he experimented with blending spices and sauces, which eventually inspired Origin Trade Goods, an online brand for sauces, spice blends and jerky.
When Rich’s Proper closed, Hull shifted focus to Origin Trade Goods by developing new flavors and promoting the brand through online platforms and local pop-up shops. The brand emphasizes Cajun and Creole seasonings, a flavor profile Hull became fond of while learning the history of riverboat travel between Northern Kentucky and New Orleans.
“I’ve always loved New Orleans, and there’s a lot of history running between Northern Kentucky and through Appalachia and down to New Orleans, which lets me do some fun things,” Hull told LINK nky.
His original hot sauce, Delta Queen, is a traditional New Orleans-style recipe. Another recipe, Kentucky Queen, features regional ingredients such as beets, raspberries, honey, and apple cider vinegar, giving it a distinct local flavor. Additionally, Origin offers spice rubs, including a Cajun blend and Roadhouse, inspired by roadside steakhouses he visited with his mother during his childhood.
Hull stated that his main goal was to develop Origin into a predominantly wholesale brand, sold to kitchens and restaurants nationwide. The most significant hurdle so far is scale and brand recognition. Fortunately for Hull, someone discovered his sauces and offered to help.
Entrepreneur Tracey Slavnik spent his career working in the trucking industry, but was always passionate about small business. This passion was expressed through his latest endeavor, Slavnik Family Coffee, an online store that promotes U.S.-based small businesses, which he launched in 2025.
He was inspired to open the store after witnessing the success of his wife’s small business, Wanderlust Book Bazaar, a mobile pop-up book store based in Union. Slavnik observed firsthand how small ventures can strengthen local economies and decided to create a platform that sells products exclusively from American makers. Essentially, Slavnik wants his website to be a centralized location for people to shop for American-made small business products online.
Currently, Slavnik said that his online store features products from small businesses in California, Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, Colorado and Kentucky, among others. The site offers a wide range of products, including coffee, tea, sauces and cheeses.
“That’s what I want to do, I want to help small businesses in America,” Slavnik said. “We need these to put communities to work, and put money into our communities.”
Although the brand’s name highlights coffee and tea, the store sells more than 600 products from 28 small businesses nationwide, including two in Northern Kentucky, one of which is Origin. Slavnik first connected with Hull through Shopify’s Collective feature. For Hull, the store provides his brand with another sales outlet, boosting his online presence.
“For me, the benefit is, you know, like it gives another sales outlet for my store, you know, a little more exposure everything, especially when it’s someone who is trying to promote local everything,” he said.
Moreover, Slavnik said it was important for his online store to feature brands from his own community. Slavnik’s goal is to build a marketplace that acts as an “Amazon for U.S. small businesses,” showcasing items made in homes, garages and small workshops instead of imported products.
“I want to show people that there’s a lot more available that are made by families and their children, and made with love and with locally resourced products available to you,” Slavnik said. “You don’t need to resort to these big box stores.”
Hull said having his product in Slavnik’s store is a win for both entrepreneurs, and hopes the partnership can continue to be mutually beneficial moving forward. As a small brand, gaining exposure and establishing a reputable reputation can often be the most challenging aspect of starting a business.
“I’d love it to be mostly wholesale and going through small retailers–maybe some grocery chains, and I’d really like to see it in restaurants,” Hull said.
