Fun facts about Tasty Blend are at the end of this story.

FRAZIERS BOTTOM, W.Va. -- Dry with an interesting mix of spice. Some describe Teays Valley Biscuit Mix that way. The man behind the mix can be described in the same terms.

Like his signature biscuit and gravy mixes, Tasty Blend President and CEO Roy D. Elswick Jr. is a combination of down home and modern technology. He calls himself a food technologist, somewhere between a chef and a scientist.

Elswick's path to becoming West Virginia's "Entrepreneur of the Year" and the president of a multi-million dollar, multistate enterprise is storied, to say the least. He was born and raised in Orchard Manor on Charleston's West Side.

"I had the red card in school, the one that got me the free lunch," he said unapologetically. "I got free shoes from the government -- got ''em at Charleston Department Store." Elswick was honored for his rise from such humble beginnings when he was named to the Charleston-Kanawha Housing Hall of Fame in 2009.

The amiable Elswick watched his mother create scratch meals at home, and he strives to recreate those recipes that called for a pinch and a dash of certain ingredients.

"I want to conquer the homemade, from-scratch taste and put it in a bag," Elswick said as he stirred a batch of biscuits and "cracklins" in his company's test kitchen. The Tasty Blend product line includes specialty gravies, cakes, cornbread, soups, breadings, pancakes and more.

"It tastes like Grandma is in a back room cookin'," Elswick said.

Elswick, 55, started out as a cook. He fed Elvis during his legendary stay at Charleston's Daniel Boone Hotel and managed the old BBF burger joint on Patrick Street in Charleston early in his career. A sales job changed his path, and his life.

"I worked for Winston Shelton, who was originally from Clay," Elswick explained. "He made the first automatic washer and dryer, revolutionized the way we do our wash." Shelton went on to invent the "Collectramatic Fryer," which was enthusiastically supported by restaurant legend Harlan Sanders. Elswick was enlisted to sell the fryers in West Virginia, and tells of his not-so-stellar start.

"Mr. Shelton came down from Kentucky, where his business was located, to see the first West Virginia restaurant I sold one of his cookers to," Elswick said. "Well, we go over to this diner on the West Side, and there's nothing there. The place had burnt to the ground. There's nothing there but ashes. Mr. Shelton almost didn't believe that I had sold one of the units, but he saw the building in ashes, and he realized what had happened!"

Elswick sold Winston equipment, as well as a sideline of food breading and coating products sold under the "Blendex" name, from a 1970 Winnebago he converted into a traveling demonstration kitchen. He moved to Columbus, Ohio, because of his friendship with Wendy's founder Dave Thomas and because the West Virginia fast food market wasn't quite ripe. He continued to sell Winston products for seven years, including the self-contained salad bar units so popular in restaurants in the ''80s.

"I placed the largest order in the history of Winston Industries in 1986," Elswick said. "It was for $6 million worth of those salad bars, sold to Wendy's." In addition to Wendy's, Elswick has worked with Sisters, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, Burger King, Duff's Smorgasbord, S&S Cafeteria, and many other companies.

In April 1984, he coined the name "Tasty Blend Foods." Four years later, Teays Valley Biscuit Mix was born, and in 1989, he sold his first retail batch of biscuit mix under the Tasty Blend moniker.

Since the Winnebago days, Elswick has expanded his manufacturing capabilities by purchasing state of the art equipment and continually expanding his operating facility. In January 2006, Elswick moved into the 58,000-square-foot plant that sits on 10 acres of land in Fraziers Bottom.

Fun facts about Tasty Blend are at the end of this story.

FRAZIERS BOTTOM, W.Va. -- Dry with an interesting mix of spice. Some describe Teays Valley Biscuit Mix that way. The man behind the mix can be described in the same terms.

Like his signature biscuit and gravy mixes, Tasty Blend President and CEO Roy D. Elswick Jr. is a combination of down home and modern technology. He calls himself a food technologist, somewhere between a chef and a scientist.

Elswick's path to becoming West Virginia's "Entrepreneur of the Year" and the president of a multi-million dollar, multistate enterprise is storied, to say the least. He was born and raised in Orchard Manor on Charleston's West Side.

"I had the red card in school, the one that got me the free lunch," he said unapologetically. "I got free shoes from the government -- got ''em at Charleston Department Store." Elswick was honored for his rise from such humble beginnings when he was named to the Charleston-Kanawha Housing Hall of Fame in 2009.

The amiable Elswick watched his mother create scratch meals at home, and he strives to recreate those recipes that called for a pinch and a dash of certain ingredients.

"I want to conquer the homemade, from-scratch taste and put it in a bag," Elswick said as he stirred a batch of biscuits and "cracklins" in his company's test kitchen. The Tasty Blend product line includes specialty gravies, cakes, cornbread, soups, breadings, pancakes and more.

"It tastes like Grandma is in a back room cookin'," Elswick said.

Elswick, 55, started out as a cook. He fed Elvis during his legendary stay at Charleston's Daniel Boone Hotel and managed the old BBF burger joint on Patrick Street in Charleston early in his career. A sales job changed his path, and his life.

"I worked for Winston Shelton, who was originally from Clay," Elswick explained. "He made the first automatic washer and dryer, revolutionized the way we do our wash." Shelton went on to invent the "Collectramatic Fryer," which was enthusiastically supported by restaurant legend Harlan Sanders. Elswick was enlisted to sell the fryers in West Virginia, and tells of his not-so-stellar start.

"Mr. Shelton came down from Kentucky, where his business was located, to see the first West Virginia restaurant I sold one of his cookers to," Elswick said. "Well, we go over to this diner on the West Side, and there's nothing there. The place had burnt to the ground. There's nothing there but ashes. Mr. Shelton almost didn't believe that I had sold one of the units, but he saw the building in ashes, and he realized what had happened!"

Elswick sold Winston equipment, as well as a sideline of food breading and coating products sold under the "Blendex" name, from a 1970 Winnebago he converted into a traveling demonstration kitchen. He moved to Columbus, Ohio, because of his friendship with Wendy's founder Dave Thomas and because the West Virginia fast food market wasn't quite ripe. He continued to sell Winston products for seven years, including the self-contained salad bar units so popular in restaurants in the ''80s.

"I placed the largest order in the history of Winston Industries in 1986," Elswick said. "It was for $6 million worth of those salad bars, sold to Wendy's." In addition to Wendy's, Elswick has worked with Sisters, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, Burger King, Duff's Smorgasbord, S&S Cafeteria, and many other companies.

In April 1984, he coined the name "Tasty Blend Foods." Four years later, Teays Valley Biscuit Mix was born, and in 1989, he sold his first retail batch of biscuit mix under the Tasty Blend moniker.

Since the Winnebago days, Elswick has expanded his manufacturing capabilities by purchasing state of the art equipment and continually expanding his operating facility. In January 2006, Elswick moved into the 58,000-square-foot plant that sits on 10 acres of land in Fraziers Bottom.

Walking through the Putnam County Tasty Blend plant with Elswick, visitors can't help but notice how clean and efficient and how downright huge the place is -- with three blending rooms where the secret recipes are blended en masse and then pared down into human-sized packages ready to be shipped to stores and restaurants across the country.

There's a room-sized spice rack that holds the secret ingredients used in the packaged mixes -- but this isn't a typical kitchen setup as the product is mixed into 2,000-pound bags. Pallets of cartons of ground red pepper, curly parsley, black pepper and other natural additives are placed high on shelves by a forklift.

Elswick personally greets every employee, sharing uplifting spiritual testimonies blended with production facts and figures.

Not only does Tasty Blend manufacture its own line of retail and food-service products, they also have a vast array of private labels that they blend and manufacture.

Miss May's Corndog Mix, gravies used at S&S Cafeteria, and Aretha Frankenstein's pancake mix are among the products made on a regular basis at Tasty Blend.

"We have countless customers that we make mixes for," Elswick said. "I sign very strict non-disclosures with them, promising not to tell whose products we make." He hinted, however, that he might know the recipe that's in that famous safe in Kentucky, and that some advertised "homemade" restaurant offerings might start in his Teays Valley plant.

When he's not making biscuit mix, Elswick can be found singing and playing a variety of instruments in several local groups and enjoying family life. He has four children, three step-children and seven grandchildren. His wife, Cathy, sings with him in "Spiritual Gifts," a group that recently cut a CD of old and new religious favorites.

"It's in my music and in my business -- my daily walk serving Christ," Elswick says of his life. "Being a beacon to his light. By being a team player and by God's grace, that's what made me who I am today."

Reach Sara Busse at sara.bu...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1249.

Ingredients for success

Tasty Blend Food Inc.'s path to the top of the baking industry wasn't without a few bumps along the way.

The original plant was located on Teays Valley Road, and the company at one point tried to relocate to a site that needed to be rezoned, much to the dismay of the Putnam County Commission and the neighbors of the tract of land. Eventually, President and CEO Roy Elswick acquired the current Fraziers Bottom site, to the delight of Putnam County officials.

Elswick put out fires over tax breaks, non-labor-union construction, and other issues to keep Tasty Blend in Putnam County.

Some facts about the business:

Each year, Tasty Blend uses: