Inside The QVC Machine cover art

Inside The QVC Machine

Inside The QVC Machine

Listen for free

View show details

About this listen

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email shawn@calibbq.media or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro shares a full-circle story that starts with a struggling restaurant in the early 2000s and leads all the way to the doorstep of QVC.

A forgotten catering marketing system introduces a mail-order barbecue model that turns tourism into shipped product, planting a seed that quietly lingers for years. That idea eventually reconnects Mike with the very person who helped scale Corky’s barbecue on QVC, this time while exploring how San Pedro Fish Market shrimp could become a nationally shippable product.

Product design, consumer psychology, fulfillment, and margin reality quickly collide. What looks simple on paper becomes a clear lesson in how distribution, storage, and pricing can unravel even strong ideas. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at why packaged food is hard, why timing matters, and why some ideas are worth revisiting later.

What You Will Learn

- How dormant ideas resurface at the right moment

- Why simplicity matters in mass-market food products

- The real economics behind QVC and shipped food

- How timing and relationships shape second chances

No reviews yet