Florida Fiery Foods '98 Show Stirs the Melting Pot

by Kellye Hunter

The world is coming to Florida, which amounts to only good news for hot sauce manufacturers, pepper growers, and restaurant owners. Through the influence of an increasing number of immigrants to the state, more tourism than ever before, and a pepper growing industry that keeps expanding to meet market demands, this state is quickly becoming a major player in the business of hot and spicy food products of all kinds. According to some sources, about forty percent of the hot and spicy market is in the Southeast--now all it needs is some organization.

Enter a group of Florida businesses, including the Purple Pepper, Suncoast Peppers, Mr. Mike's Gourmet, Pursley Gardens, as well as Sunbelt Shows of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who have organized the second annual Florida Fiery Foods Show in St. Petersburg to be held October 9-11, 1998. Their mission is to unify and strengthen business relationships, and to publicize Fiery Foods products in the Eastern part of the United States, both to food professionals and to consumers.

This trade and consumer show, which started out last October with twelve exhibitors and about 500 consumers attending, was such a success that it will increase by almost ten times, with more than 100 exhibitors and an expected 5,000 consumers and attendees. "No one's disappeared (since last year)," says Bren Ankrum, co-producer of the show; owner of the Purple Pepper, a hot sauce manufacturing business in Madeira Beach, Florida, and co-owner of Peppers on the Pier, a hot shop in St. Petersburg. "In fact, more and more manufacturers keep popping up."

Immigration

 

One of the big reasons for this continued growth and popularity is that a large number of people from various countries have brought their spice-laden cuisines to Florida, and have introduced them to a native population that is increasingly more open-minded about hot foods. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Florida has the third-largest immigration population in the U.S. (after California and New York), meaning that about one in every twelve immigrants in the U.S. lives in Florida. About 15.2 percent of the total state population is foreign-born, hailing from countries such as Canada, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, and Jamaica, as well as various African, Asian, and European countries. The majority of them, however, are from the Caribbean, and this has brought about a style of cooking called Floribbean, which employs tropical fruits grown in both places such as passion fruits, limes, and papayas, along with spices that are typically used in the Caribbean for flavoring, such as thyme, ginger, and allspice. These ingredients are then melded together with an American flair to make such dishes as Plum and Pepper-Painted Grouper with a Mango Habanero Mojo, which can be found at Norman's restaurant in Miami. However, according to Edyth James, who has owned Saffron's Caribbean Cuisine restaurant in St. Petersburg for the past seven years, good old-fashioned Jamaican jerk chicken is still the most popular item on her menu.

Tourism

In addition to the number of diverse people moving to Florida, the number of tourists vacationing in the state also continues to increase. The Research Office for Visit Florida has documented that there were 47 million visitors to Florida in 1997 (compared to 41 million in 1993), of which 6,073,000 were international, 2,097,700 were Canadian, and the rest were domestic. All of the money these travelers spend accounts for more than 20 percent of the state's taxable sales, says Visit Florida. In fact, the Travel Industry Association found that Florida tourists spent $41 billion in 1997, which amounts to the second largest tourist expenditure in the U.S. (California has the first), a 28 percent increase from 1993, when tourists in Florida spent $32 billion.

Harald Zoschke, co-owner of Peppers on the Pier, a hot shop that is strategically placed in the high tourist traffic area of the St. Petersburg bay area, has realized a large portion of business from the tourist trade. In addition, he and his wife, Renate, are co-producers of the Florida Fiery Foods Show, and owners of Suncoast Peppers, a hot sauce manufacturing business in Treasure Island, Florida. Since opening Peppers on the Pier in early February of this year, the shop has done "extremely well," says Zoschke, with a customer ratio of about 70 percent tourists to 10 percent locals during the week, and about 50-50 during the weekend.

Unexpectedly, the shop's heavy tourist business has translated into another venue for sales, which Zoschke intends to fulfill through the Internet. "We get a lot of repeat business from people who bought products here while on vacation," he says. "Someone from Indiana, for instance, will get home, run out of product, and call us up to re-stock."

Traditional sales are most brisk during "the season," which lasts from October through April: "Our business in retail doubles then," says co-owner Ankrum. But even during the "off-season," particularly in May and June when sales were slower, business never ground to a halt. "We have many loyal locals," says Zoschke.

Restaurants

Due to the large number of tourist-targeted developments and perpetual migration into the hospitable climate of the Southeastern region of the U.S., the economy there is more robust, total employment is growing above the national average, and there are gains in the industries of retail, service, manufacturing and tourism, reports Nation's Restaurant News. In terms of restaurants, they predict that 1998 total eating-place sales throughout the Southeastern region will reach $64.64 billion, a 5.6 percent increase (compared to a national average growth of 5.0 percent) over 1997 sales of $61.23 billion. And the outlook for Florida in specific is even better, as NRN predicts that the state will account for more than one-quarter of the region's total eating place sales, totaling $16.95 billion, up from $16.10 billion in 1997.

One proprietor who is experiencing this growth is Edyth James, who opened Saffron's Caribbean Cuisine restaurant in St. Petersburg in 1991 with 45 seats, and is now up to 300 seats. "When we first opened, we didn't know if an ethnic restaurant could survive," she says. However, during the past seven years, she has found that more people are willing to try new things, and are becoming increasingly accustomed to spicy meals. "More and more customers are asking for hot sauce, and are using peppers for flavor instead of just heat," she says.

That this type of food has staying power with a sometimes fickle public is evidenced in the fact that James has never had to change her menu in order to attract customers. Through her catering business, she says that she introduces Caribbean cuisine to an even larger number of people, who then can't help but want more. "Once they have it, they're hooked," she says.

This phenomenon has been noticed on a national level as well. NRN reports that Darden Restaurants, Inc., which runs Red Lobster and The Olive Garden restaurants, is now cautiously expanding their Caribbean-style Bahama Breeze restaurants that were initially introduced to Florida consumers only. The first "test" restaurant opened in 1996 in Orlando, Florida, and a second opened in 1997 in Altamonte Springs, Florida. NRN says that industry analysts estimate unit volumes to be between $3.5 million and $5 million, so it is not surprising that in 1998 Darden expanded the concept to Memphis, Tennessee, and now plans to open establishments in Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Columbus, Ohio and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Pepper Production

From raw materials to finished products, Florida provides a kind of one-stop-shopping for Fiery Foods aficionados and manufacturers. Agriculture is one of Florida's top three industries, along with tourism and construction, and yields a plentiful source for the tropical fruits and peppers that comprise spicy Caribbean-style condiments and food.

According to a 1994 University of Florida report by Thomas A. Berwick, Florida was ranked as the leading state in the production of hot and sweet peppers for the fresh market, with the value of these crops at over $100 million. The report states that the reason these crops are so valuable is because peppers are still being harvested in Florida during times of the year when they are not available anywhere else in the United States. Also, because Florida growers are so close to major population centers, they can out-compete foreign pepper producers.

The Census of Agriculture, published every five years by the U.S. Department of Commerce, reports that in 1987 there were fifty-six farms growing hot peppers on 812 acres; in 1992, there were ninety-one farms growing hot peppers on 1,049 acres; and 1997 figures are not yet available. Both Ankrum and Zoschke tell of various growers who now have more than 40,000 habanero plants and harvest up to 12,000 pounds per week. "Because consumers are more aware, the demand for pepper production is up," says Ankrum.

Show Business

The producers of the Florida Fiery Foods Show believe that the St. Petersburg venue is the perfect place for a hot and spicy trade show because it is easily accessible for East coast and Southeast buyers who might not want to travel to the Western U.S. (mainly New Mexico and Texas) to attend a Fiery Foods show. It's a short flight or a few hours' worth of driving for most of them, points out Ankrum, so they don't even have to get a hotel.

This works out well for exhibitors too, as it gives many of them a chance that they might not otherwise have, to participate in the Industry and expose their products to a targeted audience. "Many manufacturers are small and can't afford to go far," says Zoschke. "A lot of them really appreciate that we now have a show in our own backyard."

Even as the makers of individual products are seeking recognition, the show's producers are hoping to gain more notice for the Florida Fiery Foods Industry as a whole. "Florida has been overlooked," says Ankrum. "There is no big distributor here, but there are tons of retail outlets and gourmet shops looking for manufacturers." Zoschke agrees. "We want someone to see this as a potential," he says. "We want them to see that this is not just two or three crazy guys cooking sauces, but that it is a real industry."

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