Peppered Personalities–A Continuing Series

Fire Protection Engineer Hot on Fiery Foods

by David G. Jackson, Photos by Harald Zoschke

CaBoom! Liquid Stoopid! Sounds like something out of a comic book as the hero hits the bad guy or the bad guy drinks a flaming liquid that makes him scream for mercy. Would you believe they are the names of two of 75 best selling fiery food products produced by CaJohns Fiery Foods and developed by a man whose business is to keep fires from starting?

John Hard is a fire protection engineer who works on the Gulf Coast and in the Southwest. In his travels over the years he developed a taste (addiction) for hot and spicy foods, so much so that he decided to start a business selling these products on the Internet and to open a small store in Columbus, Ohio, his home town. But how to start?

One of his first steps was to register for the College of Chile Knowledge held at the 1997 National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show. "I learned a lot about the business," he said, "all about everything from designing labels to co-packing to marketing. I had the idea of selling my own products and met several co-packers who would do small batches.

"I really wanted to develop my own recipes. I had worked as a cook in college and had learned a lot from my mother who taught me the value of using fresh produce and to keep onions and peppers crisp at the peak of their flavor. It took a lot of work to get the taste just right," said John. "We also wanted to start a family enterprise that would give our children an opportunity learn about business. And we found that to be in a small business of this type you really need family support.

His first product was Louisiana style hot sauce with his own unique flavor. "Then came my first salsas: extra hot, hot, medium and mild. I was surprised that the extra hot sold three jars to one jar of hot. People really like the hot stuff," he said. "And we kept developing new products. I introduced chilpotle peppers into my products and the sales took off." CaJohns products now include marinades, barbecues sauces, rubs, spices, flavoring for tacos and chile, jambalaya, gumbo and etouffe.

Recognizing that he needed to promote his products, John started entering competitions in regional food fairs in his area of the country, then in other areas, including the Scovie Awards Competition. John believes in entering award contests because winning awards makes buyers aware of quality. They consider awards to be endorsements of the products as judged by food professionals. In the first year of entering shows he won three top awards. In the past four years CaJohns has entered food contests all over the country and has garnered 111 awards -- including 20 Scovie Awards. In the recent NASFT fancy food show his CaBoom line carried the show. The products are promoted as "America’s Most Awarded Fiery Foods." One of his best projects has been a contract with the Frigidaire Company in Columbus to do a gift pack as a premium for purchasing a range. This helped him to develop a national market. He also received $50,000 in orders from a major food show in New York. He also gets a lot of business through advertisements in Fiery Foods & Barbecue Magazine.

CaJohns has had over 100 labels although they have been pared down to about 75. Packaging is very important and they use fancy glassware for a number of their products. One bottle is even dipped in wax in the European style, although it is expensive because it has to be done by hand. To keep their product line growing, they have acquired the Suncoast Gourmet and Fletcher Grant’s products as well as several other smaller brands.

"We do not attempt to sell to major grocery chains, but focus on gourmet food stores. We very carefully pick our markets. Our biggest sales come from our Christmas catalog. The real challenge," John said, " is to manage our inventory very carefully. Because we use co-packers we have to schedule each batch in advance and this can be a challenge." He is considering establishing his own packing operation. "Cable TV is also a blessing because there is a 24 hours cooking channel where a lot of my products are used in the various programs and we sell a lot of specialty products to this audience.," he said.

And his business has grown to the point that he has to make some major decisions about how to proceed from here. "Do we really want to get bigger? If we really get serious, can this business support our lifestyle? Are we going to be in this for the long run? Can we deal with corporate America? These are questions that my family and I will have to answer before we determine the course of our action," John said. "You gotta believe in your ideas and products, but you have to keep your head on your shoulders and analyze every move you make. It takes promotional money to get into the stores. You must know how to negotiate or be crushed," he emphasized. John now has five employees and is doing $200,000 worth of business yearly (2000). The business has grown 150 per cent in the past year. Brand names produced by CaJohns Fiery Foods include Hot Spots, Temptations, CaJohns Nate Dog’s, Harold’s Dangerously Hot, Fire Dust, Vicious Viper, and Wanza’s Wicked Temptation.

John Hard and his family have done well in the fiery foods business. But they have some difficult decisions to make before they can move on to the next step of the business.

CaJohns Fiery Foods

200 Oak Park Avenue

Columbus, Ohio 43224

614/418-0808

888/703-3473

Fax 614/418-0800

www.cajohns.com 

cajohn@cajohns.com

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