Peppered Personalities–A Continuing Series

Marketing and Sales: The Name of Harry’s Game

By David G. Jackson

Hot Sauce Harry’s is a company that knows fiery-foods promotion, marketing, and sales. Bob Harris, the president, has worked the food business from farmers’ markets to gourmet markets, and has sold fiery-foods to a surprising group of clients that continues to expand. The key to his success is to design a label and define the market for the product. Actually, Bob Harris could probably package and sell it in Iraq.

Bob has been at Hot Sauce Harry’s for ten years. Before that he was a food broker and promoter. His love for hot sauce started with a cruise to the Caribbean, where he bought hot sauce from a number of islands for gifts and for his own use. His friends loved the sauces and he realized that here was an opportunity for a real entrepreneur.

"I attended the National Fiery-Foods Show eleven years ago to learn about the fast growing hot food market. I started to sell hot sauce at farmers’ markets on weekends--not from my own kitchen, but food from a number of manufacturers."

"Hot Sauce Harry’s is not a kitchen-based business," said Bob, "we are market-based. We look for good products and have them manufactured for us. These products are packaged with our own labels and marketed in specialty areas. Our products are made in Louisiana, Fort Worth, Florida, and Georgia and include cayenne- and habanero-based sauces with fruit flavors and Vidalia onions."

With names like Dynamite, Dead Heat, Hot Lips, and Texas--each with a bright, distinctive label-- the packages invite sales. And with topical brand names like Bomb Saddam Mad Blast, Hot and Proud To Be an American, and EnWrong Shredded Sauce, he appeals to a market that is up on current events. There is even a "collector bottle" of sauce with a Duck Stamp on the label; all migratory waterfowl hunters in the US must purchase a duck stamp along with their state hunting license, and these are popular items in sporting goods stores.

Bob’s marketing expertise shows best in his innovative sales of sauces sold under the names of major league football and baseball teams and NCAA college teams. "These products require licensing from the respective organizations and special labels showing the team symbols prominently," he said. "The idea came to me when I attended a game and saw all of the products with team names being sold, not only at the stadium, but in stores around the country. Why not fiery foods for the many fans and alumni who really support their teams?"

The products for major league baseball include Hot Sauce, Nacho Cheese Sauce, Picante Salsa and BallPark Nacho Kit, all emblazoned with the team’s name either in individual bottles or gift packages. All 30 American and National League teams are represented, as are most of the NFL teams. The NCAA college product list includes Hot Sauce, Flash Sauce, Picante Salsa, BBQ Sauce, Wing Sauce, Nacho Cheese and Chili Mix, and TailGate Pack, Snack Pack, Double Play and Triple Play packs containing several of the brands. Some 35 of the top college teams sell Hot Sauce Harry’s products. All of these fiery-foods products are sold individually or by the case.

"Our products are not just ‘hot stuff in a bottle’ but are carefully chosen for taste," Bob said, "and we have won a number of awards for taste. The products won’t sell if they are not of high quality because we represent a team that people love and respect. More than 90 per cent of our business is wholesale." The graphics are big, bright, and bold so that people can see the product brand name. A lot of their business is through gift shops and so a name like Texas Firecracker, Dallas Dynamite and Ft. Worth Flame are popular.

"We also have customers such as Bass Pro Shops, and special productions for ABC, HBO and the Cannes Film Festival, all with special packaging. In fact we can produce special packaged products with a custom label for just about any occasion," Bob said. They also sell custom products at clothing stores, hot shops, and specialty stores.

"We have to have a guaranteed minimum order, and we will design labels and packages for any firm or organization. We were even approached for a special order for a top drag racer," he said. For that kind of order it takes about two years to break even.

Bob Harris is 62 and runs the business--including a retail web site--with his wife Dianne, daughter Lauren and two others. Running a small business is a real challenge, Bob notes, and they have to be lean and mean. But, he says, "We are still having fun. Even in these hard economic times we sell as much as one million of our products in a good year."

For more information, contact Hot Sauce Harry’s at 800-588-8979 or visit their website: www.HotSauceHarrys.com

Peppered Personality last time: Dr. Paul Bosland (Chile Pepper Institute, NMSU)

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