Wednesday, September 16, 2009

2010 Fiery Food Challenge

Hello PepperHeads,

This was an action packed, yet very rainy, weekend for Crazy Uncle Jester's in Fort Worth, TX. Aunt Jester, Cappy, Twister and I spent the weekend at the Will Rogers Center for the ZestFest 2009 and the 2010 Fiery Food Challenge.

On Friday night, the results of the 2010 FFC were announced. Although we were not complaining, Aunt Jester and I were up and down more times than a catholic wedding. When the dust had settled Crazy Uncle Jester's had won seven medals, including two 2010 Golden Chile Awards:
  1. Crazy Uncle Jester's AfterBurner Sauce - Golden Chile
  2. Crazy Uncle Jester's Brush Fire BBQ - Golden Chile
  3. Crazy Uncle Jester's Logo - 2nd Place
  4. Crazy Uncle Jester's Product Labels - 2nd Place
  5. Crazy Uncle Jester's Deluxe Gift Set - 2nd Place
  6. Crazy Uncle Jester's Select Reserve - 3rd Place
  7. Crazy Uncle Jester's Logo Skateboard Deck 7.75 - 3rd Place

When we awoke the next morning, our faces and ribs hurt from all of the smiling and laughing we did the night before. Congratulations to all of our friends who also won awards at the 2010 FFC.

Have a great weekend. If you're out and about, come look for us at the Prebel County Pork Festival.

Regards,
Uncle Jester (Jeff)

Friday, August 14, 2009

Phone Call for Uncle Jester...Men's Health (UK) Calling

Hello PepperHeads,

August has already been a busy month and it is not half over. In the last 30 days, Cappy and I travelled to Nashville, TN with Cousin LeRoy; spent Weekend of Fire with Jungle Jim, CaJohns, and Defcon Sauces; received Taste The Fear - Al Buddah's prestigous Product of the Year Award; and have begun selling our sauces throughout Europe. Bungholio and I expo'ed at opening day of The Ohio State Fair with the Ohio Proud Producers. Governor Strickland stopped by and became the newest addition to the Pepperhead Fan Club. He said that he likes his sauce "hot".

Our youth exchange daughter, Florence, returned home to Belgium this month. Aunt Jester and I thought that things would settle down for a while this Summer as we prepared for ZestFest 2009 in September...boy were we wrong!

Last week, I got a phone call from the United Kingdom. It seems that Men's Health Magazine has chosen our Brush Fire BBQ as one of their Top 100 Products for Men. We will be published in the UK edition of their magazine next month. Men's Health has the largest distribution of any magazine in the UK. We scrambled to accept international orders on the website, signed up with FedEx Global, and have even found a retail storefront and distributor in England. It's official...Uncle Jester's has crossed the pond.

There are some new recipes on the website. There are some very creative things happening behind the scenes...new look and new products. Keep checking back to see if you can spot the changes.

Hope to see you at an upcoming festival or event. If there are some in your area that we should attend, please let me know. We appreciate your advice as we grow our business.

If you have an interest in owning your own Crazy Uncle Jester's franchise, please give Cousin LeRoy or me a call. There are new opportunities available for you and the start-up costs are minimal. This opportunity is not for everyone, but for the enthusiastic PepperHead with the entrepreneurial spirit...the sky is the limit.

Have a great weekend.

Regards,
Uncle Jester (Jeff)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Chile Pepper Magazine Loves Blazing Hot Mustard

Good Morning PepperHeads™,

This weekend, Aunt Jester and I received a wonderful surprise. My June copy of Chile Pepper Magazine arrived. On the front cover was featured a story entitled "21 Must Have Mustards".

Being the mustard fanatic I am, I thumbed my way to page 66 of the magazine and began to read. When I reached page 69, I immediately knew why I love Chile Pepper.

In this month's issue, Chile Pepper Magazine chose Crazy Uncle Jester's ® Blazing Hot Mustard™ as one of the 21 Best Mustards in the country. They liked the heat, loved the earthy flavor, and named it as one of this summer's must-have-mustards.

We are headed to the 2009 Yellow Springs Street Fair this weekend. Stop by and visit with us if you get the chance. We'll have Fresh Garden Salsa available for you to try and buy.

Regards,
Uncle Jester (Jeff)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Hello PepperHeads,

Aunt Jester and I just got back from our weekend-long roundtrip to Daytona International Speedway. No, we were not confused...we realized ahead of time that there was no race at Daytona this weekend. We were invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Toyota Skinner Roundup with our friends Mike and Angie Skinner.

Uncle Jester made some new friends along the way...he sort of developed a crush on Aunt Catfish's, but don't tell Aunt Jester. She'll burn his Jester hats.

This weekend, we met some great NASCAR folks...Uncle Jester got to catch up with his friend Ed (Angie Skinner).

He and Cousin LeRoy (Paul) got to play golf and poker with some big names like: Randy Moss, Jim Kelley, Betty Jane France (owner of NASCAR), Edwin McCain, Robby Knievel, Betty Jane France, and NASCAR drivers A. J. Allmendinger, Boris Said, Rick Crawford, Ron Hornaday and Steve Park. Who knew poker was that much work.

Yesterday, we took A1A up the coast. After lunch in St. Augustine, and sleep in NC, we headed for Ohio. We were prepared for cold weather, but were surprised with 63 F. March weather...who knew?

This weekend is "That Spring Thing," the Springboro Hometown Expo. We will be set up at Springboro High School to visit with our friends and sell jelly...oh how Aunt Jester just loves selling jelly! Stop out and see us if you get a chance, you can sample some of our new AfterBurner Sauce!

See you soon,
Uncle Jester (Jeff)

Monday, February 9, 2009

Jackson County Telegram, January 2009

A taste for hot sauce, a desire to create in the kitchen and a succession of savvy business moves have former Jackson resident Jeff Stevenson making headlines as both a chef and an entrepreneur. Stevenson, the son of Dr. Steve and Aggie Stevenson of Jackson and a 1990 graduate of Jackson High School, now lives in the Kettering area and is gainfully employed as a financial planner. But that’s his day job.

Stevenson has spent much of the rest of his time the past several years developing his new Dayton-based business, Crazy Uncle Jester’s Inferno World, which features a product line of hot and spicy foods, including salsas, hot sauces, barbecue sauces, jellies and mustards. He is the founder, president and chef/creator.

A business that literally started in his own kitchen has grown to the point that his products can now be found in 500 stores, including many stores in the huge Winn-Dixie Stores grocery chain. Locally, his hot stuff can be purchased at Jerry’s Jamestown Market on East Broadway Street in Jackson.

With the promising returns thus far and with a firm business plan in place, Stevenson’s ambitious goal is to be in more than 4,000 grocery stories by next June as he foresees a 500 percent increase in demand within a year.
Stevenson told the Dayton Business Journal for a recent story that he was on track for sales of more than $50,000 in 2008 and expects to hit more than $500,000 next year. Within three years, he predicts sales will surpass $1 million.
Stevenson was in Jackson on Tuesday, December 2, to give Jackson Rotarians a firsthand update on his blossoming enterprise and to visit with old friends. His father is a long-time Jackson Rotarian and Jeff was in the local club for a brief time before switching his affiliation to the Kettering Rotary Club, for which he recently completed a term as president.

Stevenson revealed that the origins of Uncle Jester can be traced back many years to his culinary experimenting in Mom’s kitchen.“Everyday when I wake up, it’s hard to believe this all started with me messing around in my Mom’s kitchen,” Stevenson remarked, adding that he wasn’t satisfied to concentrate his creativity on the standard Midwestern-type recipes he grew up with.

“I always wanted to find the hottest and spiciest thing -- the most intense taste,” Stevenson noted.
He had always had a taste for hot spices and took careful note of some of the tastes he was exposed to on his honeymoon to Jamaica. Still, he had a creative bent and began working on creating his own hot/spicy concoctions. About four years ago, he had produced his first creation, Jamaican Hellfire.
At first, Stevenson’s culinary workplace was his own kitchen and the products were for his own use and for his close friends and relatives. But the reviews were glowing and Stevenson’s sense of enterprise inspired him to consider the business possibilities of marketing his new products. Initially, he obtained a state license to distribute his products at fairs, festivals and farm markets. After 18 months, it was clear that people liked his products, but the relative return was small for the amount of work and time he was putting in to the project.
Stevenson took his enterprise to the next level by securing a federal license to ship his products across state lines and rented an industrial kitchen in Athens at the Appalachian Center for Economic Development so he could produce larger volumes. Several months ago, he struck up a partnership with Hinkle Food Systems of Englewood, which is also near Dayton. This association has enabled the young entrepreneur to mass-produce his hot stuff.
As part of his marketing plan, Stevenson has developed his own website, crazyunclejester.com., has personally contacted grocery store executives to get his products placed and has hit the road to do numerous demonstrations at events. Jackson Rotarians were given the opportunity to taste his products.

Although the Uncle Jester’s mercurial growth is taking Stevenson on quite a ride these days, he remains grounded and carefully analytical about future moves. He has short-range and long-range plans and business projections, but knows he must constantly adapt to the market and be willing to change his business plan. He says he is committed to donating 10 percent of his net profits to charity.


Stevenson told Dayton Business Journal that he has several basic recommendations for the would-be entrepreneur: One has to look at their venture and themselves and analyze the strength of their product and what the market will bear. But perhaps more importantly, one must love what he or she is doing.

“If you don’t, it will eat you alive,” he said. “It’s all-consuming.”

Meanwhile, his products are not only a business success, but they are a hit with the many food connoisseurs who consider themselves hot/spicy lovers.
Stevenson earned The Golden Chile award at the 2009 Fiery Food Challenge as well as two second-place awards. In the 2009 Scovie Awards, Stevenson racked up seven awards, including two first-place finishes.

And to think, it all started in a kitchen in Jackson, Ohio.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Crazy Uncle Jester's Becomes the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Newest Licensed Partner.

We are proud to announce that Crazy Uncle Jester's has recently become the newest licensed partner in the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s “Ohio Proud program”.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Every Day with Rachel Ray Magazine?!?!

Hello PepperHeads,

Just a quick note from Inferno World. I got a phone call from Andrea at Every Day With Rachel Ray Magazine. Crazy Uncle Jester's is going to be featured in an upcoming issue.


We can hardly wait. Every time we get good news, Aunt Jester and I think that it cannot get any better...then, we are proven wrong, again!

Rachel Ray! Can you believe it? We can't!

Regards,
Crazy Uncle Jester

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Heat Things Up With Crazy Uncle Jester's in 2009!

Shop online at Crazy Uncle Jester's Inferno World until Jan. 15, 2009 and save 15% off your entire order. Use Coupon Code: PepperHead109.

2009 SCOVIE AWARDS RECOGNIZES DAYTON COMPANY FOR PRODUCT EXCELLENCE

When the results of the 2009 Scovie Awards, the world's leading recognition for hot and spicy products, were announced, Jeff and Lori Stevenson of Crazy Uncle Jester’s Inferno World were excited to get the call from the competition organizers. Dayton-based Crazy Uncle Jester’s, which manufactures gourmet hot sauce, pepper jellies, dipping sauces, salsas, and dessert sauces, has received eight 2009 Scovie Awards. In the industry's most rigorous blind tastings, a panel of the country's top culinary experts sampled hundreds of the world's most lauded gourmet foods, and the top scoring products each won a coveted Scovie banner.

Crazy Uncle Jester’s Jamaican Hellfire and Brush Fire BBQ both took top honors in the 2009 Scovies. Their Bellyfire Pulled Pork and Inferno Cheesecake recipes were awarded second place finishes. The Stevensons’ Inferno Jelly and AfterBurner Sauce won third place. They also won medals for product packaging and logo design. Over 600 products from around the world competed for top honors. The Scovie Awards were created by Dave DeWitt, the nation's leading author on fiery cuisine and founder of the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show. The awards are named for Wilbur Scoville who pioneered a rating scale for spicy foods. The Scovie Awards have become the industry standard for excellence in more than 60 categories of fiery foods.

"This year's entrants really represented the cream of the crop in fiery foods products," notes Dave DeWitt, dubbed by The New York Times as the "Pope of Peppers." "Our 2009 winners represent some of the largest companies in the industry, such as Pace Foods, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Garden Fresh Salsa, as well as start-up companies just getting off the ground. The common factor is their commitment to excellence and the real quality of the products they produce."

DeWitt was also pleased with the geographic diversity of the winners. "This year, our winners represent companies from 32 different states and countries and provinces as diverse as Panama, Australia, Japan, Antigua and Canada," lauds DeWitt. "Scovie winners truly exemplify the diversity and quality of this industry.

"For the second year in a row, the Grand Prize winner was a sweet heat product. Bon Bon Bakery and Chocolates of San Diego, California, took the top composite score with their innovative Mayan Truffle, a delectable and innovative confection featuring sweet corn and chile verde ganache enrobed in rich dark chocolate. The top award in Advertising and Marketing went to Idaho-based Treasure Valley Salsa for their Black Bean and Corn Salsa Label. Both Grand Prize winners were first time Scovie entrants.

Many of the Scovie award winning products, as well as thousands of other products, will be available to both trade buyers and consumers at the 21st Annual National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show, February 27--March 1 in Albuquerque, NM. For information on exhibiting in the National Fiery Foods Show, call 505-873-8680, or visit www.fiery-foods.com.

Contact information:
Jeffrey E. “Black Bull” Stevenson
Crazy Uncle Jester’s Inferno World, LLC.
PO Box 751953
Dayton, OH 45475-1953

(937) 550-1025 Ext. 301
(888) 212-1519
(937) 550-1025 Fax

http://www.crazyunclejester.com