Hello PepperHeads™,
This year, I am working harder than ever to grow our loyal following. Aunt Jester, Cousin LeRoy, and I have added more Tour dates to the calendar than ever before. The Burn and Blister Tour is going global. We are excited about the progress we are making in growing the PepperHead Fan Club™, but have decided to take it to the next level.
We are going viral. No, it's not any form of biological warfare. We are using Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube to reach would be PepperHeads™ that have not yet discovered Crazy Uncle Jester's on their own...through no fault of their own. The immutable laws of physics that prevent us from being in twelve places at the same time have prevented us from bringing the Tour to their locale. So, we have to reach them another way.
Uncle Jester has asked everyone for their help. We are always looking for, and rewarding you for, your referrals. Now we have solicited the assistance of the internet itself. Uncle Jester has hired the World Wide Web to help him grow the PepperHead Fan Club™. We are using a complex net of reverse search technology that scans the internet for potential PepperHeads™. It looks for them on Facebook. It scours all of the Tweets worldwide looking for Chilefiles everywhere. It pours through countless hours of YouTube video looking for that special person. And, when it discovers the perfect candidates, it alerts our crack team of internet recruiters to send them an invitation!
So, if someone you know receives an email invitation to join the PepperHead Fan Club™ don't be surprised. Just smack yourself firmly on the forehead and say, "I could have done that!"
For more information on Social Media Marketing Tools, Google "Social Media Marketing Tools" or check out these sites: Tweet Adder 2010 Jet Email Extractor They are seriously powerful tools that will take your marketing to the next level.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Gluttons for Punishment Gather - 'Chili Hheads' Revel in Pain of Peppers at North Market
By: Holly Zachariah and Tom Dodge
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Chris Sharma and stepson Dave Graham, 11, of Columbus, drink milk to try to block the heat after tasting hot-pepper sauces at CaJohns Fiery Foods at the North Market festival.
Marc Turner licked the tiny drop of brown goo from the spoon and turned to the man standing beside him at the North Market's Fiery Foods Festival yesterday.
He wanted to say that the hot sauce was good, but when he opened his mouth to speak, the sound that came out was something between a croak and a hoarse whisper.
Turner cleared his throat, then tried again.
"That's drop-kicking me in the pants right about now," he finally managed to get out.
"You know what's happening?" said Jeff Stevenson, the man who founded Crazy Uncle Jester's hot-sauce company out of Dayton. "Your vocal cords are spasming, that's what."
Stevenson is the one who had just given Turner the sample of "The Jester," the hot-sauce concentrate he makes from habanero peppers.
Stevenson says it takes 100 pounds of habaneros to produce 8 fluid ounces of the stuff. He says the concentrate rates 4 million units on the Scoville scale, which is used to gauge the hotness of a chili pepper. (By comparison, a typical green jalapeno rates about 5,000).
Turner, 41, of Westerville, wiped the tear from his eye and the sweat from his forehead, thanked Stevenson and made his way to the next booth to find more samples at the North Market's seventh-annual Fiery Foods Festival.
He was one of hundreds of people who couldn't seem to get enough. The hotter the better, it seemed.
And these lovers of all things hot -- chili heads, they are called -- are not shy about their obsession.
There was a grown man wearing a necklace made of plastic chili peppers, and a woman with red-pepper earrings that lit up and blinked. A 10-year-old girl sported a T-shirt with a chili on it that read "one hot mama."
Quite simply, it is an addiction. At least, that's what Columbus anesthesiologist Joe Levinson says.
"The love of hot and spicy foods is fascinating if you study the science of it. It's biological," Levinson said. He runs www.thehotzone online.com, a Web site for all things, well, hot. He also judged yesterday's amateur salsa and hot-sauce competitions.
He says capsaicin, the component in peppers that makes them hot, offers a natural high.
John Dailey, a 47-year-old from the North Side, couldn't agree more.
He sampled "The Jester" sauce, too. He said his head tingled, and beads of sweat popped out on his forehead.
"It scatters the synapses in your brain," he said.
What does that mean?
"It means it is ridiculous, crazy, insane. It's a buzz, man."
But wait, there's more.
"It's endorphins, you know. Like a runner's high without having to run. You don't even think clearly. Your mind just scatters."
He went back for seconds.
hzachariah@dispatch.com
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Chris Sharma and stepson Dave Graham, 11, of Columbus, drink milk to try to block the heat after tasting hot-pepper sauces at CaJohns Fiery Foods at the North Market festival.
Marc Turner licked the tiny drop of brown goo from the spoon and turned to the man standing beside him at the North Market's Fiery Foods Festival yesterday.
He wanted to say that the hot sauce was good, but when he opened his mouth to speak, the sound that came out was something between a croak and a hoarse whisper.
Turner cleared his throat, then tried again.
"That's drop-kicking me in the pants right about now," he finally managed to get out.
"You know what's happening?" said Jeff Stevenson, the man who founded Crazy Uncle Jester's hot-sauce company out of Dayton. "Your vocal cords are spasming, that's what."
Stevenson is the one who had just given Turner the sample of "The Jester," the hot-sauce concentrate he makes from habanero peppers.
Stevenson says it takes 100 pounds of habaneros to produce 8 fluid ounces of the stuff. He says the concentrate rates 4 million units on the Scoville scale, which is used to gauge the hotness of a chili pepper. (By comparison, a typical green jalapeno rates about 5,000).
Turner, 41, of Westerville, wiped the tear from his eye and the sweat from his forehead, thanked Stevenson and made his way to the next booth to find more samples at the North Market's seventh-annual Fiery Foods Festival.
He was one of hundreds of people who couldn't seem to get enough. The hotter the better, it seemed.
And these lovers of all things hot -- chili heads, they are called -- are not shy about their obsession.
There was a grown man wearing a necklace made of plastic chili peppers, and a woman with red-pepper earrings that lit up and blinked. A 10-year-old girl sported a T-shirt with a chili on it that read "one hot mama."
Quite simply, it is an addiction. At least, that's what Columbus anesthesiologist Joe Levinson says.
"The love of hot and spicy foods is fascinating if you study the science of it. It's biological," Levinson said. He runs www.thehotzone online.com, a Web site for all things, well, hot. He also judged yesterday's amateur salsa and hot-sauce competitions.
He says capsaicin, the component in peppers that makes them hot, offers a natural high.
John Dailey, a 47-year-old from the North Side, couldn't agree more.
He sampled "The Jester" sauce, too. He said his head tingled, and beads of sweat popped out on his forehead.
"It scatters the synapses in your brain," he said.
What does that mean?
"It means it is ridiculous, crazy, insane. It's a buzz, man."
But wait, there's more.
"It's endorphins, you know. Like a runner's high without having to run. You don't even think clearly. Your mind just scatters."
He went back for seconds.
hzachariah@dispatch.com
Monday, January 25, 2010
35th Winter Fancy Food Show
Hello PepperHeads,
Aunt Jester, Cousin LeRoy, Cappy, Twister, and I just returned from the N.A.S.F.T. 35th Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. We, along with 1300 other gourmet food manufacturers, visited the Moscone Center for the four day event. What a rush!
We met with fifteen different distributors and retailers on the day before the show. LeRoy and I had some wonderful discussions with a large national resort and casino, several fine grocers, and numerous gourmet kitchen and gift stores. We took orders by the pallet-full and truckload.
We also met a lot of great companies and made some new friends. Aunt Jester and I got to visit with the CEO of Baconaise. What a cool company.
You can look for Crazy Uncle Jester's at your local fine grocer this summer. If everything goes according to plan, we should be there.
We are also adding some very interesting events to the Tour calendar. Look for us at the North Market Fiery Foods Festival, Peppers at the Beach, and at MGM Resorts wing eating contests.
Have you tried Crazy Uncle Jester's new Wholly Smoking Jolokia or "The Jester"? They're our two newest products and their taking the Fiery Foods market by storm.
We hope that you are staying HOT this Winter. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Check out Crazy Uncle Jester's version 5.0 at http://www.crazyunclejester.com/.
Regards,
Uncle Jester (Jeff Stevenson)
Aunt Jester, Cousin LeRoy, Cappy, Twister, and I just returned from the N.A.S.F.T. 35th Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. We, along with 1300 other gourmet food manufacturers, visited the Moscone Center for the four day event. What a rush!
We met with fifteen different distributors and retailers on the day before the show. LeRoy and I had some wonderful discussions with a large national resort and casino, several fine grocers, and numerous gourmet kitchen and gift stores. We took orders by the pallet-full and truckload.
We also met a lot of great companies and made some new friends. Aunt Jester and I got to visit with the CEO of Baconaise. What a cool company.
You can look for Crazy Uncle Jester's at your local fine grocer this summer. If everything goes according to plan, we should be there.
We are also adding some very interesting events to the Tour calendar. Look for us at the North Market Fiery Foods Festival, Peppers at the Beach, and at MGM Resorts wing eating contests.
Have you tried Crazy Uncle Jester's new Wholly Smoking Jolokia or "The Jester"? They're our two newest products and their taking the Fiery Foods market by storm.
We hope that you are staying HOT this Winter. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Check out Crazy Uncle Jester's version 5.0 at http://www.crazyunclejester.com/.
Regards,
Uncle Jester (Jeff Stevenson)
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:
Uncle Jester (Jeff)
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:
- Crazy Uncle Jester's AfterBurner Sauce - Golden Chile
- Crazy Uncle Jester's Brush Fire BBQ - Golden Chile
- Crazy Uncle Jester's Logo - 2nd Place
- Crazy Uncle Jester's Product Labels - 2nd Place
- Crazy Uncle Jester's Deluxe Gift Set - 2nd Place
- Crazy Uncle Jester's Select Reserve - 3rd Place
- 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)
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)
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)
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