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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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.