Heffys BBQ Co. WINS 1st Place for All-Natural Hot and 2nd Place for Product Packaging AT WORLD’S MOST COMPETITIVE FIERY FOODS CONTEST!
The 2012 Scovie Awards judging panel of top culinary experts honored Heffys BBQ Co. with our second 1st place award in the last 3 years. Well put it right next to the other 1st Place Award in the All-Natural Hot award from 2009.
The competition was particularly fierce for the 2012 awards, with product entries up 177 over 2011. In all, 161 companies entered 792 products for a chance at Scovie glory. Dave DeWitt, founder of the Scovie Awards and National Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show said entries came from 38 states and four countries including Australia, Sweden, Canada and the United States.
DeWitt, the “Pope of Peppers,” was pleased with the variety and quality of the entries. “It’s thrilling to see more entries than ever in our sixteenth year of the Scovie Awards. I’m always impressed by the creative new ideas and delicious ways people showcase fiery foods,” DeWitt said.
Guests can sample and buy Scovie Award-winning products at the upcoming 2012 National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show (March 2-4, 2012) at Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Vendors from across the country will be in attendance. For more information please visit:www.fieryfoodsshow.com, there is a good chance you might just see the boys from Heffys there too.
The Scovie Awards is an annual competition created by Dave DeWitt that recognizes the top fiery foods products in the world. The awards were named after the Scoville scale, a measurement of the spicy heat of a chile pepper. It is one of the most competitive blind tasted food competitions. Hundred of products are entered and go through rigorous tastings to receive the top honors. The Scovie Awards take place annually in the month of October. For more information, visit www.scovieawards.com.
That’s right Heffys BBQ Co. has launched our All-Natural & Gluten Free line of BBQ Sauces.
Over 2 years ago we began looking at all-natural vs. organic vs. gluten free and everything else that was taking shape in the specialty food market. Honestly what our customers wanted the most was All-Natural and Gluten Free so that’s what we made…it only took us a year to get it up to our crazy standards.
People have asked us…Why did you switch? The short answer is we want to make a product that sacrifices nothing, is made with the best ingredients and gives back in some real ways. So it took some time.
Take a look at our ingredient list for our new All-Natural Original….go ahead we want you to. There’s more where that came from.
Many of our Heffys Select Retailers are in the process of selling off older inventory to make room for the new sauce.
If you are a retailer and want to carry Heffys in your store or need to re-order head over to our RETAILER RESOURCES section. Or if you want to snag some sauce for the house, we invite you to BUY NOW “Oh-Natural” style.
Are you a social wannabe and a foodie? Love BBQ and having a good time?
The Heffys Social Internship could be for you!
We Want: Social Media & Communications Intern
Why: Because we need someone to work under the supervision of our CEO on various projects related to implementing and managing Heffys BBQ Co. Social & Communications Strategy.
Here are some deets:
-Assists with managing our Facebook Fan Page & Twitter Accounts
-Help create an overall strategy for how Heffys relates in social circles
-Researches new uses and aids in recruitment efforts to gain members
-Aid in “viral events” creation
-Creates an appropriate schedule for partners to follow and maintain
You know we do a lot of dreaming at Heffys. We love to talk about how things will be in 2 years, 5 years, or even 10. We have been doing life together as friends for more than 15 years, so sometimes these dreams have been around for awhile. A few years ago while dreaming we started asking questions…. what if kinds of questions.
•What if…. we sold Heffys for like 40 million dollars?
•What if…. we made an Organic or All-Natural Sauce?
•What if…. Heffys was always made in small batches?
•What if…. Heffys helped change the world?
•What if…. people could get Heffys all over the US?
What if…?
Well, asking questions like these lead us to really start working on some of them. We wanted to share some with you.
What if we sold Heffys for like 40 million dollars? –While this sounds cool, we think we would like to own and operate our business for years to come. Maybe forever. We make you this promise….We will always make it personal. We vow to have fun, be real, and to always be passionate about our customers and our products.
What if we made an Organic or All-Natural Sauce? –It took us over a year to get it right but in a few short weeks you will be able to order Heffys All- Natural Sauces. All the taste you have come to love, without all the high-fructose and non-natural stuff that gets in the way. We are super excited, this has really been a labor of love. Want to get a sneak preview of our new label? Like us on Facebook and see it there!
What if Heffys helped change the world? –We take this to heart….thats why it’s part of our everyday business to give back to the community by employing Special Olympic Athletes. They lovingly hand label each and every bottle of Heffys. It’s one of the ways we feel like Heffys is changing the world for the better.
We will keep dreaming, keep asking what if. But we would love to hear more from you too. Feel free to drop us a line and tell us a little more about what you think about our what if’s.
We all have a list, chances are if you are like us, you are scurrying around trying to check off one more item from that list very soon. Perhaps we can help. At Heffys, we love local. Yeah that means we try to buy local when we can, and we support local as much as possible. Here are a few of our “local” favorites:
Roasterie Coffee – Danny O’Neill, our new friend runs a sweet company in KC called The Roasterie. They make fantastic air roasted coffees, roasted right when you order. Great group of people doing good. We like their Bean Baron and Kansas City Blends. Also, watch for our own Heffys #212 Blend coming soon! (Kansas City)
Chocolate Malts – Ryan and Sarah Zink, started this business just a few months ago. They infuse Scotch into artisan crafted chocolates. Sweet deal! We love both alcohol and chocolate around our offices. Ryan has been a good friend for several years, really cool to see him and Sarah making a go of it. (Wichita, KS)
Mama Dida’s Salsa and Nut Mixes – Dida rocks out some super fresh salsas and one of our favorite sweet and spicy nut mixes. Plus she’s super cool. (Kansas City)
Art’s & Mary’s – Our boy Jeff at Art’s & Mary’s has some fantastic kettle style potato chips. Take it from us, we have had a few. Their Jalepeno or classic Salt & Vinegar are our favs and nothing like ordinary potato chips. (Cheny, KS…hint it’s close to Wichita)
Enjoy our suggestions and don’t forget to love your locals.
I LOVE coffee. In fact most of us at Heffys LOVE coffee. Almost as much as we love Heffys BBQ Sauce. That’s saying a lot.
Recently, I met a really cool guy, Danny O’Neill (aka The Bean Baron), he owns The Roasterie here in Kansas City. We have lots in common, a desire to do good, a desire to make a product that people love, doing it with integrity among lots of other things. This guy LOVES coffee. He is passionate about doing it better than anyone else. So we sat down and swapped stories. I learned a lot.
As I was leaving Danny suggested that we create a special blend of Roasterie coffee that could represent Heffys. Sold.
So I recruited a few trusted coffee coneseuirs (minus brother Jason who was unable to make the trip to KC) and went to work.
Their “coffee hunter” Paul Massard, led us through a coffee cupping. We tasted, discussed, rated, and repeated for hours. We used spoons to slurp (no better way to say it) up the fantastic nectar. Awesome. The smell was amazing, the process helped us blend 3 diverse beans together at specific ratios to create a uniquely Heffys Blend Coffee. You will be able to snag a bag of this coming very soon, so get on our email list well let you know when.
Thanks to Amanda, Paul and Danny and all the kids at The Roasterie for letting us in. New friendships are exciting, new products are a privilege and sharing the stories of how both happen is just plain fun.
This week we held production of all 3 varieties of award winning Heffys BBQ sauces. I took Josh Jackaway, a good friend and avid Heffys fan with me to finish up a production and participate in our taste test….here is what he had to say about his experience:
I’m not an early morning person. So it takes a pretty special occasion to wake me up before the sun shines her face. This morning such an occasion presented itself: to rise before dawn and get sauced with my friend and Heffys CEO Mike Farag. I went to bed last night giddy as a boy before Christmas about the opportunity to go see how my favorite BBQ sauce, Heffys Hot & Spicy, gets made. I couldn’t believe the smiles on peoples faces as they took part in the creation of what could possibly be the greatest sauce invented since the first animal gave it’s life for the worthy cause of a good ole fashioned BBQ dinner! What struck me the most was how the rich aroma of spice lingered heavy in the air and wove itself firmly into the fabric of my clothes for hours, seriously I smelled delicious the rest of the day.
But what was even better than seeing The Creation is what came afterward: product tasting! Now regularly my taste buds only salivate for coffee this early in the day, but today there was no caffeinated beverage that had more of a draw on me than the three Heffys sauces. Fresh off the line and even fresher to the palate, what the boys at Heffys have done is down right miraculous. I took it down sans meat and without even a thought in my head that I was consuming this at a time when normally my face would still be buried in a pillow.
I don’t need a reason to keep coming back, I’m already a fan. But I love their story too…made in Kansas City, the heart of the barbecue world, hand labeled by Special Olympic athletes, with each batch being tested by founder and CEO. This brand isn’t based in a board room but rather is squeezed out of the real stories our lives our made up of. I was handed my first bottle of Heffys nearly 2 years ago and somehow its unique flavor and spices changed the way I look at sauce. Now having seen how much care goes into crafting each batch I know why I’m a fan and I can’t help but be even more in love with it.
Thanks to Mike and all the guys at Heffys for this experience.
Heffys Batch #1029 Taste Tested, Josh Approved.
Well Josh, thanks for being a fan. You’re quite welcome.
Back in April, Jason Drumright and his wife Mindy, two Heffys partners finished Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace classes. It was a life changer for them.
I was a little shocked honestly, not that these two were that far off track at all, but what they learned and changed made it possible for some noticeable & sweet impact on their financial standing. So I joined them.
My brother and I decided to take the class together, we started 5 weeks ago and are having fun wrestling with a budget, spending habits, attacking debt among other things. It’s been fantastic to take a harder look at my finances, I thought I had a really good handle on them but it’s been a great challenge to do more.
Dave’s teaches about freeing up money so that you can give freely, what a great simple message and it’s very biblical. We are all about that at Heffys. So Jason and I decided to attend the simulcast of EntreLeadership last week, with more than 15,000 attendees across the US it was a great way to see Dave’s advice on how to run a more financially responsible business. I have to say it was just what I needed.
We don’t aim to be the largest BBQ sauce business in the world, just one of the best. We want to be known just as much for our philanthropy as we are for making great sauce. To do that we have to make great financial decisions, just like we do at home. We don’t always do it right but we have to keep working for it.
Thanks to Jason and Mindy for leading the way…and for Dave for giving some tools for us to follow.
So Heffys BBQ Co. turned 4 years old this weekend. We have had a blast the last 4 years building a little BBQ sauce business into a little bit bigger BBQ sauce business, thanks to loyal fans.
Fans like Erik W. (aka E-Dub)
Erik has been with us since the beginning, he is a Heffys Fan, he gives us his opinion whether we want it or not. We love him for it.
A few weeks ago he shot us a note about our outrageous shipping prices, he was like “I don’t have Heffys in my house because of how much it costs to ship it to me”.
We have learned a lot the last 4 years….one thing for sure is to listen close our fans.
We also know if would be more convenient for Erik and his fantastic wife Stacey to buy us at their local store which is why we invented the I LOVE HEFFYS program. But still we wondered if we could do better with our shipping prices. So we went to work, took a look at our current shipping policies & providers, and tightened down some screws where we could and after much sweat and plenty of empty beer cans we came up with the “E-Dub” shipping method.
So in honor of Erik and our 4th birthday, we are officially launching the “E-Dub” (our nickname for Erik W.) shipping policy. It’s super simple….$4.95 flat rate shipping on up to 12 items.
Buy 2 bottles = $4.95 Shipping
Buy 12 bottles = $4.95 Shipping
Any combination of 12 items is one flat rate to ship!
Pretty sweet huh?! We think so, but don’t thank us, thank Erik!
Wanna be as cool as him, drop us a line and talk to us.
