• This is the place to discuss all spicy commerical products, not just sauce!

dry-spice HFF Spice Blends!

HellfireFarm

HellfireFarm

Business Member
We've just added spice blends to the Hellfire product lineup!

The first ones out are Garam Masala, Vindaloo, Taco Seasoning, and a Chili mix. Planning some curries and Jerk. I was going to make mild (cayenne for heat) and hot, but I'm thinking I'll just do the mild - we have powders that can be added for more heat.

Curious what other sort of spice blends would be good? You have any favorite dishes that could use something like that?
 
Taco and chili are staples. Chili blends we have purchased ...Carrol Shelby?... had packets of masa for thickening and cayenne for heat to be added by the consumer.

I did a salt free mexican spice blend that was popular locally.

Maybe a Cajun blend.

Have Fun!
SL
 
Side note- i had some old Farmer Brothers Taco Mix that had been in the pantry for 20 years. That is a food service supplier.

Used some for taco meat and omfg!!!! It was SOOOO salty compared to how we now cook. Also purchased some seasoning packets and it was the same feelings. Waaaaayy to salty.

But if that is what consumers are buying, 🤷
 
All our blends are salt-free - I don't know how much salt you like so you decide how much :)

The chili is along the same lines as Shelby's but just the seasonings, no thickeners. We have a base level of heat (which is definitely on the hotter side, but hey, the name should tell you what to expect!) Then add the powders for heat if you want hotter.
 
salsalady said:
Side note- i had some old Farmer Brothers Taco Mix that had been in the pantry for 20 years. That is a food service supplier.

Used some for taco meat and omfg!!!! It was SOOOO salty compared to how we now cook. Also purchased some seasoning packets and it was the same feelings. Waaaaayy to salty.

But if that is what consumers are buying, 🤷
Click to expand...

It's also a cheap way to fill up the jar more.
 
HellfireFarm said:
I was going to make mild (cayenne for heat) and hot, but I'm thinking I'll just do the mild - we have powders that can be added for more heat.

Curious what other sort of spice blends would be good?
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Keep in mind, too many SKUs can do two things: They can bewilder customers to the point where they can't decide AND they can be an inventory nightmare. So when you talk about all these different blends at two different heat levels, you are talking about way too many SKUs. What I would do is assign the appropriate heat level to the appropriate blend, for example., vindaloo would be hot, jerk would be medium, and garam masala would be mild.
 
Don't overwhelm yourself with all these taco, chili, curry things just yet. The curry ones would be hard as they are not usually a dry spice but a paste. Forget curry right now (except vindaloo). Taco might be too generic. Chili works. That's the one I would do in mild and hot.
  • Chili Seasoning - Mild
  • Chili Seasoning - Hot
  • Jerk Seasoning - Medium
  • Garam Masala - Mild
  • Vindaloo Seasoning - Very Hot
That's five products in three different cuisines. Instead of two heat levels for the same Indian ones you actually have Garam Masala at Mild and Vindaloo at Very Hot. Jerk is your Medium, and you have two heat levels for Chili which could prove popular. Something like that.
 
HellfireFarm said:
Curious what other sort of spice blends would be good? You have any favorite dishes that could use something like that?
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BBQ is a saturated market and I would not try to enter it. Cajun on the other hand, that's a spice blend I have bought in the past, and is hard to find (good ones). I have never bought a taco seasoning packet in my life. I cook Thai curries twice a week. Hope this helps.
 
All some good ideas!

These are all coming from our personal recipes. WE certainly think they're good, and we get that from our friends too. Yes, I know friends aren't always reliable because they don't want to offend, but since they keep wanting more I assume they're being honest :)

I'll probably only do BBQ if (a) customers want it and (b) I can come up with something uniquely Hellfire. I know what you mean about taco seasoning but it's surprising how many people actually want it premade. Our personal spice cabinet has about 70 spices on the main shelf, and that doesn't include the peppers, salt blends, and liquid seasonings. I actually had to deconstruct our recipes to get the blends!

I already have a Jerk and yellow curry recipe ready. Then eyeing our Thai and Chinese dishes next to see if I can come up with anything. But taking our time to build it slow.
 
Another thing to consider is how many directions can you pursue?
Each product line has it's requirements. I can make lots if sauces with the same bottling equipment. I contracted with a spice company to make packets of a spice blend for a chipotle dip mix which i really dont sell and give away as a freebee with some orders.

Will you be making and packaging the mixes? Are they bulk or single batch? Like...a jar of taco mix or like a packet of taco mix for 1# of meat?
 
I wouldn't even try to get into that. You'll either need to sell these as unique products (different from everything else out there) or upsell them as companion products. "Making chili? Oh you also need this!"
 
Was mainly thinking about it for the Hot Sauce Festival, since there's a lot of tasting there! But they've also been selling pretty good without it.

The candies are a lot more unique, i guess, so the samples are a good selling point, but people are already used to buying spice blends off the shelf without trying them. I don't do that with the powders.

Just overthinking things as I tend to do.
 
One thing that can help sell is printed recipes. You don't even need to make the food for them to taste it, they just like that they can follow a recipe with your spices. For example, half the people coming to your booth may have never made a curry, mole, or jerk. But they may love to eat it. With your recipe, they can buy with confidence.

Here's what you can do. A QR code on the label that links to the recipes for that product. But also have some printed for the tech-unsavvy.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
Here's what you can do. A QR code on the label that links to the recipes for that product. But also have some printed for the tech-unsavvy.
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🙋‍♀️ that's me! I use Pony Express for emails.
 
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