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Last week I had a free afternoon, so I did a flying visit to the Winter Fancy Foods show held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. My goal for the afternoon was to get an idea if it would be worth it for me to exhibit there next year   But it really was a flying visit - I had about 4 hours...

Sriracha plant gasses neighbors   http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/City-Odor-from-Sriracha-chili-plant-a-nuisance-4934313.php   sucks for the neighbors, but they better not shut down the Sriracha plant - its a key national asset!

Does anyone have any experience using commercial immersion blenders? I'm thinking of getting one of these bad boys: http://www.waringcommercialproducts.com/catalog.php?pcID=90 to do 2 things: 1. Blend tomatoes 2. to act as a hands free agitator for the kettle Some background: I'm going to...

First, let me publicly thank Scott of Lucky Dog Hot Sauce and Brian of HotSauceDaily.com for backing this project. Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it! http://kck.st/UKWlEA If anyone else is thinking of backing the project, your procrastination has paid off! Special offer for THP...

So I've been looking at ways of increasing my production capacity. I've been speaking to a couple of local copackers but their minimum order requirements (over $10k) would be a bit of a stretch right now. But I recently found a new commercial kitchen that I can rent that has two 60 gal steam...

Hi all I'm looking for a better way to mince fresh ginger root. I currently use a food processor, but it takes forever in the volumes I need. I thought of trying a meat grinder - but wonder how the grinder will handle fibrous vegetables like ginger root. Anyone have any experience with this...

California Homemade Food Act - that was approved last month and is awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown's signature. It would allow home-based entrepreneurs to sell $35,000 to $50,000 annually in "non-potentially hazardous" foods such as breads, jams and candy. If Brown signs the bill into law, California...

YACPT (yet another co-packer thread) ;) My sales are growing nicely, and while for now I can handle the growth with my current manufacturing setup (DIY with a couple of helpers, out of a shared commercial kitchen) I foresee that at some point I will have to make a choice: Either get my own...

Ok, so every batch of Matanzima hot sauce made to date was made by moi personally. I've got the process down and scientifically as I can (precise measurement of quantities, temperatures cook times etc). The one exception to this scientific approach is the addition of the fresh peppers - I...

Cyber Monday Special Offer: Free US shipping on case lots (12 bottles or more). Get the unique, 2012 World Beat Scovie Award winner for only $6.66 per large (12oz) bottle delivered to your doorstep! Offer expires on December 5, 2011. Buy now at...

so, I recently created a new label, and I wanted to update the 2 product photos on my website. The last photos I'd done myself, but I wanted something a little nicer, so I figured I'd get a professional photog involved I looked on craiglists where a bunch of local photogrpahers adverstised...

I live in Benicia CA, a water front town between San Francisco and Sacramento, and its also the location for the world wide corporate head office of Matanzima Foods (ok ok thats a desk in the corner of the family room) Well last night we had a pretty cool visitor The USS Iowa was moved out of...

I know THP has their own awards (and I'll definitely enter next year) but I only had the budget to enter 1 competition this year, so picked the Scovie's And am happy to report go the first place in the international "World Beat" hot sauce category Woot...

Well, my DIY label has run its course, so I decided to hold a design competition for the new label. Here are the candidates so far. Which one do you like best? http://99designs.com/logo-design/vote-718zh7

My sauce is pretty thick, and so I've settled on 12oz wide neck bottles as my optimal bottle size. The problem I have is with shipping these things cost effectively in small quantities. Case lots are no problem - I put them in the box they came in, inside a bigger box with air bags or packaging...

Greetings hot pepper fanatics! I've just created the Matanzima Hot Sauce Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Matanzima-Hot-Sauce/183462705011422 To celebrate this momentous occasion, I will send a free 12oz bottle of Matanzima hot sauce to the first 20 people who "Like" or become a...

My website is up and running: http://www.matanzima.com/ I don't expect to sell much off the site, but in this day and age its pretty much mandatory to have one. This is the third small business site I've done, and was the easiest by far, so I thought I'd share my experience with some of the...

I'm applying my labels by hand - so far, 3/4 of them end up with bubbles, which I try and push out with my thumb nail, with varying degrees of success. Any tips or techniques? They're 4 x 3 labels on a 12 oz bottle

I always wondered whether people *actually* would buy my hot sauce... or if they were just being polite/nice when they said they liked it... So after a few weeks of preparation - getting labels, licenses and insurance and finding a commercial kitchen etc, I finally had my first batch of 4 cases...

Question for the california producers out there: Is there any way around the California processed food registration, and its $348 fee? http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Pages/FDB%20ProcessedFoods.aspx It look like this is mandatory - in the FAQ there is even a note that there is no exemption...