vendor Pepper Joe's sold yet again?

Super Hots Canada

Super Hots Canada

So, according to a number of recent news articles a company called "Clickstop" has bought out the Pepper Joe's business and the owners have put their 19 year old son in charge of the operation:
 
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/08/prweb14613022.htm
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/business/clickstop-acquires-hot-pepper-seed-company-20170818
 
According to the article in The Gazette, this company has no previous experience in the food industry and their son, who they've put in charge of PJ's, was previously working as an intern... On top of no past experience in the food industry, the article indicates they laid off all the previous staff.
 
If they cut out all the previous staff and are moving the whole operation to their base of operations, does that mean the farming/production itself is moving? Who's managing the production or is that all being outsourced? The articles don't really make much effort to clarify very much about this whole transaction. :)
 
Thoughts on how this might turn out?
 
(I didn't see anything mentioned about this elsewhere on the forum)
 
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You should employ a Technical Advisor, similar to how in movies, a lawyer would be employed as "Technical Advisor" to make sure all the court room action is legally correct, for example. This person should have superior knowledge of contract growing, isolation, peppers, etc. They could work on retainer or as independent contractor, I think it would be a good addition to your company especially with you guys being new in this particular biz. Just an idea, but this company has gone through a few incarnations already and it needs a bit of rep repair, so this could also help in that dept., when announced. :)
 
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Boudreaux in Eunice said:
A J .......  I am not on a large scale at all.  LOL.   I do 50 to 60 plants of one variety each. Then pick the best ones from each lot.     
 
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Then I am even more pleased to meet you.  I am at the limit of what I can do without getting larger / tractor / planter.  Missing part of my left foot, lots of nerve damage.  Very happy with where we are at now but have access to the land and the machines, so kind of pondering the idea of growing larger.  Thought to ask you a few questions.  I know large scale tobacco, not peppers.  In fact, was figuring on using same tech mainly cause i want to drag my kids behind the tractor on those ground level planting seats.  I think they would frigging love it.

Our main thing is produce / fresh peppers.  We do some seed on the side, but our seed saving is mainly for our own use.  Being that small, I can bag plants, glue pods, and use frames / agricultural bridal cloth for the really popular ones.  But even then, I am absolutely sure various bugs get in.  Nothing is perfect.  So I dont slam anyone for doing it out in the open as long as they mix the seed up like you do.  Both methods work fine.  Both methods kick out the occasional bad seed.  As long as its only one in an occasional bag, well heck I have had Burpee seeds worse than that. 
 
PepperJoes said:
Hi AJ, thank you so much for the post!  We would appreciate the introduction to Azure Green!  You can email or call us if you want or pass our info on to them.  We are looking forward to hearing from others what they want and appreciate the lead.  Thanks for sharing your knowledge and humor with us!   
 
We are 100% committed to our customer relationships and do not want to be seen as an impersonal internet sales company.  That is the complete opposite of who we are!  We are committed to answering the phones, emails, social media posts or any other way our customers want to communicate with us.  And who doesn't love a good old hand written note?!?  And you can count on us to admit when we make mistakes and will do what we can to make it right!  I would like to say mistakes will never happen, but you are spot on that we are after all human.  What we can do is back it up with exceptional customer service!  We know we have a lot to learn still, and look forward to learning from the best of the best in the industry.  We are enjoying the new relationships we are making and look forward to continuing to get to know everyone.  The team we have working on Pepper Joe's is fully committed to the pepper industry and our customers.  That's why we call them Business Unit Fanatics™!  We look forward to you all learning who we are and what we are all about.  
 
All the best,
Tammy @ Pepper Joe's 
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It has been forever since I produced for and purchased from Azure Green.  The owner's name is Adare.  He is very approachable.  My contact there was named Buffy, incredibly sweet.  I had Adare's wife to a convention I hosted, but for the life of me I can not remember her name.  Sorry, had a stroke like event since then.  I can send an email of for you, but just mentioning that A.J. Drew said they were good people would probably do the trick. 

Funny you should mention customer service.  Mine has been lacking as I get busy.  So drafted my wife.  Seriously, had a few comments from patrons that I am not as in touch as I used to be.  I doubt I will ever get her into the forums and facebook, but yes having one person to deal with is the way to go.  The way Azure Green pulled it off back in the day was to assign customers to customer reps or what not.  If I called, they would ask me who I am or what my order number was, then transfer me to the same person almost every time.
 
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AJ Drew said:
I hate to say it, but this is the way of most business these days.  Famous Amos hasn't been in the cookie business for years, but Famous Amos cookies live on in the grocery store.  Compared to the ones you used to buy in the malls the grocery store ones suck.  It's the American way, you make a name for yourself and then you sell it.  With the internet, the business of building and selling names is even bigger because there is a url to consider.  I am sure PepperJoe.com is a prime chunk of cyber real estate.
 
Clickstop operates something like 7 online retail stores.  I imagine they realize how fast the interest in super hots is growing, so they bought the brand because they expect business to continue to grow.
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They did not buy a BRAND. Too much negativity. otherwise Pepper Jo would have made it work.
 
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CAPCOM said:
 
They did not buy a BRAND. Too much negativity. otherwise Pepper Jo would have made it work.
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Yeah but if they thought that way, they would change the name. So they did buy a brand. If they were simply interested in the clientele and seed stock they would have changed the name. Keeping the name means they wanted the brand.
 
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They should change the name but still claim they are 25 years old (or whatever). Like this bar in town used to claim to be the oldest bar in Brooklyn. It had many names and owners but was always a bar so that was always claimed. No brand carryover, but historic.
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
 
Yeah but if they thought that way, they would change the name. So they did buy a brand. If they were simply interested in the clientele and seed stock they would have changed the name. Keeping the name means they wanted the brand.
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I guess there are 2 kinds of brands then. The kind you want and the kind you dont really consider one.
 
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I very much agree that since joining THP and a handful of facebook forums (yuck) that I have heard many a down vote on Pepper Joe.  But before talking with dedicate pepper heads, I had heard very few bad comments.  In fact, I have been fairly satisfied with their product and service for years.  I am thinking most customers aren't dedicated pepper heads.

I think most people who grow just sort of look threw the catalogs, buy what they think is interesting, grow it, share with friends, and so on.  Also, you gotta remember Pepper Joe has had a glossy catalog for some time now.  Not sure if you guys are like me in this, but my wife and I almost jump up and down when the new seed catalogs are in the mail box.  This even though we know the web sites for each of the seed suppliers we buy from.

I really think the name is worth a bit.  But there is something nobody seems to have thought of.  Maybe they have another label an are approaching it from both directions.  They buy the company / infrastructure and name.  Revamp the name but also use that infrastructure for a new name.  Best of both worlds.
 
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The forum is loaded with pictures of reaper and other highly sought after variety plants that are nothing more than Habanero or jalapenos. When the OP is asked where the seed came from, many many times the answer comes back, Pepper Joes.

If it only took a couple weeks to get from seed to fruit, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But that's not the case. It takes months to finally find you have been duped. In other words, a wasted season to grow high cost habaneros.
 
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JoynersHotPeppers said:
Sadly before the super hot craze, every order I had from them (the original Joe) was exactly what I expected it to be. I blame the growers more than the owners as it is their fault entirely for not isolating or mislabeling seeds or making money and not even growing what they claimed. If I contract you to grow 'x', I expect it to be 99.99% chance the seeds are only 'x'. 
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Heh heh Chris, I had a first this last season: along with pepper seed purchases (including the Aji Lemon Drop Growdown seed), which were fine, I bought all my non-capsaicin vegetable seed  from the same vendor. One was advertised as a pole bean, the packet labeled pole bean, was planted beneath a pole bean tower, and came up bush beans. I emailed and alerted them, they claimed otherwise, sent me another packet gratis, and they came up.....Bush beans.
 
I didn't bother contacting them after that. They still tasted good. :party:
 
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CAPCOM said:
The forum is loaded with pictures of reaper and other highly sought after variety plants that are nothing more than Habanero or jalapenos. When the OP is asked where the seed came from, many many times the answer comes back, Pepper Joes.

If it only took a couple weeks to get from seed to fruit, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But that's not the case. It takes months to finally find you have been duped. In other words, a wasted season to grow high cost habaneros.
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On the reaper thing back in the day:  I don't think that was a Pepper Joe thing.  Initially his reaper stock was produced only by Puckerbutt.  As I recall, it was explained thus: Someone at Puckerbutt accidentally spilled habs into the reapers and continued to package.  Could be rumor, dunno.  The instability of the first batch could also be rumor.  But I do remember Pepper Joe himself saying the miscounts on packs of 10 were Puckerbutts fault.  Something about a teenager using a cell phone not paying attention.

I think what you are really condemning is the resale folk.  I am blessed with my own kids, so dont have to rely on the neighbors.  That, and I dont really have neighbors.  But even Jim Duffy will admit he outsources to the neighbor kids.  On one occasion, there was this whole big thing that he bought seed stock from Bakers.  That one was unreal.  Like it is a sin to have one business help another out.

But YES I get your point and it has frustrated me on occasion considering we pay a dollar or more for a single seed from these folk.  I just think it is pandemic with the larger seed folk and anyone who outsources anything.  If you buy someone elses product and then sell it as yours, you dont really know what it is. 
 
But what is the alternative?  You can buy from small folk like me, but when we run out for a season we run out for a season.  I get grief for that even in the winter when I don't have fresh peppers.  Got a web site filled with photos of me n the kids picking peppers and customers who keep asking when we are going to 'order in' more peppers cause everything is sold out in ... oh December.
 
 
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"But what is the alternative?"             Pepperlover, Chili buddies
 
Bakers??? Thats a whole nuther story!!!.
 
 
And the reaper thing is just an example. One example. Like I said, just go through the forum archives
 
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On pepper lover and chili buddies, ye that would be my point.  We can go with seed folk who do it all themselves or the resellers..  If the folk who start of doing it themselves are wildly successful like Pepper Joe, they almost have to become resellers.  But we have moved off the point.

PepperJoe.com has more than 4,500 back links from 739 different domains.  As a result of this and other factors, google loves them.  No clue what was paid or how to value cyber real estate but that name is obviously worth a bunch.

I agree, lots of we fanatics have read more than one bad review.  But most consumers are not the fanatics that we are.  Most are not members of THP or other pepper forums / boards.  They just google up the seed they want, Pepper Joe comes up, and they buy seeds.  Hell, most people believe Ghost pepper is the hottest pepper in the world.


 
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
You guys are obsessed with pepper joe's.
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I think fascinated more than obsessed.  The guy somehow got himself on major television talk shows.  How the heck do you do that because you grow peppers?  Then the marketing of the Carolina Reaper.  Wow the media was incredible.  It is his personality and presentation that really got me.  I stumble all over my words, slur my speech and generally present poorly.  Pepper Joe was like Agent 007 clean.  Check out this video, note the gold and the martini.  Olive stuffed with a red jalapeno.  The man could market an image.  I am all like, oh and here is a duck.

Everyone has to retire sometime & I do wish the new owners great luck, but I am really sorry to see the man go. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbo2pKRSZJI


 
 
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Have to agree with cap on this one, the reviews are not in favor of the original pepper Joe's. Not quite sure why you are defending a seller with bad reviews AJ. But to each his own. Having bought from them before, I can say the peppers did not grow true.
 
Pretty sure the new owners of PJ's have done their math and have determined there are enough tards out there who don't do their research who will continue to buy from PJ and the other dick lord. Hopefully more people will get educated on sites like this  and buy from honest growers.
 
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