DeaconJellyfish1088
For this paper I have decided to research the local business:…
For this paper I have decided to research the local business: Conan’s Hot Sauces & Marinades,
LLC. This is a small family owned business, that produces hot sauces and marinades, as the title
would suggest. In recent years, however the business has also reached into Co-Packing as well. I
decided to work with this business, as I have been close friends with the son of the owner since I
was young, and I have been acquainted with the business owner for roughly as long. I recorded
my interview using my phone. The interview itself consisted of nine total questions, each of
which will be labeled as the answers were given.
1. How was this business founded / what is it’s history?
“We had lived in the Caribbean in the early 2000s, so when we came home we wanted to start
our own business that reminded us of the Caribbean. With the cooking and bartending
experience I had, I took the time to develop some sauces. It started with only our three core
flavors, but slowly expanded to five, before adding the cocktail mixes. Today we are preparing to
add four more new products. During the process of expanding, we discovered co-packing, and
have been working with that as well.”
2. Who are the major stakeholders in your company?
“For the most part, just me and my wife, Nancy. There is, also, a 10% stakeholder, his name is
Russ, I see him very rarely, he’s a great guy and we send him checks every month.”
3. How have recent shifts in the economy affected your business?
“The rate of inflation recently has been really rough, just trying to keep up with changing prices,
my margins keep shrinking as I try to keep my prices low for our customers. Recently I have
actually shifted focus from my personal brands, more towards our wholesale co-packing brands
because it is much more steady. Because it is bulk sale it is already captured sales, which keeps
us afloat as the economy continues to change over the last few years, even through Covid.
Because our small brands don’t bring a lot of money in right now, we are hoping we can focus
on them more as the economy settles back down, coming out of Covid.”
4. In what ways do you utilize technology for your business?
“As we grow, we grow by adding larger machines which help in the manufacturing process of
the sauces. This is especially important with acidic foods that require specific temperatures
which the machines can manage more accurately than a typical thermometer. Another thing is
the card reader, I would imagine this is huge for any small business. The ability to make sales
freely has been a game-changer for us, especially when working at the farmer’s market.”
5. Who are your closest major competitors?
“That is the funny thing about my business, I don’t feel like I have any real major competition.
See, I do have my own brands, but we are also co-packers, so we are always inviting others to
come and be packaged with us as well. I found that over the years, comparing my brand or
company to other companies just isn’t fair to them or myself, so I try my best to be cooperative
or at least independent.”
6. Who is your target market?
“As far as my hot sauce brand goes, typically it would be at-home cooks. People that look to
expand their flavor profiles in many different ways. This could also be extended to small
restaurants that would like to add different sauces to their dishes as well. As for our mainstay of
co-packing, it would be entrepreneurs that have developed their product to the point where they
don’t have the time to pack it themselves, and need help to sell it. So we work to take the whole
production part off of their plate, giving them more time to worry about marketing or
development.
7. How would you describe your management style?
“Very laid-back. Easy, I guess, I try to lead by example, I like to be the hardest working person
in the room. I try to be there at every production run, I make sure to be there and fill in when
people need to take breaks. I think that if I keep going, then everyone else will.”
8. How and where do you go to recruit new employees?
“So far, they have found me, but recently I have decided to begin looking. I found a website
called Post, which is good for food and beverage workers looking to work in local businesses.
Really, I try to update my technology such that we can keep the same amount of workers,
without giving them too much new responsibilities, and making their jobs easier. I believe that
you can pay-off a machine, but you cant pay off a person.”
9. How has the pandemic affected your business?
“Its funny, some people would say that we faired very well. You know, they say that 25% of
businesses our size went out of business during Covid, so I ended up in the better percentile of
those businesses. In the last year or so, we have even grown about 25%, but the pandemic really
just kind of stalled, and lulled everything. We kind of just sank down low and skimmed the
bottom, and we are only just now picking up from where we should have been in 2020. I kind of
feel like this year is where we should have been. Its been a three year pause where we struggled
to stay alive and maintain ourselves, but we made it, and we did it our own way.”
Outside of these interview notes, I also made sure to take a few notes on the hot sauce industry
itself. It is important to note, however, that while I will be focusing on the hot sauce aspect of the
business, the co-packing has historically made up the businesses largest piece of revenue. I am
still choosing, however, to focus on the hot sauce, because it is what the business owner would
like to define the business with, and see expand the most as the business itself grows.
– In 2021 the global hot sauce market size was valued at 2.17 billion USD.
– The market is projected to grow more than double this by the year 2029
– During the lockdowns for Covid, the hot sauce industry experienced a major decline in
sales and demand, this added up to roughly 4.91% decrease in demand across the board.
– A rise in fast food is cited as a major reason for the positive predictions for the hot sauce
industry going forward.Outside of these interview notes, I also made sure to take a few notes on the hot sauce industry
itself. It is important to note, however, that while I will be focusing on the hot sauce aspect of the
business, the co-packing has historically made up the businesses largest piece of revenue. I am
still choosing, however, to focus on the hot sauce, because it is what the business owner would
like to define the business with, and see expand the most as the business itself grows.
– In 2021 the global hot sauce market size was valued at 2.17 billion USD.
– The market is projected to grow more than double this by the year 2029
– During the lockdowns for Covid, the hot sauce industry experienced a major decline in
sales and demand, this added up to roughly 4.91% decrease in demand across the board.
– A rise in fast food is cited as a major reason for the positive predictions for the hot sauce
industry going forward.
Works Cited
https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/hot-sauce-market-100495
Write a peer review for this project.. Peer reviews are all about constructive feedback. Indicate any areas for improvement, and how you think they can be improved, any areas that are missing (keep in mind that this is just a draft, it doesn’t need to be complete at this moment, but a reminder of information that is missing can be helpful), and feel free to indicate how the textbook might be helpful in clarifying concepts.
In your peer review, be sure to consider items like the formatting, sources (is an interview with someone who works at the company scheduled?), and content. You can use the term paper rubric as a guide. Your peer review should be about couple paragraphs long. Merely telling someone that they did a great job will not earn any points!
Please see the rubric below for grading criteria.
Student gives constructive peer review feedback to the student. Feedback should be based on the criteria in the term paper project description or the term paper rubric and should be at least two (2) paragraphs in length.
