What started as a hobby nearly 20 years ago has turned into the hottest product in restaurants and honey aisles across the country.
The crimson Franzen case is the same model as the iconic briefcase from Quentin Tarantino's film"Pulp Fiction". But unlike in the 1994 film, everyone knows exactly what's inside.Indeed, the reason Kurtz brings the suitcase with him while he travels is so that he can spread the gospel ofHe loads the briefcase up with five 12-ounce bottles before every trip.
"I realized that condiments truly elevate food," Kurtz tells CNBC Make It."And I've always been into cooking. I saw Larry and how much fun he was having selling barbecue sauce and I thought: 'You know what? This might be the life for me." Rather than recreate exactly what he had tried in Brazil, Kurtz wanted to put his own spin on the condiment. In fact, he already had a name for it: Mike's Hot Honey. He tried different types of peppers, different types of honey and various techniques for infusing heat into the honey.
That all changed a few years later. Post-college, Kurtz was working in the music industry as an assistant to a booking agent and indulging his pizza-making habit in his free time. "I was flattered," Kurtz says."I was obviously a really big fan of his pizza at that point, and excited to have this incredible vehicle for people to try Mike's Hot Honey.", a pepperoni slice topped with a drizzle of honey that is still a best-seller at the pizzeria to this day.
"The only time I could do production was at night after the restaurant had closed," he says."I'd be in there from midnight till six in the morning just bottling, capping and labeling bottles of Mike's Hot Honey." While pizza and fried chicken are still the two most popular delivery vehicles for Mike's Hot Honey, it has also found its way into salads,"I used to drive around New York City in my 1995 Geo Prizm with a trunk loaded up with honey," Kurtz says."I'd make deliveries to local retailers and restaurants and bottom out on all the potholes. But those early restaurant partnerships set a foundation that the brand has really benefited from and still benefits from today.
When Beaton came onboard, Mike's Hot Honey was bringing in $100,000 a year in revenue. By the end of Beaton's first year as CEO, that figure had grown sixfold to $600,000. While the 12-ounce squeeze bottle is still far and away the most popular product they sell, Mike's Hot Honey also produces sizes ranging from gallon jugs and 24-ounce chef's bottles to 0.5-ounce squeeze packets, 1-ounce dip cups and 1.55-oz mini glass jars for gifting.
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