When you have a product like Hot Squeeze, grassroots marketing a key ingredient for success. And it doesn’t get any more grassroots than an in-store demonstration!

On Saturday, I spent my day handing out Hot Squeeze samples to eager patrons at the Whole Foods Market in Marietta. And while Hot Squeeze works on everything from burgers to baked potatoes, veggies and omelets, the menu du jour was Polish Kielbasa. Just add some Hot Squeeze, and you’ve got the perfect sweet and spicy treat! Kids and adults alike greedily inhaled my samples. One child took one taste and said “Mom, we’ve GOT to buy this,” while many new fans declared it the best sample of the day.

And even better—Hot Squeeze doesn’t need to be refrigerated, which makes it the perfect condiment for your tailgating festivities. College football starts next weekend, and whether you’re cheering for the Dawgs or the Jackets, you won’t want to be without Hot Squeeze. I’ll be updating our recipe pages in the next week, so check back for some great ideas for your next tailgate.

Yesterday I stopped at my local farm stand and bought a big basket of pole beans which I’ve never prepared before (I grew up in the north where we don’t have pole beans that I know of.) I went on line and looked up some recipes - all of which called for ham hock. Didn’t have ham hock, so I improvised with my magic ingredient! I sauted an onion in a little olive oil, threw in chicken stock and squeezed in the HOT SQUEEZE, brought that to a boil and then threw in the pole beans…. THEY WERE INCREDIBLE! HOT SQUEEZE to the rescue AGAIN!

When you go to Costco and Sam’s Club, purchase the economy packages of chicken, pork, steaks and fish. Separate or cut into individual or family portions and place in freezer ziplock bags. Squeeze in the Hot Squeeze, squish it around and then seal. Now when you’re in need of a quick and delicious meal, just thaw and cook!

By the way, Hot Squeeze is great when reheating leftovers!

Sorry, I’ll have to figure out how to download the photo!! I’ll really have to figure it out to attach my photo taken with Sonny Perdue - Georgia’s Govenor!

Remember how I was telling you about my hectic life…. mid march I was out in California for the EXPO West All-Natural Products Show. I had to change my flight to get back home in time — apparently, I was one of the finalists in the FLAVOR OF GEORGIA contest! I was up at 3:30 am to get a 6am flight - my husband picked me up from the airport and deposited me at the GA Freight Depot - where my great friend and bookkeeper extradinaire Pam had set everything up for me. I jumped in my spot just in time for the first of the judges. Don’t ask me how I was able to stand, talk and sample Hot Squeeze!

I’m glad I did! Hot Squeeze WON!! Best Sauce 2008!!

Now you’ll have to hold on for my picture with the Gov!

It’s been a hectic life in Hot Squeeze land lately! Thank goodness for my wonderful and supportive family!

In the beginning of the month I was off exhibiting at THE CHARLESTON FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL. What a great event - not bad when they hand you your wine glass as you walk in to start your day! I shared a booth with my bodacious friend Cathy - owner of Bodacious Food Company and maker of Geraldine’s Cheese Straws and the greatest all-natural tropical treat cookies around. I’ll tell you what, when you’re listed in a directory with the names of Hot Squeeze/Bodacious Foods, you draw lot’s of attention!

Here’s a picture of us - having way too much fun…

It’s easy to use Hot Squeeze every day of the month with the recipes listed on our “30 Days of Hot Squeeze” flyers. But since December has 31 days, we’re holding a contest for the best use of Hot Squeeze for the 31st.

We invite you to post your recipes and suggestions in the comments area of this post. The most creative suggestion wins a free case of Hot Squeeze! Be sure to include your name, email and contact information so we can get in touch with you.

For all you people out there wanting to get in to the food business or who already are, there is a great new site… check out www.foodpreneur.com!

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary for Hot Squeeze! It has been a tremendous year. Who’d have guessed we’d be this far along this early. Between Whole Foods and our specialty retail stores, Hot Squeeze is now available pretty much nationwide AND in Canada.

Watch out for me in November… I’ll be at the Metropolitan Cooking Show on Nov. 3 & 4 and in Houston at the Junior League Nutcracker Show on Nov. 8-10. Come say hi! In fact, mention my blog and I’ll give you a free Hot Squeeze tshirt!

Hang on for a great picture of me (ha ha) and my last bottling…

As many of you know, Carol and I have been spending many hours in Whole Foods these past two weeks sampling out Hot Squeeze. It’s been GREAT getting people’s reactions first hand and watching our bottles being carried off in their carts! But yesterday in the Marietta Harry’s/Whole Foods we found a tremendous cheerleader! Lori, a Whole Foods employee, fell in love with Hot Squeeze on her first taste and we fell in love with her. Every time we looked up, Lori had brought over another employee or customer to try Hot Squeeze. We think this is great, because if the people who work at Whole Foods love Hot Squeeze, they’ll tell their customers!

Lori, thanks for making our afternoon so much fun and we sure hope your chicken turned out delicious!

Visit Sue & Carol next in Greenville, SC on Wed. April 25.

Since we’ve had Hot Squeeze bottled, many people have asked us how to go about getting their famous pickle recipe, or their mother’s fudge or their family’s bbq sauce bottled and on the market. We’re more than happy to tell you how we went about doing it, but let me tell you, the reason that everyone doesn’t actually get their pickles pickled is that it isn’t easy!

We were lucky with Hot Squeeze because in alot of ways we went about it backwards. Hot Squeeze started out as a glaze over a pork tenderloin that we served while catering a lunch. Because we had a captive audience (our catering clientele) we were able to test our sauce on a large audience over a number of years. This is a very important part of the process. As I say, we were lucky, for years Hot Squeeze was served at every lunch we served. We got to hear how much everyone loved it and we watched as they poured it on everything.

So my first suggestion for anyone out there that really is thinking of bringing a product to market is to check out the competition. Go to a food show (besides, they’re great fun and you get to sample everything!!) but what you’ll find at these shows is that there are lots and lots of other people out there with delicious pickles and fudge. The competition is huge and there are alot more people out there that have a lot more money and time and energy and connections to help them.

OK, your pickles are still better than anything else you tasted? Now you need to find someone to package it, someone to do a label design, you need to get a nutritional analysis and then you need to purchase UPC codes and then you have to find a market. This again takes time and money.

This part of the process for us took almost a full year and as I say, we were lucky. We had a fabulous mentor, Leon Stoltz, the owner and creator of PotatoFinger Potato Chips. His wife, and friend, Lainie helped me design the label. We had a bottler who held our hand through alot of it. And still, there were moments that I thought I would scream (like when I was told that I had to find a rabbi to bless our chipotle peppers!)

So it takes all of these steps and more just to get it into a package! But when Carol and I were at our bottling plant for our first run of Hot Squeeze and saw that first bottle come down the line, it felt like we were being handed a brand new baby. When we saw the hundreds and hundreds of bottles that followed it going into the cases we thought, now what do we do!!

So stick with us, we’ll take you along for our ride, we’ll tell you what we learn along the way and we’ll try to pass on our knowledge. We’ll let you know about the places we go and the people we meet as we try to get Hot Squeeze to be a household name! We were lucky that we had the guidance to get us to where we are today and we want to pass it on - I figure there’s plenty of room out there for all of us!

Oh and by the way, one of the things that keeps us going is when we hear from you, so keep the encouraging words and your stories of Hot Squeeze addiction coming!!

Sue and Carol