meat that needs to blend well with something else on the plate, I like a good scorpion pepper sauce because I feel it attaches well with the red meat.” “Our goal is to take Tasting the Heat Live to the mainstream.” Like the beer and spirits industries, celebrities are getting in on the hot sauce action. And yes, there is a special section on Tastingtheheat.com specifically dedicated to celebrity sauces. “I had the pleasure of interviewing Eddie Ojeda from Twisted Sister. He has some excellent sauces. They’re called Twisted Hot Sauces. I’ve had him on my show, Tasting the Heat Live. That inter- view is now on our YouTube page. It was really cool talking with him because I understood some of the things he was talking about with regard to music and he talked about the similarities between the two industries (music and hot sauce production). You’re playing to peoples’ tastes one way or the other.” As well, Dexter Holland from the best-selling punk band The Offspring sent Kendall a case of his own Gringo Bandito line-up of hot sauces. He actually went the extra mile and signed the bottles so we could give them away as prizes on his talk show. Speaking of the talk show, Tasting the Heat Live is a Facebook/YouTube channel show and an ongoing concern for the Stadlers. It airs live on their Facebook page on Sunday nights at 8pm EST and is archived on their YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/tastingtheheat). “We do give- aways on Tasting the Heat Live and in that way, people feel they can get involved. People respond live with questions and we answer them on the show, I’m working on bringing in a phone line so people can call in live during the show. Tasting the Heat Live is the original spicy food talkshow on Facebook.” Kendall feels we are bringing a new light to an industry that no one has thought of before in terms of special interest TV shows.” The end-game for the Stadlers is, of course, greater exposure. And that means trying to get them a commercial and mainstream television show to expose this spicy food revolution. “Our goal is to take Tasting the Heat Live to the mainstream. What Tracy and I would like to do next is try and take Tasting the Heat Live on the road — attending different shows and conventions and interview people live and hopefully make this industry explode even more.” Kendall emphasizes that there may never have even been a concept for this venture without Tracy’s input and con- tinued support. “My wife Tracy is a big supporter of what I’m doing here. Without her there’s no way that this would happen so I have to thank her up-and-down. She puts up
with a lot of my obsessive love of this hot sauce revolution!”
On the business side, Kendall is talking to companies to hopefully develop an iPhone and Android app. “So when you’re out and you come across hot sauces, you can imme- diately look them up on the app and get reviews to see if you think it would fit into your taste profile.” Right now there is a survey on tastingtheheat.com to help us develop the phone app best tailored for your needs. “If you’re doing something you love and you’re helping others, eventually it’s going to come back around to you.” But the burning question is, how is all this financed? Kendall admits, “There is the donate button on the site, but at this point, I’d say 99% of the funding comes out of our pocket. It is truly a labor of love. And the way I feel is, if you’re doing something you love and you’re helping others, eventually it’s going to come back around to you. And I really believe that. I think we are doing a professional job that is helping spicy food makers to reach an audience they may not been able to on their own. Eventually the goal is to do this on a TV show. Then you’d really see the explosion of this industry, and it would really help these people who are working two or three jobs just to keep their hot sauce business going.” To quote the famous Field of Dreams line, “If you build it, they will come.” The Stadlers have built it, and people are logging on. The momentum is building, both for TastingTh- eHeat.com and the industry as a whole.
“We really want to help people achieve their dreams, and the best way to do that is for us to achieve our dreams.”
Sign-up for their Facebook and YouTube channels and start Taste the Heat for yourself! You’ll be glad you did! facebook. com/Tastingtheheat YouTube.com/Tastingtheheat
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DECEMBER 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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