We are proud to introduce our first intern Kenon Thompson. Just a brief background of how this collaboration began, Kenon is an alumni of the Youth Entrepreneurs (2008) and as an alumnus hey is given the opportunity at the age of 21 to participate in partnerships/internships throughout the summer. As a recent graduate of Johnson & Wales University (Associates Degree in Culinary Arts and a jumping castles for sale Bachelors Degree in Food Service Management) Kenon is obviously interested in anything that has to do with food, he is also an all around journalist, photographer and an entrepreneur (currently owns Kenon Thompson Food Journalism | Photography).
“I believe that I am becoming Australian Inflatables For Sale a polymath of everything artist/people related.” states Kenon. We’re not quite sure what a polymath is but hey it sounded impressive.
After lots of great discussion and an interview between Mike and Kenon, it was clear that he would be a great fit as our first intern as he began throwing out ideas right off of the bat. We are proud to introduce you all to Kenon as he takes over the rest of this blog post.
Hello everyone, as you know my name is Kenon. My official position title (everything sounds good when it is official right?) is the Communications Intern for Fervor/Heffys. My duties in this position includes maintaining and operating the social media networks (Facebook, Twitter and the blog) for Heffys BBQ Co. I consider myself to b a professional thinker, meaning that I am always thinking and creating something in my mind (even when people don’t notice). I am a huge music fan and I believe that’s music is an unofficial married couple so if you know of any good music of any genre, let me know of your recommendations.
I am excited for this new journey and I can’t wait to create some amazing ideas for Heffys BBQ Co.!
If you would like to follow me on any other social network besides here, please feel free to subscribe to my Facebook page, follow me on Twitter and on my personal website.
Admit it, you’ve had meat loaf at some point in your life. Ok maybe you didn’t immediately fall in love this American staple but like any red blooded American you liked it. Here’s a way to re-discover mom’s favorite go-to recipe…with a twist that just might get this back on your regular rotation.
Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs. of 93% lean ground beef
¼ tsp of basil
1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
3 slices of bread (toasted and cut up into ¼ inch squares)
1 large egg
1 Tbls butter
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbls brown sugar
1 tsp chili powder
½ cup HEFFYS All Natural Original
Preparation:
In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the Heffys and mix well with your hands (we use gloves but hey thats the kind of guys we are); ensuring that all of the spices are mixed thoroughly.
Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Form the hamburger mixture into the pan and top with the ½ cup of Heffys All-Natural Original. Bake for 90 minutes, ensure that it is done by using a meat thermometer; should read 160 to 180. For a less spicy version; exclude the cayenne pepper and chili powder.
That’s right Heffys BBQ Co. has launched our All-Natural & Gluten Free line of BBQ Sauces.
Over 2 years ago we began looking at all-natural vs. organic vs. gluten free and everything else that was taking shape in the specialty food market. Honestly what our customers wanted the most was All-Natural and Gluten Free so that’s what we made…it only took us a year to get it up to our crazy standards.
People have asked us…Why did you switch? The short answer is we want to make a product that sacrifices nothing, is made with the best ingredients and gives back in some real ways. So it took some time.
Take a look at our ingredient list for our new All-Natural Original….go ahead we want you to. There’s more where that came from.
Many of our Heffys Select Retailers are in the process of selling off older inventory to make room for the new sauce.
If you are a retailer and want to carry Heffys in your store or need to re-order head over to our RETAILER RESOURCES section. Or if you want to snag some sauce for the house, we invite you to BUY NOW “Oh-Natural” style.
Are you a social wannabe and a foodie? Love BBQ and having a good time?
The Heffys Social Internship could be for you!
We Want: Social Media & Communications Intern
Why: Because we need someone to work under the supervision of our CEO on various projects related to implementing and managing Heffys BBQ Co. Social & Communications Strategy.
Here are some deets:
-Assists with managing our Facebook Fan Page & Twitter Accounts
-Help create an overall strategy for how Heffys relates in social circles
-Researches new uses and aids in recruitment efforts to gain members
-Aid in “viral events” creation
-Creates an appropriate schedule for partners to follow and maintain
You know we do a lot of dreaming at Heffys. We love to talk about how things will be in 2 years, 5 years, or even 10. We have been doing life together as friends for more than 15 years, so sometimes these dreams have been around for awhile. A few years ago while dreaming we started asking questions…. what if kinds of questions.
•What if…. we sold Heffys for like 40 million dollars?
•What if…. we made an Organic or All-Natural Sauce?
•What if…. Heffys was always made in small batches?
•What if…. Heffys helped change the world?
•What if…. people could get Heffys all over the US?
What if…?
Well, asking questions like these lead us to really start working on some of them. We wanted to share some with you.
What if we sold Heffys for like 40 million dollars? –While this sounds cool, we think we would like to own and operate our business for years to come. Maybe forever. We make you this promise….We will always make it personal. We vow to have fun, be real, and to always be passionate about our customers and our products.
What if we made an Organic or All-Natural Sauce? –It took us over a year to get it right but in a few short weeks you will be able to order Heffys All- Natural Sauces. All the taste you have come to love, without all the high-fructose and non-natural stuff that gets in the way. We are super excited, this has really been a labor of love. Want to get a sneak preview of our new label? Like us on Facebook and see it there!
What if Heffys helped change the world? –We take this to heart….thats why it’s part of our everyday business to give back to the community by employing Special Olympic Athletes. They lovingly hand label each and every bottle of Heffys. It’s one of the ways we feel like Heffys is changing the world for the better.
We will keep dreaming, keep asking what if. But we would love to hear more from you too. Feel free to drop us a line and tell us a little more about what you think about our what if’s.
Fire up your grill and cook up your chicken and bacon. Lower your grill down to low and if you have a pizza stone, put it on your grill to get it heated up (if you don’t have a pizza stone you can just put your pizza directly on the grill but it is very easy to burn your crust that way…so, maybe ask for a pizza stone for your birthday Cut/break up your chicken and bacon into bite size pieces, Chiffonade the basil and cut the fresh mozzarella into 1/4 inch slices. Now it’s time to assemble your delicious pizza…place your crust on your stone and spread about half a cup of Heffys BBQ Sauce on top. Spread the chicken and bacon evenly over the crust then apply the fresh basil and then the mozzarella on top. Finally drizzle on the remaining Heffys BBQ Sauce and close the lid of your grill until your cheese is all melted.
That’s it, Cut and enjoy! If you have had a chance to make this pizza and have added some other ingredients to it, please leave comments so we can all try your additions
I LOVE coffee. In fact most of us at Heffys LOVE coffee. Almost as much as we love Heffys BBQ Sauce. That’s saying a lot.
Recently, I met a really cool guy, Danny O’Neill (aka The Bean Baron), he owns The Roasterie here in Kansas City. We have lots in common, a desire to do good, a desire to make a product that people love, doing it with integrity among lots of other things. This guy LOVES coffee. He is passionate about doing it better than anyone else. So we sat down and swapped stories. I learned a lot.
As I was leaving Danny suggested that we create a special blend of Roasterie coffee that could represent Heffys. Sold.
So I recruited a few trusted coffee coneseuirs (minus brother Jason who was unable to make the trip to KC) and went to work.
Their “coffee hunter” Paul Massard, led us through a coffee cupping. We tasted, discussed, rated, and repeated for hours. We used spoons to slurp (no better way to say it) up the fantastic nectar. Awesome. The smell was amazing, the process helped us blend 3 diverse beans together at specific ratios to create a uniquely Heffys Blend Coffee. You will be able to snag a bag of this coming very soon, so get on our email list well let you know when.
Thanks to Amanda, Paul and Danny and all the kids at The Roasterie for letting us in. New friendships are exciting, new products are a privilege and sharing the stories of how both happen is just plain fun.
We love making things better at Heffys, turns out we have a lot of fans with great ideas on how to do just that here at Heffys.
Fans like Millie Picker (aka MP)
Millie has been a fan for the last 7 months or so ever since she got her first taste of Heffys. Since then she has been planning on giving it away to her friends and family, but she had a problem.
Back in September Millie wrote on our Google Checkout Comment section:
It was very easy to order; however, I would like to see an option provided to put a greeting, for example, “Merry Christmas from the Pickers”. I want to send Heffy’s to some on my Christmas list and it would make it much easier if an option like this were available instead of them wondering who the heck sent me BBQ sauce!
By millie – Sep 7, 2010
So we went to work and added the functionality to our site. Now Millie can send “gift messages” to all her friends and family this holiday season, for their birthday, weddings or whatever is going on. We will HAND WRITE her note, attach it to her order and send it to her friends and family. It’s that simple. We love getting notes so it only make sense that we send them too.
This week we held production of all 3 varieties of award winning Heffys BBQ sauces. I took Josh Jackaway, a good friend and avid Heffys fan with me to finish up a production and participate in our taste test….here is what he had to say about his experience:
I’m not an early morning person. So it takes a pretty special occasion to wake me up before the sun shines her face. This morning such an occasion presented itself: to rise before dawn and get sauced with my friend and Heffys CEO Mike Farag. I went to bed last night giddy as a boy before Christmas about the opportunity to go see how my favorite BBQ sauce, Heffys Hot & Spicy, gets made. I couldn’t believe the smiles on peoples faces as they took part in the creation of what could possibly be the greatest sauce invented since the first animal gave it’s life for the worthy cause of a good ole fashioned BBQ dinner! What struck me the most was how the rich aroma of spice lingered heavy in the air and wove itself firmly into the fabric of my clothes for hours, seriously I smelled delicious the rest of the day.
But what was even better than seeing The Creation is what came afterward: product tasting! Now regularly my taste buds only salivate for coffee this early in the day, but today there was no caffeinated beverage that had more of a draw on me than the three Heffys sauces. Fresh off the line and even fresher to the palate, what the boys at Heffys have done is down right miraculous. I took it down sans meat and without even a thought in my head that I was consuming this at a time when normally my face would still be buried in a pillow.
I don’t need a reason to keep coming back, I’m already a fan. But I love their story too…made in Kansas City, the heart of the barbecue world, hand labeled by Special Olympic athletes, with each batch being tested by founder and CEO. This brand isn’t based in a board room but rather is squeezed out of the real stories our lives our made up of. I was handed my first bottle of Heffys nearly 2 years ago and somehow its unique flavor and spices changed the way I look at sauce. Now having seen how much care goes into crafting each batch I know why I’m a fan and I can’t help but be even more in love with it.
Thanks to Mike and all the guys at Heffys for this experience.
Heffys Batch #1029 Taste Tested, Josh Approved.
Well Josh, thanks for being a fan. You’re quite welcome.
Heffys finds financing back home. American helping American….pursuing a dream, like something out of the movie It’s a Wonderful Life.
It takes money to run a business, we’ve all heard it said in one way or another right?! Well it’s true. As Heffys has grown, thanks to fantastic fans who appreciate our premium Kansas City made sauces that are lovingly hand labeled by Special Olympic Athletes, the need for some dough to help finance our growth has come along with it.
Enter the problem….banking these days is in an “interesting” spot. But being the optimistic guys we are we thought it wouldn’t be too hard for a good banker to see how sweet of an investment we are. I mean we (the American public) bailed the banks out to help spur business growth right?!
It was frustrating to experince first hand a rather large issue keeping our economy from healing, the inability or unwillingness of some banks to help small business. Kind of felt like we were up against Mr. Potter in the movie. You remember that crotchety old guy, only bent on making lots of money for himself. But as it stands we found that America still has heart.
Inman Kansas is about 20 minutes from Moundridge, Kansas. Why the geography lesson you ask? Well our Heffys BBQ award winning original recipe was born out there in the Kansas Prairie’s of Inman Kansas. We’re proud of that, although we are made just up the road in Kansas City these days. We make it a point to remember where we came from.
Lots of folks in Inman remember the family too. Larry the banker knows Phil, the dad of Jeff, one of our founders. See we are already at 3 degrees of separation and it only gets better. Phil and Larry were talking about the financing needs facing Jeff and Heffys BBQ Co. Larry pipes up and says “I’d love to step in and help, we’ve done business with your family for years. Let’s get them what they need”. And just like that a neighbor helps a neighbor striving for a dream. That’s as American as it gets! For us it really was something right out of the movie It’s a Wonderful Life (happens to be one of our CEO’s favs).
Larry and Phil, thanks for proving to us that the American dream is still alive and well. We’ll travel to Inman anytime you need us, cause that’s what neighbors do for each other.
Cut/break up your chicken and bacon into bite size pieces, 
