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In the beginning there was a chilli patch on a very green hill overlooking Byron
Bay. The jalapeno chillies thrived in the rich red soil. With a little help from our neighbouring farmer,
some compost from a nearby piggery and a drink from the adjacent primordial frog
pond, our little chilli patch grew strong in the light of the semi-tropical summer.
" Our little chilli patch grew strong in the
light of the semi-tropical summer " Meanwhile, we purchased a well-used taco van that had been operating at the Byron Markets. Most Sundays we would hook up the caravan to our trusty, rusty ute and wind
our way down the hills to one of the local markets. In those marvelous, busy days
we served soft tacos, burritos and nachos like the markets had never seen before.From
the onset, wanting our food to be exceptionally tasty, we knew that we would have
to make our own salsa. After long days of trial and error in our little kitchen
we arrived at what we considered to be two respectably authentic sauces - Salsa Picante and Salsa Verde.It wasn't long before regular customers asked us to bottle the salsas so they
could have some at home as well as at the markets. And that's how Byron Bay Chilli Company was born. Soon we had labels printed and offered the salsas for sale alongside the prepared
food and fresh jalapeno chillies.
" It wasn't long before regular customers
asked us to bottle the salsas " Word of mouth spread quickly, and it was suggested that we should try selling
to a few shops. Deli Byron and Gourmet Bay took on the products locally, and when
we presented them to David Jones Department store and Butler's Deli in Brisbane, they readily carried the salsas as well. What
happened next took us totally by surprise. We got a call from Bob Bartlett, buyer
for Coles Supermarkets in Queensland, who said he was interested in supporting local products and asked if we wanted to trial the three salsas in a few local stores. After
serious deliberation (about two seconds) we said, "sure,"and that's how we got
started in the supermarkets.
" Word of mouth spread quickly and it was suggested
that we should try selling to a few shops " First it was three stores, then five, then eight, then all the Queensland and Northern NSW Coles stores. In the meantime, we had been conducting a lot of in-store taste testings, and
people really liked the cornchips we were using as well as the salsas. The cornchips
were being made by a friend for the restaurant trade. We designed a bag and approached
Coles with the idea of expanding our range to include our own brand named cornchip.
They said okay, and the rest is history.
Soon afterward, Woolworths came on board and today we enjoy distribution throughout most of Australia.
We have added an exciting new range of "Gourmet Chilli Sauces" that are a bit
hotter than the salsas.In July, 2000 ours were judged to be the "Best Range of Australian Chilli Products" at the annual Fiery Foods Expo in Sydney. The award is known as the Australian Scovie, after the Scoville unit, the official
heat scale for chillies. We call it the golden chilli and this was the first year
it was awarded.As a prize we won a free stand at the "Big Chilli Show" in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In March, 2001, we attended the show and won four awards for our products. As a result, we started exporting to America.
" As a result, we started exporting to America"
Every year since then one of our sauces has won best International Style BBQ
Sauce at the annual Scovie Competition in Albuquerque, but...
this year our Fiery Coconut Chilli Sauce was voted Grand Prize Winner over nearly
750 other entries!
Next stop, Jupiter and beyond!
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