FireTalkers: Interview with Doehne Duckworth of Deano's Jalapenos
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One of the highlights of the 2010 Fiery Foods Show definitely had to have been Deano's Jalapeños Cheddar Jalapeño Chips. One taste of them and I know they were something special. Produced under the banner of the Ranch Camp Chip Company, owner Doehne "Deano" Duckworth developed these unique snacks at The Cactus Café, his restaurant in Stowe, Vermont. With a couple of hot sauce trade shows under his belt, as well as distribution of his snack chips to over 30 specialty food locations, Doehne is in position to explode in the fiery foods world.
Although these products were available in 2009, Deano's Jalapeños are an easy contender for my product of the year for 2010. And in addition to the Cheddar flavor, Deano's Jalapeños are now available in Ranch with Habanero chips on the way, as well as other possible versions and concepts that Doehne mentions below.
I'm predicting a big and bright future for Doehne and his innovative snacks, so when I was recently given the opportunity to interview Doehne I jumped at the chance...
Scott: What is your professional background?
Doehne: I started cooking for my folks when I was about 10 or so. They had a place in Southern Vermont. It was easier to do the cooking than to wash dishes. I have two brothers, and they were mainly employed on the dish machine while I did the cooking with my dad. From then on I was a ski bum around the country. I went from place to place as the seasons changed, and I always tried to get a job at the best restaurant in town. Never went hungry and there was always a good supply of cold beer. I attended the school of hard knocks and good times.
Scott: What was the impetus behind creating a sliced, fried jalapeño product?
Doehne: One day at the Cactus Café (the restaurant I own), the guys in the kitchen were having lunch. They had brought in sandwiches and they had bags of potato chips that were jalapeño flavored. I noticed [these jalapeño chips] had been popping up all over, and that everybody seemed to be jumping up on the spicy flavor (jalapeño in particular) band wagon, I thought, "Why don't we just try to make a chip out of a jalapeño?" That’s where it started; just because I always thought that I could do something better than what you could buy in a bag like that. I was obsessed for a little while trying to get it right. So that's kind of where that came from
Scott: Did you have any particular snack food product you were trying to emulate in regards to taste and texture, or were you attempting to come up with something different altogether?
Doehne: At first I was trying to make it like a potato chip and realized that this could be something very unique. As far as flavor goes, I've started with the Cheddar, who doesn’t like cheese? Ranch is the second flavor out. I brought samples of Habanero Cheddar Chips to the Weekend of Fire at Jungle Jim's in August and they were very well received. So we’ll go somewhere with that idea. I have a lot of people asking for Sea Salt. After that maybe try going up on the heat scale and some different exotic flavors.
Scott: How did people react at the Cactus Cafe when you first introduced the fried jalapeños? Are they currently on the menu or are they only available for purchase in bags?
Doehne: Actually, they're not on the menu, but we sell the bags in our bar. We give away all the pieces that are to small for the bags. I use them on some of the nightly specials like salads in the summer and I do a southwestern Sheppard’s pie with them baked in the cheese on top among other things. As far as the introduction of the chips, I got a lot of great reviews on it. People were excited to be part of the taste experiment, so to speak. They changed quite a bit during the course of six or eight months, just trying to find the final product. We had a lot of different things out there. Our local customers never knew what was going to be put in front of them. I’ve got a great group of locals that come to my place,and they are pretty adventurous as a test group. They were very open to doing that sort of thing and gave me great feedback. After awhile most of my friends were saying "Hey, this is something you should think about marketing." So I did.
Scott: How much did you experiment with different cuts and thicknesses for the jalapeños? What about different seasonings?
Doehne: There was a lot of experimenting, different sizes, different flavors, different ways to do it. When I called a company for a sample of their cheese flavor they would send 10-15 different flavor samples. I think I tried over forty different cheddars.
Scott: How much product do you make in a week or month?
Doehne: Depending on what week it is, I can go anywhere from 12 to 20 bushels. The only reason I'm not going through more right now is that I don't have the capacity at the restaurant. I’m turning away business. I'm currently looking into a new places to manufacture. I hope to be in one by October. Then we can start doing larger volume and expand sales. Until then my hands are tied.
Scott: What's a typical day for you like?
Doehne: I get up somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 AM. I go to the restaurant to make a batch of chips. Then I maybe get home for an hour or two, and then head back to the restaurant to open it up for the night. I have long days and nights. We'll see; hopefully this will all pay off.
Scott: Which the strangest things you've heard people use the chips for?
Doehne: Well, the most common would be that people say this would be good on green bean casserole. We're going to find out this Thanksgiving and the holidays just how popular that is. We'll probably do some sort of poll on the website.
There is this one guy who sent me a recipe and I put it on the website, it seemed kind of bizarre. I've never tried this one, but it sounds pretty adventurous. I believe it was called the Bloody Mary Fish-Dish. He cooks a piece of white fish in a Bloody Mary sauce, tops it with Deano's jalapeño chips. That one might be kind of odd. I actually get a lot of good ideas. People are always trying to outdo what they did last time.
Scott: What kind of new flavors and peppers can we expect to see from Deano's in the near future?
Doehne: Now we're going to try to get a little more heat into the peppers with habaneros, and I just got some ghost peppers. So we might see if we can work those in. Hopefully we'll get something up and running in time for the Fiery Foods Show in New Mexico or even the Zest Fest in Texas. You know, something that's got some pretty good heat to it on a jalapeño chip. I'd like to have a variety of peppers out there, and maybe some blends. We did in 80/20 jalapeño and habanero blend, and demoed those for a bunch of guys up at the ski area. They're really into the chips.
I don't know maybe we'll get into some more milder ones as well. I don't think that we should alienate anybody. My original product is something that a lot of people can eat, I see people that say they don't like heat and they keep eating them. And they said hey that's not so bad. I think I'm going to try to keep it a little mainstream, but then again I definitely want to put it over the top. Just watching people at the shows, with tears running down there face and their skin's all blotchy and red, and they're crying and drooling. Whatever makes them happy? I would like to help them get there. But as flavors go, there are just so many different possibilities. It is hard to even say. I've got a Garden Herb that we’re working on.
I'm kind of doing a basic one that perhaps I should have started with, such as the Sea Salt. I want to do a Margarita flavor as well. I’m also working on a popcorn idea.
Scott: Sounds intriguing. Speaking of that, have you thought about adding different types of snack ingredients to the peppers, to make a sort of "trail mix"?
Doehne: I've thought about a potpourri bag, with a little something of everything, if I can find some different flavors that kind of co-mingle in the bag. Maybe make an assorted bunch. We talked about doing a kind of trail mix type idea, with hot products that would perhaps be things like popcorn, jalapeño chips, and pretzels. Who knows, maybe something like that. I think that would be kind of cool. There's definitely not a lack of direction. Or maybe there is a lack of direction.
Scott: Were you a big chilehead before coming up with the idea for Deano's Jalapeños?
Doehne: Yeah, I've always liked hot foods. I've always enjoyed them quite a bit. You know, I used to be into the mega-heat. It really doesn't do it for me anymore. I like a good burn, but I don’t need to be hurt.
Scott: What kinds of spicy food products do you eat outside of Deano's Jalapeños and the food at the Cactus Cafe?
Doehne: I do Thai food when I can find some good Thai. I like good French food and Mex. I would eat a lot of sushi, that's always nice. I really love fresh raw seafood. Usually on my birthday I make a point of going to two, three, four or five different sushi bars and find out what's new and interesting there. I found out that I am now allergic to scallops. That wasn't any fun.
I'll take my family to a Thai store where there was really no English spoken or written. I asked my wife and daughter pick out three items that you don't know what it is. We'll take it home and then we'll see what happens. Of course I went with the weirdest stuff I could find. I got some stuff I still won't know what it is (laughs). Then I got the hundred year old egg that was kind of an intriguing thing. Of course,my daughter did manage to find some chocolate. They kept me out of the dried fish aisle. They had a lot of nice produce and peppers you don’t see often, In Vermont anyways. We’re still pretty isolated from the mainstream world.
We've got an African store on the list to visit next . Anytime I'm in a city, you'll find me in areas like Little Italy and Chinatown. I'll always go to the fresh markets in other countries. I love doing the street food . A lot of people look at it as a quick shot of dysentery. I look at it quite the opposite. I think it's some of the better food you're going to find. I always go for the local foods, something traditional.
Scott: Where do you see the snack food industry going in 5, 10, 20 years?
Doehne: If you look it up, every year it seems to be growing quite a bit, with the salty snack food industry anyways, which is what I consider myself in. I see it getting only bigger. People like to have their instant gratification. And who can blame them? I think it's just going to grow. It's going to get bigger and bigger.As our country is kind of all co-mingling, I think there is a lot of room for new growth, and I think we're going to see new things that we've never seen as people make what is now considered exotic more commonplace. I think it's going to be exciting. I look forward to it, for the simple idea of moving forward.
Scott: What do you think is the best overall marketing method for getting word out about your product?
Doehne: I have no idea how to market. Hopefully I'll get somebody who does at some point. I go to a couple shows. I look up hot shops and gourmet food stores on the internet and send out a bunch of of product samples. The Fiery Foods Show up in New Mexico certainly put a blip on my financial screen. But as fares marketing goes, it is something I have to learn I guess.
Scott: What challenges are hurdles have you faced thus far?
Doehne: I think my biggest challenge was in the beginning. I knew what I wanted, I kind of knew how to make it, but it was really difficult getting information. When I first started looking for a manufacturer, most of them didn’t have the time or didn’t know anybody that could help. The bigger the business the less help. Just about everyone at the shows and smaller businesses are extremely helpful and generous with info and their experiences. But it takes a while figuring out where to go for certain things. My product is really different than anything out there. So getting some of that info has been difficult. But with a bit of common sense, you keep pounding the computer and the phone, and it all comes. I'm still looking for some things and I don't know what they are yet. Buying machinery for manufacturing will be a great challenge, as will be learning how to use it properly and to its full potential. But that's all part of the learning curve I guess.
Scott: What advice would you have for those trying to break into the snack food business?
Doehne: Find a co-packer. Just stick with it. It's just so much fun when you can watch something you’ve started, and just watch it bloom. A year or so ago, I would've never thought that I would have gotten this far. The new challenges of learning have been really great. I've really had a lot of fun with this. I don't look at it as if it is work. Everybody says, "Find something you like to do, and it won't be a job." Well, it's still a job. The at least you don't dread doing it.
As my father told me, "if you don't pay attention and go to school you'll end up as a fry cook." And look where I am (laughs). I just going through a little more oil than he thought I would.
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