It's a rare entrepreneur who doesn't have challenges to overcome, but for most, incarceration isn't one of them. That's not stopping a group of inmates in Florida's Hillsborough County Jail, however, from making and selling their own line of hot sauce. JailHouseFire hot sauce comes in three varieties—Original, Smoke and No Escape—all made by inmates at the minimum-security jail from peppers grown right there onsite. What's especially compelling is that rather than glossing over the product's roots, the prisoners' marketing of the sauce makes the most of its origins, with slogans like "So Lethal" and "Murder on Taste Buds." Prices are USD 7 per 5-ounce bottle or USD 3 for a 1.5-ounce bottle of No Escape—which certainly sounds like it lends itself to smaller quantities. The sauces are currently available only online; all proceeds support inmate programs.
The lesson? Never shy away from flaunting all that's interesting and different about *your* product's origins, with all the product storytelling and still-made-here appeal you can muster. The result could set your brand... er... free? ;-)
Website: www.jailhousefire.org
Contact: lparker@hcso.tampa.fl.us
Spotted by: Jim Stewart
I am very curious about this venture. Where did the prisoners get their start up capital? Is there a company backing their business.