[CH] Interesting Press Releases In the Hot Sauce World
Ron Levi (ronlevi@pacbell.net)
Sat, 5 Aug 2006 12:15:11 -0700 (PDT)
I thought some of you might find this interesting. I did.
For Immediate Release<
Contact: John F. Fielder
27 June 2006
(415) 264.0106
Café Tequila Remains a Hostage of Original Juan Specialty Foods
Original Juan Specialty Foods in Kansas City (OJSF) continues to
hold Café Tequila Brand Products hostage in spite of
termination of the agreement on September 26, 2005 for late
payments and non-performance. The royalties from Original Juan
did not even begin to cover operating expenses since signing the
agreement and Café Tequila has incurred huge legal fees because
of their non-compliance with the termination.
In addition to continuing to produce and sell Café Tequila
sauces, Original Juan has unashamedly copied the award winning
packaging of Café Tequila and have been selling a competing
version of their Pain is Good steak sauces in the copy cat
version creating a confusion in the marketplace. “In our
opinion, OJSF is most evil group of people we have encountered
in the gourmet food industry and I regret that we trusted their
representations during negotiations.” Said, John Fielder, El
Presidente y CEO of Café Tequila. “We now believe that they
viewed us as an easy target for a takeover and had no intention
of marketing and selling our line of Tequila Sauces in a manner
that would make our investors and creditors whole.
We have also discovered and believe that they hid information
from us during negotiations about their past business history
that would have precluded us from entering into any kind of
business agreement with them ” Café Tequila has missed
several potentially profitable business opportunities because of
OJSF behavior. “I intend to seek an injunction against OJSF as
soon as possible and seek damages. I may also include
distributors and brokers in the lawsuit who knowingly sold the
knock off version of our trademarked and proprietary packaging
after being informed of the situation”, said Fielder.” “It
is beyond our understanding why Original Juan would ignore our
totally defensible and justified termination according to the
terms of our contract and continue producing our products and
then copy our packaging to boot!” said Fielder. This is
destroying the viability of our brand and ability to move
forward with a new business model. We intend to seek damages for
the harm that they have caused our brand.”
Café Tequila made a splash when it arrived in the marketplace
with a one of a kind innovative line of tequila sauces and
prize-winning packaging. It won the coveted packaging award from
the NASFT in 1999 and many more in other national competitions.
Robert McMath of the New Products Showcase said, “It’s one
of the most innovative packages in the category we’ve ever
seen.” In a feature article, Packaging Digest editor Bernie
Abrams wrote, “The package can be summarized with a single
word and that is ‘attitude’.
In addition, the six unique sauces have twice been awarded with
the Award of Excellence by the American Tasting Institute in
blind tastings by many well-known executive chefs. It has also
been awarded dozens of other top awards for the sauces. Thomas
Stegmaier, former executive chef of the of the famous Mark
Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco and who used several of the sauce
in the hotel kitchen said, “These sauces are outstanding.”
###
Media Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: John F. Fielder 08 May 2006 (415) 264.0106
ORIGINAL JUAN COPIES CAFE TEQUILA PACKAGING
It is being noted in the fancy food industry that Original Juan
Specialty Foods has again copied the signature packaging of
Café Tequila and is bottling and selling Pain Is Good Steak
Sauce in the multi-award winning Café Tequila design.
Café Tequila terminated a three-year buy out agreement with
Original Juan on September 26, 2005 for breach of contract.
Original Juan has, however, continues to produce and sell Café
Tequila in spite of the termination and has created massive
legal problems. “It is beyond our understanding why Original
Juan would ignore our totally defensible and justified
termination, continue producing our products and then copy our
packaging to boot!”, says president & CEO of Café Tequila,
John Fielder. “This is destroying the viability of our brand
and our ability to move forward with a new business model. We
intend to seek damages for the harm that they have caused our
brand.”
Café Tequila made a splash when it arrived in the marketplace
with a one of a kind innovative line of tequila sauces and
prize-winning packaging. It won the coveted packaging award from
the NASFT in 1999 and many more in other national competitions.
Robert McMath of the New Products Showcase said, “It’s one
of the most innovative packages in the category we’ve ever
seen.” In a feature article, Packaging Digest editor Bernie
Abrams wrote, “The package can be summarized with a single
word and that is ‘attitude’.
In addition, the six unique sauces have twice been awarded with
the Award of Excellence by the American Tasting Institute in
blind tastings by many well-known executive chefs. It has also
been awarded dozens of other top awards for the sauces. Thomas
Stegmaier, former executive chef of the of the famous Mark
Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco and who used several of the sauce
in the hotel kitchen said, “These sauces are outstanding.
Fielder says, “we have been struggling to avoid bankruptcy
since the termination. The royalties from Original Juan have not
even begun to cover our operating expenses since signing the
agreement and we have incurred huge legal fees because of their
non-compliance. We have also lost several business opportunities
because of this unfortunate partnership. Original Juan won’t
even return our awards and trophies and to add insult to injury
lost our show display and have never offered to replace it.
Warmest Regards,
Ron Levi
President
Innuendo Enterprises LLC
"Gourmet Food, Gourmet Customer Service"
http://www.chile-heads.com
408-847-4047PH
408-847-5424FX
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