Pez Powder
When Chef Bret Thompson was opening his Mexican restaurant Pez Cantina in Los Angeles four years ago, he wanted something tangy to sprinkle on his tortilla chips.
“I was looking for a unique salty and lemony seasoning,” he remembers.
Thompson had made his own spice blends before, so he began experimenting with eight types of ground chili, sea salt, dehydrated lime powder, and other ingredients. Forty five minutes later he mixed up a winning combination. He named it Pez Powder, and in addition to using it on chips, he sprinkled it on fresh fruit and used it as cocktail rimmer. Guests loved it.
“Guests soon started asking for sides of Pez Powder at the table and that is when I had my ‘aha!’ moment,” Thompson says. “Let’s bottle some Pez Powder in small jars, slap a homemade label on them and sell them at the front host desk. They literally flew off the front host desk.”
Now Thompson, together with his wife and business partner Lucy Thompson-Ramirez, is selling Pez Powder beyond Pez Cantina. They did the required nutritional analysis and had a professional label designed, and promoted it at the Western Foodservice Expo in Los Angeles in August. Since then they’ve been selling it directly to other restaurants, and are seeking other distribution channels.
“We’ve been hitting the streets in downtown LA and have picked up quite a few accounts,” Thompson says. He also has been shipping powder to accounts outside LA; in addition to the 5.5 ounce jars, he offers 16 ounce containers and 5 pound boxes.
They still mix and bottle the powder in the restaurant kitchen, but as sales grow, they’re looking for a copacker to take over production.
For more information about the powder or to ask for a sample, visit www.pezpowder.com.