Joliet
man creates, markets cocktail weenies
STAFF WRITER
(edited by J. Duncan)
An
appetizer at a party more than a decade ago is responsible for changing Jeff
Duncan's life.
Through the years, he modified the
recipe until he had achieved the perfect blend of bourbon, spices and other
flavorings. At every party, get-together or potluck he took the appetizer to,
he heard the same chorus: "You should bottle this!"
After 12 years of hearing this comment,
he decided to give it a go.
The journey from trying a dish at a
party in the early 1990s to seeing his product on the shelves hasn't been an
easy one. But he believed in the appetizer, which consists of Hillshire Farms
cocktail weenies and a rich, sweet smooth bourbon sauce.
The process started after 9/11. An
employee at Fermilab in
He decided to put his faith in
“Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people
who’ve tried this have said they loved it,” he said. “Everybody says they’ve
never tasted a flavor like this. It’s a very unique flavor.”
First off, he had to see if it was even
feasible for him to make the product. In addition to a full pound of Hillshire
Farms meat, he uses 125-proof (cask/barrel strength) Evan Williams bourbon.
(The alcohol is cooked off, leaving less than two percent alcohol in the sauce
— less than in some cough syrups.)
“What’s left is the rich, smokey
bourbon flavor,”
He decided to go for it, and Duncan Foods
Ltd. was born. The first task was to find suppliers — something that took a
full year.
In the meantime, he went back to
school, earning a degree in marketing. When he discovered he couldn’t produce mass
quantities out of his home, he decided to go with a contract packager — a
business that would manufacture and bottle
“If I couldn’t do it legally and
properly, I wasn’t going to do it at all” he said. “I wasn’t going to be
somebody out of my kitchen dodging the Board of Health.”
He uses packager Dorina/So-Good Inc.
out of
“I facilitate and organize all the
things needed for it to come together,” he said.
Eventually, he hopes
Approvals
and certifications
Through 2003, he
worked on getting the label designed and produced. The logo is of a hotdog with
a lampshade on its head because he’s a “Drunken Weenie”. He also had to get all
the approvals and certifications he needed. Because the product has both meat
and liquor, he needed more certificates.
He had to get approved by the United States
Department of Agriculture, the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the Illinois
Department of Revenue, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, the United
States Department of Treasury and even the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms. And he needed a liquor license too. "I also had to do a
nutritional analysis," he said.
He sent the Drunken' Weenies to a
company called Nutridata in southern
"One thing that's been difficult
about this, being a unique product, often I ran into, 'Well, there's nothing
out there like this,'" he said. "A lot of it was convincing them
there should be a product like this."
He said the three words that have
become his mantra are "patience," "perseverance" and
"posture."
"Posture is how you carry yourself
when you work with these people," he said. "The old saying, 'You
catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,' is true."
Speaking of vinegar, the reason his
bourbon sauce tastes so sweet and unique is because there isn't much vinegar in
it.
"This sauce is nothing like other barbecue
sauces," he said. "we don't do tangy; it's very sweet. It's not the
normal vinegar-based style."
He found a way around using vinegar as
a preservative by using acetic acid and lactic acid, both of which occur
naturally.
Around
town
Now, it's a matter of
finding places to carry
"I'd love to get them into a Jewel
or a Cubs," he said.
Meanwhile, he's creating a
He admits he doesn't eat as many of the
Drunken' Weenies anymore — too much of a good thing and all.
"I still love the product,"
he said. "It's such a fun product, between the name and the product
itself. It's a cute name. I get more giggles from little old ladies when they
hear the name."
And he believes
"Everybody loves to introduce
people to something new, be it a secret about a neighbor or a new food
product," he said.
The weenies are shelf-stable, meaning
you don't need to refrigerate them until after opening, and they're easy to
make — just heat and eat, he said. They're perfect for potlucks, parties,
picnics, tailgates and even quick snacks, he said.
"Being the next Ranch dressing is
reaching," he said, "but, hopefully, people will enjoy it, and it
will take off."
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