Zane & Zack’s World Famous Honey Co. started in the summer of 2003 in the greater Seattle, WA area. Sam had taken up beekeeping the summer before and wanted to come up with new, unique ways to use honey in different recipes. Since we love hot sauce and smoked foods, it seemed only natural to start out smoking jalapeños for chipotle. After creating a recipe that tasted great, we brought some to a friend’s BBQ. Everyone commented on how awesome it was and asked where the hot sauce had come from. When they found out that Sam had made it, we were told repeatedly that we should market it. Over the next year, we handed out literally hundreds of samples and were told the same thing by anyone who tasted it. Finally, we started a company which we named after our two boys, Zane and Zack. Word spread and soon we were making more and more hot sauce! In August, we were discovered by the Hot Shop in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island and we were in our first store. In September, our hot sauce was a “Blue Ribbon Winner” at the Western Washington (Puyallup) Fair in the honey products category (7092). Please check back again to hear the latest news!
We then introduced our Honey-Jalapeno Gourmet Sauce and Hans’ Honey Mustard, named after our third son, Hans. Our Honey Jalapeno Sauce took First Place at the Puyallup Fair this year, as well as winning an Award of Merit. The Honey Chipotle Sauce took Second Place, but only to the Jalapeno Sauce. Hans’ Honey Mustard won a Third Place ribbon.
Early in 2007, we came out with our Chipotle Cream Cheese Spread, Habanero Sauce and Three Brother’s Hot Pepper Sauce. We were contacted by Chili Pepper Magazine, and were featured as the Washington Hot Sauce in the April 2007 edition. Hans’ Honey Mustard was featured in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine’s August 2007 Food Lover’s Guide as a “what to look for” at the Wallingford Farmer’s Market.
In September, 2007, we attended our first trade show, ZestFest, where Three Brother’s took a Golden Chile award, and our original Chipotle sauce won People’s Choice First Place for Best Hot Sauce and Grand Prize People’s Choice Best in Show! Additionally, the Honey Jalapeno Sauce received two third place awards in the Fiery Foods Contest.
From there, we introduced more award winning products and attended numerous hot sauce shows across the country. Sadly, at this point, we are having to scale down due to time constraints and making our two younger boys our priority.
