Sams Club Jobs

Barbecue sauce gets ready to spread

Jerome Brown's barbecue sauces have gone from being handmade in his restaurant's kitchen to being mass-produced for sale in 14 Sam's Club stores.

The mass-production part of the business is on the verge of taking off. Brown is close to purchasing a 34,000-square-foot building that his business, KJB Specialities, will convert into a manufacturing plant.

Brown, owner of Jerome Brown Barbecue and Wings restaurant, has gained city financial support for his sauce-making venture. The city council recently approved a $380,000 loan and a $260,000 grant from the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund. The fund is aimed at promoting economic development in a part of the city that has struggled. The city expects the manufacturing plant to generate up to 56 jobs within three years.

"It feels great because we know we can do it," Brown said, smiling with the same cheerful expression that brightens his photo on the labels of his sauce containers.

Like any business that depends on significant revenue growth, the long-term success of the manufacturing plant faces challenges. The family-owned business must prove its product will keep selling in more stores. If the sales increase, the manufacturing side will be under pressure to keep up with the demand.

Before the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund board recommended that the city council approve financial assistance, board members questioned whether a small business such as Brown's could keep up with orders from a huge retailer such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the owner of Sam's Club.

But Joe Whitaker, a Jacksonville Economic Development Commission official who works with small businesses, said he has no doubt Brown has what it takes to dramatically expand sales. He is a fan of the sauce of which he says the "mustard-based is to die for." And he praises Brown and his family for their hard work.

"It's been an amazing journey, and I say that because they aren't just jumping into this," Whitaker said. "They are taking it one step at a time."

The cost of setting up the manufacturing plant will be $2.7 million, according to the city. Along with the city's financial support, KJB Specialities will use a bank loan backed by the Small Business Administration.

KJB is an all-in-the family enterprise. Brown, 54, and his wife, JoAnn, have a way of completing each other's thoughts, such as recounting how they got their big break at a trade fair in 2009.

Taking out the Trash: Little Sam's Club, Job Security and Paul's ...

Garbage night at our house).

I spent much of my afternoon in Not-So-Little-Sam’s Club, the basement stockpile that I’ve kept up for some time.  It was definitely time to donate!

For newer readers, you may not know the story of my stockpile.  About a year ago I organized it and wrote about it on my previous Facebook page .  The picture you see here was taken in June 2010.  I had just taken advantage of Big Lots moving from one location to another, so everything in their store was 50% off.  My sister saw the stockpile area in the basement and said it was like Sam’s Club.  And that’s how my slightly more than modest stockpile got it’s name.

Flash forward a few months and my husband suddenly lost his job–no two weeks notice, no severance, just done.  Because of the stockpile I had compiled, one of the few things we didn’t have to worry about was food.  Then, when talking to our case worker for unemployment benefits, she told me how much our family of six was eligible to get in food stamps each month.  I was shocked, I must have gasped.  The case worker started explaining to me that it would be reviewed in six months and if it turned out the amount allotted was too low…

I stopped her.  No, I said I was shocked because it was TWICE the amount I normally spent on groceries!

The first thing we did was to make an SUV-sized donation to Paul’s Pantry with many of the items pictured above.  Because I knew I was going to have to make room for more.

For those almost four months that my husband was out of work, I continued to shop the sales and match up coupons as I had always done.  And used up every single cent of the food stamps offered to me.  Let me tell you, it was exhausting!  After all, I wasn’t going to let it go to waste.  My sister’s husband had been out of work for 8-9 months, a friend, the same amount, another, more than two years without work. I did not know how long we would be without regular income, I did not know how long the benefits would last, but I was determined to be prepared and at least we wouldn’t have to worry about food.