Episode Transcription: 

0:00
roxo media house
0:06
welcome back fortituders JW Wilson here
0:09
with my co-host brinton Payne we are
0:11
off we are off site today at a very
0:14
special location with a new friend of
0:15
ours the guy between us brinton
0:18
he’s the president of Renfro Foods a
0:21
company founded in 1940 he’s got a heck
0:24
of a story to tell us he’s going to show
0:25
us some behind the scenes stuff but
0:27
welcome to the show Doug we appreciate
0:28
it yeah thanks Doug thanks thanks for
0:30
coming out so you um being a Dallas
0:32
Cowboy uh you’re a lot smaller than we
0:35
had initially expected it happens yeah
0:37
there’s shrinkage from the Renfro
0:39
Cowboys lineage we do know him he knows
0:42
us it’s funny uh Mike renfro’s mother
0:44
went to high school with my Uncle Bill
0:45
Renfro who was who worked here half a
0:47
century second gen strangely did you
0:50
like how I just threw that curveball
0:51
starting out I did like that yeah a lot
0:55
of trade shows we need to relaunch now
0:57
so Doug would you tell us a little about
0:58
the history of the family and the family
1:00
business Renfro Foods please you mean
1:02
the non-football part the non-football
1:03
part exclusively certainly so uh 19 in
1:07
the 1930s my granddad distributed
1:09
grocery items and it’s the Vintage
1:11
building if you drive up to Jyoti
1:13
Garcia’s right now up North Main on the
1:14
right they’ve nicely renovated the
1:16
Vintage company building I have photo
1:18
outside my office of my granddad and his
1:21
company truck for that operation in the
1:23
30s we think my grandmother took the
1:25
photo because of Shadow we’re pretty
1:26
sure we had no corporate photographer
1:27
back then and then in 1940 he had the
1:31
courage you know being a true
1:32
entrepreneur he had the courage to quit
1:34
his job and for the next 12 years out of
1:36
their house they distributed grocery
1:37
items they would take flavored vinegar
1:39
garlic cloves and things to grocery
1:41
stores
1:42
and that is the early part in 52 they
1:46
started making syrup in the building
1:47
that we’re standing right now we now
1:49
have two city blocks but this core
1:51
building was just one small part of the
1:54
of the neighborhood it was a church and
1:56
a bar and on houses and things in our
1:58
little Factory which was built in the
2:00
20s to make ice cream cones just you’re
2:03
welcome that was free
2:04
um so they started making syrup I always
2:07
tell people there were no maple trees
2:08
harmed in the process and they had about
2:10
85 percent of the DFW Cafe business my
2:13
children don’t even know what a cafe is
2:14
and that was not sexy for my dad who
2:18
went to TCU along with Bill we think it
2:20
was free
2:21
because they didn’t have any money they
2:22
lived at home worked for free and my dad
2:25
would have to do things like clean out a
2:26
60 gallon syrup Kettle they couldn’t
2:28
afford a hot water heater so we do it
2:30
with cold water and then go to TCU to
2:32
class with his wet t-shirt so he is
2:34
quite popular there what’s that being
2:36
Jack Jack rinfo correct yeah thanks for
2:37
delineating it’s my dad’s Jack Becky and
2:40
James Renfro who run the company with
2:42
Becky Renfro borbola and James Renfro
2:44
run the company with me their dad bill
2:46
was an older brother and they were
2:47
second gen we have an Aunt Linda who
2:50
worked here in college and then taught
2:51
public school for 30 years or so and she
2:54
also was an owner of the company how big
2:55
is the Cowboys question brinton no it’s
2:57
not a syrup question how big are like
2:59
the is the vat or whatever the pot is
3:02
in the 50s that said 60 gallons and you
3:06
can’t prove otherwise and is is it just
3:09
a painstaking task to clean it with cold
3:11
water he indicated it was very uh what’s
3:14
the opposite of fun very not fun yeah
3:18
yeah and that uh and that was what they
3:20
did for quite a while then in the late
3:21
50s early 60s they started making a
3:23
southern relish called chow chow and
3:25
when Becky and James and I were children
3:27
that’s all we made and now we make it
3:28
four hours a month if that tells you how
3:30
things have changed over time what’s a
3:32
southern Relic ciao what what is it it
3:36
is based on cabbage bell pepper onion
3:38
pickling spices so my my poor dad who
3:40
ran production his car just reeked of
3:43
pickling spices basically all of his
3:45
clothing in the car you know we’d go
3:46
we’d go in the other car to church and
3:48
PTA and things because his JW smelled
3:50
like that on the way over today I can
3:52
make that happen we still have some chow
3:54
chow this is some chow chow right here
3:56
there you go
3:59
this is what we’re going to put in
4:00
brinton’s hamburger today ghost pepper
4:02
sauce watch out Britney you’re in
4:04
trouble Doug how many products does
4:06
Renfro Foods currently make we currently
4:08
have 30 Renfro items are they all Salsas
4:11
are we talking jellies are we talking
4:12
chow chow oh what all types of things do
4:14
you guys make we make Salsas relishes
4:17
barbecue sauce cheese sauce and we have
4:19
jalapeno peppers sweet hot and regular
4:21
the bulk of what we sell is indeed salsa
4:24
and our our Forte has been flavor
4:26
development so the last 30 years we’ve
4:28
come out with habanero black bean
4:30
tequila craft beer salsa Chipotle corn
4:33
and other people were doing those sorts
4:35
of things but it like this William
4:36
Sonoma 12 housewarming gift level and we
4:40
want to be at the everyday in my grocery
4:41
cart level what’s the difference between
4:43
Salsa and Picante they’re spelled
4:46
differently that’s it uh yeah I had to
4:48
answer that question when I came back we
4:50
still called them Picante sauces and we
4:52
have mild medium and hot Picante Picante
4:54
is simply Spanish for spicy and as
4:56
people begin to know more Spanish they
4:58
realize how stupid it was to say mild
5:01
spicy medium spicy hot spicy so we
5:03
changed the names from picante sauce to
5:06
Picante salsa and then to salsa and our
5:09
green taco sauce which change to Greens
5:11
also because you don’t always want to
5:12
have a taco okay so what’s your family
5:16
making this while they were doing the
5:18
syrup like at home just for a home meal
5:20
type of deal no but that’s a really
5:22
romantic backstory we make I just
5:24
envisioned yeah I like that a lot don’t
5:26
distribute these groceries we’re going
5:28
to make a quick salsa here for ourselves
5:30
now you know it’s better to be lucky
5:32
than smart and sometimes things come
5:33
along and you’ve got to be smart enough
5:35
to take advantage of it and there was a
5:37
guy making taco sauce who got in over
5:40
his head and my dad and my uncle went
5:42
over there and said you know this might
5:44
be it would fit nicely with our
5:45
operation and Chow Chow has the velocity
5:48
of a snail so that you’ve not a lot of
5:50
money around when you just make a little
5:52
southern relish yeah and with taco sauce
5:54
it wasn’t a lot more when we went into
5:56
salsa every day salsa that’s when the
5:59
velocity really took off because you go
6:00
to a football game and have a hosting
6:02
party at your house any kind of party
6:04
you’ll eat the whole jar usually
6:06
what is the most popular uh product that
6:09
you guys make currently the number one
6:10
item is habanero which is extra hot that
6:13
was one of the first two items I got to
6:15
create after they put me in charge of r
6:17
d in my spare time as a finance weenie
6:20
with all my training and uh at the time
6:22
when we came out with it we actually had
6:24
comments internally that it wouldn’t
6:26
sell much because it’s crazy hot which
6:28
now of course you go to Chili’s in
6:29
London and you can find right uh
6:31
habanero Chipotle whatever
6:34
but people really got into it the
6:36
American pilot has gotten so much more
6:38
heat tolerant over time we had a
6:40
shipping clerk who started eating like a
6:42
tablespoon of the habanero salsa a week
6:44
and by the time he retired 10 years
6:46
later he was eating a bottle a week
6:47
really so what do you think that the
6:50
cause of that was like so the heat deal
6:52
is fairly new in the American Cuisine
6:55
but has it been in other cultures or
6:58
what’s going on with the US eating
7:00
hotter stuff you know food gets boring
7:02
sometimes and as we had more income and
7:04
more free time we’re able to experiment
7:06
more from a culinary perspective and
7:08
spice is stimulating to your body it
7:11
releases endorphins you get like a
7:12
little runner’s high but you develop a
7:15
tolerance and so you can go hotter and
7:16
hotter for whatever reason the 50s and
7:19
60s you know a boiled potato and roast
7:22
beef seem to be sufficient but now it’s
7:24
not
7:25
well uh Doug we appreciate you getting
7:27
this little background you’ve agreed to
7:29
give us a little tour of the facility
7:31
maybe Brent can try some habanero salsa
7:33
maybe on the side we definitely some
7:35
footage of that if that’s okay but uh we
7:37
we appreciate you uh giving us some
7:38
insights uh 82 years I think about
7:41
Matt’s correct 1940 is that check my
7:43
math brinton oh yeah to your old company
7:45
that’s incredible you get around and you
7:47
guys were known a known entity your
7:48
family’s very involved in the community
7:49
you do a lot of things especially for
7:51
TCU you’re wearing the purple of tissue
7:53
today uh but you guys have been around
7:55
done this for a long time with hard work
7:57
and sweat and it’s it’s quite an
7:58
accomplishment you guys have had with
8:00
the family so thank you for the the time
8:02
and we look forward a little tour inside
8:03
real real quick though Doug what is the
8:05
spiciest thing on this track I gotta
8:08
find out what the spiciest thing in this
8:10
office would be the spiciest thing which
8:13
you’re going to taste soon I believe is
8:14
the Carolina Reaper salsa and that is
8:17
what what type of a friend of ours Ed
8:19
Curry created that he got the Guinness
8:22
Book of World Record accreditation at
8:24
the time is the hottest pepper in the
8:26
world and he has a contest he was on
8:28
Netflix with half an hour of his contest
8:30
of making people pass out they have five
8:32
gallon buckets beside them I’ll let you
8:33
guess why in terms of eating that so
8:36
we’ll get you a little small bucket
8:39
all right brinton you ready to try some
8:40
habanero salsa I’m sorry to interrupt on
8:42
the clothes out thank you very much for
8:44
having me facility
8:46
[Music]
9:05
it’s just really dangerous
9:11
[Music]
9:23
thank you
9:26
foreign
9:28
[Music]
10:02
cards
10:07
[Music]
10:09
fresh salsa for bad employee
10:14
[Music]
10:24
we found the real Secret Sauce here
10:27
[Music]
10:38
do it
10:45
I would come after classes and do this
10:47
for like seven hours
10:49
yeah you’re welcome wait I’m feeling it
10:52
in the lungs here with Doug Renfrow of
10:55
Renfrow foods and Mr Mr allergies in the
10:58
spice room no I’m seriously coughing
11:00
that’s from breathing this place smells
11:02
wonderful but you gotta be careful
11:04
street value of a bag like this stuff
11:06
two million yeah all right thank you how
11:10
you feeling I got no sneeze coming I’ll
11:12
tell you here in a second
11:14
I can’t stop yellow pepper up there
11:19
okay I’m good for a second we wanted to
11:21
thank Doug Renfrow president redfro
11:23
friends from giving us a tour of this
11:25
wonderful facility thanks for being such
11:26
a steward of the city of Fort Worth we
11:28
appreciate you it was an amazing
11:29
opportunity to see what goes on behind
11:31
the scenes I still fill it up here in my
11:33
in my nasal cavity but uh thank you
11:35
again and thank you so we already always
11:37
end the show in the studio with asking
11:40
somebody familial aside and this is
11:43
beautiful family facility you guys have
11:45
built this great business on it what’s
11:47
the best day of your life that is a hard
11:50
one from a brand perspective I think the
11:52
day that we were on the cover of a trade
11:54
Magazine with Coca-Cola is an example of
11:56
brand uh flavor development and
11:59
Innovation our Peach salsa and Coke with
12:02
lime were featured right centered on the
12:06
magazine that went internationally to
12:08
think to think that our whole family
12:10
business was compared to Coca-Cola
12:11
before Labor Innovation was huge yeah
12:13
would you eat the two together and like
12:15
frankly wash it down
12:17
salsa uh no I haven’t delicios okay Mr
12:21
Renfro is going to give us a couple
12:22
samples to take home I know habanero is
12:24
on brinton’s list so oh that’s right
12:26
yeah oh no I you know okay is this the
12:29
um is this the intestinal tract after
12:31
eight years yeah yeah okay thank you
12:33
thank you Doug Renfro thank you we
12:35
appreciate your time thank you yeah
12:37
thanks Doug appreciate you guys okay
12:39
thanks
12:40
foreign
12:44
[Music]