MciIhenny's Gold

MciIhenny's Gold

The story of the powerful McIlhennys of Louisiana, who turned hot peppers into a Tabasco fortune After the Civil War ended, Edmund McIlhenny, an ambitious and tenacious Louisiana businessman, found himself with few prospects. The South's economy in ruins and his millions of dollars in Confederacy currency worthless, he had no choice but to return with his wife, Mary, to her family home in Avery Island, a former sugar plantation destroyed by Union soldiers. To McIlhenny's surprise, the hot peppers he had planted before being forced off the island had flourished. Desperate to start a new business, he chopped up the peppers, combined them with salt and vinegar, and produced the first batch of hot pepper sauce. Or so the story goes. He called the sauce Tabasco. In this fascinating history, Jeffrey Rothfeder tells how, from a simple idea—the outgrowth of a handful of peppers planted on an isolated island on the Gulf of Mexico—a secretive family business emerged that would produce one of the best-known products in the world. In short order, McIlhenny's descendants would turn Tabasco into a gold mine and an icon of pop culture, making it as recognizable as far bigger brands such as Coca-Cola and Kleenex. To this day, the McIlhenny Co., still run by a family of matchless characters who believe in a rigid code of family loyalty, clings to tradition and the old ways of doing business. Yet by fiercely protecting its beloved brand and refusing to sell out to big food conglomerates, this family business has run circles around its competitors, churning out annual revenues that have surpassed everyone's expectations. A delectable and satisfying read for both Tabasco fans and business buffs, McIlhenny's Gold is the untold story of the continuing success of an eccentric, private company; a lively history of one of the most popular consumer products of all times; and an exploration of our desire to test the limits of human tolerance for fiery foods. Few other food products are so immediately recognizable as that ubiquitous bottle of Tabasco sauce gracing so many American tables. Attempting to uncover the authentic story of Tabasco, business-historian Rothfeder has his work cut out, thanks to endless confabulation generated over decades by the McIlhenny family. Founder Edward McIlhenny, a Baltimore banker, moved to 1830s New Orleans and ended up with a parcel of swamp whose only use seemed to be to grow pepper plants. Dogged and determined to preserve their trademark, the McIlhenny family drove competition to the ground. After the manner of northern industrialists, the McIlhennys pioneered development of the company town, imposing a controlling, paternalistic, blatantly racist culture. Having made a fortune from Tabasco, they multiplied it with income from salt and oil deposits beneath the pepper plants' roots. Reading this piquant history means you can never again reach for that little bottle without recalling the amazing history fraught within. Knoblauch, Mark “These days, Tabasco is nearly as ubiquitous as butter and as quotidian as salt and pepper-and this book chronicles that progression in equal parts business story and Faulknerian family saga.” - Forbes “Rothfeder manages to tell a compelling story of single-minded product marketing, Southern social history and slavery, and the challenges endemic to all family firms.” - Library Journal “From its legendary invention in the months after the Civil War, to the carefully guarded recipe and production and the tightly controlled employees’ town in the Louisiana swamps, Rothfeder looks at the extraordinary journey of a family from rags to riches.” - History “[T]he history of Tabasco and its creators, the McIlhenny family, makes for a spicy…tale, and Jeffrey Rothfeder serves it up nicely.” - BusinessWeek “[T]he unembellished saga of the McIlhenny clan is a tale that needs no seasoning.” - Portfolio “[B]alanced and always entertaining.” - Publishers Weekly The story of the powerful McIlhennys of Louisiana, who turned hot peppers into a Tabasco fortune After the Civil War ended, Edmund McIlhenny, an ambitious and tenacious Louisiana businessman, found himself with few prospects. The South's economy in ruins and his millions of dollars in Confederacy currency worthless, he had no choice but to return with his wife, Mary, to her family home in Avery Island, a former sugar plantation destroyed by Union soldiers. To McIlhenny's surprise, the hot peppers he had planted before being forced off the island had flourished. Desperate to start a new business, he chopped up the peppers, combined them with salt and vinegar, and produced the first batch of hot pepper sauce. Or so the story goes. He called the sauce Tabasco. In this fascinating history, Jeffrey Rothfeder tells how, from a simple idea—the outgrowth of a handful of peppers planted on an isolated island on the Gulf of Mexico—a secretive family business emerged that would produce one of the best-known products in the world