John and Sue Hard moved the production facility of CaJohns Fiery Foods to Westerville last month from the home of their former fire suppression business on the northeast side where they had operated for 13 years.  Their newly renovated facility just off the highway gives them 11,000 square feet of space encompassing offices, a state of the art production kitchen and a warehouse.  The roomy and well-laid-out new digs are key to facilitating the production of approximately 2,000 jars of salsa daily!

Within the walls of the unassuming facade are trophy cases holding some of the more than 350 awards that CaJohns has amassed throughout years of winning at fiery foods competitions across the nation.  The impressive haul includes 48 Golden Chiles (awarded by Chile Pepper Magazine), 6 from the annual Buffalo Wing Festival, 29 Texas Shoot-Out first place prizes garnered at the Texas Fiery Foods Show, and 2 Grand Champion titles from the Cajun Hot Sauce Festival. Needless to say, there are so many accolades that only a portion of them are on display at the office. I’m pretty sure he’s got “a few” at home too.

Another case holds what looks to be more than 100 bottles of hot sauce including CaJohns original line of labels and bottles traded amongst industry folks as personal souvenirs. More bottles can be found on the shelves in CaJohns office, on his desk and generally “around”. Original artwork, commemorative posters and other memorablilia are slowly working their way onto the walls around the facility. Piles of other artwork lean against the walls waiting to be hung. One of these days the place will be an amazing gallery of fiery foods memorabilia as well!

Let’s go on a  little photo tour of the place (put your cursor over the photo for a caption): 

If you want to stop by for a taste or a tour the new factory and store are located here:

816 Green Crest Drive, Westerville, OH 43081

Give them a call and let them know you are coming 614-418-0808.

In a few months when they are all settled they’ll work out the details for accomodating bus tours. In the meantime they are open for small groups.  Check out the place where CaJohns manufactures their 42 flavors of salsa, 56 hot sauces,  and 14 BBQ sauces (not to mention the spice rubs and numerous other items that make up their catalog of 180 products. To support the capsicum cause make sure you purchase a bottle of Holy Jolokia hot sauce. $1 from each purchase goes to support the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University.