Click on the link to view the details
Business Start-Up Press Release 2004 Scovie Awards 2005 Scovie Awards
Chiles inspire new business
Former area steel boss, a writer at heart, couldn't resist Hatch peppers
BY DEVONA WELLS
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
SILVIA FLORES / THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Jennie and Chuck Machado are framed by the window in the front door of their business, the New Mexico Chile Co. They produce Coyote Trail sauce, made of chiles from the Hatch Valley in southern New Mexico .
Coyote Trail sauce, topped with melted cheese, sits on a platter surrounded by chips.
In his life as CEO of a steel company, Chuck Machado had pushed aside plenty.
So in 1998, he sold the company and began picking his children up from school. He volunteered. And he embarked on a writing career, punching out a psychological thriller called "Blood Brothers" in about a year.
But he couldn't resist the entrepreneurial pull of roasted chiles.
In 2000, Machado, 48, founded Inland Empire-based New Mexico Chile Co. Last year, the company ordered 31,000 pounds of chiles grown in the Hatch Valley area of southern New Mexico . This year, Machado expects to roast, peel and cook up 100,000 pounds of the spicy peppers.
"We don't have any sales, really, but we're having fun. It's the right product. It will happen," he said.
The company sells four varieties of Coyote Trail sauce from hot to mild, intended for grilling or dipping. The sauces went on sale Dec. 10 and racked up around $10,000 in sales for the rest of the month through a company Web site, www.coyotechile.com and from its west Riverside location. Machado envisions $500,000 in sales in 2003 as the company makes pitches to Costco, restaurants and grocery stores.
A new hot sauce
Machado discovered Hatch chiles in 1999 while in New Mexico shopping for property. That year, he bought 1,000 pounds of chiles he intended to vacuum-seal whole so that Inland Empire friends could enjoy the delicacy.
"I thought it was a good idea until I tasted the chile. It was so darn hot, I knew no one would be able to eat it," his wife, Jennie Machado , 47, said.
With half a ton of chiles in a garage freezer, Jennie Machado began experimenting. She was attempting a chile relleno sauce when she happened upon one of the recipes that became the hot green Coyote Trail.
"It was so good, I was eating it with a spoon," she said.
And her husband knew she had got it right: "As soon as I tasted it, I said, `This is it. This is the answer. We'll bottle it.' "
Chuck Machado launched his first company, Corona Steel Supply, fresh out of college in 1977. The company sold steel and built frames for various retail stores, including the Van Buren Boulevard Wal-Mart in Riverside and the Moreno Valley Mervyn's, Machado said.
"I just worked. That's all I knew how to do. It's a pretty shallow life, isn't it?" he said.
New challenges
Machado took a year off to write "Blood Brothers," which he's now trying to sell with the help of Redlands writing coach Bruce McAllister.
But workaday distractions returned in the form of getting what tasted great in his kitchen onto a bottling line.
Company literature relies heavily on the allure of New Mexico , invoking lush foothills near the Rio Grande River and their fertile chile fields. But look to the bottom of any label, and you'll see a Mission Boulevard address in Riverside .
The company is operated out of a small house converted to offices, where what little distribution needed so far takes place. To cut transportation costs, manufacturing and bottling will be shifted to New Mexico this year, Machado said. Today, chiles harvested and roasted in Hatch are trucked to Northern California for sauce-making and packaging. Product will still be sent out from Riverside , said Machado, who plans to soon look for a larger distribution space.
New selling ideas
Food consultant Al Wheeler came on the scene three months ago and wants to move the chile company beyond filling individual Web orders. He has his eye on upscale delis and restaurants.
Costco is considering selling the sauce, but it may or may not work at the discount warehouse chain, Wheeler said. Putting it on a chicken pizza at, say, Papa John's is another story.
"We do know, in the pizza element, it's going to be a huge fit. All these guys are looking for a unique flavor," he said.
Wheeler plans to take the product to a Las Vegas pizza show in March to pitch it as a mass-market pizza topping.
Now that he has guided the company to one that employs 70 during chile season, Machado's seeking a CEO to take the reins. Machado says he has writing to do.
Already, he's one-third of the way through writing his second novel, about a priest who loses his faith in God.
"I'm not truly happy unless I'm writing," he said.
Reach Devona Wells at (909) 368-9559 or dwells@pe.com
Published 1/23/2003
Contact information:
Chuck Machado
New Mexico Chile Company LLC
5555 Zuni RD SE 20-109
Albuquerque , NM 87108
505 629-4312 Fax 505 629-4313
www.coyotechile.com
info@coyotechile.com
More >>