Made in Georgia: Point Blank Pepper Co. creates hot products with a sweet twist

Rich Newton of Point Blank Pepper Co. said he can’t remember a time he didn’t love food with spicy flavors. He loved them so much that about 10 years ago he started making his own hot pepper jams and jellies.

“Most of the time, the batches turned out well, but the science of pectin and peppers was (sometimes) hit or miss. When I came across some bread and butter pickles made with jalapenos, I knew I could make a better version,” he said in a recent telephone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

His experiments resulted in a pickle brine containing jalapenos that stayed crunchy. When he shared jars with friends and family, he said they told him, “These are great, you should sell them,” over and over.

Rich Newton started Point Blank Pepper Co. with one product, Smoke Rings, a combination of jalapenos and sweet peppers in cayenne brine. (Courtesy of Point Blank Pepper Co.)

He came up with a business name, Point Blank Pepper Co., designed a label with a rifle scope and a ghost pepper and named the jalapenos and sweet peppers in cayenne brine Smoke Rings.

In 2018, he took a few jars to the annual New York City Hot Sauce Expo. “I went because I was a hot sauce fan and thought it would be fun to meet the people I thought of as icons in the hot sauce world, people I looked up to. I took my peppers and asked for feedback. They liked them, and that encouraged me to see what I could do with them.”

At the time, he was working in the audiovisual and internet industry, and experimenting with hot pepper products was a hobby. When he was furloughed during the pandemic, his wife, Mindy Newton, encouraged him to turn his hobby into a business. She kept her job, which allowed the profits from Point Blank to be reinvested into the new company.

Rich Newton said it took a lot of studying before he was ready to sell his products to more than family and friends. “I took classes from the University of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Agriculture on how to safely process my products. I designed labels, learned about bar codes and acquired liability insurance.”

While making Smoke Rings, he found that any leftover brine was delicious on its own. The brine became his second product, a sweet and sour sauce he named Boot Camp.

Point Blank Pepper Co. has won 40 awards, ranging from Flavor of Georgia to the International Flavor Awards. (Courtesy of Point Blank Pepper Co.)

In 2019, the couple decided to try selling at the Marietta Square Farmers Market. “It was so successful that we added more markets and started going to barbecue festivals like the Smyrna Jonquil Festival and the Big Shanty festival in Kennesaw, even traveling as far as New Mexico, Texas and Ohio,” he said. “Mindy still loves selling at the Marietta market and other local events where she has a blast talking with our customers. Their reactions, and the fact that they keep coming back to buy more, make her proud to be part of this business.”

The couple makes every product by hand. Newton spends each week in a Kennesaw shared kitchen, preparing the vegetables for the pickles and making the company’s two sauces: the original mild sauce and a hotter version.

A few evenings a week, Mindy joins him and they put up Smoke Rings and three other products: jalapenos and habaneros in ghost pepper brine, sweet giardiniera vegetables in habanero brine and the cucumber pickles in ghost pepper brine they introduced late last year. A standout feature of their products is that the heat is tempered with sweet.

Point Blank Pepper Co. sells four varietites of pickled peppers, two sauces and powdered roasted jalapenos. (Courtesy of Point Blank Pepper Co.)

They’re measuring success in growing sales and in awards. “We’ve won over 40 awards, ranging from the Scovie Awards to the International Flavor Awards. All of them have been blind tastings,” Rich Newton said. “The judges aren’t looking at your labels; they don’t know anything about you. They’re just tasting what you made and hopefully liking it. Winning those awards is a nice pat on the back.”

In time, they said they hope to open a brick-and-mortar store in Marietta where they can sell their products along with those made by their hot sauce friends from across the country.

At home, the Newtons enjoy their products every day. “We can open a jar and go through the whole thing in one sitting,” Rich Newton said.