Success Story: Mesmerize Spices

Mesmerize Spices is a chef-curated spices and seasonings company. The company’s mission is to be the flavour of the local food movement. We will do this by creating fresh and unique flavours from ingredients local to our customers! Check out this short but sweet, or spice-y interview with Jon Alphonsus, President of Mesmerize Spices, and find out more about how they're changing the seasoning game for all culinaires. Jon, introduce yourself and your team. There are 4 co-founders of our company, we all enjoy cooking and trying new flavours. Chef Christopher is one of us, and hands down has the best culinary skill. Ken is a barbecue czar. Mitch and Jon are great at eating and telling everyone about their good taste! Give us some background on Mesmerize Spices and how you got started. At Chef Christopher’s kid’s birthday party last year, we were talking about all his recipes––he has 200+ proprietary seasoning and marinade blends! And we said, why don’t we bottle these up for everyone else to try?! And a few months later, Mesmerize Spices Inc was born. We’re aiming to be the flavour of the local food movement; using fresh ingredients available locally to create unique new flavours that everyone can cook with. What does a typical day in the life look like for you? It’s organized chaos! We’re focused on marketing, sales/distribution, production and logistics. This usually involves phone calls, Google Meetups, meeting at our commercial kitchen, visiting distributors, going to local markets and talking with designers. We also try and listen to one business or food related podcast a day; one can never stop learning new things. What is one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned in starting a business? There’s a Jay-Z lyric that says: “...everyone can tell you how to do it (but) they never did it.” Sometimes, you have to block out outside noise and try with your best option, even if perfect isn’t there yet––the important thing is to take action. What is the most rewarding part of running Mesmerize Spices? When customers tell us they love our product! It’s also really cool to be part of the local food movement, especially at a time when the whole world has started paying attention to where their food really comes from. Working with local food suppliers gives us a sense of pride every time we interact with ours. Do you have future plans or goals for Mesmerize Spices that you’d like to share? Our newest blend, Mesmerize Steak Spice, just launched in August! And we will have a few more releases coming up. At Christmas, we will have a gift pack of the whole set that will be a great present for the culinaires in your life. Lastly, any words of advice you’d share with aspiring entrepreneurs? Impossible is Nothing! Where can people learn more about Mesmerize Spices? Website: www.mesmerizespices.comInstagram/Facebook/Pinterest: @mesmerizespices