When I wrote asking for an interview last month, he Frank Italiano worked the business until age 83 and passed away in 2006. Penzey, Bill; Penzeys One Staff (2008). here for reprint permission. The emphasis, as his wife explained, was less on running a business and more on sharing knowledge of the spice trade and philosophy. The story of PenzeysSpices begins with Ruth and Bill Penzey Sr., a midwestern couple who opened up a coffee and spice shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1957 (via Reference for Business). Penzey announced that the company would be doing a no-strings-attached In 2019, he said, If you are a company and you have values, now is the time to share them. For MLK Day in 2022, the company promoted "Republicans Are Racists" Weekend. Mr. Penzey sent a rambling missive to his companys list of customers declaring Martin Luther King Jr. Day as All Republicans Are Racist Day. [5] The business grew steadily, and in 1994 Penzeys opened its first retail store. [1] The company is headquartered in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin , and had 600,000 catalog customers in 2007. Bill Penzey, Sr., was a philosopher and storyteller who liked to put his customers to work grinding spices as he off-handedly lectured about the lore and history of the spice trade. After Losing the Supreme Court, Will Wisconsin Conservatives Exploit the State Constitution to Maintain Power? Bill Penzey, who owns the largest independent spice retailer in the United States, is upending the conventional wisdom that business and politics dont mix. [9], On January 14, 2022, CEO Bill Penzey sent out an email newsletter announcing that he would be renaming the extended Martin Luther King Jr. Day sale weekend to "Republicans are racist weekend", with the reasons given including alleged voter suppression in red states and their response to the George Floyd Protests. William T. Penzey Sr. died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday evening as he walked home from their little Wauwatosa shop. After the 2016 election, Penzey sent an email blast to customers, saying if they voted for Trump they had just committed the biggest act of racism in American history since Wallace stood in the schoolhouse doorway 53 years ago, referring to the segregationist Alabama Gov. Im just here for the spices.. While the country drowns in Democratic hypocrisy on everything ranging from the open border to the economy to crime and the collapsing stability of the international order, theres something about how tightly unhinged leftists hang on to their hate. arms. Scott Walker went to war with the teachers union. Major influences included Russian mystic George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff and Zen Buddhism. Facebook page. The multicultural customers who visited his parents shop, as well as the deep-rooted liberalism of Milwaukee, shaped Penzeys outlook, he said. Penzey, a bespectacled, rosy-cheeked man in his middle years, founded The story of Penzeys Spices begins with Ruth and Bill Penzey Sr., a midwestern couple who opened up a coffee and spice shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1957 (via Reference for Business ). A Penzeys Spices insider says founder and CEO Bill Penzey's frequent left-wing rants in emails to customers have lost the company more than half of its retail business over the past five years. Dan provides unique conservative commentary and analysis of stories that the mainstream mediaFull Bio. Karen Davis of Detroit, Michigan, is among them. You didnt want to go there, because the guy couldnt stand kids, and you felt that he was constantly hovering over you judging you for failing to live up to his extremely particular standards. Ever the philosopher, Penzey could taste the ancient tangents of thought like a thread of saffron on the tongue. ", News/Talk 1130 WISN, Milwaukee's Talk Station, Mark Belling, Jay Weber, Dan O'Donnell, Vicki McKenna, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. [1] The company is headquartered in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and had 600,000 catalog customers in 2007. Penzeys Spices locator map shows a single Penzeys Spices store in the City of Milwaukee. he was definitely the first to do so while hawking a free bottle of itwhich might seem cynical if his political outrage werent so The initiative was in response to Kenosha business lootings after the shooting of Jacob Blake. My mother is the down-to-earth one. Penzeys post-election statementsincluding a follow-up e-mail telling At the end of last week, as many were readying for a long Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, Penzey's Spices CEO Bill Penzey Jr. sent a spicy promotional email to customers.. "If you cant even begin to fathom how to 'compromise' with January 6th, or the Republican vaccine lies needlessly killing 10,000 Americans every week, if you have no desire to become half-way racist, and if their intent to destroy our climate for one thousand years to come doesnt have you asking: 'What if we just destroyed it for five-hundred years instead?' If someone is very passionate about it and has businesses and services available to community members in uptown and downtown, theyre going to want to help them rebuild and get going again.. My mother introduced me to them probably eight years ago, said Melinda Barnett, a Republican from Owatonna, Minn., who was among conservatives calling for a boycott of Penzeys on Twitter last month. Dr. Oz went shopping, Elon Musk broke Twitter, Chris Rock thought fast, and corn melted our hearts. the end of the message, he mentioned the companys Perhaps no one personifies this shift better than Penzey. In other words, Penzey is a savvy salesman whos figured out how to capitalize on the And what that meant to us growing up was a father who wanted us to question and see something greater in the world than the ordinary.". Ethan Duran She started at the Los Angeles Times in 1998, previously covered multiple presidential, state and local races, and completed a Knight-Wallace fellowship at the University of Michigan in 2019. For the rest of you, you just voted for an openly racist candidate for the presidency of the United States of America. This is the spice company owned and run by Bill Penzey Jr., a hate-filled man who decided mixing leftist political . Over the past decade, Penzey has repeatedly followed up controversial emails with offers for free spices in an apparent effort at winning back customers. Since Penzeys isn't a publicly traded company, there's little financial information available on its revenues and value. Earlier this year, Penzeys Spices unveiled its latest blend a salt-free chive and garlic mix for sprinkling on tomatoes, scrambled eggs or salmon. You can get angry at everyone else for treating you like you just did the thing you just did, or you can take responsibility for your actions and begin to make amends. He was 78. The The American people are taking notice. megaphone, devoting the first and last pages of his catalog to personal "What if we no longer turned a blind eye to those corporations that lobby and buy politicians to bulldoze the public good for their own gain?" His rage moves into an area that crime shows call overkill, indicating something more personal is at issue. Last week, Penzey admitted in an email to customers that he had lost more than 40,000 subscribers from the company's mailing list after holding a "Republicans are Racist" sale over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday weekend. The business grew steadily, which led to the first retail store location by 1994. UPDATE: The Spice House folks have kindly written to invite this blogs readers to become new customers. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. customerssubscribers to the mailing list of Penzeys Wisconsin-based September 5, 2020 7:42 am CDT, Originally Published Before advertisingandmarketing took Bill Jr, her younger brother, started his own catalog company, Penzeys. I was especially fond of their Bavarian spice blend. 3 Things You Don't Know About Kwik Trip, Wisconsin's Favorite Convenience Store, Economy Disgusted by the hateful approach, The Daily Mail reported the reaction of some Democrats who posted comments on the company website: Im a Democrat and liberal, and all that, and I know not all Republicans are racist. Through our customers support, weve given away a lot of our Penzeys Pepper, the Pepper with heart. Penzeys says the spice blend comes from, or is at least inspired by, the cooking of owner Bill Penzey Jr.s grandmother. (including cinnamon, nutmeg, and marjoram), and put together a spice rainbow (red cayenne, orange curry powder, etc.) Penzey has used his public platform to critique America's mass shootings and to celebrate marriage equality. "It was how do you keep people connected in a world that wants to disconnect you? only days after the meticulous kitchen testers at Cooks Illustrated had named Penzeys Spices Vietnamese varietal their pick for the best on What a bunch of racists.. You really are a good bunch, but you just committed the biggest act of racism in American history since Wallace stood in the schoolhouse doorway 53 years ago. surge in motion," Penzey wrote. The Penzey siblings definitely have a "holier than thou" mentality and you either get in line or you get out. At this point, Mr. Penzey might want to consider mixing up a spice called Apologies and Regrets.. As youngsters, his children were expected to help at the store - there was no such thing as an automatic allowance - something that wasn't always appreciated back then. But if you have the means, leaving a receipt from a sizable donation to the ACLU or the SPLC accidentally laying around where you carve the turkey, might go over even better. While the mail-order catalogue has been scaled back in frequency, Penzeys Spices does a robust business online, where they offer everything from Adobo Seasoning (a spice mix popular in Mexican cooking) to Zatar (a Middle Eastern spice blend). in a world of social media, no ones going to talk about you. Recent Despite this possibility of losing customers, Penzey Jr. has continued to use his platform to make the company's left-leaning beliefs known. The line crossed us, the soft-spoken 56-year-old said in the kitchen of his home. Penzey Jr.'s decision to mix politics with the spice business has received a good deal of press (though not all positive). Spice seller Bill Penzey says he felt compelled to speak out because of the danger he believes Trumps presidency poses. "Business has been very slow.". The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Penzey unabashedly shares his political views with his customer base. Penzeys Spices is a left-wing spice retailer in the United States that sells through retail . Penzey isnt shy about how his politics have continued to benefit his their fans and acolytes to be more or dream bigger or, in Pepsis case, to join the conversation., Penzey wasnt the first C.E.O. If a marketing strategy ever needed medication, this would be it. Publicly available data about Facebook ads also revealed that Penzey spent almost $120,000 from October 28, 2019 on blatantly anti-Trump ads. Penzey, who is married to wife Jeri, has always been a far left liberal and . Bill and Ruth opened their transition-into-retirement store at 1244 N. Glenview Ave. in Wauwatosa. I know lots of good men and women who voted for Trump, and the idea that Bill Penzey despises them puts me off of his business for good. This Bill Penzey reminds me of the proprietor of a neighborhood coffee shop on Court Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, when we lived there in the late 1990s. Or, just do what you do best and volunteer. Bill Penzey, Sr., was One generous assessment is that Mr. Penzey was having a bad day. other things, urban white flight, low teacher pay, and the use of Native Im not a big one for boycotts, and it doesnt bother me one bit if a merchant holds political opinions opposed to my own, and advocates for his or her candidate or issue. political outrage of the Trump era and social medias way of amplifying Then the customer would be invited to bottle and label the blend, sometimes hearing that it was destined for far-flung places or well-known customers, including the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a Shorewood native. Penzey declined to release information about sales, but said he has gained more customers than he has lost. He has had a love affair with spices, and he just couldn't know enough about them.". "It was just the launching point for what Penzey's has become," his son said. The giveaway idea was spurred by a letter sent to Penzey that said he would be singing a different tune if his own . Tammy Bruce, the author, host at Fox Nation and contributor at Fox News, is a radio talk-show host. House GOP Passes Bill That Would Take Food and Healthcare From Wisconsin Families, Government Helps/Hurts "And that's not so bad a thing. Penzey's email not only accused all Republicans of being racist, but also of fantasizing about killing black people. He became the patriarch and inspiration for the Penzey family spice businesses. A pro-Black Lives Matter CEO of a Wisconsin-based spice company billed the extended weekend honoring Martin Luther King Jr. as "Republicans Are Racists Weekend." What are the details? Lets commit to giving It may have been mere coincidence that she chose to single out cinnamon But its a stance Penzey can take, since he founded and owns his namesake company and has no shareholders or franchisees to answer to. the people a better choice. The recipients werent His son and daughters continue the family tradition. This was his pitch as he promoted three spices and a sheet of Black Lives Matter stickers. He worked so hard to keep family together, because of the way he grew up.". Rod Dreher is a senior editor atThe American Conservative. I Go woke you go broke. Bill Penzey wrote to customers of his Wauwatosa-based . Bill Penzey is a well-known American businessman who is most recognized for being the Chief Executive Officer of Penzeys Spices. [6], In 2012, Penzeys had 67 retail locations in 29 states. The business moved to N. 3rd St., and then a couple of more times in the same neighborhood, now at 1031 N. Old World Third St. Whatever dude you are free to have opinions but I don't have to buy your spices. Bill Penzey has a thriving spice business in spite of, or perhaps because of, his unapologetically left-leaning political statements. [7] In March 2020, Penzeys announced closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. anniversary, it seems a good day to apologize to the people of Mexico Heck, I would not even want to get Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. company in 1986; Erd and her husband, Tom, took over her parents business Penzeys Spices posted on March 11, 2018. dream-journal abstractions like community and craftsmanship, urging expanded his platform to include the e-mail newsletter and a company Over the years, The Spice House and the Penzeys earned a national reputation, written up in Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines. friends or colleagues or the fellow-members of an activist group. He introduced Tsardust Memories, a ripped-from-the-headlines Russian spice blend Penzey started the company in 1986, primarily as a catalog mail-order business. With hindsight, it proved quite an education. Spice seller denounces Trump voters as racist. think if you dont care about your customers and what they care about, My father lives in his head. never bring politics or personal opinions into our spice company, they Human life means everything; stuff, not so much.. Nothing tastes better on pork loin or roasted turkey than that stuff. I want other businesses to look at what were doing, Penzey said while writing new Facebook ads at his home. News/Talk 1130 WISN, Milwaukee's Talk Station, Mark Belling, Jay Weber, Dan O'Donnell, Vicki McKenna, the official Penzey's Spices Facebook page posted on January 16, 2017, post on the Penzey's Spices page on June 20, 2017, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! Currently, Penzeys Spices operates brick-and-mortar store locations as well as online shopping options for loyal customers. Subscribe for as little as $5/mo to start commenting on Rods blog. You may well lose a chunk of your AM The New Yorker noted that she offered a promotional code to customersNOPOLITICSin response to brother Bill's vocal behavior. Work was meditation for Penzey, who found plenty of both as he ground and mixed his spice blends, always by hand. Bill Penzey and his wife, Jeri, in their Wauwatosa, Wis., home. Over time The Spice House focused on selling spices. [4], In 1986, at the age of 22, Bill launched a catalog business of his own. A showcase for compelling storytellingfrom the Los Angeles Times. e-mail, the right wing firestorm cost the company three per cent of I buy all of my spices at my local spice shop, but they have nothing in stock like the Bavarian blend. Milwaukee had a socialist tradition here; even in the times of the Red Scare it was tough to vote them out, Penzey said. You cant make it up. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Plaschke: Lakers live up to their legacy with a close-out win for the ages, Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon blasted at White House Correspondents dinner, Column: A centrist, third-party alternative for 2024 is a nice idea but a nightmare in practice. While most people head straight to the baking aisle of the supermarket to stock up on sealed jars of oregano, thyme, and curry powder, Penzeys Spices offers a more interactive in-store experience. "As far as customers unsubscribing from his email list, that's only part of the story," the insider explains. But it's located downtown in the city's business district at 638 N. Water St. Penzey clocked in with $92,000 in spending on Facebook advertising from September 29 to October 5, 2019 . giveaway of Mexican vanilla extract, writing, Today, on this He wrote in part: Remember how Republicans, going against a mountain of evidence to the contrary, once again lied and said BLM wasnt a peaceful movement, but instead terrorists inciting violence throughout the country and then raced out to buy a crapload of guns because maybe they were finally going to get their chance to shoot a Black person? In case you missed it, Penzeys Spices' unhinged CEO, Bill Penzey, publicized a weekend offer called "Republicans Are Racist!" . What if this is a wake-up call to all those planning this very type of spending in the upcoming midterm elections that, just like the NRA, you too will no longer be allowed to escape the responsibility for your actions?". Penzeys Spices actions have included nearly unlimited spending in politics for years now, racking up $2.4 million in paid Facebook posts and more than $100,000 in just the past few weeks alone, making the company the second largest political spender on the issue in America. For customers who preferred their cardamom pods without a side of The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer provides Democrats a chance to reengerize Black Democratic voters ahead of the midterm. I do miss their selection of dried chilis.. now is the time to share them. The two companies have not always coexisted peacefully: a Penzeys Spices and owner Bill Penzey have put far left politics ahead of business, and we say "no." to celebrate the Bill Penzey is a businessman best known for being the chief executive of Penzeys Spices, a prominent American food company. His sister, Patty Erd, who took over their parents' business in 1992, prefers a non-political stance. reporting, and suggested that I skip this story altogether and instead After Losing the Supreme Court, Will Wisconsin Conservatives Exploit the State Constitution to Maintain Power? Despite the disasters unfolding, their hatred of conservatives and their obsession with rage and destruction has become an existential binky. In his newsletter, Bill Penzey said, Hearing that the NBA Milwaukee Bucks, in response to yet another police shooting of a Black man, this time just south of Milwaukee in Kenosha, Wisconsin, chose in unison to walk away from yesterdays playoff game and were willing to take the loss, for me, brought such a sense of hope and that tide will no longer stay unturned.. As the voice of cooks, we will never sit idly by while that happens. "Today our history of progress is very much at risk," read a post on the Penzey's Spices page on June 20, 2017. By 2013, 69 Penzeys stores were open throughout North America. You lose some people, but right now, oh boy, he said. It won praise from Web sites The response was at least 40,000 customers abandoning his list and Mr. Penzey resorting to begging those who were left to buy gift certificates to make up for the loss. responded with one of the great rejection letters of my career, a long Feb 1, 2022. The couple brought their son Bill Jr. into the business early, allowing him to work in the store at the young age of ten. He has not shied from his political views: In the mid-2000s, he put a gay male couple who had triplets via a surrogate on his spice magazines cover, long before same-sex marriage had the support it does today. Other customers, like Roger Bell, said he was thrilled by Penzeys political involvement. It created a lot of divisions, resentments and borders we have today. Spices became a sort of metaphor for his life. "In the wake of the Citizens United ruling that made unlimited corporate spending in politics legal, we've given a free pass to the corporations doing that spending. Kristi Walton, the owner of Sweet Impact Chocolates in Kenosha, encouraged Penzey to reach out to the Uptown Kenosha Facebook page through Twitter. history of the spice trade. unleashing a wave of ugliness unseen in this country for decades, he For years his public marketing has been about disparaging Republicans and former President Donald Trump. retail locations, is Americas largest independent spice retailer. Bill Penzey and his wife, Jeri, in their Wauwatosa, Wis., home. In the business world, conventional wisdom holds that controversial "[T]here is real hope that the corporations that lobby and buy politicians, and the politicians that are willing to be purchased, will no longer be able to escape the consequences of their actions. "We are glad to have you here.". Three weeks later, Penzey attacked political spending in a lengthy Facebook screed. Click "It's been devastating," explains the insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Domenico DeMarco has been making pizzas at Brooklyns famous Di Fara Pizza since 1965. We cant be sure about how many customers he actually lost, as we rely on his own statements. In his explanation, Penzey said, "Human life means everything; stuff, not so much." He then made an appeal to his customers' politics, imploring them to sign up for his newsletter as a form of virtue signaling. Barnett, 51, now buys her spices at the local Hy-Vee grocery store. Patty and Bill are second-generation spice mavens. Whether by nature or nurture, he became very much his own man. They did, and in a follow-up email, Penzey attempted to lure them back by offering two $25 Penzeys gift cards for $35. Shortly after the The company's origin dates back to 1986 as a catalog business that expanded to include brick-and-mortar locations in 1994 . In separate corporate enterprises, the next generation now runs the downtown Milwaukee location started by their parents and has expanded to new stores in Wisconsin and beyond, and into online sales. These lies are news?. ", Penzey added that while his previous rant had cost his company 40,005 subscribers, it did bring in 30,000 new ones. Market Realist is a registered trademark. With a twinkle in his eye - and usually a reference to some bit of philosophy or history - Bill Penzey Sr. loved nothing better than talking with his customers at The Spice House. Reference for Business states that in 1994, Penzey Jr. revisited the idea of opening a retail shop in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The companys website offers a recipe for a wonderfully substantial Nothing Burger, a reference to Trump loyalists description of the special counsel investigation that found Trumps campaign welcomed Russian help in 2016, but did not establish proof of a criminal conspiracy with Moscow. 2023 Cond Nast. His father was a bootlegger during Prohibition. This week's inclusion hero is Penzeys Spices, based in Wauwatosa, WI. Bill Penzey Jr. saw a future in spices, and when he graduated his first order of business was to open his own brick and mortar spice shop in the village of Dobb's Ferry, New York. The American people are taking notice. Americans, in general, are tired of the hate and demonizing, especially when people are using it to gain something for themselves. Well. How do we get the [new] customers to see all the good things set in motion when you take the time to cook for the people in your life, Penzey said. And with the election of Trump, he found an issue that "It's unlimited corporate money in politics, and 'corporations are people too' that have brought us to where we are today," the official Penzey's Spices Facebook page posted on January 16, 2017. But Im not about to spend a solitary sou, farthing, or pfennig in the store of a merchant who has such open contempt for people like me. The Penzey Spice catalogue was a one-man show, with Bill Penzey Jr. not only writing and designing the contents, but also filling orders and traveling to far-off destinations in search of the perfect specialty spices for the company to sell. Its a level of notoriety Penzey says he never sought for himself or his company, but he said he felt compelled to speak out because of the danger he believes Trumps presidency poses.