27 June 2006 – Original Juan Specialty Foods in Kansas City (OJSF) continues to hold Cafe Tequila Brand Products hostage in spite of termination of the agreement on September 26, 2005 for late payments and non-performance. The royalties from Original Juan did not even begin to cover operating expenses since signing the agreement and Cafe Tequila has incurred huge legal fees because of their non-compliance with the termination.
In addition to continuing to produce and sell Cafe Tequila sauces, Original Juan has unashamedly copied the award winning packaging of Cafe Tequila and have been selling a competing version of their Pain is Good steak sauces in the copy cat version creating a confusion in the marketplace.
“In our opinion, OJSF is most evil group of people we have encountered in the gourmet food industry and I regret that we trusted their representations during negotiations.” said, John Fielder, El Presidente y CEO of Cafe Tequila.
We now believe that they viewed us as an easy target for a takeover and had no intention of marketing and selling our line of Tequila Sauces in a manner that would make our investors and creditors whole.
OJSF is most evil group of people we have encountered in the gourmet food industryWe have also discovered and believe that they hid information from us during negotiations about their past business history that would have precluded us from entering into any kind of business agreement with them. Cafe Tequila has missed several potentially profitable business opportunities because of OJSF behavior. I intend to seek an injunction against OJSF as soon as possible and seek damages. I may also include distributors and brokers in the lawsuit who knowingly sold the knock off version of our trademarked and proprietary packaging after being informed of the situation, said Fielder.
It is beyond our understanding why Original Juan would ignore our totally defensible and justified termination according to the terms of our contract and continue producing our products and then copy our packaging to boot! said Fielder. This is destroying the viability of our brand and ability to move forward with a new business model. We intend to seek damages for the harm that they have caused our brand.
Cafe Tequila made a splash when it arrived in the marketplace with a one of a kind innovative line of tequila sauces and prize-winning packaging. It won the coveted packaging award from the NASFT in 1999 and many more in other national competitions. Robert McMath of the New Products Showcase said, “It’s one of the most innovative packages in the category we’ve ever seen.”
In a feature article, Packaging Digest editor Bernie Abrams wrote, “The package can be summarized with a single word and that is ‘attitude’”
In addition, the six unique sauces have twice been awarded with the Award of Excellence by the American Tasting Institute in blind tastings by many well-known executive chefs. It has also been awarded dozens of other top awards for the sauces. Thomas Stegmaier, former executive chef of the of the famous Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco and who used several of the sauce in the hotel kitchen said, “These sauces are outstanding.”
### More info here
Contact: John F. Fielder
(415) 264.0106
21 responses to “Cafe Tequila Remains a Hostage of Original Juan Specialty Foods”
I guess you could say Original Juan really dropped “Da Bomb”. Man, that story is just nasty.
“The Final Answer” :O
Thanks Nick for your support on this matter!!
This type of behavior can not be tolerated in the fiery foods industry.
Not to mention make future product makers scared to conduct business with Co-packers.
Scotty B
I had no idea this thread was coming so my comments last night about not associating with them were entirely co-incidental. They’ve done other dirty deeds as well- this is hardly the first.
What a bunch of jerks.
Like Jim, I’ve also heard other shady things about these guys.
I ain’t no hippy, but I believe in Karma.
Ok experts what should I do with all my Cafe bottles of pain is good. .99 cart our let it go and see what happens. OK OK another collectors bottle. Price just went up LOL.
[Comment ID #48485 Quote]
That’s easy. Take the Fat Kid Sauces out of the clearance cart, and put them on the shelves where Cafe bottles were 😀
After reading this article, all I can say is this. CYA! (Cover Your Ass). As a person working in credit, I have to deal with all manner of vendor agreements and other legal crap. What OJ (Original Juan, not Orenthal James :-P) did is pretty crappy, but definately not unheard of. Cafe Tequila should have looked over the specifics of any agreement they signed, and if OJ breeched the contract, Cafe Tequila should have imediately sued and covered their own ass seeking damages long before now. The other thing, is Cafe Tequila, after reviewing the contracts that OJ gave them to sign, should have either drafted amendments to the contact, or drawn up an entirely different couter offer. I don’t know if the Cafe Tequila bottle is patented, trademarked, or copywrited, but they should have taken some legal measures to secure their marketing image before entering such a “partnership”. Remember folks, as much as people would love to be able to trust one another, when it comes to business, there are no “mutually beneficial” arrangements. Someone is going to come out ahead in the deal, and it comes down to who’s doing the screwing. The first lesson my mentor taught me in regards to business “If you’re busy kicking their ass, they’re too busy defending themselves to kick yours”…Words to live by.
Man does that suck or what! I’ve heard MANY stories about OJ and none of them have been good.
[Comment ID #48486 Quote]
Done what’s next.LOL
[Comment ID #48487 Quote]
Ryan I like that. “If you’re busy kicking their ass, they’re too busy defending themselves to kick yours. I need to show that one too our owner.
I have seen this happen so many times over the years, with so start up companys
[Comment ID #48490 Quote]
Don’t get too cocky Bret, Jumgle Jim’s is a customer of the company I work for, and I keep a close eye on what’s going on withyour account 😈
What’s really sad is that the industry is loosing a great brand here (Cafe Tequila) – the bottle design itself sells the product, not to mention the taste of the product.
I picked up the last two bottles of creamy jalapeño from LaGourmet Chef for $3 each. Opened one a few days ago. The sauce tasted like wet cardboard.
[Comment ID #48496 Quote]
Totally agree.
And OJ sux.
[Comment ID #48498 Quote]
Probably because it hasn’t been manufactured since 2005
[Comment ID #48493 Quote]
oops.
[Comment ID #48493 Quote]
Did you see how much money I spent in chicago not on me but on product.
[Comment ID #48500 Quote]
Hey Nick It might be from 2004 on that item. I still have a bottle around here some place. Wounder what color it is now.
[Comment ID #48479 Quote] you can say that again. the guy from cafe tequila is a wacko and needs da bomb. ojsf is a very reputable company and the people are defintely not EVIL as wacko John Fielder states. get a life FIELDER!!!