Plain Dealer Posts "Da Bomb" NEO Story of 2011: "Pot Sauce Williams, aiming to be the Heinz of medical marijuana BBQ sauces"

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 22:16.


BBQ Chef Extraordinaire Greg Williams (standing), with his father LeMaud "Hot Sauce" Williams and a satisfied customer

I'm excited to see the Plain Dealer picked up the story of development of an MMJ BBQ Sauce by Greg Williams, of Cleveland's Hot Sauce Williams, and OrganaLabs, of Colorado. As was posted to Cleveland.com, today - Pot Sauce Williams, aiming to be the Heinz of medical marijuana BBQ sauces - great coverage by Evelyn Theiss and Diane Suchetka, who interviewed me for their story - some highlights: "We hope to make it the Heinz of medical marijuana sauces," said Norm Roulet, a Cleveland business consultant who got the idea off the ground - Heidi Morgan, co-owner with her husband, Ralph, of OrganaLabs in Denver, confirmed that the company developed and tested a recipe for Pot Sauce Williams - "There is a huge market for this," she said. "People are sick and tired of brownies - Especially, she said, people who have illnesses like MS, HIV, or other autoimmune disorders -- "They'll say, 'I don't want 100 milligrams of sugar when I eat this'"- So what's Pot Sauce Williams like? - Kohn, who has a referral for medical marijuana, loves it - "It packed just about the right size wallop you wanted," he said. "It made you merry. It gave you positive body sensations, good tingles, it was as good or better as any edible product I've tried - and I've tried a lot. It's da bomb" - "Their model is to have a number of sauces out, and they are looking at even doing some of their bakery products," Roulet said. "They have a sweet potato pie and a pecan pie - "One of the things they are looking at is creating some products to appeal to the urban marketplace" - "They are being innovative."

Pot Sauce Williams, aiming to be the Heinz of medical marijuana BBQ sauces

Published: Friday, February 04, 2011, 9:25 PM     Updated: Friday, February 04, 2011, 9:25 PM
Evelyn Theiss, The Plain Dealer By Evelyn Theiss, The Plain Dealer

with Diane Suchetka

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Clevelanders know about Hot Sauce Williams' barbecue joints. Colorado is about to experience the restaurant's famous sauce in a whole new way - with a whole new name.

Pot Sauce Williams.

That's no joke.

"We hope to make it the Heinz of medical marijuana sauces," said Norm Roulet, a Cleveland business consultant who got the idea off the ground.

Roulet is working with Greg Williams to turn out a high-test, marijuana-laced version of the rib coating. And Williams, special projects manager for the Cleveland-based restaurant chain, with help from a Denver lab, has created a prototype of a new version of the chain's famous sauce. This one is infused with cannabis.

Read the whole story at Cleveland.com... go out and buy a paper, as this news shall prove to be historic! 

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Show your support with a comment there!

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 22:59.

Positive coverage of Pot Sauce Williams in the Cleveland Plain Dealer at http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/02/pot_sauce_williams_aiming_to_b.html - show your support with a comment there!

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Hot Sauce Williams leads the way locally...

Submitted by ANGELnWard14 on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 02:52.

...but is Cleveland government ready to "go out of business by changing the laws regarding the criminalization" of Marijuana? 

Ultimately, I doubt that the countless police, sheriffs, jails, lawyers, judges, drug testing centers, and rehab organizations would appreciate such a new industry "putting them out of business! While the ideas are extraordinary; and it does support the "URBAN FARMING FUTURE OF CLEVELAND" (after all the demos).... But I wonder how those legislators will deal with such an extraordinary change in our local region... Tax it, Tax it, Tax it! 

Keep up your excellent efforts! 

I miss Hot Sauce Williams visits over the years... used to be 'hot spot' stop for me & my baby's daddy many moons ago! Glad to see that they have endured the City of Cleveland challenges to rise to such a level of challenging the "norms" in Cleveland! Congrats on the POT SAUCE WILLIAMS brand and accomplishments to date! Best Wishes! Look forward to hearing tons more on this business in the future in a positive light! 

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

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mr. william

Submitted by crimdefensed on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 03:08.

i always thought their sauce 'beat their meat!'

As I replied on cleveland.com, to some hater comments there...

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 02/06/2011 - 06:37.

As I replied on cleveland.com, to some hater comments there...

I figure in 48 years the Williams have pumped between $50-100 million into the Cleveland economy (=taxes), including creating jobs for people like you in the food services industry, and wealth for your community. Name any other small Cleveland family businesses - white or black owned - that have stuck it out in Cleveland for so long (since 1963-4), keeping those jobs in place, feeding 1,000,000s of people (including some of the world's top chefs), and powering the local economy for so long, so well. To not respect that is to not respect the best of Cleveland. I'm glad folks in Denver respect such people, their hard work and their best products here. You attack poor parents here - you attack successful business people here - do you just get off attacking Cleveland?!?!

I consider the Williams family friends and some of the finest people I've even known in Ohio. Excellent business people. Fair employers. Serious about the quality of their food. I live 1/2 mile from the Superior store and go there often. It is old and urban, in a forgotten part of town, but clean and well run - I know all the employees and they are top notch - they work hard in a thankless profession and manage their diverse community well - they keep the neighborhood alive. The Williams also bought the former Hough Bakeries complex a few blocks away, when that closed down, and have kept that from falling into ruin (like so much of our historic property here). LeMaud and his wife still live a few blocks from there... employ there... go to church around there... they never gave up. Name another family like the Williams.

I'm the Norm Roulet quoted in the article and can offer some details. In Colorado, 14 other states and DC Medical Marijuana (MMJ) is legal - most of the economic development is happening around products made from MMJ rather than just selling the buds. So companies make concentrate from the plants and that is put in 1,000s of products, from lozenges to hand lotion - all must be made locally from locally grown plants. There are very few African Americans I have observed in the industry, and no BBQ sauce (or soul food in general), so I researched the market for that and found labs and experts in Colorado who believed it would be a good product... they intend to take it national - if a Cleveland company doesn't lead the market a Colorado company shall. Greg is smart enough to see that and move to get into a booming industry, even if the market for his product is closed in Ohio - that will change. The MMJ industry in Colorado is excited to welcome Hot Sauce Williams into the market - because it is such a great old company, with a great history and a great sauce - and they are excited to bring a taste of Cleveland to their marketplace - the business arrangement is a licensing agreement so Colorado takes the risk... Williams just gets the profits and glory. Their formula becomes the world's leading MMJ Sauce - the industry grows and becomes global - the company STAYED in CLEVELAND but stilled participated in the most innovative industry segment in America today. Many companies are leaving illegal markets for legal markets to accomplish this... Williams figured out a better way. Other Cleveland companies are welcome to follow. All good.

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this article had over 1050 Facebook "likes"

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 02/06/2011 - 06:47.

Log in to Cleveland.com and show some love in the Plain Dealer world for Hot Sauce Williams and their initiative.

As of this morning, this article had over 1050 Facebook "likes", showing it is a popular initiative - don't let that be drowned out by a few racists and haters who comment there against all things good.

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typical Cleveland-shoots-itself-in-the-face fashion, Fox 8 News

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 21:09.

In typical Cleveland-shoots-itself-in-the-face fashion, Fox 8 News apparently followed the correct story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer with an attempted "expose" story of some misinformation within the Williams family about the development of this product (as mentioned in the PD article) - I got calls Sunday that Fox 8 ran a segment on their 10 PM news attempting to discredit this worthy initiative. I've since talked with a reporter and editor there and they are dropping the wrong line of investigation, and opening their minds to the future of Northeast Ohio's economy, which includes a vibrant cannabis economy.

To explain the significance of the cannabis economy to the editor of Fox 8 news (who seems to associate cannabis with "stoners"), I suggested she google "Hemp" and "Sherwin Williams" together, and I suggest you do the same. Sherwin Williams protested the outlawing of hemp in the 1930s, when they had hemp plantations in Texas to produce hemp oil for their paint. I'm sure they are still supportive of producing hemp oil in America, to produce healthier, more environmentally friendly paints.

To consider the significance of all this on our economy, Google "Pot Sauce Williams" and see that the simple, correct story in the PD about Greg Willaims being innovative in Cleveland has been picked up world-wide, by all sorts of important news and information services. When I talked to our chemist in Denver today, he said the PD story had generated lots of positive calls for them, and increased their search results in just one day.

THE FIRST RECOGNITION EVER OF CLEVELAND BECOMING A LEADER IN THIS NEW ECONOMY!

Congratulations Greg Williams.

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Top Viewed Story on Scene - Pot Sauce Williams

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 22:15.

Top Viewed Story on Scene - Pot Sauce Williams

Hot Sauce Williams Making Marijuana BBQ Sauce

Posted by Vince Grzegorek on Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 11:21 AM

Hot-Sauce-Williams.jpg

Hot Sauce Williams is a renowned Cleveland dining institution for its ribs, polish boys, the little purple and pink restaurant on Carnegie, and its BBQ sauce. Now Hot Sauce Williams is branching out, to Colorado, to make Pot Sauce Williams, a marijuana-laced BBQ sauce. Yummers.

Colorado, of course, has legalized medical marijuana, and like the other 14 states in that boat, isn't too strict about who gets that ganja and what medical needs it's acquired to treat. Edibles — food infused with pot — are huge business in those states.

Which is where Hot Sauce Williams comes in, because, as the report points out, you get sick of brownies after awhile.

"We hope to make it the Heinz of medical marijuana sauces," said Norm Roulet, a Cleveland business consultant who got the idea off the ground.

Roulet is working with Greg Williams to turn out a high-test, marijuana-laced version of the rib coating. And Williams, special projects manager for the Cleveland-based restaurant chain, with help from a Denver lab, has created a prototype of a new version of the chain's famous sauce. This one is infused with cannabis.

"We are planning a sauce for sale, but we want to make sure it (the marijuana) doesn't alter the product," Williams, 48, said.

There is a hitch - you can't actually barbecue with it. "If you cook it over 300 degrees, which barbecuing would be, then it would no longer would be potent," said Kohn, who is working with Roulet to develop more marijuana food products.

Does it work? Does it taste good? Kohn's verdict on the test batches so far: "It packed just about the right size wallop you wanted. It made you merry. It gave you positive body sensations, good tingles, it was as good or better as any edible product I've tried - and I've tried a lot. It's da bomb."

There ya go, "da bomb."

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