Bill and Cheri Smoot, founders of Pepper Preppers LLC in the city of Benton, converted an old fire station into a commercial kitchen and leased it to a hot sauce business and other food startups. A Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Fire Department Reunion will take place on Saturday, May 6th from 10am to 2pm at the Pepper Preppers at 713 Ninth St. in Benton City.
Image credit: Pepper Preppers LLC
Benton City, Washington
A former Benton City firehouse is reborn as a hot sauce business and commercial kitchen after a friendly competition at a Hanford worksite inspired a new business.
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Pepper Preppers LLC plans a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new home, 713 Ninth St., Benton City, during grand opening festivities, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday, May 6.
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The event is at 11 a.m. and includes samples of Pepper Preppers hot sauces, a food truck and other vendors. It doubles as a 75th anniversary celebration for Benton City’ Fire Fire Station 210, which includes fire equipment and a firefighter reunion.
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It’s a rare opportunity to see how the 1950s era firehouse was remade into a modern kitchen business.
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It won’t be open to the public afterward, said Bill Smoot, who established Pepper Preppers LLC with his wife, Cheri, in 2017 after he won praise for his hot sauces during a workplace competition at his health physicist job at Hanford.
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Hot sauce
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The new home serves three lines of business that operate under the Pepper Preppers name. There is the hot sauce business, a co-packing business and a commercial kitchen business.
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Pepper Preppers produces its seven hot sauces, packs hot sauces and barbecue sauces for about 10 clients and leases kitchen space to a handful of food startups.
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It all started in late 2017 when Smoot got into a friendly hot sauce competition with a co-worker at Hanford, where he still works.
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His entries featured home-grown vegetables from the family garden. After several rounds, a rival said he’d buy Bill Smoot’s hot sauces if they were sold in stores.
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Inspired, the couple spent eight months figuring out what it would take to produce a hot sauce and sell it in stores. They perfected one recipe, then added a second and third in the following years.
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When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the selling events, the Smoots focused on expanding the line, adding four more.
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The sauces
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The lineup includes:
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- Smokin’ Hot Threesome, made with beets, pomegranate and smoked vegetables
- Sweet Scorpion, made with cactus and kiwi
- Dragon’s Fury, made with dragon fruit, carrots and apple cider vinegar
- Plum Sassy, made with black plums, minced ginger and garlic
- Traditional Sweet Chile Sauce, made with red fermented jalapenos and locally-sourced Beyond Pickles
- Orange Chili Passion, made with orange juice and its chili sauce.
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Today, they sell through their website and across the Northwest.
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The brand is sold at Ranch and Home stores, Knutzen Meats in Pasco, Basin Feed and Supply in Kennewick, Preston Fruit Stand in Pasco and in the passenger terminal of the Tri-Cities Airport, where it is sold with other locally-produced items.
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Launched in Pasco
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The business launched at the Pasco Specialty Kitchen, a commercial kitchen that provides space for rent to startups.
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Smoot called the three years they spent at the specialty kitchen a wonderful experience that let him establish a viable business before he and his wife sank their savings into it.
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When they were ready to put down roots, they chose the former fire station in Benton City, buying it from the Port of Benton for $211,000 in late 2021.
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The 4,500-square-foot building was gutted and rebuilt as a kitchen, with new electrical, walls, floors, ceiling and cooking gear.
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Smoot said couple financed the $600,000 project with a mix of personal funds and a $550,000 loan from the Hanford Area Economic Investment Fund Economic Committee.
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HAEIF, funded by fees on low level waste deposited at Hanford, was authorized by the Legislature to promote economic development.
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Cookies to cuisine
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Pepper Preppers’ kitchen is licensed by both the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the Benton Franklin Health District.
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The business leases kitchen space to food startups.
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Clients include businesses based in Prosser and in Union Gap, as well as a cookie company that recently relocated from Seattle. It also hosted chefs who flew in from Portland and California who needed a place to prepare food for an event at Anelare Winery.
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Smoot said the Pepper Preppers kitchen complements the Tri-Cities’ other commercial kitchens, including Pasco Specialty Kitchen and Red Mountain Kitchen in downtown Kennewick. The latter even advised the Smoots when they were designing their space.
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“In the end we’re trying to make the Tri-Cities a foodie community. One kitchen can’t do it all,” Smoot said.
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This story was originally published May 5, 2023 at 12:58 PM.
Veteran business and government reporter Wendy Culverwell covers housing, development and other issues for the Tri-City Herald.