We were lucky to catch up with Gail Jennings recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Gail thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

The search for exotic herbs and spices was key to the Age of Exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries. Men like Magellan risked it all to sail into the unknown, hoping to return laden with clove and nutmeg from the Spice Islands. Many explorers did so financed by their King. At King’s Pepper, we say our award-winning blend is worthy of a King’s ransom because of its bold, versatile flavor. It the perfect thing to spice up the food for the royalty at your table.

There’s another reason that hits closer to home, however. I named King’s Pepper after Richard “Dick” King, He was known affectionately as “Pappa Dick”, and lived from 1849 until 1948. I had a website early on when I opened the business, and proudly told the story of his life, trials and successes, and how he had been emancipated from slavery on June 19, 1865 in Crockett, Texas. One day, I answered a phone call and a woman asked me why I had a picture of her grandfather, Dick King on my website. I told her the story and she laughed and said, he wasn’t my great-grandfather. He was hers. After talking further we figured it out. Because my aunts, uncles and everybody called him Pappa, I really thought I was directly related to him, but he married into the family. It took his photo down, but you’ll him it in the collage I’ve submitted.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a native of Los Angeles, California. I first tasted this spicy, robust West African spice blend there. I loved it so much I worked hard to find a way to bottle and sell it. In 2000 I started to produce and sell it. when I did, I found a ready customer base in Southern California of people who loved its spicy, unique flavor.

Eventually, I found a secure and compliant location to produce it in, adapted the recipe to make it my own and started selling to small markets, at farmers markets, festivals and pop ups. Scaling up was very difficult because I couldn’t find a commercial kitchen I could afford, couldn’t get funding to grow, or a distributor, one of the key pieces to growth and expansion. It was a common problem for many women. Because I worked full time at a network television studio I eventually had to close the business. The stressful job and the long hours I put in after work tring to keep the business going took a toll on my health. When my co-packer closed suddenly, I had to move on. But I never lost the passion for it.

I moved to Durham in 2012. A few years after moving here, I decided to revive my King’s Pepper business. I was part of the 2020 Helius (now Echo) cohort that learned the basics of business management. I started making the blend and selling it casually around town. Eventually I found commercial kitchen rental at The Piedmont Food Processing Center that was affordable, close to home, had a very supportive staff. The manager, Sue Ellsworth, was also one of the fonders of WE Power Food, which advocates for women in the food business. With the guidance and support of the women in the group, I hit my stride, and the business started to grow. By this time, I had married Melvin Mitchell. He has been key to keeping things on track and a tremendous support as we’ve moved ahead.

Because we’re celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary, I want to focus on our love story and how it has been key to keeping the doors open. Being in business with your spouse can be tricky, a real deal breaker. I’m fortunate that Mel has taken an active interest in the success of this business. We’ve weathered a couple of health scares, the latest in January of this year when he developed a life-threatening complication after knee replacement surgery. It was touch and go for days, but he’s healed nicely and is back to work. We can be found at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, off Lake Wheeler Road from 9a to 4p Friday, Saturday and Sunday, We’re inside the Market Shoppes building. Come have a sample of King’s Pepper, and buy some for your pantry. We have mild, original and extra hot. Since I was last in Voyage, our pepper has been featured in the cooking section of the New York Times. We are in 20 Food Lion stores on the Local Goodness shelf, and in all four Weaver Street markets, The Butcher’s Markets on Millbrook, at the Durham Co-op. and Part and Parcel.

When people see us, they sometimes think we’re a little old couple married for 30 or 40 years. We have a good laugh when we say, we met on line and got married 10 years ago. I couldn’t do this without him, my grandson Dante and my son-in-love, Robin. He’s from New York, but fell in love with North Carolina in the ’70’s as a grad student at UNC Chapel Hill “the Southern part of Heaven,” as he calls it.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When it cames to funding to get started, I had to fund it myself, just as I’d done in California. I was so determined to get the business started again, I took a job at an Amazon Fulfillment center, and worked overnight, from 9:15p to 4:45a for nearly 2 years. It was hard work, phyically demanding work – I lost 30 pounds. I’d be tired and sore after my shifts, but I was in great shape. I was literally bootstrapping to reach my goal. Eventually I went from Amazon employee to selling my products on Amazon. There’s something special about putting in hard, demanding, phyical work that makes the payoff much sweeter. I was 68 years old, and kept up with folks much younger. Longevity runs in my family on both sides, so being a working senior is not novel to me. A new goal is geting better at utilizing AI. I also had the fortune to earn $30k in grant money. The margins are very thin, but we’ve been profitable from the beginning.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We manufacture King’s Pepper in small batches by hand at the Piedmont Food Processing Center in Hillsborough. It’s an incubator for start ups, food trucks, caterers and consumer packaged goods,(cpg) producers like myself. Because I make a dry spice blend and not an acidified, or cooked sauce or food, the path to manufacturing was simpler, but still intricate.
One of the proudest moments was passing inspection by the NC Department of Agriculture.

You’ll also find me selling earrings handmade from 35mm film at my booth at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh. I started making these when I worked in TV and film. I was a finalist in the Made in NC awards competition sponsored by Our State Magazine in 2023.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kingspepper.com
• Instagram: @king_pepper
• Facebook: King’s Pepper

Image Credits

Jeremy M. Lange for the New York Times