Buddah’s 2013 Ultimate Chilehead Roadtrip – Part 3
September 21, 2013 – the 2nd day of the Houston Hot Sauce Festival
The show having a start time of noon was a relaxing way to kick off a Sunday morning. I got up early and got me another cheap pair of footwear from Wal-Mart again. I found sandals that were only $8.50 after taxes. They weren’t too bad for cheapies. They survived the muddiest of areas at the event. I headed to the show thereafter and spent time talking to the vendors and seeing how the first day went. I think the consensus was that of surprise. It might’ve been the best Saturday the festival had ever seen. Before the event started the show announced their people’s choice winners as voted on by the public the day before. It was a celebration of a job well done. A pat on the back from the people you hope to please when you first started this business.
The clouds had disappeared, the sun was shining and bringing the heat. It wasn’t hot enough to dry up the mud, but the grounds were getting a wee bit more navigable. Yet, there were some seriously slippery patches that could drop you. I slipped on a few and it was a miracle that I kept my balance. At times it was like sliding on ice. I watched Fiber Joe interview a few people, took a pic with him and Stretch of Grinders as you can see below, and then found my way back to the boudin balls. I had ordered these yesterday, and they were pretty good. I wanted to make sure the Sauce Goddess got some, so I brought over them to her and settled back into the booth to get me more sales experience. I said in the last post that I enjoyed the pitch, and I think I did much better the second day as Jen schooled me a little bit on feeding the masses. It was fun when the sales were reflecting the “mmm” factor of the grazing from the masses. I respect how much vendors put out in product just in hopes they can wrestle some bills away from the samples. There is a lot of food that goes out free. It is like bait on a hook, and you hope your line gets tugged and you can reel in the reward. You don’t want to lose all your bait and bring home to fish.
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