Penzeys Spices CEO Bill Penzey sent out a marketing email to customers on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol wherein he unleashed on Republican voters at large, calling them the . The other Penzeys Spices Wisconsin stories are in Appleton, Brookfield, Cedarburg, Greenfield, Janesville, Johnson Creek, Kenosha, Madison (2 locations), Delafield, and . [6], In 2012, Penzeys had 67 retail locations in 29 states. Bill Penzey, the outspoken chief executive officer of Penzeys Spices, wrote in a newsletter to his customers last week that he intended to "loot" his own store in Kenosha and give away spices and seasonings to food pantries. here for reprint permission. ", Pam Penzey then said: "He is not practical. This Bill Penzey reminds me of the proprietor of a neighborhood coffee shop on Court Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, when we lived there in the late 1990s. If you are lucky and younger family members are still coming over for Thanksgiving, before its too late, take a moment and honestly think about how your actions must look through their eyes. e-mail in which he assailed the food media, critiqued my past [1] The company is headquartered in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and had 600,000 catalog customers in 2007. to celebrate the How can we use that same thing to do something a little bit different?. Penzey has for years made political assaults on Republicans and conservatives a routine part of his "A Note from Bill" emails to customers, but the insider says he ratcheted up his rhetoric after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election. responded with one of the great rejection letters of my career, a long In the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida in early 2018, Penzey ramped up his hypocritical assault on money in politics. A veteran of three decades of magazine and newspaper journalism, hehas also written three New York Times bestsellersLive Not By Lies, The Benedict Option, andThe Little Way of Ruthie Lemingas well asCrunchy ConsandHow Dante Can Save Your Life. Penzeys Spices CEO Bill Penzey declared the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend "Republicans are racist weekend.". In separate corporate enterprises, the next generation now runs the downtown Milwaukee location started by their parents and has expanded to new stores in Wisconsin and beyond, and into online sales. All rights reserved. Cooking unlocked our potential and gave birth to reason, to religion, and to politics and government. Thanksgiving specials, including a gift box of four mini-jars of spices immigrants to the United States a tremendous infectious disease, "It's unlimited corporate money in politics, and 'corporations are people too' that have brought us to where we are today," the official Penzey's Spices Facebook page posted on January 16, 2017. But, in the wake of Trumps election, the sibling rivalry Before advertisingandmarketing took Redefining love: Tolerance merely shows apathy. How We Became One. Penzeys Spices locator map shows a single Penzeys Spices store in the City of Milwaukee. Another said: I am a Democrat. A Penzeys Spices insider says founder and CEO Bill Penzey's frequent left-wing rants in emails to customers have lost the company more than half of its retail business over the past five years. A pro-Black Lives Matter CEO of a Wisconsin-based spice company billed the extended weekend honoring Martin Luther King Jr. as "Republicans Are Racists Weekend." What are the details? The kindness of tens of thousands of generations of cooks created our humanity, but racism, sexism, and homophobia can all very quickly unravel all the goodness cooking puts out into the world. anniversary, it seems a good day to apologize to the people of Mexico She lives in the real world and keeps the business going. I have justorderedsome from The Spice Shop. But its a stance Penzey can take, since he founded and owns his namesake company and has no shareholders or franchisees to answer to. Bill Penzey, Sr., was a philosopher and storyteller who liked to put his customers to work grinding spices as he off-handedly lectured about the lore and history of the spice trade. It manages its successful business with great products, actual kindness and genuine appreciation. Most of the people Bill Penzey meets serving food to the poor and hungry are Republicans, but a lot of them voted for Trump, and theyre going to have to prove their moral worth to ol Bill before he will give them a pass. history of the spice trade. My husband and I are very careful to When Starbucks opened down the street, that was the end of him, if only because Starbucks was happy to welcome moms with strollers, and you could sit and have your cup of coffee without being judged. While the mail-order catalogue has been scaled back in frequency, Penzeys Spices does a robust business online, where they offer everything from Adobo Seasoning (a spice mix popular in Mexican cooking) to Zatar (a Middle Eastern spice blend). the most intensely political industries in history, or that staying out of politics is, of course, its own kind of political statement. Penzey started the company in 1986, primarily as a catalog mail-order business. Then theres Mark Miller, who just wanted some paprika and dried red pepper flakes. Tammy Bruce, the author, host at Fox Nation and contributor at Fox News, is a radio talk-show host. The former Ruth Ann Burns became his partner in life and in business. Earlier this year . Penzeys Spices and the business of hate - Washington Times The independent spice retailer isnt shy about mixing politics and business, and Penzey said that the giveaway was inspired by the Milwaukee Bucks walking out of the playoffs after the Jacob Blake shooting last month. A few days after Penzeys e-mails exploded onto the national He has not shied from his political views: In the mid-2000s, he put a gay male couple who had triplets via a surrogate on his spice magazines cover, long before same-sex marriage had the support it does today. "[T]here is real hope that the corporations that lobby and buy politicians, and the politicians that are willing to be purchased, will no longer be able to escape the consequences of their actions. We still dont fully know what happened with the last presidential election. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. What Is Penzeys CEO Bill Penzey Net Worth? Salary and - Mixedarticle Spice buyer -- non-Trump-voting me -- takes his business elsewhere. In 2010, amid the battle over immigration crackdowns in Arizona, Penzey created the Arizona Dreaming spice blend. Penzey, a bespectacled, rosy-cheeked man in his middle years, founded Since I ask you to read my emails, I feel its only right that I read each of your replies. The founder has said in the past that his strong political stance might have lost some customers while gaining others in the meantime. message on its own Facebook page. While the Penzeys Spices store in Kenosha was not damaged during violent protests in the city, its CEO wants to "loot" his own store. A California law says yes, Abcarian: By helping Kamala Harris, Biden can help himself to a second term. Wisconsin company Penzeys Spices putting this hate note about the "Its great if you can share these cards and maybe find us new customers, but if the discount makes you being our customer a bit easier, feel free to get them for yourself," he wrote. Just the other day I told my wife that I wanted to get some more of it for the holidays, and not kidding about this I was planning to go to the Penzeys website and order some by mail. Here Are 10 Alternatives to Penzeys Spices - Minnesota Right Now It operates retail outlets as well as mail order and online shopping. victory in the special Senate election in Alabama. You cant make it up. Bill, Jr., spun off his own namesake spice The most recent case in point is brought to us by the Penzeys Spices controversy. the success of the special, generated such a flood of business that the But it's located downtown in the city's business district at 638 N. Water St. The spice merchants activism prompts delight and shopping orders from liberals, and ire and boycotts from conservatives. House GOP Passes Bill That Would Take Food and Healthcare From Wisconsin Families, 10 Accomplishments of the First Two Years of the Biden-Harris Administration. Penzeys Spices even trademarked the slogan "Season Liberally" (via Vox), and the official company Facebook page is sometimes heavier on political opinions than recipes or cooking tips. In 2005, then the owner of more than two dozen stores, Penzey founded a food magazine with a . Penzey got the spice idea from his parents, Ruth and William Penzey Sr., who for decades have sold spices, most recently in Wauwatosa, Wis. At the University of . At this point, Mr. Penzey might want to consider mixing up a spice called Apologies and Regrets.. My father lives in his head. But the thing is elections have their consequences. Penzeys Spices CEO sparked outrage after he renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Republicans are Racist Weekend, in a promotional newsletter for customers. the people a better choice. The recipients werent Dreherlives in Baton Rouge, La. For some customers, Penzeys positions cross a line. Disgusted by the hateful approach, The Daily Mail reported the reaction of some Democrats who posted comments on the company website: Im a Democrat and liberal, and all that, and I know not all Republicans are racist. [1] The company is headquartered in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin , and had 600,000 catalog customers in 2007. But times are different now as Americans across the spectrum are suffering through the shocking catastrophes brought to us by Democrats who promised a return to normalcy.. It's called Penzey's Spices. The thought shapes his life. the promotional code NOPOLITICS. Penzey unabashedly shares his political views with his customer base. If Im more passionate about someone like Jacob Blake being shot, Im going to obviously want to help the family because its a huge road for them to go through. He worked so hard to keep family together, because of the way he grew up.". So this money is working to use its influence to reshape America's institutions to create the voters it requires to meet its needs, needs that are very much at odds with our nation's ideals of opportunity for all.". I can see the spices are all above the top of the label. Penzey sent a customer newsletter in the fall of 2020 saying that he intended to "loot" his own stores and send free inventory to food pantries. Years ago, Bill Penzey invited his in-laws to live in the family duplex - and gave them the nicer half - because of what family meant. right-wing news media. "And that's not so bad a thing. You are your partys future, and you deserve my admiration and respect, and your countrys as well. I notice some are closing now. advertisements, with brands fastening their identities to anodyne, Patty and Bill are second-generation spice mavens. Make this right. This made me realize how often we have to guess how an herb will smell and taste before buying it and how unsatisfying that experience is.". Three weeks later, Penzey attacked political spending in a lengthy Facebook screed. gift-box sales increased by more than double that. [10] Penzey was widely criticized for this email, with 40,000 people unsubscribing from their newsletter, however, Penzey stated that 30,000 new people had signed up to their newsletter. "Bill believed spices were calling us," Ruth Penzey, his wife, once said. Penzeys Spices is a retailer of spices in the United States. Ever the philosopher, Penzey could taste the ancient tangents of thought like a thread of saffron on the tongue. The self-looting in response to a police shooting and social unrest matches a recent trend of businesses tying marketing with activism. What it does understand is that healthy, educated voters don't vote against the best interests of our nation's children. Lets commit to giving the people a better choice. Kristi Walton, the owner of Sweet Impact Chocolates in Kenosha, encouraged Penzey to reach out to the Uptown Kenosha Facebook page through Twitter. We started a whole support-your-local-teacher campaign, ran ads in the big newspapers, got all of our customers involved, Penzey said. I think this is going a bit too far with the generalizations, one customer wrote on the Penzeys website. The couple brought their son Bill Jr. into the business early, allowing him to work in the store at the young age of ten. Not him. William T. Penzey Sr. died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday evening as he walked home from their little Wauwatosa shop. This treasure map says so, How L.A.s Doug Emhoff became the White Houses voice against antisemitism, His family saved a girl from Nazis. 6 Places to Put on Your Southeastern Wisconsin Bucket List. And it's spent millions of dollars on politics. [9], On January 14, 2022, CEO Bill Penzey sent out an email newsletter announcing that he would be renaming the extended Martin Luther King Jr. Day sale weekend to "Republicans are racist weekend", with the reasons given including alleged voter suppression in red states and their response to the George Floyd Protests. George Wallace. which eventually became known as the Spice House. September 4, 2020 6:14 pm CDT. So stupid. The C.E.O. Who Called Trump a Racist (and Sold a Lot of Spice Mix) Despite the disasters unfolding, their hatred of conservatives and their obsession with rage and destruction has become an existential binky. He's not easy," his son explained, speaking in a 1994 profile. The multicultural customers who visited his parents shop, as well as the deep-rooted liberalism of Milwaukee, shaped Penzeys outlook, he said. businesss bottom line. Its an unusual and risky move for any business; most typically try to avoid alienating half their customer base. You really are a good bunch, but you just committed the biggest act of racism in American history since Wallace stood in the schoolhouse doorway 53 years ago. Big-Spending Bill Penzey is a Massive Hypocrite - Dan O'Donnell Take ownership for what you have done and begin the pathway forward. Theres not quite the selection but I have been able to manage just fine, she said. The giveaway idea was spurred by a letter sent to Penzey that said he would be singing a different tune if his own store were looted. The smaller operation also allowed them to close, even for a month at a time, if they wanted to. Those in the market for Turkish ground sumac berries and mace blade may not have much luck at their local grocery store, but items like those are what's given Penzeys Spices staying power (via Forbes). "In 2017, our retail operations department flat out . With Mr. Trump not in power, whats a hater to do? Trying to get them to become regular customers is the trick., In the meantime, Penzey shows no signs of slowing his political activism. This isnt a line that we chose to cross. Heck, I would not even want to get The Spice House company is Penzys primary competition. are siblings. Penzey's childhood was not an easy one. In sifting through those replies it was clear that, though not intended, a good number of people seemed to sincerely believe that in my statement I was calling all Republicans racists. Their existing market is a somewhat politically aware market who likes this kind of thing, so its not going against the current.. It was not, however, a coincidence that Erd American iconography in sports. nearly everyone took personally. Seema Mehta is a veteran political writer who is covering the 2024 California Senate race as well as other state and national contests. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Bill Penzey, the outspoken chief executive officer of Penzeys Spices, wrote in a newsletter to his customers last week that he intended to loot his own store in Kenosha and give away spices and seasonings to food pantries. Penzeys Spices - Wikipedia think if you dont care about your customers and what they care about, Spices became a sort of metaphor for his life. control there reallyweresome amazing publications.. He is acutely aware, for instance, that he will die. Wisconsin Needs Election Poll Workers. Penzeys Spices is a retailer of spices in the United States. Penzeys Insider Says CEO's Left-Wing Rants are Hurting Company If you want customers to support your business, you have to support the values and lives of your customers.. By Dan O'Donnell. While looking around online to see what Bill Penzeys problem is, I discovered that his sister Patty Erd and her husband Tom run a competing (but much smaller) spice business, called The Spice House. In it I said: The open embrace of racism by the Republican Party in this election is now unleashing a wave of ugliness unseen in this country for decades. Raw ingredients Tahitian vanilla beans, whole Chinese star anise, Indonesian cinnamon sticks, Turkish bay leaves are shipped here in barrels that weigh hundreds of pounds. tweeted his opinion that Penzey was a typical hate-filled white Since May of 2018, Penzey has used his company to disseminate paid political advertisements totaling $2.4 millionall the while writing post after post condemning the influence of money (and especially corporate money) in politics. Despite this possibility of losing customers, Penzey Jr. has continued to use his platform to make the company's left-leaning beliefs known. Penzeys outspokenness has cost his company some longtime customers, but he says he has no choice: The luxury of not being on a side is something of the past.. now is the time to share them. The emphasis, as his wife explained, was less on running a business and more on sharing knowledge of the spice trade and philosophy. in 1992. I think its good for companies to be involved in what they think is right or to speak about it, said Roger Bell, 69, who was shopping in the Penzeys Spices store in Wauwatosa, Wis., recently. I The company's origin dates back to 1986 as a catalog business that expanded to include brick-and-mortar locations in 1994 . Bill Penzey doing what he does best: annoying Republicans. Feinstein has vowed to return to Washington, but what happens if she doesnt? Penzey finds controversy over his political musings amusing, given the world-changing and often hostility-filled history of the spice trade over millenniums. Penzeys Spices posted on March 11, 2018. Since Penzeys isn't a publicly traded company, there's little financial information available on its revenues and value. Last week, Penzey admitted in an email to customers that he had lost more than 40,000 subscribers from the company's mailing list after holding a "Republicans are Racist" sale over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday weekend. [7] In March 2020, Penzeys announced closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You lose some people, but right now, oh boy, he said. Through our customers support, weve given away a lot of our Penzeys Pepper, the Pepper with heart. Bill Penzey Sr. and his wife started the business in the 1950s, and Patty inherited it. In 2016 Rod Dreher at The American Conservative was reporting on another screed of Penzeys and discovered Mr. Penzeys parents had left the original family spice business to his sister Pam and her husband, apparently leaving Bill Jr. out in the cold. flaming liberal politics, another spice company awaited with open he was definitely the first to do so while hawking a free bottle of Even better, they make a Bavarian seasoning! throughthedecades, he wrote. What if this is a wake-up call to all those planning this very type of spending in the upcoming midterm elections that, just like the NRA, you too will no longer be allowed to escape the responsibility for your actions?". He then made an appeal to his customers' politics, imploring them to sign up for his newsletter as a form of virtue signaling. For years his public marketing has been about disparaging Republicans and former President Donald Trump. Penzeys Spices CEO renames MLK Day 'Republicans are racist weekend' "I can't begin to count the number of customers who agree with [Penzey's] politics, but then say they don't like his nastiness," the insider says. At Isnt that great? In case you missed it, Penzeys Spices' unhinged CEO, Bill Penzey, publicized a weekend offer called "Republicans Are Racist!" . Once ground, sifted, extracted, mixed or bottled, the spices will be packaged for online sales or sent to more than 60 stores around the country. boycott the company, going so far as to mock up a satirical jar of Common Sense Central is edited by WISN's Dan O'Donnell. In our nearly a million years gathered together around the fire, cooking shaped our bodies and transformed our minds. Penzey became a spice master, creating many successful blends, named for the neighborhoods that inspired them. "[Penzey] brags about how many people are on our email list, but I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of them aren't actually customers," the insider explains. Bill Jr, her younger brother, started his own catalog company, Penzeys. [11] Penzey made a similar statement in an email sent out on the first anniversary of the January 6th Capitol riot, calling Republicans the "#1 threat to this country".[12]. With hindsight, it proved quite an education. The pundit Michelle Malkin tweeted the American While the country drowns in Democratic hypocrisy on everything ranging from the open border to the economy to crime and the collapsing stability of the international order, theres something about how tightly unhinged leftists hang on to their hate. A lot of people send me pictures of their spice collection. Our kindness really is our strength. He introduced Tsardust Memories, a ripped-from-the-headlines Russian spice blend the first to publicly call Trumps election an embrace of racism, and Visitation will be held on Sunday, September 26, from 2: . Penzey's net worth isn't known but it's likely in the millions. I want other businesses to look at what were doing, Penzey said while writing new Facebook ads at his home. retail locations, is Americas largest independent spice retailer. Since May of 2018, Penzey has used his company to disseminate paid political . As youngsters, his children were expected to help at the store - there was no such thing as an automatic allowance - something that wasn't always appreciated back then. Bucket List Penzey's sends out a spicy "Republicans Are Racists - Salon Milwaukee had a socialist tradition here; even in the times of the Red Scare it was tough to vote them out, Penzey said. Turns out, it's not profitable to smear your customers, Bidens idea of freedom should frighten every liberty-loving American. That same year, they began the William T. Penzey Coffee Co., a coffee and tea store, at N. 33rd and W. Galena streets. "Most of us kind of just go through life. Penzeys Spices wants to 'loot' Kenosha store in support of protests Publicly available data about Facebook ads also revealed that Penzey spent almost $120,000 from October 28, 2019 on blatantly anti-Trump ads. Feel free to let Penzey Spice Co. CEO know how you feel about his And with the election of Trump, he found an issue that Lets commit to giving This is no longer sixty years ago. The message also seeps into his products, like the Tsardust Memories spice blend. The revelation that Penzey's Spices owner Bill Penzey has spent more than $100,000 boosting a political Facebook post calling for President Trump's impeachment and removal from office has exposed Penzey as a colossal hypocrite. 2023 Cond Nast. The result is a sea of milquetoast Penzey refuses to be silent on social issues. Penzeys family lived in the suburbs but ran a spice store in a minority neighborhood in urban Milwaukee; as a 10-year-old, he worked in the shop on weekends to earn his allowance of $1 per week. Well, I hear hes very political, the engineer, 59, said at the Wauwatosa store, adding that some of his friends avoid the shop because of Penzeys activism. "Business has been very slow.". Im a conservative who did not vote for Trump, but I dont want any part of Bill Penzeys sanctimony and condescension. Although his first solo foray into the world of spice sales was short lived, Bill Penzey Jr. forged on with the family business. Bill Penzey is a well-known American businessman who is most recognized for being the Chief Executive Officer of Penzeys Spices. Spice seller spends $700,000 on anti-Trump Facebook ads - Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved. [2], In 1957, William Penzey Sr. and Ruth Ann Penzey opened a coffee and spice business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which came to be called The Spice House. Nobody can be replaced, and buildings can be. company, Penzeys Spices, which, with an online store and sixty-five megaphone, devoting the first and last pages of his catalog to personal Shortly after President Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States, Penzey's Spice Company founder and CEO Bill Penzey took to Facebook to accuse his supporters of embracing racism. never bring politics or personal opinions into our spice company, they Penzey Jr. was fascinated by the family business and, according to Forbes, when it came time to enroll in college he crafted his own major at the University of Wisconsin to help him better understand the family business. Within the next decade, it became The Spice House, specializing in spices and herbs. Penzeys Spices is a left-wing spice retailer in the United States that sells through retail . The 2024 presidential race begins: Will it be a repeat of 2020? He has spent over $750,000 in ads attacking Mr. Trump and supporting impeachment over the years. The American people are taking notice. A Penzeys Spices insider says founder and CEO Bill Penzey's frequent left-wing rants in emails to customers have lost the company more than half of its retail business over the past five years. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Years ago, Bill Penzey invited his in-laws to live in the family duplex - and gave them the nicer half - because of what family meant. other things, urban white flight, low teacher pay, and the use of Native "It was just the launching point for what Penzey's has become," his son said. Nothing tastes better on pork loin or roasted turkey than that stuff.