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Best of the West® was born from the desire to provide the finest barbecue
fuel known to mankind. In 1984, Peter Wyckoff, the company?s founder, was looking
over a possible site for a future metal refining plant in Mexicali, Mexico. Next
door to the site was an empty lot that was covered in a thick, black dust, and upon
further investigation, he found that it was the dust from mesquite charcoal. Peter
had stumbled upon a crude processing site for mesquite charcoal. He had never heard
of this product, and being a barbecue enthusiast, was quite intrigued. He was only
familiar with charcoal briquettes, and had never seen this type of charcoal anywhere.
He brought back twenty pounds of hand picked pieces and upon his return, tried them
in his backyard barbecue.
Once the fire was going, he noticed the extreme heat that was generated from the
charcoal, and also was astounded by the longevity of the coals and the enhanced
flavor of the food. After using the mesquite, he could not go back to regular briquettes
and was off to the market to try to find some more. Peter searched throughout the
grocery stores of Southern California, but was not successful. Mesquite Charcoal
was not to be found.
Two Trees Products was formed to provide the best quality mesquite charcoal, imported
from Mexico, in the United States. There were many problems associated with the
way the business was being handled in Mexico. One of the major problems was the
size and consistency of the chunks. With his background in the metal processing
business and his knowledge of screening and sizing equipment, he located a site
in a little town call Jecopoco, in Sonora Mexico, near the Arizona border. There,
construction was started of the first mechanized mesquite charcoal production facility
in Mexico.
The first products produced by the plant were packaged in large forty pound bags
that were sold to some of the top restaurants in the United States and Canada. Great
eating establishments such as Spago?s in Los Angeles, The Keg Restaurants in Canada,
Red Lobster Restaurants in Florida, Turtle Creek Restaurants in Dallas and many
others.
In 1986, Best of the West® brand items were introduced into the retail
market of Southern California. It was rough going at first as no one had ever heard
of mesquite charcoal. But after a few years, it was on most of the supermarket shelves
in Southern California. Sales have been growing ever since. In fact, this year this
item is out performing well known brands such as Royal Oak Charcoal.
Once our brand name was established, Easy Start Charcoal was introduced. Easy Start
is the same great mesquite charcoal, only it is dipped in paraffin wax and packaged
in easy to use two pound bags. The self lighting segment of the charcoal industry
was growing faster than any other segment at the time, making it a timely introduction
for Easy Start.
The first year Easy Start was introduced, it was accepted at some of the national
chains such as Food Lion and Osco Drug Stores. At the same time, K-Mart was purchasing
the larger eight pound bags of mesquite for their stores in the Western United States.
After many years of business, Peter Wyckoff decided to back away from the large
markets in the east, due to escalating freight costs. It was important for us as
a company to keep our product affordable for the consumer.
In 1996, Two Trees Products introduced a line of salsas as a great flavor partner
to our charcoal items. Best of the West® Mango, Kiwi, and Pineapple Salsas
were introduced at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and received rave reviews.
The Salsa Category is dominated by tomato based products. Products are differentiated
by labels alone. We see the salsas with the same opportunity as we did the charcoal.
Something new, unique and exciting.
Our objective is to create a category, within a category, much like Snapple Beverage
did, and develop unique and flavorful salsas that taste fantastic. The people have
tried it, the buyers have tried it and they all agree, it is the best salsa that
they have ever tasted!
In 1997, Best of the West® introduced wood cooking chunks for smoker
grills and wood smoking chips for gas grills. The time had come for this segment
of the barbecue market to come alive! Two Trees Products has sold mesquite and hickory
wood chips for years and in the last three years, have experienced double digit
growth in the natural cooking fuel category. It is time for an extensive push to
persuade retailers everywhere to carry these highly profitable and very swift moving
items. The wood products category is a growing category and can provide increased
profit margins for both distributors and retailers alike.
At Two Trees Products, we place the most emphasis on the quality, taste and performance
of our products. That is why we believe people come back and buy more. Pleasing
our customers is our highest goal. Whether it is our charcoal, wood chunks, wood
chips, salsas or salad noodles, you will find that each one is the finest product
of its kind, in the world. That?s what we hang our hat on!
The entire country is not familiar with Best of the West®, and it is
our goal to make sure that entering the next century, Best of the West®
will be as familiar to our grandchildren, as Coke or Kellogg?s is to us. Here?s
to the future!
1-888-505-WEST
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