Wednesday, June 23, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
Lawrence man succeeds where nasty salsa fails
By Marta Costello
Kansan staff writer
Three years ago, Lawrence resident Stan Schneck cleaned houses for a living but had a great salsa recipe.
At his friends' urges, with $2000 in his pockets, he started Schneck Enterprises, the manufacturer of Señor Stan's Salsa.
From humble beginnings, Schneck's business, which has a sombrerow- wearing jalapeno as a trademark, has grown to include 80 grocery stores in Kansas.
The idea for Señor Stan's Salsa was born out of Schneck's frustration with store-bought salsa.
"Everything in the store is pretty nasty." he said.
Susan Sharp, Schneck's former neighbor and longtime friend, knew Schneck was onto something from the beginning.
"Selling it was his friends' idea. We all told him he needed to make this salsa," she said.
People agree. Schneck Enterprises has grown an average of 50 percent each year since it began, with a 70 percent growth last year.
Schneck Enterprises, based in Eudora, produces about 1,600 pounds of salsa each week to keep store shelves stocked.
Schneck hopes to eventually market his product nationally.
"My main growth concern is to people with limited choices, to provide good salsa in a larger market," Schneck said.
He began Schneck Enterprises in February 1996 as a one-man show, doing production, sales and distribution of salsa himself.
Schneck still does all of the sales and most of the distribution, but a cook helps with production.
Every grocery store in Lawrence from the Community Mercantile Coop, 901 Mississippi St., to Hy-Vee Food and Drug Store, 3504 Clinton Parkway, carries Senor St.'s Salsa.
Dan Callan, grocery manager and buyer for Checker's Food Mart, 2300
Stan Schneck, aka Seiener Star, started out doing production, sales and distribution of his salsa by himself. Today his product is sold in 80 major grocery stores across Kansas.
Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
Louisiana St., said that one reason he decided to carry the product was because it was produced locally.
"Local products sell well. A whole lot of people look for the 'Made in Kansas' label." Callan said.
Jeff Cuttt, food store manager for Hy-Vee, agreed that a major selling point of the salsa was local production, but also thinks it is a good product.
"Señor Stan's has always sold well. The quality is extremely good," he said.
Schneck receives a lot of responses from people, saying they hope he stays in business because they enjoy his salsa.
"I've just been lucky. It is a superior product," he said. "We've been quite fortunate."
Sharp was a little more emphatic
Edited by Mike Miller
"I think it's so good. It's yummy. It's the best I've ever had," she said.
This week's trip through the World Wide Web is devoted entirely to the summertime ritual of taking your food outdoors and burning it to within an inch of its life — otherwise known as barbecue.
Wandering the Web
but grilling isn't only about burgers and hot dogs anymore. These days, outdoor chefs are getting more creative, and improvements in barbecue technology, such as gas grillis make it possible to create entire meals over an open flame.
So, before you fire up that grill, check out these great barbecue sites. If these recipes don't leave your mouth watering, you should probably check your pulse.
This is "The Barbeque Gazette," a good place to start for general information on outdoor cooking. It contains recipes, contest information and links to barbecue association home pages. It's part of the Smoke Ring, a web ring of barbecue-related sites.
www.4bbq.com
This site. "Barbecue'n on the Internet," is by far the best of the sites I found on the subject. If you want to know something about barbecue, chances are you'll find it here. It breaks down the information by food type, grill type and even individual cuts of meat.
It also contains information about grilling vegetables and how to make your own killer-barbecue sauces.
www.barbecuen.com
This page, "The Barbecue and Charcoal Grill Home Page," is devoted strictly to cooking with charcoal.
www.barbque.com
Jennifer Roush
jroush@kansan.com
No gas grills for these guys. If you're going to have an open flame, you're
going to have to stoke it and care for it obsessively for a half hour or so before you even think of cooking.
They include information about adding different sorts of wood to the fire for different flavors, and also have a really great vegetarian link.
```http://suite101.com/article.cfm/vegetarian_living/6443
The title of this site, "Vegetarian Grilling For Dummies," pretty much says it all. The site includes links to recipes and other sites devoted to vegetarian cuisine.
The portabella mushroom recipe actually made me want to go out and buy some of these expensive fungi for the weekend.
http://home.earthlink.net/~leichter/kosher.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~leichter/kosher.htm
This site is a bit off the beaten seat for barbecue. However,
it does contain, as its title suggests, "Everything You Need To
Know About Kosher." There's a link to a definitive explanation
of Jewish dietary laws, and another link to Jewish
recipes that do include barbecue.
Roush is an Lawrence senior in journalism.
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