Welcome and a little bit about our history.

My name is Carl Kester, Owner and CEO of Alkest International LLC. I would like to introduce you to Alkest International LLC, headquartered in middle Tennessee. We are the owners of a personal line of gourmet salsas and barbeque sauce. A man named Trigger Beeler formulated these recipes over 90 years ago and passed them down to me, his grandson. The journey to bring them to market has been rewarding and fruitful. As a company we are ready to take the next step. Much work has already been accomplished and the future is bright. Alkest has put together a diversified, accomplished leadership team to guide the company. Visit our website to see our products: www.TriggerBeeler.com

Our Mission Statement: We will produce and distribute the highest quality best tasting salsa and barbeque sauce into many markets using Grocery Stores, Walgreen Stores, Convenience Stores, Private Labeling for other company’s, Restaurants and Commercial markets, Military Contracts, Private Markets outdoor and indoor, Gift Shops & Specialty Shops & Florist, Internet Sales & Shopping Networks QVC/HSN etc. and International Sales.

A market that equals and may even surpass the grocery industry is the fundraising industry.Fundraising Projects may include:
A. High Schools (all schools) 108,000 K-12 schools
B. Civic Groups
C. Little Leagues of all sports
D. Adult Sports Leagues
E. Fire Department Causes
F. For Health Emergency’s (transplants, etc.)
G. National Emergency’s like Katrina
H. Feeding Children Groups
I. Scout Troop’s - Maybe someday the Boy Scouts will have Salsa and BBQ sauce like the Girl Scouts have cookies. We will start one troop at a time until we get them all started.
J. College on campus groups
K. Community needs
L. Homeless needs
M. Church groups

This is what has been accomplished over the years? In the early 1990's Paul and I had to find many solutions:

A. We had to come up with a name and label. (Sounds simple)Then trying to find a label company that can actually do what needs to be done on our time schedule and with the professionalism needed. It took much time and thought and creativity and trial and error to design our label and find the right label company. I gave Paul the concept of a wanted poster and asked Paul to create it. Paul did a great job. I could not have done any of this without him.

B. We had to learn all of the rules and regulations on producing and selling the products. (Sounds simple)We found out that there were many rules and regulations and you don’t find them out all at once. You find them out as you get to them, or you’re told you have not done that or you need to do this. For example the bar code or liability insurances, batch numbers, nutritional information, lab testing, PH of product, brix content, shelf life etc. and much more.

C. Where do we produce product in bulk, large quantities, how to formulate the recipes into a 1,000 gallons or more and when we grow can the manufacturer keep up with our growth? (Sounds simple)This took several years of frustration and much money. Everyone says they can do this for you and you find out that they can’t produce it your way or sorry we had to put your order on hold because we have a larger more important client that needs their products manufactured first. We will try and get to your products next month. Then your product is starting to compete with their products so it is time for us to find a different manufacturer to produce our products. We started with a company in Kansas City MO, then used a company in El Paso TX, then a company in Phoenix AZ, then we started producing it ourselves until we found who we have used now for more than ten years. The capacity of growth for us with this company is close to 4,000 truckloads per year. Their total capacity is 13,000 truckloads per year and they are at 75% of their capacity.

D. Let’s put the products into the grocery stores and sell them. (Again sounds simple enough) It takes months if not years to develop the relationships with the buyers through meetings, trade shows and company events etc.

E. We had people helping us from all walks of life. (We found out people and companies will lie and take our money without fulfilling their obligations.)

F. But through it all we survived all of their help....

G. We personally taste tested the products from 1992 to 2008 in Texas 2 ½ years, New Mexico 6 months, Arizona 2 years, California 6 months, Nevada 6 months, Kansas & Missouri 2 years, Oklahoma 2 years, Ohio & Indiana & Michigan & Illinois & Pennsylvania & New Jersey & West Virginia a total of 1 year, Louisiana & Mississippi & Alabama & Georgia & Florida a total of 1 year, Tennessee & Virginia & North Carolina & South Carolina a total of 4 years. (It sure sounds easy) We have had Internet sales from every state except Alaska and Hawaii.

We did find out that we had products that were well liked from coast to coast.