01/10/2026
Reflecting on this past year. 🔥
At the beginning of the year, we had to make a difficult decision. We had reached a point where Iowa Pepper Co. was becoming too much to manage alongside our full-time jobs. It came down to two options. Stop altogether, or take the leap and have Jeff quit his full-time job to go all in on IPC. In February, we decided to take that leap.
Jeff left his corporate job and spent this past year making sauce and growing peppers full-time. Because of that, we’ve had our best year yet.
We’ve seen so much growth this year, and we truly could not do it without the support of our amazing community. As we grow, we are being extremely intentional about how we grow. We are working primarily with local growers, and we plan to continue doing that. That is our mission. Let’s get more produce grown in Iowa.
We are so incredibly grateful for our partnership with Mariah at , and we’re looking forward to growing even more together this year.
This year, we also worked with more local Iowa businesses, including , who absolutely crushed our first merch drop. , where we source our bell peppers and onions. And , where we collaborated on a spicy cider and sour beer.
All that to say, THANK YOU for the best year yet. We’re excited to see where this goes!
Cheers to 2026,
Jeff and Caitlin
