Home

<< Previous   of   Next >> Herald file photos  (click to enlarge) (click to enlarge) Frawg N' Turtle sauces are made in Lake Stevens.   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Lake Stevens firm offers Swedish-style 'sleep good' beds 4/17/08 • Nursery owner nurtures each separate plant 4/17/08 • Master gardener to show how to set up drip irrigation system 4/17/08 • Coast Cabins and Sheds keeps structures simple 4/17/08 • Speciality Nursery Guide 4/17/08 • Washers, dryers move full steam ahead 4/17/08 • Milkman's delivery offers customers taste of the past 4/17/08 • The 2008 Everett Home and Garden Show 4/17/08 • TV chef urges simplicity with food, kitchen 4/17/08 • Everett Home and Garden Show speaker schedule 4/17/08 • There's logic behind rise in choice of radiant heat 4/17/08 • Theater Xtreme brings full movie experience home 4/17/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008 Lake Stevens couple finds fast success with homemade sauces By Debra Smith Herald Writer Lots of people dream of turning a favorite home recipe into a money-making business. Kevan and Laura Kipp of Lake Stevens are doing it, and you can taste their results at the Everett Home and Garden Show. The Kipps started their own line of bottled sauces after Kevan concocted a tangy barbecue sauce in their kitchen two years ago. They call the business Frawg N' Turtle, a combination of their nicknames. The public sampled the sauce for the first time at last year's show, where the Kipps sold more than expected: 500 bottles priced at $5 and $6 a bottle. Since that debut, the business has grown faster than a hungry crowd can suck down samples of their spicy sauce. More than 15 businesses now carry their line of prepared bottled sauces and apple butter, including Double DD Meats in Mountlake Terrace and The Food Emporium in Lynnwood. The Everett AquaSox have made it their official sauce, and fans will be able to pump it onto their hot dogs and pretzels this season. The Kipps hope to develop their line into a product that will please sophisticated palettes, too. They're creating some wine-infused sauces and working with Lake Stevens winery Griffins Crossing to pair sauces with wine. "We're looking to get away from the 'barbecue sauce' tag and go more toward gourmet specialty sauces," Kevan said. An Eastern Washington winery and a Woodinville resort will soon sell the company's sauces. So many orders are coming in, the couple has hired outside help to market and ship their products. "I can't stop the phones from ringing," he said. Kevan Kipp retired from his job as a military historian for the Air Force last fall so he could concentrate on the business full time. He works all day nearly every day on a dozen different tasks, such as setting up contract fees and permits or hauling thousands of bottles of sauce to a show. Last week he drove to Eastern Washington to pick up 16,000 pounds of apples for the apple butter recipe that serves as the base for all the sauces. The sauces are making money, but not enough for Laura Kipp to quit her job as an administrator for the Lake Stevens Fire Department. She works 30 hours a week for the business on top of her day job. Kevan Kipp said the goal isn't to get rich. Instead, they want to spend their days working together. Other sauce vendors ask Kevan Kipp how he's doing it. It's not enough to create a great-tasting product, he said. You have to sell it in a personable way. That's why the couple plan to be at the show again, handing out hot meats with their sauces. "If you can get the sauce into their mouths, the sauce does the work," he said. Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.

1. Boeing, Machinists divided over 'survivor plan' 2. Snohomish County schools that aren't up to standard lose kids 3. Second Boeing strike looming? SPEEA gears up for negotiations -- updated 4. Richard Larsen, longtime public servant, dies at 73 5. Dog may have saved man in morning fire 6. First significant snow in North Cascades 7. Fairgoers catch toddler dropped from ride 8. Energy aid is going unclaimed despite need, PUD says 9. Turn that frown upside down 10. Will young woman from Mount Vernon become Paris Hilton's new BFF? 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• New parents find strength in groups • The activist wears Prada • Dale Turner YMCA grand opening makes a splash • Cedarcrest's running game, defense stop King's • Shorewood beats Glacier Peak in conference opener • Fernandez named Archbishop boys soccer coach • Team Peggy comes out in force at ALS walk • King's girls poised for threepeat in Pasco • A lifetime together in Lynnwood • Paine Field airline service strongly supported by 71 percent of web surv ... • Verizon launches FiOS TV in Washington State • Leisure Time Events - September 2008 • September 2008 • State needs to establish north county campus to meet growing technology ... • Future software programs may be based online • Visit two unusual Paine Field aviation museums for historic and futurist ... • Mothers launch Kids ‘N’ Clay pottery studio to provide children with cre ...