"CRAFT" CHRISTIANITY

The growth of “Craft” producers is an amazing phenomenon that has taken place over the past decade or so.  It has taken place quietly and without recognition by the vast majority of consumers.   But for the choice few that know about it, they are reaping enormous gastronomic benefits.  As the owner of my own “Hot Sauce” business, I have an up close and personal perspective of this exciting trend in how consumers are using and appreciating products being produced in small batches.  Not only that, but they are willing to pay a small premium to enjoy those benefits.  It should be noted that this rapidly growing trend not only is being experienced in the beer / spirits market, but in everything from jams and jellies, to granola, to teas and coffees… even hot sauces.

However, the thing that can be learned from this might best be seen from an experience that happened to me just a few months ago.  A meeting had been arranged by a broker from Chicago for me to meet with one of the largest wholesale food distributors in the Detroit market.  As we all met together one morning, I sat in a small conference room cluttered with boxes of various food products from many different producers.  Nothing had prepared me for what I was about to experience.

After a few minutes one of the “decision makers” entered the room.  He grabbed a bottle of our Hot Sauce, glanced at the bottle, then… placing it hard back on the table, half sliding it back toward me… he then pointed his finger at me and said… “I don’t care what it tastes like…”  What????  You are one of the biggest players in the food game, and you don’t care what it tastes like..???!!!   That’s like a pastor saying that he doesn’t care if anyone gets saved!

Has not the Church always been a “Craft” industry?  The church has always featured “local” flavors.  It has historically been “sold” best by people who were deeply invested and intensely passionate about their “product”.   It has only been in last several decades that we have had the notion that “mega-whatever” is better.  But is “mega” really better?  It doesn’t matter what the industry is; whether it is producing beer, or hot sauce, or converts to Christianity… sometimes people get hungry for something better than a mass produced bottle of “Franks”!