Meet Penelope Morgan of Gotta Be Penelopes, LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Penelope Morgan.

Hi Penelope, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Being an avid gardener and cook is why I started this business. I love spice and grow habanero peppers but had SO many peppers one year that I had to figure out a way to use them. My son suggested a hot pepper jelly. Funny because I’d never had a hot pepper jelly in my life. I found a recipe and tweaked it to my liking. I started bringing it to the office and everyone was shocked that they could eat habanero without burning. They loved the flavor and told me that I was in the wrong profession. I procrastinated for 4 years, and in 2019, I decided to take the plunge and jumped in full time forming Gotta Be Penelopes, LLC. I bottled my first Mild and Hot Apricot in June 2019. I dropped samples at several small businesses and let them sample. It was a hit! We started doing popups and festivals and was asked what flavor was next. We responded to requests to make other flavors and now have Raspberry, Apricot (Mild, Hot & Extra Hot), Blueberry and Pineapple. We are currently working on a Mild & Hot Strawberry and a Mango that will be bottled very soon. We have won 1st place in the “Best in Taste” competition in both 2022 and 2024 with our Hot Apricot and our Mild Apricot. The Mild won 2nd place in 2022 as well. We have an online store and ship across the US and Canada. We also offer Free Local Delivery. My husband and I run the business together and love our jobs. As we did night markets, we noticed that people loved humor. My husband started laser engraving funny cutting boards and coasters that we also sell with our jellies.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It was not a smooth road. The 2020 pandemic hit right after we started our business and we lost several store locations that had to close. The Southern Women’s Show offered to help all vendors that were going to participate, but couldn’t due to the lockdown. They gave us free advertising across the US which enabled us to ship and deliver to homes locally. It was SO GREAT that they did this for all of us. We also had a copacker that wasn’t making our recipe consistently, so we switched to a new copacker. That copacker also struggled and we were trying to find another when they decided to drop us and anyone else (many of my friends) that didn’t make a BBQ sauce. We got very lucky and found a copacker that is now making our recipes consistently.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My primary focus is creating fruit based hot pepper jellies that are made from scratch with no artificial flavorings or colors (dye free). We do not use high fructose corn syrup and are vegan as well as gluten free. Flavor is very important as well. We make Mild to Extra Hot that a child and adult can eat. It can be eaten on cream cheese/cracker, but is also used as a glaze on shrimp, pork, wings, meatballs, egg rolls and in stir fries. The apricot is the most versatile one for this. I laugh because I get customers that think it’s weird to eat jelly on a cracker and cream cheese, but once I serve it to them, they say it’s amazing. That is one reason I love doing tastings. We have the other side of our business with the humorous laser engraved boards and coasters. Customers will read and laugh in groups in front of my booth. They always thank us for making them laugh. We are a combination of great tasting hot pepper jelly and something to make people laugh. We currently stock several small businesses in NC from Wilmington to Greensboro. Our online store ships across the US and Canada. We also offer Free Local Delivery within a 20 mile radius of our location.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We love to do events and always meet other vendors that we become friends with. We share information about events and discuss ideas. I have several stores that help promote my jellies with samples and I also get invited to do tastings in their shops. My repeat customers will come to my booth at an event and bring new customers. They are very supportive. I get store owners and event organizers that give me opportunities to sell or participate in an event. We have a local Christmas Tree Farm that has invited us to set up a booth at their farm since 2019 during the holiday season. We also appreciate corporations that order our gift sets for their employees during the holidays. Many small business owners are now my friends because we all want to be supportive of each other. That’s what it’s all about!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.GottaBePenelopes.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gottabepenelopes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gottabepenelopes