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Jeff Brinkhoff, president of Mount Vernon-based Red Monkey Foods, is capitalizing on the company's own label after finding success in the private label sector.Owner: Brinkhoff & Monoson Incorporated Founded: 2002 Address: 1206 Industrial Park Drive, Mount Vernon, MO 65712 Phone: (417) 466-9109 Web: www.redmonkeyfoods.com Services: Produce and sell spices to retail outlets 2009 Revenues: $4 million Employees: 46 Chris Wrinkle Reporter Jeff Brinkhoff doesn’t let his company’s laid-back name fool anyone. The Red Monkey Foods president is serious about spices. The Mount Vernon-based company produces spices, rubs, spice grinders, mills and other food products under the umbrella of Brinkhoff & Monoson Incorporated In its eight years, Red Monkey Foods has become a national leader in the spice industry, producing private label seasonings for Target, Safeway, Supervalu and Cost Plus World Market. Red Monkey spices are available locally at Price Cutter stores or at www.redmonkeyfoods.com. With 2009 revenues of $4 million and 2010 revenues on pace for $8 million, the company has come a long way from its beginnings in a 900-square-foot dairy barn on Brinkhoff’s family farm in Golden City to its 40,000-square-foot warehouse and production plant. Brinkhoff remembers working with health care professionals during several years in pharmaceutical sales to help keep what he does in context. “We’re not saving lives, we’re not curing disease, we’re just giving people something to put on their chicken,” he says. More than salt and pepper Since founding the company in 2002, Brinkhoff admits he had much to learn about the spice business. He started with the desire to grow, process and sell spices. “That led into about a yearlong discovery of the spice industry,” Brinkhoff says. “We realized there were a lot of avenues of the spice category that were not being tended to.” Despite early success in selling private label spices to four large retail stores, he still believed an underserved area existed. “No one was offering gourmet and/or organic,” Brinkhoff says. “We saw that opportunity.” Brinkhoff says two major players dominate the industry – McCormick and ACH Food, which produces Tone’s Spices, making it difficult to break into the market. “Nobody was ready to pull the trigger on private label organic (spices),” Brinkhoff says. “We finally got Safeway. It was and still remains very successful.” The Monkey is born From Brinkhoff’s vision for a private label line of spices, the Red Monkey brand was launched in 2004. Brinkhoff says the Red Monkey concept took several years to materialize and ended in a “focus directly on providing seasonings that are a bit sexier than your common seasonings. Private label has been our focus. As of late, our new focus is on the Red Monkey brand.” Brinkhoff says the company’s startup capital didn’t match its vision for Red Monkey. “We were millions and millions short of being able to successfully create a brand in this category,” Brinkhoff says. “Quest Capital Alliance took a chance on us.

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