Born to help animals.
Jeff Schmidt, a native of Milwaukee, Wis., was born with a passion for “Helping the Animals”. He was always surrounded by animals growing up. With pet loving parents, siblings and friends teaching him at an early age to love and care for these furry creatures, the multitude of cats, dogs, and hamsters that surrounded Jeff were always beloved four-legged additions to his family. This early bond stirred a compassion within him that would not fade as the years passed, but was instead fueled by the desire to take something he enjoyed doing and turning it into something that would benefit less fortunate, abused and abandoned animals.
Decades later, with the passion for aiding animals in need still burning strongly, and with experience in the supermarket industry and involvement in a hot sauce company with a friend, Jeff had an idea in 2011 to create his very own special BBQ and hot sauces. And thus, Dog-gone Sauce Company was born.
Jeff, now a resident of Fort Myers, Fla., had enjoyed donating money to the Humane Society; unfortunately, Jeff was among the millions affected by the economic recession and found he was unable to continue his donations. That wasn’t going to stop him though; instead, he thought, “Why don’t I create a residual income that’s just for them?”
His passions inspired a moment of genius. He decided to combine his innovative love for creating hot sauces with his life-long love for caring for all animals, especially those that were not fortunate enough to find the loving and devoted families they so deserved. The ideas were pouring from his head faster than he could write them down. Within days, Jeff composed the name of the company, the hot sauces he wished to produce, and even the spokesperson, a sunglass-toting dog by the name of Hal Apeno, later joined by a calico cat named Cali Ente.
On February 22, 2011, just two weeks after the idea came to him, Jeff officially incorporated Dog-gone Sauce. Dog-gone sauces are made in the USA and consist of only the highest quality, all-natural ingredients. He first began with two hot sauces, the sweet and smoky BBQ Sauce and the gourmet Chipotle Hot Sauce, and later added two additional sauces, the tropical Pineapple Honey Hot Sauce and the new Honey Rum Hot Sauce. Want to know how hot each sauce is? The exclusive Bark-O-Meter will tell you. Many can attest to their superb flavors; regardless of which you choose, each sauce will have you begging for more. The Dog-gone Sauce website features recipes and pet advice as well.
Jeff’s brainchild company doesn’t pay homage to his love for animals with his dog-inspired name and spokespeople only. Dog-gone Sauce is “committed to donating 100% of the after tax profits to Animal Shelters and Rescues,” as promised on their website. Organizations can also receive donations directly on a monthly basis by joining Jeff’s “Helping the Animals” Program at http://helpingtheanimals.com. By joining and placing a link on their site, Dog-gone Sauce will donate 20 percent of every sale made through the shelter’s or rescue’s site. In addition, Dog-gone Sauce will donate sauces to shelters with a gift shop for them to sell and keep the entire revenue.
Jeff Schmidt went from being the blonde boy in photographs, always sporting an ear-to-ear grin as he sat surrounded by animals, to the man who has made it his mission to help bring a better life to abused and abandoned animals so that they too may find the loving family that is waiting to take them in. The reason for that joyous smile found in countless of photographs so many years ago is still present as strongly as ever; Jeff’s love and passion for animals will always push this man to find a way to help less fortunate animals. Such is the way of a true animal lover’s heart.
