About Us – Texas Pepper Jelly – Craig Sharry

To get a good understanding of how Texas Pepper Jelly was born, you need to know founder Craig Sharry’s BBQ story and how he loves a good competition.

In the early years of their marriage, Craig and Charlynn, his wife, had show dogs. They would run the AKC show circuit with their Doberman’s and Whippets and they did quite well.

Then came 2005 joining the BBQ Competition World.

This was the start of something great. It was the year Craig Sharry stepped into his new hobby on the BBQ competitive circuit and never looked back. He already enjoyed cooking, but the challenge of getting a walk to the stage was adrenalin pumping. If you are a competition cook then you know what this means.

He was laser-focused on creating his own competition-style ribs with a unique flavor. While Craig was in pursuit of the wins, behind the scenes he was creating his award-winning Pineapple Habanero Jelly.

He used his flavorful habanero jelly as his rib sauce for a while and out of pure frustration of his own and the other cooks using it, he worked on a process to turn his jellies into a rib glaze. This amazing glaze ultimately turned into his secret weapon … The Original Rib Candy™! Since the judges only had the chance at one bite Craig needed to take his competition ribs to a whole new level and his Rib Candy created the outstanding finish he needed.

This product along with the others he has created has taken him to the stage hundreds upon hundreds of times. And in those times, it has made him Grand Champion many times over.

2013 turned a new page for Texas Pepper Jelly

In 2013, he and his wife Charlynn decided that it was time for Craig to focus solely on the business. So, he left his day job and turned his full attention to his hobby to help cooks worldwide enhance the flavor of their food.

Craig is a stickler for his stuff being something anyone can use. Foodies of all culinary skill levels are able to use and enjoy the perfect blend of flavors in his products. In fact, if you want, you can check out the blog or Craig’s recipes here on the site to get an idea of how to incorporate TPJ items into your everyday cooking.

Even though it has been years since they went all-in, each and every individual retail box that gets shipped out (and the majority of the wholesale orders) are still hand-packed by Craig and Charlynn.

They enjoy seeing where their products are going and who is buying them. While they don’t know but a handful of the names, they are in amazement every day that their hobby which started in their kitchen in Houston, TX turned business is now produced in multiple locations, shipped daily to multiple continents, and is carried in hundreds of retail stores (including his Craig’s BBQ Sauce in multiple H-E-B locations).

The retail stores are his wholesalers. They are able to give the TPJ consumer many extra options on where to buy Texas Pepper Jelly.

2022 brings new opportunities for lots of new customers

Canada is a neighbor of the United States and Craig has sold his products there in a few locations for many years. In 2022, he invested in having his labels created in a dual French/English design for the areas of Canada that had a large French presence. With this improvement, he expanded into dozens of stores across Canada.

Craig Sharry wants everyone to be able to enjoy his products and dual language labels are just another step toward worldwide recognition.

Along with the new labels, he saw a fluctuation in the desire for hotter sauces. Craig took another big step in 2022 and the advancement of his products. He created a new sauce for his condiment line. Its ghost pepper hot sauce for those who were desiring the next-level kick to their food. The first hot sauce is peach. He is hoping to expand the flavors if the hot sauce market holds true to its course.

Commits to being the best BBQ product on the market

Craig continues to bring new and exciting flavors to the Texas Pepper Jelly brand and maintains the high quality of his current products. His commitment to his customers is to be the best product they would choose to use in their cooking.