Pepper Palace: Spicing Things Up!

During our lunch tours, we include a few food-themed specialty stores and we couldn’t have found a “hotter” partner than Pepper Palace.  With over 30 retail stores in the US & Canada, this chain was founded in 1989 by Craig & Tanya Migawa and has been on a constant growth trajectory ever since.  Headquartered since 1997 in Tennessee after starting as a kiosk inside Wisconsin Mall, their 3000 square foot location at Gatlinburg Mall is the largest spice retailer in the world.

Inside their St. Armands Circle location, the walls of the long, shotgun space are lined with colorful bottles of hot sauces representing every degree on the Scoville Scale.  Samples of every flavor are available for the taking and staff are more than helpful to explain each part of the heat index or production process.  During our tours, guests are served a special treat while given an informative tutorial on heats, peppers, and sauces.

Our guests truly rave about this unique and unexpected stop, often taking a moment to make a few purchases with the discount they are given for being part of Key Culinary Tours.  With hot sauces personalized from things like sports teams to Sarasota’s keys, these bottles and sets make great gifts for the griller or chef, as well as souvenirs to take back home as a keepsake or to give to friends.

And even if you don’t like it hot, they’ve got plenty of less intense options to choose from!

www.pepperpalace.com