Company History

When I was elected mayor in 2005, I challenged my wife, Tram, to come up with a First Lady's Project, as is customary for the spouses of elected officials. A few days later, she shared with me her vision to feed the homeless as part of her First Lady Project.

We started the "Feed the Homeless" project by visiting one of El Paso's 17 homeless centers each month, preparing a home-cooked meal for the people at each center. We also organized the First Lady's Feed the Homeless Thanksgiving Dinner. We solicited contributions from the business community, rented the Judson F. Williams Convention Center, employed the Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army to help prepare the food, and garnered hundreds of volunteers to help decorate tables and to serve a complete and traditional Thanksgiving Dinner to the homeless and needy in a real banquet setting. The first year we fed almost 2,000 men, women, and children. By our fourth year, that number had grown to almost 5,000 with a thousand volunteers showing up to serve them. Last year, with the nation in a recession, we fed 6,000 dinners. Corporate and individual support flourished, as people understood the importance of the project and could see the rewards the project was bringing with their own eyes.

This year, our project has expanded in scope. Not only have we started restocking food pantries in the centers we visit each month to supplement the assistance these centers get from other sources, we also launched Feeding the Nation's Homeless, Inc., a not-for-profit foundation that develops and markets Señor John's BBQ sauces to fund the Foundation. We started out small in West Texas and Southern New Mexico and plan to take the project national within a few years. In March of 2010, Lowe's Supermarkets, a chain of 90 stores, began selling Señor John's on the shelves in 16 supermarkets throughout El Paso.

We started out with Señor John's Mesquite Sauce, a Cook family recipe that uses all natural ingredients. As the Foundation grows, we plan to introduce a full line of sauces and dry rubs as well. The proceeds from the sales of our sauces will be distributed by the Feeding the Nation's Homeless Foundation to not-for-profit and governmental agencies that feed the needy.

Mother Teresa once said, "If you cannot feed a hundred people, feed just one." They are wise words that convey how simple it can be to help others who are less fortunate. It is my hope that, together with our fine line of products and our visionary Board of Directors, we can help make a difference in our community and thousands of communities nationwide.

Thank you for your support,

John Cook