James Beck
It is not an exaggeration to call James Beck an official guru of all things related to hot stuff. Starting with a blog, and then a vlog, and then an e-commerce website that brought him to the attention of millions of fanciers of hot seasonings, he now is a success on TikTok.
He is also hoping to re-build his brick and mortar shop, called iBurn, back into the black.
Newly located at 9637 Hillcroft, Beck opened the store in April after shifting it from Bellaire, which he said proved too expensive to operate during the economic downtown of the pandemic. His new, smaller store, co-owned by his wife Amy, is already attracting business thanks to his online presence and TikTok viewers.
After success in financial planning and real estate land development during a recession, Beck decided to reinvent himself. He pursued a program in computer science from Houston Community College in 2008 and was looking to integrate an online business with a personal passion.
Attending his first Hot Sauce Festival in 1995, held in Houston, he met Dave DeWitt, who would become his mentor. DeWitt is an accomplished author on hot stuff.
“Going to this festival, I saw how big the fiery foods industry had become,” Beck said. “I loved hot sauce and chili peppers and anything hot. I wanted to write about something that I loved and was passionate about and have an online presence.”
By 2012, at the eatmoreheat.com blog that Beck started, he said he had the most popular hot sauce review site in the world, with 250,000 views a month. Manufacturers started sending him products to review after just two months on line.
“At first, all I wanted was to get free hot sauce products out of the blog,” Beck said.
From the blog, to a video blog, to live streaming an hour-long variety show in 2010, where he shared funny stories about hot stuff and sampled and reviewed products, he had 50,000 live viewers per broadcast.
By the end of 2012, Beck wanted more than free hot sauce. He wanted to monetize his online business by creating an e-commerce site. In September 2012, he launched iburn.com, a retail internet site.
After the first year, it dawned on Beck that he was shipping products all over the country but had little local business. He wanted to be able to both warehouse his inventory for the e-commerce business and sell in a retail store. The Bellaire store opened for business in 2013.
Business there grew about 20 to 30 percent a year after his start, but then came Hurricane Harvey. With his customer base displaced, he saw his retail business declining. Sales dropped again and he lost another 70 percent of his business during the pandemic.
“In small businesses, there is not enough profit margin to overcome the loss of foot traffic,” Beck said.
His followers contributed to a Go Fund Me effort to ward off bankruptcy, and helped him out by sharing the information on social media.
Making the move to the Hillcroft location is a plus, Beck said, because he is able to keep a small retail store open and still have enough space for his e-commerce business while cutting expenses and making a profit.
Reinventing himself once again, Beck became the “Hot Sauce Boss” on TikTok in October 2020 with spicy food eating challenges. He now has 1.3 million followers, 23 million likes, and 150 million views of his TikTok videos. Now many more people go to his e-commerce site and store.
“Some of the young people come into the store to see me, and it is like they are star struck,” Beck laughed. “I now have content sponsors that pay me to post their product.”
His retail store is an impressive mixture of every kind of hot sauce available, plus every other product that comes in a hot version, such as peanuts, candies, and other snacks.
The next thing on his agenda is to create his very own hot sauce, and he is working on that deal currently.
The store is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Sundays, when the hours are noon to 4 p.m.
— by Arlene Nisson Lassin
