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From Concerts to Condiments: The Reinvention of Walter Kinzie
In the summer of 2020, Walter Kinzie was staring at a whiteboard – empty, for the first time in years.
His event company, Encore Live, had built a reputation for producing cutting-edge experiential events, concerts, and lavish parties, often featuring legendary musicians. The firm had even produced a presidential inauguration.
Then COVID hit. Overnight, the live events industry flatlined.
Walter Kinzie, pre-Covid days; first appeared in Madeworthy, Issue 23
photo courtesy of Walter Kinzie
Kinzie didn’t panic. He pivoted. Within months, he helped invent an entirely new model for live entertainment: the Encore Drive-In Nights concert series. From his company’s HQ in Fort Worth, Texas, Walter and his team designed and executed stadium-caliber shows, reimagined for drive-in theater parking lots. The event series was an ingenious workaround that let millions reconnect safely, through music.
But even that wasn’t the most surprising turn his career would take.
While reinventing the events business by day, Kinzie was experimenting in his kitchen at night – cooking and bottling barbecue sauce based on a decades-old family recipe. At first, the sauces were just gifts for clients. A gesture. But then came the calls: “Where can I buy more?” “Can I get this in Nashville?” “Can I put it in my restaurant?”
And just like that, Kinzie Foods was born: a bold, unapologetic small-batch sauce company with flavors like Espresso, Fiery, and the now-legendary Reaper. What started as gifts with hand-written labels in Mason jars is now shipping nationwide.
A Brand That Doesn’t Blend In
From the beginning, Kinzie Foods was never trying to fit in. The company wasn’t about playing it safe or following category trends. It was about creating a brand with a point of view – one that could make you laugh, raise an eyebrow, and maybe change your mind about what BBQ sauce is supposed to be.
“Our sauces are unique on purpose,” says Kinzie. “When was the last time you tried a barbecue sauce that surprised you? That made you smile, pause, or say something out loud? That’s the goal. We want every flavor to stand out and leave an impression.”
That sense of experimentation – of doing things differently on purpose – is now embedded in everything Kinzie does. The current brand mantra, “Curing Blandness,” isn’t just a tagline – it’s a rallying cry. Every flavor in the Kinzie lineup exists to push past predictable. The names and flavors are unexpected. The packaging is sleek.
The mission is clear: this sauce doesn’t blend in, and neither should you.
Rather than mimicking trends, Kinzie aims to create moments – flavors that spark reactions, content that makes people pause, and a customer experience that feels more like discovering a cult classic than shopping for a commodity.
“Our team has been very intentional about designing this brand to stand out, and it’s built to be talked about,” says Kinzie.
L-R: Walter Kenzie, Chris Stapleton, Dean Dillon, Cory Ludens in pre-Covid days
Photo courtesy of Walter Kenzie
Built Like a Band, Not a Brand
Kinzie runs his company like a touring crew – small, scrappy, and tight. There’s no bloated team or corporate hierarchy. Instead, the company works with a core group of creative partners who are joined by a growing network of fans-turned-collaborators. “We keep things small and sharp,” Kinzie says. “It’s more like a band than a boardroom.”
And just like a good band, the company knows how to read the room. Kinzie plays the proverbial hits – selling plenty of its crowd-pleasing flavors, such as Pickle – while trying new things, like limited-edition Reaper-flavored drops. The brand has come to thrive on a mix of consistency, surprise, and creative risk-taking. But those risks aren’t random; they’re rooted in feedback, shaped by the people tasting, reacting, and talking in real time.
“We listen obsessively,” Walter says. “Everything we’ve made that works has come from customers and real people sharing their honest opinions with us, be that in person, in email surveys, on social media, or otherwise.”
The $100K Creator Search
This summer, Kinzie Foods announced its most unorthodox move yet: a $100,000 open search for a breakout content creator. But instead of asking for résumés and portfolios, Kinzie told applicants to post a short-form social media video in any format of any idea showing how they’d direct the brand’s online presence.
The ask? Be bold. Be funny. Be weird, even.
The winner will receive a $100K salary to lead Kinzie’s video content; not as a full-time employee, but as a remote, flexible creative partner. Someone with taste, instincts, and their own audience. The kind of person who can turn raw flavor into something people want to watch, share, and remember.
The entire search is being documented on social media, with Kinzie commenting on submissions and sharing behind-the-scenes footage. The job application reads more like a dare. And the internet has taken note.
A Bigger Mission
Today, Kinzie Foods is more than a condiment company. It’s a creative platform, rooted in flavor, but driven by a deeper mission: to cure blandness and do some good along the way.
In July, the company launched its first “Giving Days” campaign: a sales event where 100% of proceeds went to families impacted by devastating floods in Texas. The result? Kinzie’s single biggest sales day to date, with every dollar donated to the Pat Green Foundation for flood relief.
That combination of hustle and heart is core to the brand’s identity.
“We’re building something fun, fast, and fearless,” Kinzie says. “But giving back will always be core to our mission, no matter where this thing goes.”
Walter Kinzie, 2025
photo credit: Trey Daugherty
Reinvention, With Sauce
Today, Walter calls South Dakota home, where he lives with his wife and two daughters, and still runs the concert business while building Kinzie Foods. His schedule hasn’t slowed much, but the scenery has changed.
“I’m still on the road a good bit, [but] the venues have just changed,” he says. “From amphitheaters to food shows, from sound stages to trade shows. But the goal remains the same: to make people feel something. Surprise them. Delight them. Give them a reason to look up from their phones and say, ‘you’ve gotta try this.’”
Reinvention didn’t mean replacing one path with another. It meant channeling the same energy, creativity, and connection into a new kind of experience, one you can taste.
From music to meals, Walter Kinzie’s journey proves that reinvention doesn’t require starting over. And that while there is indeed a cure for blandness, there is no cure for passion.
This article was written for Madeworthy by Jake Klein. Walter was previously featured in Madeworthy in Issue 23, May/June 2021.
