Doug Renfro's ('84) job duties range from keeping up with government regulations to tasting new dishes around the world.

Renfro is president of Fort Worth-based Mrs. Renfro's, which makes a wide variety of condiments. His grandparents began by creating syrups in the 1940s, and through the decades,  the company expanded into other condiments. Now it's known for salsas.

Renfro, a member of the Texas Food Processors and Specialty Food Associations Halls of Fame, shared his tricks of the trade.

35 on 35

As a student, the finance major commuted 35 miles on I-35 from Haltom City with his now-wife, Julie ('86, '89 M.Ed.). He took classes from 8 a.m. until noon, then came home to mix spices in the family's factory from 2 to 7 p.m. in Fort Worth. He'd tackle homework at night.

"I had the world's most interesting smelling Subaru," he says.

His junior high school band director, who had been in UNT's One O'Clock Lab Band, introduced Renfro, who played the guitar, banjo, piano and saxophone, to UNT by taking students to concerts.

"I was a music major for about 94 seconds, and I realized, 'Oh my Lord, there are so many amazing people that have to work at three in the morning in a smoky bar and teach at a college and have six other jobs and they're way better than me. So, I think I'll major in business and make enough money to go to concerts and buy albums.'"

After he graduated from UNT, he worked for the now-defunct technology company EDS, which was bought by General Motors, for seven years. He earned his M.B.A. at Southern Methodist University and worked in the insurance industry. Around 1992, Renfro's father and uncle needed help with sales, finance and other administrative areas, so Renfro joined his two cousins as the third generation to handle management of the company. Renfro figured out everything from the nutrition panel to ordering salt.

Company Secrets

Mrs. Renfro's sells well over 20 million jars of salsa a year and is ranked eighth in salsa sales in the nation. But the market is dominated by big businesses such as Campbell's. Mrs. Renfro's garners much of its business by making condiments for other companies, such as private labels.

He's made innovations in marketing, appearing in trade shows in wacky costumes, such as a Mountie in Canada. He's sent jars to set decorators of film and TV productions, and those ended up in the movie Spy Kids and the television show The Big Bang Theory.

The brand saw an uptick in sales during COVID-19. "When COVID hit, everybody started hoarding toilet paper and salsa," he says.

Secret Sauce

"I tell people I'm extremely good in a tiny sliver of the culinary world, which is acidified condiments, and I'm a total moron in most of the rest of it. If you need me to reverse engineer a salsa or a barbecue sauce, I can do that. If you want to know how to make sausage or macaroni, you're not in a good place if you're talking to me."

Discovering What's Next

"My job has always been to eat at the best restaurants around the world and snoop around the magazines and the culinary shops to see what are the trends out there that we might be able to introduce in an everyday value price grocery store. I'd had mango habanero chutney on halibut at a nice restaurant five years before we came out with mango habanero sauce because it would've been too soon. If you come out too soon and it doesn't sell, the buyers get a bad taste in their mouth, and there's another pun you can use. You want to be innovative, but you can't be too early because if it doesn't sell well, supermarkets will never stock it again."

Hot Stuff

Mrs. Renfro's was the first grocery brand to sell a ghost pepper salsa in 2012. Today spent a whole minute on the launch.

"The news anchor was eating it, and they were passing it around, and everybody was raving about how hot it was — and that didn't cost us a penny. That was just one of the few nice things that happened for free in life. And that's great fun being on the front of a trend and finding a way you can make it such that pretty much everybody can afford it — as opposed to a Rolls-Royce, which is really nice and almost nobody can afford one. Our ghost pepper salsa is really nice and almost everybody can afford it. And that brings me great joy."

But Renfro avoids the hotter versions of his salsas. "My tongue is wimpy," he says.