Daily choices matter

If you’re a cook or interested in food, you’ll notice a new push in food media to prop up and promote the spice company Penzey’s. This is not random. In January, Penzey’s CEO Bill Penzey renamed the MLK holiday weekend “Republicans are racist” weekend. After the outrage, the media cleanup work began in earnest.

We all have choices. Business owners have choices about how to speak of their customers, and they also have the freedom to alienate anyone they like. Word is that 40,000 people unsubscribed from his newsletter. However —media to the rescue— they say that he has gained 30,000 new subscribers (source: Wikipedia).

Here’s a choice to consider. Spice House. I’m told that the original owners of Spice House, Bill Penzey Sr. and Ruth Ann Penzey left the business to their children, then Bill Junior went wildly, radically left. So the company was split into Penzey’s and Spice House. While I do not see confirmation of this online, I do know that Spice House will not call you a racist when you buy their cinnamon.

These choices matter.