How to Be Sweet, Spicy, SAUCY and Successful is a street-smart guide for the independent business owner who wishes to succeed not just in the gourmet specialty sauce industry but any food industry or, for that matter, any industry whatsoever. The book's hands-on advice and do-now action plans help first-time business owners develop their company from the ground up. As such, this self-help, how-to book has much in common with the following popular titles by successful food industry entrepreneurs: Sweet Expectations: Michele Hoskins' Recipe for Success by Michele Hoskins and Jean A. Williams (Adams Media Corporation, 2004) She did it her way and today she has a thriving business built on a tenacious belief in saying no to defeats along the journey. Hoskins created Michele Foods, Inc., when she was a newly divorced mother of three daughters, dreaming a seemingly impossible dream. Taking her great-great-grandmother's closely guarded family recipe for a delicious honey crème syrup and combining it with sheer determination, Hoskins overcame not only racial barriers (she's African-American) but also a complete absence of knowledge about the food industry that she planned to infiltrate and master. Success Never Smelled So Sweet: How I Followed My Nose and Found My Passion by Lisa Price (One World/Ballantine, 2004) Price, creator of Carol's Daughter, Inc., a line of bath and body care products, offers an inspirational story of overcoming low self-esteem and crushing debt to develop a successful business doing what she has always loved. Enamored of fragrances since childhood, when her grandmother filled the kitchen with recipes of her Caribbean heritage, Price struggled to overcome false starts and failed careers and relationships. Finally, her journey of self-discovery helped her realize that what she really loved and what she was good at doing could be developed into a viable enterprise. The Mom Inventors Handbook: How to Turn Your Great Idea into the Next Big Thing by Tamara Monosoff (McGraw-Hill, 2005) The Mom Inventors Handbook. gives practical step-by- step advice for putting inspiration into action. The book takes inventors from idea development to marketing and sales covering everything from market research to prototype development, manufacturing and licensing and debunks some common myths. It simplifies the invention process; even providing stories from real mom inventors sharing their 'aha' moments and lessons learned. Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin' by Paula Deen (Simon & Schuster, 2007) Anyone who's ever watched, mesmerized, as the author of this memoir pan-fries a pork chop on the Food Network will find lots to savor in her down-home life story. Deen, the sunny host of Paula's Home Cooking and the author of three cookbooks, relates the collapse of her first marriage, her surprising fight with agoraphobia and the rise of her Savannah restaurant, The Lady and Sons, with candor, good humor and mouthwatering descriptions of Southern food. Sell Your Specialty Food: Market, Distribute, and Profit from Your Kitchen Creation by Stephen Hall (Kaplan Publishing, 2008) Artisanal. Organic. Fair Trade. Natural. Handmade. Consumers are clamoring for quality and taste, and there is a growing trend toward organic foods and international food. In Sell Your Specialty Food, Stephen Hall outlines every food marketing opportunity and then supports entrepreneurial action with detailed guidance. Fully updated and revised, readers will learn about the latest trends in the field, including organics and the green market industry, and so much more to make their business a success.