King Features Syndicate, a unit of Hearst and home to some of the world’s most popular entertainment characters, along with Florida-based food and beverage company Jade City Foods, has announced a new collection of high-end Popeye & Friends-inspired hot sauces and coffee. This latest expansion within the food category further solidifies Popeye as one of the most sought-after pop culture properties.
The spinach-loving sailorman and his friends will feature on packaging for four Popeye Signature Hot Sauces: Popeye’s ‘Strong to the Finish Hot Sauce’ (Jalapeño Spinach), Eugene the Jeep’s ‘Jeep! Jeep! Magic Hot Sauce’ (Pineapple Habanero), Wimpy’s ‘I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday for Some Burger Sauce Today’ (Sweet & Smokey Sriracha) and Bluto’s ‘You Can’t Handle My Hot Sauce, Runt!’ (Reaper, Scorpion & Ghost Peppers).
Additionally, the Jade City food line includes Popeye Signature Coffee, which will be available in three unique blends: Olive Oyl’s ‘I’m Too Kind-Hearted Blend’ (a Clean & Fruity Light Roast), Bluto’s ‘No Good Sailor Blend’ (a Bombastic & Balanced Medium Roast) and Popeye’s ‘Blow Me Down Blend!’ (a Courageously Strong Dark Roast).
“The Jade City team knows good food and they really connect with the Popeye brand,” says King Features Vice President, North America Licensing, Jarred Goro. “Their focus on delivering top-quality products that taste good paired with their creative approach to the development process — from ingredient selection to packaging — makes them the perfect partner to release this unique line of hot sauce flavours and signature coffee blends. We are thrilled to kick off the launch and can’t wait to see how fans respond.”
“Popeye has always been a love of mine from the early Fleischer cartoons to more recent IDW comics,” says Jade City founder Cliff Wiener. “It’s really fun to dig in and create foods inspired by the characters we know and love.”
The signature coffee blends and hot sauces are available in the US at the new online store, www.food.popeye.com, starting from November 16. Following the initial launch, Jade City Foods is set to introduce three hot cocoa blends – ‘Sea-Salty Sailor Salted Caramel,’ ‘Goo-Goo Gooey Chocolate’ and ‘“Oh, Dear!” Peppermint’ – along with a limited-edition ghost pepper hot sauce, ‘Bruiser Boys Club’ (Ghost Pepper Blueberry Hot Sauce), on Black Friday.
