SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — As a Southerner, you know we have foods that are special to the area -- things like sweet tea, barbecue, and pimento cheese.
One woman who lives in Washington County has a product she calls Proper Pepper.
The mother of two hopes her pimento cheese takes off across the country.
Deana Bibb calls herself an accidental entrepreneur
"I heard about the contest and I was approaching 50 years old and I wanted to do something exciting and edgy, and for me, that was entering the contest with my pimento cheese," she recalled.
It wasn't just any contest, and apparently not just any pimento cheese.
Deana brought home the top plaque in the Taste of Georgia competition in 2015.
"One judge was the president of a food distribution company, and he said, 'You get your packaging cleaned up a little bit and I can sell this all day long,'" she explained. "And that's when I knew I was about to take Proper Pepper from a farmers market into a retail store."
Now, a commercial packing kitchen in Gray loads up about 1,200 little containers a month.
They go to places around the state like the Harveys in Sandersville.
"Ingles in Eatonton, Gray, and Louisville some Piggly Wigglys in Dublin, McRae, Hazelhurst, "she said. "I'm in Atlanta in some places that are more gourmet food markets."
Deana has 9-year-old twins Kessler and McFerrin, kids that besides eating the profits, help out in other ways.
"And now they're learning new skills -- helping me deliver the product, they've put labels on containers before," Deana said.
"McFerrin puts it in the cooler and mom hands it to me and I hand it to her, just like a little train. The only hard part is the ice packs are really cold, so it hurts," Kessler said.
Nobody said being an entrepreneur is easy, and sometimes, you even have to make your own deliveries.
Mark Chrisley owns Trackside Pub and Deli in Tennille. He says they want to support locals, and stocking his fridge with Proper Pepper just makes sense.
"We love it -- we're selling the heck out of it," Chrisley exclaimed.
Over the last five years, Proper Pepper has gone through a progression.
But it's all positive for a mom out of a small town with big dreams for her pimento cheese .
"I'd like to be a staple in homes across America," Deana said with a smile.
Deana says this isn't a secret because the ingredients are listed on the label, but she uses cottage cheese in her pimento cheese recipe because she says it makes it easier to spread.
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