Company History In 1978, at age 42, Richard F. Quinn, a native of Faribault, Minnesota, suffered a heart attack and subsequently a failed double bypass surgery. Apparently the transplanted veins from his leg did not sufficiently support coronary circulation. He was incredibly weak; his family did not expect him to live. Learning about his plight, a neighbor – “The Lady at the Lake” – suggested to Dick that he try cayenne pepper. An ordinary guy with a type-A personality, Dick scoffed at the notion that an “ordinary kitchen spice” would restore his health and vitality. When Dick’s surgeon said there was nothing more he could do, Dick purchased some cayenne at a grocery store. He made up several capsules, took them, and went to bed. Overnight, he felt dramatically better and within days was back on his job as a freelance writer and business mail specialist. In the 1980s, Dick Quinn read everything he could about herbs and natural healing. He discovered School of Natural Healing by Dr. John R. Christopher. Dick’s belief in cayenne was reconfirmed. Christopher also believed that high heat cayenne was “a great herb for the circulatory system.” Christopher wrote, “Cayenne regulates the flow of blood from the head to the feet; it influences the heart immediately.” This is the healing fire that got Dick Quinn back on his feet, prolonging his life 18 years. In 1989, after experimenting with various cayenne formulas for a decade, Dick Quinn founded the Heart Foods Co. In 1992, Dick self published Left for Dead, a powerful testimonial about how cayenne and other herbs had made a crucial difference in his life. Heart Foods Co. and his R.F. Quinn Publishing Co. were both successful and kept Dick very busy in the early 1990s. Dick Quinn was sharing his story on radio stations across the country, and his cayenne formulas were making their way into thousands of health food stores. Dick’s great success, however, was threatened by a new enemy: heart failure brought on by a leaky abdominal aneurysm. Since 1978, Dick Quinn had been living with a “distended aorta,” also known as an abdominal aneurysm. Dick would not consider surgery and had decided to take a chance with a hidden, dangerous bulging aorta. Back pain and crushing fatigue sidelined Dick in early 1995. On September 5, 1995, the aneurysm ruptured killing Dick instantly. Dick started a second book, Death by Deception, to chronicle his fight with heart failure. He learned that a good percentage of heart attack survivors like himself were in danger ultimately of succumbing to heart failure, the number one reason anyone age 65 or older is in the hospital. Death by Deception was completed by two of Dick’s children and his partner Alan Watson in 1996. Heart Foods Co. survived Dick’s death and continued to produce and distribute Dick’s original cayenne formulas. In 2006, Heart Foods was reorganized as Cayenne Company expanding its products to include other nutritional supplements that – together with cayenne and other herbs – support cardiovascular health.*