Hello all!
Found this site while looking for a way to contact a hot sauce review guy (a link to a link to a link to a link to here).
I am an aspiring hot sauce maker, working on taking my hobby pro. I’d say I’m about ½ way there at this point…I’ve got a co-packer who has my production recipes priced, and in the next couple of months we’ll be working out test batches.
I’ve collected hot sauce for decades, and in 2004 I started making my own. By the end of 2005 they started to be edible (ha!) and within a few months of that I had more demand than supply. My hobby was starting to bankrupt me, so with much encouragement I started a Facebook page and started to sell it in limited quantities on a limited basis. I’m up to 200+ customers through word of mouth, and it’s led to a great many positive experiences including the aforementioned attempt to “go pro”.
While I have a great many favorite hot sauces, (far too many to list here) I never quite found one that was the "perfect" balance between heat & flavor. With all respect to the “hot heads” out there, I am much more of a flavor guy. I prefer hot sauce as a condiment, and the person eating it should not be afraid to put it on a good cut of steak (or anything for that matter) for fear of ruining it. If you’re looking to win a bet or screw over you’re a-hole brother-in-law, my sauce is probably not for you.
That said, I also don’t make a mild sauce either – all flavor, no heat is ok, but also not my cup of tea. As such my heat profile is probably best described as “med-hot to hot” for all 3 of my production recipes. I differ also in that I prefer to use fresh peppers (not a mash), I fire-roast everything, and I don’t add anything artificial, ever. The Orange (a fire-roasted habanero/Serrano/jalapeno with roasted garlic) is actually quite hot, but nothing near the “novelty” hot sauces that supplement with pure liquid capsaicin and/or dried pepper powders. Unfortunately this also drives my costs up, but them's the breaks.
Again – I want my hot sauce to be consumed again and again - poured on to food, not to be tasted on a toothpick and timed to see how long it takes the consumer to stop sweating. I honestly don't care how many Scoville units are in my sauces. I care only about how well it will compliment the widest variety of foods. If you’re like me, you work hard on your BBQ rubs and marinades, and I like to taste that effort while still enjoying some added heat. My slogan is "Food's Best Friend" - it actually came before I had the name Lucky Dog Hot Sauce. It's like my mission statement.
I have to say – a little over a year into it, the path to starting a business is a lot of work – legal stuff, trade-marking, working with a graphic artist to get my labels just right, working out production recipes, finding a co-packer that I both get along with and who is capable of making the sauce in commercial batches and in quantities that are reasonable. And last but not at all least, slowly but surely building a loyal following of supportive fans who enjoy my flavorful creations.
While I have 3 "final" recipes (and several that I hope to produce after I've launched with those) I often experiment with the hobby batches, lightly smoking peppers over various hard woods, mixing up the types of fresh & dried peppers, etc. It's been a difficult and interesting endeavor and I'm hoping there will be rewards down the road.
Since I'm still a hobby business while working with my co-packer, I am paying retail for my ingredients, labels, printer ink and glass bottles - as such I don't make much on the sauce I produce, but the overwhelmingly positive feedback has been very rewarding. Among my customers are several chefs, hot heads, casual hot sauce fans, fellow sauce makers and more. I love the word-of-mouth spread of the business – Famous Amos is my hero, and I hope to follow in his footsteps a bit.
What small profits I currently make help to keep the hobby/business going, and with every batch I donate to the anysoldier.com cause to receive random addresses of troops "in harm's way" so that I can send them hot sauce in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places of deployment. I’ve sent over 30 care packages and counting and will continue to do so as long as I’m producing sauce in any capacity.
Glad I found this place and I hope to make some friends here!
Best,
Scott
Lucky Dog Hot Sauce
http://www.facebook....=wall&filter=12
Found this site while looking for a way to contact a hot sauce review guy (a link to a link to a link to a link to here).
I am an aspiring hot sauce maker, working on taking my hobby pro. I’d say I’m about ½ way there at this point…I’ve got a co-packer who has my production recipes priced, and in the next couple of months we’ll be working out test batches.
I’ve collected hot sauce for decades, and in 2004 I started making my own. By the end of 2005 they started to be edible (ha!) and within a few months of that I had more demand than supply. My hobby was starting to bankrupt me, so with much encouragement I started a Facebook page and started to sell it in limited quantities on a limited basis. I’m up to 200+ customers through word of mouth, and it’s led to a great many positive experiences including the aforementioned attempt to “go pro”.
While I have a great many favorite hot sauces, (far too many to list here) I never quite found one that was the "perfect" balance between heat & flavor. With all respect to the “hot heads” out there, I am much more of a flavor guy. I prefer hot sauce as a condiment, and the person eating it should not be afraid to put it on a good cut of steak (or anything for that matter) for fear of ruining it. If you’re looking to win a bet or screw over you’re a-hole brother-in-law, my sauce is probably not for you.
That said, I also don’t make a mild sauce either – all flavor, no heat is ok, but also not my cup of tea. As such my heat profile is probably best described as “med-hot to hot” for all 3 of my production recipes. I differ also in that I prefer to use fresh peppers (not a mash), I fire-roast everything, and I don’t add anything artificial, ever. The Orange (a fire-roasted habanero/Serrano/jalapeno with roasted garlic) is actually quite hot, but nothing near the “novelty” hot sauces that supplement with pure liquid capsaicin and/or dried pepper powders. Unfortunately this also drives my costs up, but them's the breaks.
Again – I want my hot sauce to be consumed again and again - poured on to food, not to be tasted on a toothpick and timed to see how long it takes the consumer to stop sweating. I honestly don't care how many Scoville units are in my sauces. I care only about how well it will compliment the widest variety of foods. If you’re like me, you work hard on your BBQ rubs and marinades, and I like to taste that effort while still enjoying some added heat. My slogan is "Food's Best Friend" - it actually came before I had the name Lucky Dog Hot Sauce. It's like my mission statement.
I have to say – a little over a year into it, the path to starting a business is a lot of work – legal stuff, trade-marking, working with a graphic artist to get my labels just right, working out production recipes, finding a co-packer that I both get along with and who is capable of making the sauce in commercial batches and in quantities that are reasonable. And last but not at all least, slowly but surely building a loyal following of supportive fans who enjoy my flavorful creations.
While I have 3 "final" recipes (and several that I hope to produce after I've launched with those) I often experiment with the hobby batches, lightly smoking peppers over various hard woods, mixing up the types of fresh & dried peppers, etc. It's been a difficult and interesting endeavor and I'm hoping there will be rewards down the road.
Since I'm still a hobby business while working with my co-packer, I am paying retail for my ingredients, labels, printer ink and glass bottles - as such I don't make much on the sauce I produce, but the overwhelmingly positive feedback has been very rewarding. Among my customers are several chefs, hot heads, casual hot sauce fans, fellow sauce makers and more. I love the word-of-mouth spread of the business – Famous Amos is my hero, and I hope to follow in his footsteps a bit.
What small profits I currently make help to keep the hobby/business going, and with every batch I donate to the anysoldier.com cause to receive random addresses of troops "in harm's way" so that I can send them hot sauce in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places of deployment. I’ve sent over 30 care packages and counting and will continue to do so as long as I’m producing sauce in any capacity.
Glad I found this place and I hope to make some friends here!
Best,
Scott
Lucky Dog Hot Sauce
http://www.facebook....=wall&filter=12
and I wish you much success with your new venture!
and your mission statement. Good luck
