Our story, in classic style, has a humble beginning: a bag of peppers, freshly picked from my father’s garden.
The Prequel:
I had a strained relationship with my father growing up. It’s a familiar story to many: adolescent resistance to authority, clashing ideals, and a difficult divorce. My family always had a large garden and I spent much of my childhood maintaining it. Sure there was some joy to be had in fresh-picked raspberries, but as a child I was not keen on eating my vegetables, let alone growing and caring for them. Working in the garden was a chore, and I did not have a proper appreciation for it. Enter my teen years – my parents divorced, the garden went away and I did not miss it. I spent several years with little to no contact with my father only to reconnect in early adulthood. By now I had begun to develop an interest in cooking and food preservation and my father had taken to canning his garden produce in the late summer. It was a natural fit and we bonded over the experience, becoming fast friends. I would visit in early September every year and we would spend the weekend making pickles, jams, tomato sauce, and salsa. I pushed him to grow hotter and hotter peppers in his garden to make increasingly spicy batches of salsa. You can see where this is going...
The Early Days:
Enter the bag of peppers. My father and I had already made salsa that year and he had a bumper crop of habaneros, cayenne and cherry peppers which needed to be used. I had recently moved in with my girlfriend, Amanda, who isn’t exactly keen on spicy food. I couldn’t get away with sneaking these hot peppers into my meals anymore, so I needed to figure out something to do with them. “Why not make hot sauce?” I thought to myself, and Spicy Mike’s was born. That first batch, the Original mark 1, was a hit! It was so good that I recall telling my friends in half-jest, “I’ve finally found my calling in life”. It took a few years, but this notion rings truer every day. After the Original came a new, improved version of the Original. Then Hot Chocolate, Tequila Verde, etc. Within a few short years I was growing my own garden, smoking peppers and exploring fermentation methods. I was actively touring with my band at the time and making hot sauce in- between runs. I sold hot sauce at our merch booth for beer money, and it exploded in popularity. I began selling it over facebook, shipping to family and friends across the country. My friend (and bandmate) Shayne created artwork and labels for me. Spicy Mike’s had become a part-time job, too much for one man to manage.
The Present:
Enter Mild Amanda, my wife and business partner. By this point I was staying up all hours of the night producing sauce, bottling batches, and shipping orders all over the country. Amanda saw this hobby of mine explode in popularity and wanted in on the action! It started slowly with some help making sauce or bottling here and there, but before I knew it she was waist deep in our burgeoning hot sauce business. Now, making hot sauce at home can get messy at times. Between the fumes haunting her sleep at night and the sink overflowing with dishes, Amanda began research on how to bring our business above board and out of the house. She laid out the foundation for Spicy Mike’s Hot Sauce, LLC and I merely followed instructions. Fast forward a little bit and here we are today, doing it for real! Nowadays we do our work in a commercial kitchen and sell our sauces at farmer’s markets all across Columbus.
The Future:
Now that we’re up and running, it’s time to grow the business and SELL OUT, right?! Relax, I’m just kidding, we will never do that. We know what makes good hot sauce: wonderful ingredients, meticulous attention to detail, and an artistic, iterative approach to recipe development. The plan moving forward is to focus on these fundamentals and keep producing small batches of inspired, handmade hot sauces while growing our business much like I grow my own garden – organically and sustainably, with no shortcuts ever. We’ll continue to expand into new farmer’s markets, locally owned cafes, restaurants and grocers, and online sales directly to customers worldwide. Here’s where you come in: pick up a bottle today and pat yourself on the back. Not only will you soon have the very best hot sauce that money can buy, but you’ve also helped me realize one of my wildest dreams. Thank you and enjoy!
