11 Hot Sauce Business Success Stories [2024]

Updated: November 19th, 2023
Start A Hot Sauce Business

Hot sauce is one of the most popular condiments in the world, and it's easy to see why: it's versatile, delicious, and can add some serious flavor to almost anything you put it on—and not just for people who like spicy foods! Hot sauce can be used to create complex flavors that are perfect for anyone looking for a little extra pep in their step.

So, if you love hot sauce and you also love money, it turns out, you can start and run a hot sauce business! You can make it yourself or you can buy it in stores and resell it to earn some good profit.

If you are planning to make the hot sauce yourself you’ll need some initial capital to purchase ingredients and equipment for making the hot sauce, as well as packaging materials such as bottles and labels.

The average hot sauce lover will try and consume about 2-3 unique hot sauces in a week, which means there's a lot of money to be made in this industry!

Here are some real life success stories of starting a hot sauce business:

1. Trini Pepper Sauce ($27K/year)

Mustafa Mannan, co-founder of Trini Pepper Sauce, came up with the idea after his family's pepper sauce recipe from Trinidad and Tobago received much praise from friends in North Carolina. To bring the sauce to a wider audience, Mustafa launched a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $32,000, enabling them to import the peppers, manufacture the first batch, and distribute the sauce domestically and internationally.

How much they make: $27K/year
Current team size: 3

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How We Started A Successful Hot Sauce Brand

Trini Pepper Sauce co-founder and co-owner, Mustafa Mannan, shares how he successfully imported and manufactured his family's unique pepper sauce recipe and launched it through a Kickstarter campaign, now selling an average of $3,000/month in revenue.

About
Mustafa started Trini Pepper Sauce about 10 years ago
Revenue
Mustafa grew the business to $2.25K/month
Read by 32,980 founders

2. KPOP Foods ($2.4M/year)

Theo Lee, co-founder and CEO of KPOP Foods, came up with the idea for the business based on his love for Korean food and the desire to share it with others. Along with his co-founder, Mike Kim, they wanted to create a Korean food brand that not only offered delicious products but also represented the vibrant and energetic atmosphere of Korean culture. They launched their first product, KPOP Sauce, through a successful Kickstarter campaign, which funded within the first eight hours and ended with nearly $40,000 from over 1,200 backers.

How much they make: $2.4M/year
Current team size: 5

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How Two Students Made $100K Bringing Korean Hot Sauce To America

KPOP Foods, a Korean food company, generated nearly $100,000 in revenue since last year through its successful Kickstarter campaign and Amazon's Choice badge; they have entered over 90 specialty stores throughout the west coast and are currently raising an investment round to expand their distribution into major retailers and are launching new sauces later this year.

About
Theo started KPOP Foods almost 7 years ago
Revenue
Theo grew the business to $200K/month
Read by 8,850 founders

So... can you actually make money with a hot sauce business?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

3. Flaming Licks ($156K/year)

James and Erika came up with the idea for Flaming Licks when James made his own piri-piri sauce as a Christmas gift in 2014. After receiving positive feedback, they launched Sidekick sauces and opened a chili shop in Dorset. They later acquired the hot sauce subscription box, Lick My Dip, and decided to focus their strategy on the subscription business. They now have around 500 active members and plan to grow to 1000 members by the end of next year.

How much they make: $156K/year
Current team size: 3

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How We Started A $13K/Month Hot Sauce Online Store And Subscription Service

Flaming Licks is a hot sauce subscription club and chili shop based in the UK, finishing 2019 with around 500 active members and planning to grow to 1000 members by the end of this year, with sales at around $13k/month split 2/3 subscription and 1/3 retail, mostly sourced from social media traffic using Cratejoy checkout.

About
James started Flaming Licks over 8 years ago
Revenue
James grew the business to $13K/month
Read by 7,813 founders

4. Small Axe Peppers Hot Sauce ($1.02M/year)

Small Axe Peppers was founded by John Crotty, who saw the potential in an empty lot in the Bronx and decided to turn it into a community garden. Realizing that peppers were the ideal crop for the small space, he came up with the idea to make hot sauce as a way to support the garden and create a commercially scalable product. With the help of Executive Chef King Phojanakong, they developed the Small Axe Peppers line of sauces. Since then, the company has grown exponentially, partnering with over 200 community gardens and distributing their sauces nationwide.

How much they make: $1.02M/year
How much did it cost to start: $50K
Current team size: 3

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How We Started An $85K/Month Hot Sauce Brand

Small Axe Peppers is a thriving hot sauce manufacturing business that partners with over 200 community gardens in the United States, growing locally sourced produce and producing an impressive 70,000 bottles of hot sauce per year; the success is the result of a genuine mission, a great story, an online business, and active social media channels.

About
daniel started Small Axe Peppers Hot Sauce almost 10 years ago
Revenue
daniel grew the business to $85K/month
Costs
It cost daniel $50000 to start the business
Read by 5,956 founders

So... can you actually make money with a hot sauce business?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

7. Sienna Sauce ($192K/year)

Revenue
$16K / month
Team
1 founders / 3 employees

Case Study
  • Tyla-Simone Crayton, first created her signature sauce at the age of 8 when her family had no sauce for their homemade chicken wings.
  • Crayton and her mother "threw a bunch of random things" together to create the sauce, which turned out to be a hit.
  • Crayton's sauce, called Sienna Sauce, is now sold for nearly $10 a bottle and in 70 stores across the U.S.
  • In 2019, the business brought in $192,000 in revenue.
  • Crayton begged her mother for years to let her sell the sauce, but it wasn't until she was a teenager that her mother relented.
  • In 2017, Crayton and her mother opened a pop-up restaurant night in their home to test the market and prove that the sauce could capture a customer base.
  • The pop-up restaurant was so successful, Crayton and her mother made it a regular gig and sold 700 to 1,000 wings every Friday night, bringing in $48,000.
  • Based on the success of their makeshift restaurant, Monique agreed to let Crayton bottle and sell Sienna Sauce.
  • To launch the business, Monique gave Crayton $1,500 to buy her first bottles and labels, and Crayton would hand-make the sauce in the kitchen every Sunday morning.
  • Business began to pick up, and Crayton now sells her sauce in big-name stores.

Marketing strategies

Tyla-Simone Crayton used several strategies to make her business, Sienna Sauce, a success:

  • Creating a unique and high-quality product: Crayton was able to recreate the unique, sweet-tasting sauce of her favorite wing restaurant, which had recently closed, and her sauce was well received by her family and friends.

  • Starting small and testing the market: Crayton and her mother started by selling the sauce at home and then opened a pop-up restaurant night in their home to test the market and prove that the sauce could capture a customer base.

  • Building a loyal customer base: Crayton reached out to former customers of her home restaurant, who she knew liked the sauce, and would sell a couple of bottles to them, who would then buy some more.

  • Expanding to retail: Based on the success of their pop-up restaurant, Crayton and her mother decided to bottle and sell Sienna Sauce, which they named after their town, starting in 2018. Crayton was able to expand and now sells her sauce in popular stores like Walmart.

  • Consistency: Crayton was consistent in making the sauce every Sunday morning and reaching out to her customers, this helped her to keep a steady stream of revenue.

  • Branding and Marketing: Crayton and her mother used social media, flyers, and word of mouth to build awareness of their brand, this helped them to increase the popularity of the sauce and attract more customers.

  • Leveraging the support of family: Monique, Crayton's mother, supported her and helped her to launch the business with a small loan of $1500 and also helped her with other aspects of the business such as branding and marketing.

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Future Plans

  • She sees herself as a curious and creative person who is always making inventions.
  • She believes that her sauce is unique and better than the sauce of her favorite wing restaurant.
  • She is confident in her product and is proud of what she has created.
  • She is passionate about entrepreneurship and wants to be a successful businesswoman.
  • She is committed to her brand and wants to keep the quality of her sauce consistent.
  • She wants to expand her business and bring her sauce to more people.
  • She plans to innovate her product line and add more flavors to her sauce.
  • She is grateful for the support of her mother and the role she played in helping her to start her business.
  • She is optimistic about the future of her business and sees a lot of potential for growth.
  • She is determined to make her business a success.

8. Huy Fong Foods ($150M/year)

Revenue
$12.5M / month
Team
1 founders / 38 employees

Case Study

Huy Fong Foods is an American hot sauce manufacturer headquartered in Irwindale, California. In 1980, a Chinese immigrant from Vietnam named David Tran founded the brand.

The business has developed into one of the market leaders for Asian hot sauces, particularly Sriracha sauce, also known as rooster sauce, because of the rooster-themed label.

When Tran first began his business, he sold his sauces out of a blue Chevy van that he had filled with used baby food jars. In his first month, he earned $2300.

In 2019, Tran's Sriracha generated $150 million in revenue annually, accounting for 10% of the US market for hot sauce.

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Read the full story on vietcetera.com ➜

So... can you actually make money with a hot sauce business?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

7. Frag Out Flavor ($1.5M/year)

Patrick Flynn, founder and CEO of Frag Out Flavor, came up with the idea for his spice blends and BBQ rubs after returning home from a deployment to Afghanistan. His passion for great food and BBQ, combined with his desire to reconnect with the veteran community, led him to create a lineup of high-quality blends that have been loved by family and friends. With a strong focus on customer loyalty and giving back to the veteran community, Frag Out Flavor has grown to generate around $125K/month in revenue.

How much they make: $1.5M/year
Current team size: 1

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This Veteran Built A $1.5M Spices & Rubs Brand

Frag Out Flavor, a veteran-owned spice blend and BBQ rub company, generates around $125k/month and is backed by a loyal customer base while also giving back to the veteran community through various initiatives.

About
Patrick started Frag Out Flavor about 6 years ago
Revenue
Patrick grew the business to $125K/month
Read by 2,777 founders