We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amy Coram Reynolds. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amy below.

Amy, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name for my brand comes from a nicer version of a few choice words that i have been called throughout my time as a chef. Typically, the chefs i worked under and grew up admiring were loud, angry and very dedicated to perfection. You don’t get called the nicest of words when you possess those same traits as a female chef. So the brand that i designed was essentially making fun of (or giving the middle finger to) the gender bias that exists in the culinary industry.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been working in the restaurant industry since i was 14 years old. I worked as a hostess or server throughout traditional college until I dropped out and went to culinary school in New York. I am from a small town just over the Ga Fl line and it was not common for people to move that far for college, especially a non-traditional college. Food was always my go-to for any type of emotion that i was feeling. If i had a great day i wanted to cook and eat and hang out with friends. If i had a bad day i wanted to cook and eat and talk about it with friends. Food was always the common denominator. I have been a chef at various restaurants for over 15 years. I have lived and worked in Florida, Georgia, New York, Nevada, and Puerto Rico.
During Covid, i launched Saucy Hot Sauce. Hot Sauce has always been a passion of mine. I love to take peppers and create sauces that not only have a good bit of heat; but also taste great. I think the covid shutdown gave me the free time I needed to get everything set up on the back end as well as the time to create new sauces. When i began thinking about building a brand and a business it was important to me to make sure that i held space for women to be on my team. I wanted to create a brand that was uplifting and sympathetic to the struggles that women face in the full-time work force, especially in the hospitality industry.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Manufacturing hot sauce and learning how to do that in different places is not for the faint of heart. When i started, i knew how to make hot sauce. I didn’t know what permits i needed, what codes needed to be followed, what certifications i needed or any of that. I was learning everything as i went. I didn’t know if i could manufacture and bottle myself or if i needed to use a copacker. I definitely did not know how much these permits/getting legal would be!

Then fast forward to moving my business to Florida. There are new rules here that didn’t apply in Las Vegas, new tax websites, new permits and codes etc. So, then you need to pay for that all over again. It’s not cheap to move a business. Finding vendors was also a struggle. I knew what products i used for the original hot sauce flavor when i made it in Puerto Rico. But those same products or vendors weren’t available in Nevada nor in Florida. You have to learn to be flexible and truly test your recipes so that you get the same consistent taste.

Eventually, i chose to rent commissary kitchens and manufacture and bottle the sauces myself. This means that i am the only person to touch the product from start to finish.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

While i do not have a business partner, my virtual assistant is a “day one” employee. We met in a hockey facebook group for women. She was just starting out as a VA and was looking for small businesses to pitch to. I was just getting ready to launch my website and i needed more back-end help so that i could focus on recipes and actually making enough products. I feel as though we have grown this brand together and having her allows me to focus on my strengths.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saucythesauce.com
• Instagram: @saucythesauce.lv
• Facebook: @Saucythesauce.lv

Image Credits
Dave Laus