We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joy Freeman and Josue Rivas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joy and Josue, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
SAVIR Foods started back in the middle of 2020 during the pandemic, like everyone I (Josue) had some time available, so I decided to create a mild hot sauce for my niece Genesis. She was incredibly happy about that and immediately loved it! Later, I was thinking about a name and since the sauce is made with Jalapeno Peppers and being an 80’s child, decided to name it Jala Pepa (Like Salt ‘n Pepa).
A few months after, I started sending samples to small shops around the country to see if anyone would be interested, but being a newcomer in the hot sauce world, I only got 2-3 interested.
In the beginning of 2021, I was making about 4 cases (80-100 bottles) a month to fulfill small orders, and one day I got an email from Heatonist saying they loved Jala Pepa and would like to chat about the product with me. I thought to myself these guys are very thorough with new vendors?! When I finally got the chance to chat with them, Heatonist mentioned they wanted to bring it to the wildly popular You Tube show Hot Ones, season 15!!! I was super excited but kept very quiet, listening to the 3 people on the other line. After about 25 minutes they said: “We would like to start with 20-22”. And I thought to myself: wow, 20 cases are a lot for me, but I can do it! By the end of the call, I asked them to be sure and to double check the final number and they said: “22 thousand bottles should do it”, and it was due in less than 2 months. I was in shock, excited and a bit scared, we are talking about 1000 cases of sauce!!!
My friend Joy and now business partner joined the company as our CFO and after gathering our thoughts and resources we made it. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do, and I would do it again if I had to. It not only created jobs for people that needed a bit of help but also inspired people during those challenging times.
We are now in 18 states and 6 countries.
The mission and vision behind our company is to Inspire, Nourish and Connect our world, as simple as hot sauce is, it’s our way to reach out into someone home, to be part of their culinary experience and to put a smile in their face.
These are our core values:
• Give Love
• Be Compassionate
• Our Customer Satisfaction is our obsession
• We don’t settle for mediocrity
• We innovate and create
• We invent the solution as a team
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
About Josue
I currently work as an engineer for an information technology company but prior to that I owned a couple of restaurants in Oregon and Florida. I am a graduate from Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. Some say that once you are in the kitchen you never want to let it go and having a hot sauce company is my way to express my creativity and passion for food. I also do our own product photography and food styling, having a food background makes it easy to create new flavors, I have a unique approach to creating recipes, I start with my favorite dish then I remove the starch and protein and I am left with the essence of the dish, now I can add chilies and perfect a hot sauce.
I believe we have bridged a gap in the Hot Sauce market by giving the consumer a mild and tasty sauce, some might not think of Jala Pepa as a hot sauce, but it gives the opportunity for those that are afraid of heat to try something with a bit of spice and flavor. Even now, that we have 7 sauces ranging from mild to hot, we always emphasize flavor first. We have an artisanal approach to our products, only made in small batches and we do not use any artificial additives, preservatives, or thickeners.
We are proud of our work culture. People come here to help us, and we are grateful for every single person that has been part of our operation.
About Joy
I am an IT professional for over 15 years, and currently work for an information technology company. I began my work career in the food industry when I was 14 years old at a catfish restaurant. I began working at the young age because my Dad had been injured on the job and could not work. I had to learn how to run a household, take care of my Dad all the while trying to be a normal teenager in high school.
Some of my favorite restaurant days were at El Arroyo in Arlington, TX. I began working there for a second income while balancing college and being a Mom. I worked every position from hostess, waitress, bartender, and manager. I did have to cook one lunch shift, and well we won’t discuss that here!
I never thought I would be back in the food industry, but here I am loving every minute of it! We are truly a team at Savir Foods. When Heatonist contacted Josue to place Jala Pepa for the show Hot Ones, we didn’t panic. I said we can do this! Everyone jumped in to help. We had friends from Dallas, Austin and even Oregon come in to help. We have been blessed with so many business mentors.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
Joy and I met at our employer and became friends. With both of us having backgrounds in the food industry and working together every day we know each other’s work ethic and how to work together. So, when the opportunity with Heatonist happened I knew I could count on Joy. I would produce the sauce and Joy would run the business side of operations. Here we are in 2022 and growing and yes, we are still friends!
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
We sell on our website, Instagram, Facebook, Faire, and a couple of other platforms and most recently we opened our Amazon store. The ability for small businesses to be on the platforms is tremendous. It allows a business to have a virtual footprint and not require a brick-and-mortar location. Of course, for those that do have a physical store front, the Ecommerce is an additional door to customer traffic.
Each platform has its pros and cons. A great pro for all of them is the exposure for the brand and customers. The cons are the time it takes to learn, keep the sites updated, juggling multiple platforms and still focusing on product production. As we continue to grow those tasks will be moved to others within the company.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.savirfoods.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savirfoods/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SAVIRFOODSatx
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3rIxT10Ojkii6ttJ-BX6Lg
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/savirfoods/ Hot Ones Season 15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-0TGZYMX9w
Image Credits
Photo Credits: Savir Foods, Savir Media, Josue Rivas and Joy Freeman