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

Hi Kayla, thanks for 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?

I love my last name and, I’ve always wanted to incorporate it into my business name somehow. At first, I was thinking of using my initials and naming my company “K.M. Cherry’s”, but I spoke with a branding expert, and she suggested I just change it to “Cherry’s” to keep it simple. I eventually decided to change it to “Cherry’s Products” When I was first thinking of the logo design, I immediately thought I should use three cherries to represent me, my brother, and my sister.

I came up with “Kayla’s Comfort Catering” because, when I was in high school, I attended this program called Orange-Ulster BOCES in Goshen, NY. It was a program for 11th and 12th graders in schools in both Orange and Ulster counties. We could choose to go there in either the morning or the afternoon. In that program, there were many trades you could choose from. I, of course, chose culinary arts. I remember we did a project where we had to come up with a concept for our own food business. Most people chose to do a restaurant. I remember watching a show on Food Network called “Dinner Impossible” starring Robert Irvine where he and his team were challenged to cater for large groups of people in a certain amount of time. I would just watch the show and be mesmerized at the amount of food they were able to make. I always love cooking for a crowd. So, for my project, I chose to have a catering business. I myself enjoy eating comfort foods so, I decided that would be my specialty.

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 background and context?

My name is Kayla Cherry. I am originally from New York. I lived in Texas for a few years and there, I graduated from El Centro Community College with an Associates degree in Culinary Arts. I currently live in North Carolina. I have been cooking ever since I could reach the stove. I always loved helping my mom in the kitchen. I would help her make breakfast, dinner and holiday meals. Growing up, my house was always the party house. We hosted family gatherings almost every holiday. Even if it was one of my cousins’ birthdays, they would come to our house to celebrate. It would always be my mom and I cooking dinner in the kitchen. Next thing you know, I was in charge of making dinner every night.
I have always wanted to have my own products. I remember, in the summer of 2015, when I was still in high school, I made a list of all of the products I wanted to create in the future. On that list were marinades, seasoning blends and of course hot sauce. After a while, school started back up and that list was tucked away in a binder and forgotten. Fast forward to September of 2021, I found that list and focused on the hot sauce. After a lot of research and recipe development, I created my own flavors of hot sauces with unique names. The names of my sauces are “Holla Mango”, Screamin’ Serrano”, and “Howling Habanero”.

Each sauce is blended, bottled and labeled by hand. It took about 6 months to perfect each recipe. First, I had my family as my taste testers. After a few batches, I reached out to some chefs on Instagram and asked if they could try them and give me their opinion. I had gotten some really good feedback. After that I felt that my sauces were ready. I signed up for a farmers’ market and started selling my hot sauces there for a few weeks. It went really well! After I moved to NC, I signed up for as many vendor markets as I could.

I think I am most proud of how I have come out of my shell. I am normally a shy, quiet and overall, a very introverted person. I knew that being in this business, I would need to get out of my shell. Anytime I get the chance I always tell people about my businesses. Anytime I am asked what I do for a living I proudly let them know.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

When I first researched how to make hot sauce, I went on YouTube, and I watched a TON of videos. While doing my research, I also saw videos about fermented hot sauces. The next day, I went to the store, and I knew I wanted to make mild, medium and hot sauces. I got jalapeños, serranos, and habaneros. I knew that habaneros were the hottest of the three and the jalapeños were the mildest. I also bought some fruit. I didn’t really have a plan at first about which fruits I was going to get. I just grabbed the first three fruits I saw which were pineapple, mangoes and oranges. When I got home, I assessed all of my ingredients. I always see mango habanero sauces at restaurants and stores, so I decided to do mango jalapeño. The habaneros are orange, so I decided to pair them with the oranges. The pineapple and serrano were just process of elimination. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to ferment or not ferment. So, I made the first batch by boiling the peppers and fruits in water and blending them with salt and vinegar. The second batch was the same amount of ingredients but fermented. The fermented batch tasted better, and they were also hotter. At first, when I was researching how to make hot sauces, it seemed like it was going to be easy. I quickly realized that it’s not!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I lived in Texas, I worked at a catering company from 2019-2020. In late 2019, I had plans to start a doughnut shop called “Delightful Doughnuts”. It was going to be a food truck. I had done my research, looking up all of the necessary permits and licenses I needed. I spent weeks testing out recipes and making a list of all of the equipment I would need. My plan was to open in the summer of 2020. Then came the pandemic and my plans had to change. Everyone got laid off at my catering job. I had to think about what I wanted to do about the doughnut shop. I decided to scrap the idea. While I was at home, and I had the time, I started to look up how to become a caterer and private chef on my own. I began searching for chefs to work with on Instagram in order to get some experience. I eventually found two chefs and worked with them on and off for a year. I also created my menu, tested out some new recipes and planned out my prices.

Around this time, I also had the idea to start my hot sauce business. I created my LLC and got insurance. I even found a kitchen to make my sauces in. Then I moved to NC, and I had to basically start over. I had to switch my LLC and insurance from TX to NC, find out all of the requirements that I needed, and I had to find a new kitchen. Finding a kitchen was the hardest part. It took me almost 3 months. Every kitchen was either full or over an hour away from me. Finally, a brand-new kitchen opened up near me and I make my sauces there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cherrysproducts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherrysproducts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cherrysproducts/
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/kaylascomfortcatering/ https://www.instagram.com/kaylascomfortcatering/