Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Varian David. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Varian, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I was a former small business owner in event production. I would always carry my favorite hot sauce with me at all times. I’d have one in my bag, one in the car and soon I was also placing bottles in friends places, just so I’d know they’d have something I could use. I would buy my favorite hot sauce in multiples and I’d put it in a squeeze bottle because it’s easy and I’d cook with it as well. However, because of that, I was spending way too much money on hot sauce and something had to change. In order to save money, I taught myself how to make hot sauce. I looked up a simple recipe online and gave it a shot. It was good but because of that initial step, I started experimenting with flavors and created the best possible hot sauce that I could use on practically anything.

I had been crafting my own hot sauce for about 7 years to the date and friends have suggested I sell my hot sauce to the public because it was really good, but I didn’t have the bandwidth available at the time, especially with the job I had prior. The idea has always swirled around in my head. I toyed around with label designs and concepts. The idea of combining two of my favorite passions came, as cheesy as it may sound, in a dream. When I woke up the idea and concept was as vivid as it was in my dream, I would combine my love and passion of sneakers and hot sauce…and KickswithVee Hots was born.

So when covid quarantine happened in 2020, it gave me the opportunity to take a step back, re-evaluate some things and I decided to launch the business. KickswithVee Hots was officially launched on August 15th, 2020. I chose to be an entrepreneur because I love owning my own business and creating something that is uniquely mine, all the while also fulfilling a need in the marketplace for consumers that are interested. I used to be in the experiential marketing industry and I have managed and executed many campaigns for major brands to create brand and product awareness for those companies. So now, I’m doing that for myself! I also have a very good palette and the products I create under my hot sauce brand are unique and taste delicious. I like taking the approach of being a consumer first, therefore the products I offer give consumers the quality and value that one would expect from a premium product. A lot of time, quality ingredients and care go into the development and production of my products. The process still gets me excited, because I do everything by hand.

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.

I stumbled into this business and craft. I never really set out to have a business crafting, producing and selling hot sauces. I was mainly doing it for myself to save money. I would make a batch and recycled leftover bottles from hot sauces I’ve finished in the past and bottle my homemade sauce for ease of use. I would give some away to friends to try if they wanted it.

Through trial and error, experimentation and happy accidents over the course of time, I developed what I felt was the best hot sauce and flavor profile I wanted for myself. It was flavorful, layered and versatile. It was a hot sauce that pairs well with practically anything I put it on, in fact, it makes dishes better, by enhancing the flavors and bringing that heat to it. My number one priority is flavor. It has to taste good and go well with food. Not to just obliterate one’s taste buds with heat, but to enhance, mix, and dance together with the meal you have in front of you. I love food. I eat to live and live to eat, so having my hot sauce be the perfect compliment to whatever I’m eating was of utmost importance. That approach goes into every single one of my products offered under my brand.

For example, crafting my hot sauces takes time. On average, one batch of hot sauce, because they are fermented, takes about two and a half months to make. The main ingredient in my sauces are the chili peppers. That is the first thing listed in the ingredients list as well. My hot sauces showcase the peppers they are made from. Each batch of hot sauce is carefully crafted, to make sure that the integrity and consistency is there. When you pick up a bottle of KickswithVee Hots hot sauce, you know what you’re getting, which is a quality premium product, from someone who loves making and using those exact products. For the hot sauces that have fruit in the flavor profile, I used real fruit. There’s real mangoes in the Habañero Mango and real pineapple in the Habañero Pineapple hot sauces.

What I’m really proud of is that I was able to build a community of fans and supporters (even though currently small) who love my products and keep coming back for more. I often encourage customers of my products to show me what they use my products for, on social media, especially if it’s something unique and it’s something I’ve never thought of or tried myself. I love discovering new pairings, that maybe initially I’d never think would go well, but I’m always happy to be proven wrong. Best example I can give you is pairing my flagship habañero hot sauce with Japanese seaweed salad. It’s something I had never imagined would work, but I was having a meal at a Japanese restaurant with some company, and we ordered seaweed salad. Typically, I’d eat it as is, especially since the dish itself is clean, light and flavorful already. Curiosity however, got the better of us and we decided to add my habañero hot sauce to it. It was amazing! It paired with the seaweed salad so well and gave it another layer, plus the addition of heat made it perfect! I love encouraging people to expand their palettes and be a little more adventurous with food, because that’s who I am as a person. That’s also how I approach my products.

Another thing I’m proud of is that I try to source a good amount of my raw materials locally. Be it within my neighborhood, my city, or the state I’m in. It’s how I try to support other small businesses and give back to my community as well. A great example I can give you is my delicious Habañero Hot Honey. I source the honey from a local bee farm in Oakland, CA because that’s where I live and that’s where the business was born. Another thing that sets my hot honey apart from others on the market is that it retains a lot of the characteristics of raw honey. I however will not say it’s raw honey because it’s gone through an infusion process, but because I took a low and slow approach, my hot honey retains some characteristics that are associated with raw honey, as opposed to pasteurized honey. My Habañero Coffee hot sauce sources real coffee beans from a local coffee roaster. It’s one of the main reasons why that hot sauce is so unique and has complex notes of flavor, which were derived from the coffee beans that were used.
Supporting local businesses also ensures I keep the quality of my product consistent and high. I love supporting my local vendors and businesses, because I am one of them and I love my city of Oakland.

When you support KickswithVee Hots, you are supporting a business that cares about what goes into the products. As I go through this journey with my products and business, I am continuously learning and I’ve learned along the way that I could easily make my products quicker, easier and cheaper. However I don’t believe it would yield the same type of product and I wouldn’t be happy with that. I am a consumer first, and if I won’t want to buy the product I put out, why would I expect anyone else to? That is the main driving force for me and my business.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have a really bad habit of Overthinking. Growing up and throughout my life, I’ve overthought of a multitude of situations, things, life decisions, etc. Anything you can think of situation wise, I’ve probably over thought it and possibly sabotaged myself because of it, including dating.

I’m not exactly sure what was different, but launching KickswithVee Hots was the first thing I’ve done in my life that was swift, decisive and no amount of overthinking went into it.
I’m not saying that when my friends first brought up the idea of me selling my hot sauce, I didn’t overthink it. Of course I did. I would ask myself why this would even be worth the time. Tastes and palettes differ from person to person, would anyone want and be willing to pay for this and why would they, when they have so many other options. Those were many reasons why I never initially embraced the idea.

However, covid quarantine offered me clarity and time to really see how this would be a good idea. Maybe the time given to me from it and me reevaluating certain things in my life, helped me process my thoughts and gave me the courage to just say screw it and push forth. Plus e-commerce was now such a mainstay in everyday life, that it offered me a portal in which I could showcase my offerings and allow consumers to access and purchase my products without worrying about needing to have a tent or a physical footprint to sell my products.

I did, however, play it a little safe. I had initially prepared and made enough quantity wise to be able to fulfill orders from consumers. However if there was not any demand or interest, the quantity was small enough where I could’ve just used it for myself over time. So I was not necessarily worried in that sense. The lesson I learned from that experience is to just do it. Your audience, your people, will find you one way or another. Whether it’s via social media, or by word of mouth from your friends and family, or by publications like this who like showcasing small businesses and entrepreneurs and giving them a platform to shine and reach a wider audience.

Have you ever had to pivot?

This is an interesting question. I believe the launching of KickswithVee Hots is a good example of me pivoting in life. When covid quarantine hit the world, especially the United States in 2020, I was working in the experiential marketing and events industry. Any and all jobs that I had lined up for the year, disappeared due to quarantine and since I was an independent contractor, I was unemployed.

Like I’ve stated before, this gave me the courage and time to re-evaluate my life and launch the hot sauce brand. However, that wasn’t the only thing that happened. Aside from launching a hot sauce brand, I also chose to pursue another passion of mine, voice acting. Yes, voice acting. It’s something I’ve always been curious about and always wondered about, but never pursued because I did not know how and I was busy with the job and industry I was already involved in. Covid quarantine helped me take a breath, reevaluate my life and I made the decision to leave an industry I was involved in for 16 years, to now do something I am passionate about and love!

So now, I don’t just do what I need to do, but I’m also doing what I want and love to do. I’m betting on myself and pursuing what I am passionate about, voice acting and sharing my unique love for hot sauce with anyone and everyone.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kickswithveehots.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kwvhots/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kickswithveehots/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kwvhots

Image Credits
Avery Wong