MEET THE SAUCE GUY
My wife Janey and I met on MySpace (I can hear the laughs) in 2008. We met in person on February 28, 2009, and have been together ever since. We married in 2012, and we had a little girl we named Melody in 2014. Melody was diagnosed with Aicardi Syndrome in August 2015 and we were told she likely wouldn't walk or talk and that the average lifespan was 8-18 years of age. At that time my wife transitioned to working part time from home so she could juggle all of Melody’s therapies and appointments, and I worked a full-time job as a property maintenance supervisor. Over the past five years we have made every decision based on her quality of life, and she is a very happy little girl that walks and talks and dances and runs…and has seizures and some developmental delays. I needed to figure out a way I could spend more time with her...and here we are.
I started making hot sauce for my own meals years ago and friends and family begged me to bottle it. Unfortunately I didn’t have time because of my full-time job and Melody’s care in the evenings. Enter 2020. I started bottling hot sauce and toying with the idea of selling it, but wanted to be sure it wasn’t just family and friends who liked it. In August 2020 we mailed out 180 free samples nationwide and the response was a resounding “WE LOVE THE SAUCE WHERE CAN WE BUY IT?” If I’m honest, we weren’t prepared for the amount of people that wanted to purchase the sauce, but at least I knew we would have returning customers if the sauce became a product. We knew it would be difficult juggling a full-time job, therapy schedule, my wife’s part time job that she loves, and finding time to make sauce, but I also knew that getting a small business started would allow me to spend more quality time with my Melody in the future, and also create an income that would sustain her if anything happened to us. Then God/the universe gave us a pretty clear sign this was the right decision as I lost my job due to covid-19 in September 2020. We got to work researching all of the legal steps to opening a hot sauce business in Colorado, and we are now a legitimate LLC, Handmacher Sauces. I have been through the Acidified Foods Manufacturing School through NCSU and am certified. We also sent bottles of the sauces to Cornell University and my process was approved and the sauces are certified shelf stable!
I am so proud of the products I created from scratch. I am grateful to my wife for supporting my dream of being a hot sauce guy and letting me perfect the recipe in our house. I am over the moon that once we have built a solid customer base, my love of hot sauce paired with my hard work and dedication will be the reason I get to spend so much more time with our sweet, special Melody.
Please reach out to me with any questions or sauce opportunities.
Cheers,
Eric
Creator/Co-owner Handmacher Sauces
