The (Ridiculously) Good Stuff

How an untimely accident and a family recipe led to the creation of Ridiculously Good Salsa, a craft Columbus brand on the rise

By Jack McLaughlin / Photos by Jen Brown / Story Design by Atlas Biro

n 2014, Vicki Nortz had a career as a nurse and three healthy adult children, but as she would soob go on to learn, neither of these things are to be taken for granted.

That year, her son Andrew was involved in a serious accident, resulting in hospitalization and him being physically unable to work for nearly a year. During this time, Nortz had him move back into the family home, where she put aside her own seven-year career as a plastic surgery nurse to help him recover.

As the old saying goes, though, when one door closes, another one opens. While the family never thought this other door would have anything to do with salsa, life–and business, it seems–both work in mysterious ways.

“While [Andrew] was recovering, his friends would all come over and we would make food together. We have an old family recipe for salsa that I started to make. Everyone seemed to really like it, and told me I should sell it,” she said. “It was weird and amazing, I have three grown children, I never thought I would be starting a business this late in my life.”

According to Nortz, these sessions with her son’s friends not only provided some initial momentum for the concept that would become Ridiculously Good Salsa, they also provided something of a makeshift test kitchen. She would tweak the recipe slightly based on Andrew’s friends’ suggestions, eventually ending up with a handful of products that were ready for not only a room full of friends, but foodies across Columbus as well.

Happy Medi-Yum serves as Ridiculously Good Salsa's flagship offering. The recipe’s rich flavors of tomato, cilantro, onion and a proprietary spice blend are offset by a manageable amount of heat from jalapeno and habanero peppers, making it the brand’s best-seller and a perfect choice for tailgate parties with Buckeye football on the horizon. Their mild and hot options, known as Mellow and Hi-Heat, respectively, are also available.

While even the highly-processed and shelf stable salsa brands likely have a line or two about fresh ingredients in their marketing content, Ridiculously Good Salsa actually values fresh ingredients.

“In all honesty we are a more expensive brand, but this is all handmade by family and friends every week, and shipped out to stores within 18 hours,” she said. “It’s important it gets to stores right away too, because it doesn’t last eight weeks like the overly-processed stuff. And we don’t think it should.”

The concept, which began offering salsa at local farmers markets (it remains a fixture at the Dublin and Worthington farmers markets every Saturday) wound up securing shelf space at a local health food store several years into its creation, a move Nortz thought would be the culmination of Ridiculous Good Salsa’s retail growth.

But she was wrong.

“First we took it to Celebrate Local, and they bought the salsa. Really, that was all I expected to do. That’s when other stores started calling,” she said. “Whole Foods first rejected us, actually, and I kept saying, ‘If this is meant to be, we’ll get into Whole Foods.’ Two weeks later, they reached out to tell us they’ve reconsidered and we would be a good fit.”

Now a bonafide “family affair,” with Vicki Nortz, her (now recovered) son Andrew helping with production and delivery and her daughter, Olivia, taking accounting duties, Ridiculously Good Salsa is a brand trending upwards. In fact, it’s now available in three Cleveland stores, and a multitude around the Columbus area, including Giant Eagle, Whole Foods, Weiland’s Market and more. That being said, the family is not looking to take over the entire world with the brand.

“I think our ultimate goal is to become a really good regional brand. I think that would be very reasonable, to be in Pennsylvania, Chicago, Indiana and a few other spots, including throughout Ohio,” Nortz said.

In addition to the party pak (Mellow, Happy Medi-Yum and Hi-Heat) the brand will be adding two new flavors this year, and recently released a Spicy Margarita Cocktail Mixer that pairs well with all salsa flavors.

If the brand doesn't take the next step to multiple states, Nortz said she’s still happy with where the company is at–and more importantly–the product they make.

“Especially at markets, we hear stories about the people who love our salsa, and we love them. Just last week, a couple got married in the Hocking Hills. They took some wine, cheese, and our salsa for their guests,” she said. “How amazing is it that we can be at someone’s wedding? That’s the inclusion we’re most proud of.”