10 Q&A
MINUTES WITH THE FOUNDER SaSo Pepper Co.
We at Slifer Denver are a small company who love seeing what makes other local companies tick. We created this series hoping to tell their stories from a different angle. Enjoy our conversation with Matthew Brennan Saso, Founder & CEO. Find out his advice for entrepreneurs, the insider on roasting 3,000 pounds of Hatch chiles and what’s next for this innovative company.
N TTHINGS E R VYOU I E W: Chantel Ellerington THEIFIVE NEED TO DO THIS MONTH
P H O T O G R A P H S: Matthew Brennan I S S U E 011
PIKKAS PERUVIAN CUISINE & PISCO BAR
Jenna Walker CEO of Artifact Uprising
When I’m wearing a SaSo shirt or hat around town and people stop me, “Man, don’t you love that stuff? They make the best salsa, I can’t get enough of it.” To this day I say, “I wholeheartedly agree”. But I never say anything more. Maybe it’s not an ah ha moment, but it’s pretty cool. SECOND HOME KITCHEN + BAR
- Founder, Matthew Brennan
AVIANO COFFEE
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CE: Share your brainchild with us… what is This was it! An inroad, a possible mentor, SaSo? someone to help bring my dream to fruition. MB: SaSo is the tangible realization of my It was time to head to Napa Valley and make undying passion for food... localized entire- my first batch of SaSo, under the guidance ly in jars of salsa and bottles of hot sauce. and teachings of a pro. After countless days Food has always been the love of my life looking for the right bottle, sourcing (well, maybe a close second to my wife and thoughtful ingredients, designing labels, kids). Whether it’s developing recipes, scaling a recipe from 12 ounces to 50 galshopping for ingredients, or preparing the lons (6400 ounces!), and multiple test meal, the entire process is incredibly grati- batches it was time to go to market. I was fying. Especially the eating part! On any determined not to create another mass progiven night of the week (and for sure every duced vinegar based hot sauce that had no Sunday) you can find me working on flavor. SaSo will be different, flavor will sauces, soups, smoking meats, playing with always be most important. I wanted people different ingredients, flavors, and most to be in awe of the flavor, then taste the heat. importantly combining them all for my In 2011, SaSo Pepper Co. was born with one latest culinary adventure! I like heat. But I product, the Chile Pequin Hot Sauce. I’ll like my heat flavorful. Spicy is where it’s at, never forgot the feeling I had when the webbut so spicy I can’t taste the flavor is not site went live and my first order came where it’s at. I currently have 22 pepper through. Little did I know what the next four plants in my garden, some common, some years would bring. very rare. I’ve never met a pepper I don’t SaSo Pepper Co. now has five different respect. pepper sauces, two salsas, a clothing line of Many entrepreneurs, need that trigger shirts and hats, and more products hitting point that comes from the universe that the market by end of the year. We import basically says, “Hey look, this is your shot, unique peppers from Mexico, Africa, and the don’t let it pass you by.” For me, it was in Caribbean, while staying true to our original 2008 while selling real estate in Lake mission. The mission to focus on the flavor Tahoe when I asked a client what he did for profile of unique ingredients and how those a living. Low and behold, he manufactured ingredients come together to deliver a top barbeque sauces, pasta sauces, olive oils, notch product. Our first real customer was and a myriad of other products. For years, Snooze. They took a chance on a local guy friends and family begged me to bottle and it’s paid off for both of us in a big way. various sauces and salsas I made around Next was Whole Foods Market. I pulled out the house, specifically, an 85 year old every sales tactic in the bag – I was not going family hot sauce recipe. 004
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Matt at the Saso warehouse on 44th and Broadway
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Saso King Matt Brennan doing what he loves at the Denver Taco Festival in June.
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CE: And never be afraid… MB: From 2004-2011, SaSo was was just an idea that I played around with. I shared this idea with a good friend (who is now SaSo’s largest investor) and he sent me this book called “The War of Art.” It made me realize that the number one obstacle that artists, entrepreneurs, athletes, and others face is resistance. Resistance comes from within. If you have an idea or a product, go buy this book. I re-read it once a year and I highly recommend it to every entrepreneur or aspiring one. CE: A moment or experience that continually gives you great joy from the beginning days… MB: Spending long nights in my basement with my wife putting on hundreds of labels, boxing up product, cutting the ends off peppers till the wee hours of the morning. Back then we were selling 20 cases per month. Today we sell 600 cases per month. CE: An 85 year old recipe … Tell us more. MB: Our first and flagship product is the Chile Pequin Pepper Sauce. The inspiration behind that product is a family recipe on my wife’s side. Since I met her 15 years ago, her family would have a sauce on the table referred to simply as “the chile.” I begged for the recipe for years, to no avail. It took a wedding, an overserved aunt, a promise, and someone sober enough to remind us all the next morning that I was getting the recipe!
CE: Behind the scenes: What does an average Wednesday look like roasting jalapenos, green chilies… MB: Ahh, Wednesdays. . . it begins at 4AM at our warehouse not far from here, 44th and Broadway. On an average week, we roast 500 pounds of tomatillos, and 150 pounds of serranos and jalapenos. But this time of the year, things get real! It’s Hatch Chile season! Over the next 3 weeks we will roast close to 3,000 pounds of Hatch Chiles, vacuum seal them, and freeze them for the year. We have Hatch Chiles in both salsas, we can’t make them year round without prepping now. It’s no joke, stop by, we could always use the extra hands. CE: Locals: Where can folks find SaSo around town? MB: As I mentioned before, Whole Foods Market and King Soopers. Also Marcyzks, Cooks Fresh Market on 16th and if you’re up in Boulder, Lucky’s Market. All of these guys are great customers of ours. For restaurants, Snooze, Margs Taco Bistro, Blake Street Tavern, all the Atomic Cowboy locations, Linger, Root Down, Wild Eggs, all the Delectable Egg locations, and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot to name a few. CE: Word of Mouth.. Must have SaSo product to have in your kitchen... MB: I always go back to the original, Chile Pequin Pepper Sauce. Start there. Grab both salsas too, and you’ll be the hit of your next party!
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The Saso Squad last summer.
CE: What was your ah ha moment and why now? MB: I’ve been fortunate, I’ve had a few ah ha moments. Walking down the aisle of Whole Foods in Cherry Creek the summer after we launched with my father and seeing a customer pick up two bottles of SaSo off the shelf and throw it in his cart, I thought my dad was going to kiss him! When I’m wearing a SaSo shirt or hat around town and people stop me, “Man, don’t you love that stuff? They make the best salsa, I can’t get enough of it.” To this day I say, “I wholeheartedly agree”. But I never say anything more. Maybe it’s not ah ha moment, but it’s pretty cool. CE: When starting a company, you must? MB: Look at the big picture. I call it, “doing things for the greater good.” You are going to make mistakes. Fix them and learn from them. If a batch doesn’t turn out, throw it away, regardless of what it does to your bottom line. What good does it do you to send out 100 cases of bad product?
You will lose money for a while (hopefully not that long), be prepared for that. Sample your product, demo your products, support local businesses, God knows, they’ve supported me. Trust your team. SaSo has the best team I could ask for, we’re small but efficient, and everyone does everything. Without the other partners and team members we would never be the company we are today. Don’t let yourself get bogged down in the small details and most importantly, do things because you said you would. CE: Next up… MB: products that I think are going to really disrupt the market. We strive to keep loyal to the brand and be innovative at the same time. Again, it’s what I can do with unique flavors combinations and a hint of heat. We’ve partnered with two whiskey distilleries, High West and Laws Whiskey.House. We currently have peppers aging in whiskey and rum barrels. Oh baby! Keep a lookout for our barrel aged hot sauces and salsas. Did someone say, chile infused honey? Yes, I did.
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