Steve Olds’ savory concoction heats things up

GRAND RAPIDS – Steve Olds is a hot sauce aficionado. At any given time over the last 10 years, he might have had as many as 25 different brands in his refrigerator. He started making his own pepper sauce at home, trying dozens of different recipes until he came up with what he thought was the perfect combination. Tabasco Sauce, move over.

People loved it. “So, I bought all these bottles,” Steve said. “I just kept messing around with it at home, because people kept asking for it.” Over the years, he gave away thousands of bottles of the sauce to friends and family members. He attributes the great taste to his unique blend of ingredients that feature more vegetables and less emphasis on vinegar. “There are a lot of onions and garlic in it,” he said. “It makes for a very flavorful sauce.”

W hile Steve often thought about selling his sauce commercially, he knew it would be a lot of work and he was already a busy person – he’s owner of Ideal Impressions Printing and Mouse Pads Online, in Grand Rapids. But the idea of another income stream was appealing. The poor economy and trends in the printing industry have resulted in losses to his bottom line. “It’s brutal out there,” he said.

One day his wife Cathy’s friend said, “You gotta start selling this!”

“She was really adamant,” said Steve. “And, I guess sometimes you have to have someone else, not your spouse, or a family member, give you that push. We thought the sauce was really good, but going commercial is a whole other thing.” He said he and Cathy discussed it. “Finally, she [Cathy] said to me, ‘Just don’t lose the house.’” His wife’s support was critical to the new venture. “I never would have done it otherwise.”

S teve had at one time owned and operated a restaurant in Grand Rapids, so he was familiar with the regulations involved with preparing and selling food to the public. Even so, he said it took him a year of research and frustrating communications (or, as he characterizes it, non-communications) with the FDA before he felt ready to take the plunge. “It seems like they won’t tell you what you have to do. But when you do something wrong, they’ll let you know about that.” At times the “hoops” were almost too much. “Business is so much stress,” he said. “So much stress.”

But finally, in February of 2010, Steve had his FDA-compliant manufacturing and bottling facility set up, inspected, and ready to go. Large volumes of vegetables come in, batches are boiled, blended in a big stick blender, strained, and then bottled. “In 24 hours the flavor is there,” Steve said. “Like spaghetti sauce, it’s better the second day.” Many other brands of hot sauce, like Tabasco, go through a stage of fermentation, but not Steve’s. “Can you imagine what a storage nightmare that would be?” he mused.

He named his concoction Steve’s Onion & Garlic Pepper Sauce. The sauce is available in mild, medium and hot versions. For the brave (or crazy), he also offers a XXXHOT. “People asked for it, so we do make it,” he said.

“People like the sauce because it just tastes great,” Steve said. “And that’s what everyone says. Enough people said it enough times that it became our tagline on our advertising.”

“I spent 10 years perfecting it,” he said. “I had an 80 x 15 foot garden where I grew 30 different varieties of pepper plants – 300 plants. I mean, it was out of control.” When Steve figured out he could successfully freeze the peppers, he’d just keep dragging out another bag and make another batch, writing all the formulas down. “I tried everything in there,” he said. “I even tried soy sauce in a couple versions.”

Steve said that even with 20-25 different brands of sauce in his refrigerator, “People went for mine every time.”

Steve knew that making and bottling the product was the “easy” part – marketing, sales and distribution were going to be the biggest challenge. Not one to draw attention to himself, Steve is somewhat uncomfortable with promotion of his product. “People keep asking me for t-shirts and other promotional stuff, it’s embarrassing, really. I had a real hard time with this shameless self-promotion.”

The sauce is widely available in the Grand Rapids area, where it’s been embraced by many restaurants and is sold at Ogle’s and Cub Foods grocery stores, and dozens of convenience and liquor stores. “The restaurants offer it as a condiment and customers put it on everything – steaks, hamburgers, pizza, chili, pasta, hotdogs, eggs.” Liquor stores have found it to be a popular item with Bloody Mary fans.

In Hibbing, Steve’s Pepper Sauce can be purchased at Sunrise Deli and Palmer’s. In Virginia, the sauce is available at Queen City Sports Palace and Silver Creek Liquor. In Forbes, you can try it out at Boondocks. On the west end of the Range, the sauce is distributed by Sandstrom’s. On the east end, Sullivan’s is handling it. They offer professionally designed displays, signage and table tents.

“We’re taking it kind of slow,” said Steve. “Distribution is new to me and I want to make sure I don’t burn any bridges.” He admits, though, that he has statewide and nationwide goals. “I hope for Steve’s Pepper Sauce to be my only business some day.”

To order Steve’s Onion and Garlic Pepper Sauce online, visit stevestastesgreat.com, or call 877-326-0499.