In the Spring of 2017, Nico Lechuga started creating his own hot sauces in his Williamsburg, Brooklyn kitchen, in response to the fact that he simply couldn’t find anything he liked on the market. Feedback from friends was that if he sold it, they would readily buy it. So he made a batch of 12 bottles, printed up a few labels, and propped them on the countertop of the deli downstairs.
Within a weekend, that test batch was gone, and Nico started seriously looking into renting a commercial kitchen. He also drew in his (very pregnant at the time) wife Lauren, and the pair took a deep breath, popped on their entrepreneur hats, and committed themselves to a fast-paced existence of absolutely no work/life balance!
Known for making clean and natural premium sauces (read: no emulsifiers and artificial colors) with maximum heat AND flavor, the Latino and woman-owned company prizes diversity when it comes to both the products they sell—flavored with everything from pineapple and pilsner, to coffee and cascara—and the people they work with.
Certainly, the brand has become highly sought after when it comes to creative collaborations. They’ve made custom blends for The Bronx Brewery, Danny Meyer’s Tacocina, and the big multi-city US launch of Panama’s Café Unido coffee shops. Senor Lechuga also brought the heat to Shake Shack’s limited edition burger, in collaboration with HBO for Game of Thrones final season. The fiery best-seller emerged as one of the mega-chain’s most successful special items to date.
Like high-end mezcal, each batch of Senor Lechuga hot sauce is similar yet unique. They’re marked with their own batch and number, and boast clean instead of cartoony labels that let the contents do the talking. The message? This small-batch sauce is cool, clean, and unapologetically #calienteAF.