In this episode, Torchbearer Sauces founders Vid Lynch and Ben Smith discuss how they turned seven years of weekly parties into a thriving 15-year-old sauce business. As early innovators in the flavor-based hot sauce movement, they credit their success to decisions about reclaiming the production process and putting in the time to really get to know their products and customers.

As their seven-year run of weekly dinner parties of 15-30 guests each started to wind down, Vid, Ben, and Tim had to figure out what to do with the peppers that they had been growing in their garden. The answer, well, start a hot sauce business, of course! It was the end of the growing season, though, and they needed more habanero peppers to make their first batch of sultry sauce. So, the first decision they made was to rent a trailer for a 72-hour road trip to farmers’ markets in Texas, where they were able to find only half of the markets that they had researched (the other half were no longer in existence) but still return with 666 pounds of fresh peppers. And so it began…

Don’t let these cheerful and low-key gentlemen fool you, though. They put a lot of thought into their business before starting off on that fateful journey. Their seven years of experimenting had given them the knowledge to create their first product, and a year working with a small business association and a supportive dad helped with the establishment of the business. They even won three national awards for their first hot sauce, which was produced with the fruits of that first Texas trip (yes, habanero peppers are fruits, so pun intended!).

One of the many things that is so interesting about the Torchbearer Sauces story is that they started their business working with a co-packer. However, after that partner sold the business, and follow-up with the new management was a bust, the founders decided to start making the sauces themselves! They credit this decision as transformational in the growth of their business. It gave a chance to build efficiencies into the production process and experiment with smaller batches, thereby helping to grow offerings much faster over time. 
 

Now, 15 years after their first product launch and working out of restaurant and fire hall kitchens, Vid, Ben, and their team are going strong with their own production facility in Lemoyne, Pennsylvania (sorry, I mistakenly referenced Mechanicsburg, PA in the episode, which is just down the road from Lemoyne), market penetration into local and regional stores, as well as a strong online presence with food and other merchandise, and longstanding relationship with companies such as Heatonist and Hot Ones to bring national visibility and acclaim. And, they still seem to be enjoying every minute of it!

You can find out more about Torchbearer Sauces and their incredible product lineup at https://www.torchbearersauces.com).

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/, and subscribe to our email list (https://cotcup.com/lp) and receive our living document, the Eightfold Path Plus One Guide to Success for Home-based Producers, and future updates.