Oklahoma City roofing contractor debuts his homemade hot sauce
Veteran Oklahoma City roofing contractor David Denner has decided to make the most of the recent drought in hail storms and market a homemade hot sauce that he cooked up in his own kitchen the past several years.
Denner introduced “Chiki Chiki BOOM” hot sauce some eight months ago at Uptown Grocery, select Homeland stores and other outlets across Oklahoma City. The 5.5ounce bottles retail for $4.99 to $8, including at the company’s online store at www.chikichikiboom.com.
A lifelong gardener, Denner the past four summers gifted the homemade sauce — which includes habanero pepper, tomatillos, carrots, red and green bell peppers, onion, garlic, olive oil, lemon and Tito’s Handmade Vodka among other fresh ingredients — to his friends, who raved about it and urged him to manufacture it, he said.
After Denner took a one-day class at the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agriculture Products Center at Oklahoma State University, he did just that — settling on Lawton-based Pepper Creek Farms as his co-packer and Keystone Labels in south Oklahoma City for his labels.
“It’s really good, really rich and smooth, and not too hot,” said Denner, who adds the sauce to everything from Mexican food to burgers and spaghetti. He brings it to restaurants, he said.
As for the name, Denner drew on the pet name, “Chiki,” he and his wife, Libby, have called each other over their 28-year marriage.
“I might say ‘Chiki, where’s the Scotch tape?’ And she’d say, ‘It’s in the drawer by the fridge, Chiki,’ ” Denner said. “One day it dawned on us — Boom! That’s the name of our hot sauce,” he said.