BUSINESS PROFILE

Owners of Saucybitch

Saucybitch’s Dean Smith & Dean Cook

“My regret is not wearing a Saucybitch t- shirt on stage with Madonna”

Boyfriends Dean Smith and Steve Cook met 17 years ago at a party. They continue to work in PR, looking after big fashion brands and A- List celebrities, but they are also after something hotter. With help from Captain, their French bulldog and company mascot, they run Saucybitch. Here, we discuss their hot sauces, which are selling like hot cakes.

Why did you decide to launch your business?

Dean: I used to go to Hollywood for work and we like going on holiday to America as well. When we were there we always used to buy hot sauces and bring them back. We realised that the taste wasn’t the same as those available in the UK. When we did our research, we found that the ones in America use fermented chillies mixed with cider vinegar for a more natural heat, whereas the UK’s use chilli powder and water so you get [ a different] taste. We saw a gap in the market.

How long have you been collecting hot sauces?

D: About 10 years. You’re offered them in restaurants everywhere in America, whereas in England for years all you had was ketchup, brown sauce and maybe Tabasco. And when you get these little brands of hot sauces that no one has heard of and put them in your kitchen, friends come over and we could say: “I’ve been to America, I’ve got all these posh condiments from California and New York.”

When did you launch?

D: Twelve months ago. Initially, the business was importing American sauces.

Steve: A lot of the American ones have biker or metal- heads graphics with skulls and crossbones.

D: The problem with selling imports is it’s a lot of money to pay when you add shipping costs. We were always going to start making our own sauces, but we began a bit sooner than we might have done.

What’s been the reaction to the name?

S: Really positive. It’s such a talking point when we are at Spitalfields Market.

D: A lot of people have said, “I’m a right saucy bitch,” and have their picture taken with it. If you go into a posh deli, all the brands seem a bit twee to me, and have a farmer’s name attached to it and we didn’t want to go down that route. It turned out to be a good decision because it stops people in their tracks.

Words and photography Markus Bidaux

And the dog is rather cute.

D: It was the designer’s idea to include our dog. We wanted to be able to introduce lots of different flavours but keep the same label and it just morphed into Captain in a sweatshirt. The colour of the shirt changes but everything else remains the same. It is a little pretentious, but we thought it was a bit Andy Warhol and we want to have 20 sauces, with each being a different colour.

How many sauces did you launch with?

D: Three and now we have five. And we have more coming out soon such as an extra hot sriracha although neither of us like sauces which are so hot they burn your mouth.

S: They have to be rich and have flavour and those ones that completely blow your brain out don’t really have a flavour, and it almost becomes a competition to see who can have the hottest. You have to be able to have it with your pizza, on your eggs or simply with your cheese sandwich.

Were there any problems getting into the industry?

D: That’s straightforward, it’s just a lot of admin forms. You apply to your local council to get approved. We rent a professional kitchen that has already been approved then spend 12 hours making the sauces.

What were the biggest challenges starting the company?

S: Setting up the website. I did it because I work in marketing. It turns out that while I can create content for a website, it does not necessarily mean I can create a good website. I did it, but we now have a new one which is much better.

What’s it like working together?

D: You settle into a groove. I organise orders and try to get the best deals.

S: Whereas I work on marketing, focusing on the tone of voice of our creative. We want a brand, not just a product.

Where do you sell your sauces?

D: You can make a lot of money on market stalls and because we are in London the markets are full of tourists seeing the product for the first time. But it can take up your whole life, so we just do one every other weekend. We sell more through retail, but we earn less per bottle. Stores want the bottles at wholesale, so we can make three times as much per bottle at markets and online. But we want to shift volume and we have just got this brilliant deal with LVMH, who own luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton. They found us on Instagram and they want us to go into La Grande Epicerie de Paris, which is arguably the finest deli in the world and we’ll be the only hot sauce in there. The ultimate for me would be to be on the tables in Soho House so it is seen by trend- setters.

What sort of people buy Saucybitch? D: Seventy per cent of our online customers are men. Maybe it’s influenced by Beyoncé’s line from

Formation: “I got hot sauce in my bag, swag.”

D: To be honest we aren’t Beyoncé fans, but recently we went to this private event for the launch of Madonna’s new album. And everyone was asked to submit a question. I needed to think of something to get me on stage with her so I asked her to teach me to dance the butterfly from Medellín. I got to join her on stage but my one regret is not wearing a Saucybitch t- shirt because she put the video of us dancing together on Instagram.

What food trends do you see emerging?

D: We didn’t set out to make a vegan sauce but when we started going to the markets we saw that 90 per cent of the stalls’ signs had vegan on them.

S: We realised that we can tap into that.

D: When we created our honey and mustard sauce we used maple syrup because honey isn’t strictly vegan. I don’t think it is a trend though, I think it’s here to stay.

And how much time do you dedicate to the business?

D: I have Monday and Tuesday off so I can do stuff, which has helped us get going. We’re at the stage now where we just can’t fulfil orders. It got to the point I was spending two days a week chopping chillies. So, we’re hiring a supplier who’s going to make the sauces for us but we’re still going to make the ones that go to the markets.