Rocky's Hot Sauce: New hot sauce business launched by Philadelphia area entrepreneur

Family-owned and operated start-up company, Rocky's Hot Sauce, launched in Philadelphia area with three hot sauce flavors: original, lime and bbq. Company touts product as "best tasting hot sauce…period." End Quote

(1888PressRelease) January 24, 2012 - Rocky's Hot Sauce, a new start-up focusing exclusively on the production of hot sauces, has been launched by a suburban Philadelphia entrepreneur.

The company is the brainchild of Rocky DeCarlo, president of Philadelphia Carbide Co. in Oreland, PA, who hopes to parlay his wife's culinary expertise and his own experience as a manufacturing executive into a successful consumer products venture.

The family enterprise is banking on a recipe developed by Roberta DeCarlo during the course of 25 years of experimentation in her Oreland kitchen. The company describes the product as "the best tasting hot sauce…period."

Her original intention, she explained, had been merely to develop a hot sauce worthy of putting on the family's Oreland table. "Most of the ones I've tried are either hot enough to scorch your intestinal lining, too bland or completely lacking in flavor," she said. "I was looking for something that had heat-after all, that's why it's called 'hot sauce'-but also had a pleasing flavor."

After a number of false starts and a lot of patience, she finally found the formula she was striving for. "As soon as I tasted it, I loved it," said Rocky, who decided to test it at his plant where on Fridays, he was in the habit of laying out a spread of wings, ribs and other food for employees and anybody else who stopped by.

Following a successful test on friendly grounds, Rocky decided to take it out into the real world. Near the plant was a small bar/restaurant where "we would often go after work for snacks," he recalled. "They featured a $1.00 taco, which was very popular with the patrons. The sauces they offered, however, were pretty run-of-the-mill-the kind of thing you'd find anywhere. We asked if they minded if we brought in our own sauce - just for our own consumption." Before long, waitresses and bartenders were sampling it and making it available to customers, who soon began asking where they could buy it.

Although Rocky was willing to lend his counsel to the new enterprise, he himself was tied up much of the day manufacturing tungsten carbide parts and products for his industrial customers and lacked the time for the day-to-day, hands-on attention that a new business demanded.

The obvious solution: his son, Ben, daughter, Becky Rae and wife Roberta. Ben, who is a buyer for a large supermarket chain, was a natural point man. He became designated marketing manager. Becky Rae is involved in marketing the sauce as well. Becky has been selling in retail environment for the last 5 years. Roberta has been in the food service business for 30 years.

One of the decisions the Rocky's brain trust made was to sell primarily through restaurants, bars and grocery stores. Since Rocky's Hot Sauce is a start-up-read "small marketing budget"-they also decided to take advantage of the huge audience of internet users; Facebook, Twitter and Amazon became logical (and mostly free) avenues for exposure. A small website, www.rockyshotsauce, also promotes the product.

"We're still taking it slowly," said Rocky, "we've got 3 flavors of hot sauce now: Original, BBQ and Lime, and a fourth one on the way."

For information, contact RockyDeCarlo, Rocky's Hot Sauce, 1451 Anderson Ave., Oreland, PA 19075; PH: 215-264-2248 Email: info ( @ ) rockyshotsauce dot com Web: www.rockyshotsauce.com

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