Meet Cole Moulton | Owner | Sauce Czar

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cole Moulton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cole, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve always had a passion for cooking and creating my own recipes. And, I’ve also always played around with spicy peppers. Whether that be making batches of salsas for friends and family members, or finding new and unique hot sauces to try. I never really put much thought into making it a full time business although it did cross my mind from time to time as I’d have people tell me they’d “buy it” if I made more. But, I also own a small web design/digital marketing company and was always too busy to take their requests seriously.

Then……along came COVID. When it first hit, I, like my marketing clients, were trying to pivot as much as possible to find new ways to generate revenue. Then, COVID decided to stick around and I watched some of my long term clients struggle to keep their lights on let alone pay for their marketing initiatives, so my Agency slowly died down. Now, with minimal work and no foreseeable end to COVID, I decided to start experimenting in the kitchen with peppers I had growing in the garden. This led to my first batch of fermented Hot Sauce that I gave away to anyone and everyone I could think of as little drive-by COVID presents and again, same resounding feedback. YOU SHOULD SELL THIS.

I knew then I had to dive in head first and that’s exactly what I did. Voila, Fxcking Hot Sauces was born!

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Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
At Fxcking Hot Sauces, we create smoky, small batch, craft hot sauces using local Texas Ingredients. The thing that sets us a part from your typical hot sauce company is the fact that we DO NOT use a vinegar base for our sauces. Therefore, they’re a bit thicker, more fully developed in flavor (in our opinion) and more complimentary to more culinary dishes. You’re not just tasting vinegar and the heat of the peppers. We bring huge flavor profiles for each of our sauces. We smoke all of our peppers (grown in my yard) as well as all of our spices, anywhere from 6-12 hours, to give an even deeper depth of flavor. We

The thing we’ve been most proud of is winning a few awards at different international Hot Sauce competitions. The fact that they had submissions from all over the world and for the judges (and critics) to give us Best Sauce in the Hot Division with our sauce THE DISCLAIMER, runner up in the Medium Division with our sauce the EVERDE I’M HUSTLIN’ and Judges Choice with our HABAN[SPARE]YO SELF have been huge accomplishments. It’s great to be recognized among the hot sauce community as an up and comer who is making waves throughout the US. And with more sauces coming out in our lineup, we’re excited to wow them again with the next season on the horizon.

We’ve had an awesome journey to get to where we are today. It’s been fun and sometimes frustrating dealing with the bureaucratic red tape around food preparation and manufacturing but now that we’ve jumped through all those hoops, it just keeps getting better around here. The biggest lesson we’ve learned is it takes time to get all your ducks in a row. You might have a great food product and you’re excited to get it in the hands of people looking for new and unique products, but you have to the patience before that can happen. I’m not the most patient person in the world so I tried to stay busy in the kitchen concocting new sauces while waiting.

The main thing I try to stress is, hot sauce doesn’t have to just hurt you. We’re in the business of creating sauces of all different heat levels that compliment the foods your wanting a bit of kick to, not just giving you a sauce that is hot and over-takes your palette. You can in fact have a sauce that is awesome, goes with a plethora of different styles of cuisine, and still has a little, or a lot, of heat behind it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The first place I’d take anyone visiting Dallas (and the DFW area) is down to Deep Ellum. I’d definitely have to stop by Terry Black’s for some BBQ, hit up Kettle Art to check out the best of the local Art scene, and grab a drink at Three Links. After hitting all the hot spots in the Deep Ellum area, I’d head on over to the Arboretum. We have small kids (ages 2-5) and there is always something family friendly going on over there. Aside from the gorgeous views year round, to the current Autumn at the Arboretum or the upcoming Christmas Village, it’s just a great place to relax, have a picnic, and enjoy the views of the garden. I mean, there’s always something rad happening in Dallas. From a game, to a show at one of the many venues in Deep Ellum, to a local farmers market around DFW, there is something for everyone.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to give a shoutout to my wife Corey and my two kiddos, Frankie and Vincent. First off, for supporting me whole-heartedly in diving into this endeavor and secondly, for putting up with the smell of extremely hot peppers wafting through the air constantly. They’re the real troopers.

Website: www.fxckinghotsauces.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/fxckinghotsauces

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colemoulton/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/fxckinghotsauces.com