Exploring Life and Business with Cameron Ayers of Oso Rojo Hot Sauce

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cameron Ayers.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I always loved spicy food and would order the hottest menu item I could handle when we went out. I also have a background as a Chef and was making hot sauce just for fun. So one year we sent them out as holiday gifts for friends and family and they loved them! So I made some more and played around with other flavor combinations. After a while, I was getting orders from friends and family and all their friends as well. I was making about 50 bottle batches and selling out within the week! I did that for a couple of years while researching what it would take to start a hot sauce business and if it was something I wanted to pursue. When Covid hit, I was out of work for the foreseeable future and my wife was looking at jobs in Denver. So we moved to Denver in 2020 and that is when I decided to start Oso Rojo for real! Ever since then we have been growing and gaining a great following in the Denver community through farmer’s markets and brewery collab sauces!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There will always be a steep learning curve when starting a new business. With Oso Rojo, I wear all the hats which makes it difficult to concentrate on one aspect without looking at everything else. Any small business owner knows how difficult it is. The biggest struggle I have run into so far are sourcing the right bottling material and ingredients for the sauces. Another struggle is keeping up with the social media aspect of the business. Social media is great but you have to be consistent with posting content.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Our main goal when creating hot sauces is to accomplish Flavor before Spice. I love spice but I also want to be able to taste my food. We make sauce that has the spice for every palate and enhances the flavor of whatever you’re eating. Each sauce has a different flavor profile so you can mix and match with your favorite meals all day long! We have five different hot sauces that are all very unique from each other. They are all natural with no artificial thickeners or preservatives and are vegan and gluten-free! We make all our sauces from scratch with fresh ingredients hand-picked by us. We chop, grill, roast, and peel everything that goes into our sauces by hand! Our flavors are Jalapeno Garlic, Umami Bomb, Orange Ginger, Habanero Mustard and Peach Phantom.

Please check out our website for more info on each of our flavors. We also have a recipe section to give our customers different ideas on how to use hot sauce! We love to show our customers that hot sauce is more than just a condiment, it’s an ingredient.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success for Oso Rojo would be to have our sauces in large retail and grocery stores. I can’t wait for the day that I walk into our local King Soopers, Wholefoods or Safeway and see Oso Rojo on the shelf.

Pricing:

• Orange Ginger, Habanero Mustard, Jalapeno Garlic and Umami Bomb are all $8 per bottle
• Peach Phantom is $10 per bottle
• We also have a build your own 4-pack and 5-pack deal! A 4-pack is $29 and a 5-pack is $36

Contact Info:

• Website: www.osorojohotsauce.com
• Instagram: @osorojohotsauce
• Facebook: @osorojohotsauce