Two friends make a hot sauce called Armando and Jorge's Orlandonian Hot Sauce "Goofy Boots" (Website | Facebook | Twitter) here in Orlando, Florida. We asked them for an interview and they obliged.
How do you know each other?
We both met in 2008 through the music scene in Orlando, which we continue to be a part of. I (Dusty) play bass and yodel in Alias Punch and Jarl plays guitar and barks melodically as Jarl Q.
Why did you choose hot sauce to make? Why not something else?
We both thoroughly enjoy cooking and get more pissed off than we probably should about the current state of the average American's choice in eating. With so many preservatives and "natural flavors" in everything available in the store, we both eventually turned to purchasing natural produce. Goofy Boots came to be when I was experimenting with different flavor infusions and found something that really intrigued each section of my tongue. Using real pineapple with smokey chipotle and roasted habanero makes for a fantastic sauce, so we both agreed on pursuing a business with it. I think we'd both agree on this type of product over any other because of the fact that you can naturally preserve it with vinegar and it has an incredible shelf life (plus we're addicted to hot sauce).
Homegrown Cooperative, Eat More Produce, Devaney's Sports Pub, The Peacock Room, Eclectic Kitchen Food Truck
Has it been difficult or easy getting it into wherever you sell it?
Everyone that we work with has been incredibly supportive and understanding. I suppose potential is something that an ambitious business owner can pick up on right away. The only hard part about getting it into the places that it's currently available was the process of trial and error. You'll always meet people that are less than willing to expand ideas and move in any forward direction.
Where would you like to be in five years?
In five years we hope to have multiple flavors (many ideas are already in the air) in homes, restaurants, and stores throughout Florida. We want the business to live up to it's name: Armando y Jorge's Orlandonian Hot Sauce. We'd like to have a big manufacturing warehouse with automated bottling machines and huge vats to make copious amounts of sauce at once. Our plan is to share our ideas with as many people as possible, both through the culinary and music world. It would be nice to use some of the profits for our bands to tour Europe :)
