New Biz Oly: De Mars Rooster Sauce

John de Mars was in law school in Virginia when his Rooster Sauce was born. “The recipe really took off,” John recalls, “and soon I was selling it online as well as to friends and at grocery stores.” Always the entrepreneur, John read the great response to his sauce as a business opportunity. He left law school, came home to the Northwest, and set up a partnership with The Rooster Crew, his brother Matt de Mars, Mike Boroughs, and Culley Wakelin, the company’s webmaster. The company, known as de Mars LLC, was registered in Olympia in 2011. Their motto? “It’s Cluckin’ Awesome!” John is the CEO.

“Olympia is vibrant to new food cultures,” John crows happily, “and that’s why I like it here. We buy locally. We buy peppers from Jay’s Farm Stand, and we make our healthful vegan gourmet sauce with olive oil and organic spices from the Co-op using curry, garlic, cayenne, and chili. Our hottest pepper is the habañero.”

“Our website, www.hotroostersauce.com, has a video clip about us and the product. We shot it at Sage’s Brunch House next to the Westside Co-op. We ran a campaign to increase our capital through Kickstarter.com that brought us venture capital from the community. There’s no equity but the payback is in product and community investment.”

John continues, “I give huge thanks to the Olympia community and store owners, restaurants, and hot sauce lovers who have made our company’s growth so good. We have a great time providing really good sauce.”

Rooster Sauce is now served at McMenamin’s Restaurant and at Sage’s among others, and available retail at Bayview Thriftway and the Eastside Co-op. “We’re having a great response from business and our customers,” John says. “ I invite everyone to check out our fine website.”

New Biz Oly is written by Holly Graham. If you have a suggestion of a new business that should be featured, send us an email at olympiapowerandlight@gmail.com.