Welcome to the second installment of Hey Sendler, our first ever webinar series where we talk to small business owners and small business experts to learn their unique stories and insights on life and business.
This time, Jenn was joined by Max and Wendi Boonthanakit, creators of the incredibly delicious Boon Sauce. They talked about how Boon Sauce came to be, the best foods to pile it on, and what is on the horizon for the brand.
Watch the whole thing here or read the transcript below.
Hey Sendler: A Webinar Series (Getting the sauce on Boon) from Sendle on Vimeo.
Important links
- Website: boonsauce.com
- IG: @officialboonsauce
- Use the code SENDLE for free shipping on any order
Getting the sauce on Boon, a chat with Max & Wendi Boonthanakit of Boon Sauce (full transcript)
Jenn: Hi everybody. Welcome to Hey Sendler with Boon Sauce.
I'm Jenn. I'm the community manager for Sendle. We're a carbon-neutral shipping company that was founded in Australia and launched in the US last year.
Really excited to be talking to Max and Wendi from Boon Sauce today. Just a few housekeeping notes. If you are joining us, please keep your video off and yourself muted.
If there are video-streaming issues, things, delays, all that jazz, sorry, welcome to the Coronavirus times. Everyone is trying to use the internet at the same time.
We'll have the video available for folks in about a week, so we'll post it online and send it out. Anything that comes up today, any resources, the code to get free shipping from Boon Sauce, which is delicious, so you should all order it.
And then, before we start, I just want to acknowledge that we're on the traditional land of first peoples and recognize their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture. We pay our respects to elders, past, present, and emerging.
So, with that, Max and Wendi, welcome. Thank you for being here.
Max is in Thailand right now, guys, so it's 1:00 AM his time. So very appreciative of you being here. Do you guys mind telling us a little bit about yourselves and kind of how you got started? And then, we'll go from there.
Wendi: Yeah. So, Max, go ahead.
Max: Do you wanna go first?
Wendi: Go for it.
Max: Okay. Okay. I'm Max, I am the Executive Pastry Chef at Blue by Alain Ducasse in Thailand. I started... We started Boon Sauce, I don't know, like three years ago.
It was just kinda like a little hobby. And now, we're trying to sell it and have people eat Boon around the world.
Jenn: I love it.
Wendi: Yeah. So, my name is Wendi, I am Max's fiance. So, I previously worked in PR for the restaurant industry in LA, so I am somewhat familiar with restaurants.
But, this Boon Sauce is totally new for me. So, I'm kind of just going along with anything and everything that the company would need. And, yeah.
Jenn: That's so awesome. So, you guys are operating the business out of Thailand and out of LA.
Wendi: Mostly out of LA. But some of the content and, obviously, ideas and stuff, it's a collaboration.
So, since Max is in Thailand, I guess you could say it's somewhat out of Thailand. But we ship out of LA and we ship mainly in the United States.
Jenn: That's awesome. Okay.
Max: My heart is in LA.
Jenn: Your heart is in LA. Aww, that's so sweet. How long are you supposed to be in Thailand?
Max: Two years.
Jenn: Two years. Okay.
Max: But we will see.
Jenn: Yeah. And were you guys supposed to get married this year? With COVID, and did that push things back?
Wendi: Yeah.
Max: Yeah.
Wendi: It's been a wild ride, but we're hanging in there.
Jenn: Fair. I think, yeah, like everybody. So, can... I guess with your relationship, but also just with Boon Sauce, can you tell us a little bit about how COVID has kind of impacted the business? Has it had any kind of impact on the manufacturing of it and just distribution? Or do you guys feel like you're sort of same same but different right now?
Max: I mean, we're so new. We don't really know what it's like. We were selling it before pre-COVID, but we were also very new then.
Jenn: Right.
Max: We weren't really advertising it that well. The only things that we used to do with Boon were small Wonton pop-ups.
Jenn: Okay.
Max: But, right now, during COVID, it's not terrible but I'm curious to see what happens when the world is back on their feet.
Jenn: Back to normal.
Max: Yeah.
Jenn: Kind of back in...
Wendi: And we were actually really lucky because we manufacture in LA. So, we kind of, in a way, scooted past a lot of the closures because, technically, we were still considered essential in the sense that our manufacturer could still continue producing sauce and all the jars were coming from here too.
And, a lot of it was basically shipping from the jar supplier to the manufacturer, so we didn't have too much of a struggle in terms of like...
Jenn: Like the supply chain being cut off.
Wendi: Supply chain flow, yeah. So, we got lucky in that sense.
Jenn: That's awesome.
Wendi: Yeah.
Jenn: You guys have pre-order for batch 15 on right now. So, how are you guys doing batches? Is it just a set number each time and then, when you sell out, you pre-batch for the next one? How do you guys keep track of your PARs?
Wendi: Yeah. So it's small batches. Each batch is around 40 cases or 500 jars, so very small still. But, actually yeah we just sold out of batch 14 last night.
So, I was like, "Oh shoot!" I hope that people will be okay ordering pre-orders for the next batch. If you use the code but... Yeah. It's just very, very small.
Jenn: Yeah.
Wendi: We're still in the growing pro... As most businesses. We're all just trying to grow.
Jenn: I love that. Can you tell me a little bit about what was missing in the market when you decided, "Okay. I wanna make Boon Sauce."?
To be honest, in our fridge, we have many different hot sauces and chili oils, because I'm always just like, "let's try everything."
And I think there are some that stay, and we swap stuff out or whatever. And so, what was the inspiration for you guys saying, like, "Okay. This is delicious. And we want everybody to have it."?
And what do you feel was missing from what was already available, when you guys said, "Let's jar it and sell it."?
Max: I mean... Okay, well, I think most people that have a chili oil condiment in their fridge, it's the Lao Gan Ma sauce.
It's amazing. I used to eat it all the time. I would go through a large jar every two weeks, and it was getting ridiculous. But I think after 50 jars of it, I wanted something spicier.
So I just started making chili oil, and then I tried different chilies out, I tried cayenne pepper and all these things. And the one thing I appreciate about Lao Gan Ma compared to chili oils you get at a lot of restaurants was the amount of flavor in it.
Typically a chili oil, they will just fry some garlic and then chilies. But the Lao Gan Ma's, it's seasoned well, there's a lot of balance and body.
So I just tried to create my own... Almost like my own version, but something that I could eat every day, and that's something that didn't taste too Asian, because I like eating chili oil with tuna fish sandwiches and fast food.
Jenn: Yes.
Max: So, yeah, 'cause when I put Lao Gan Ma on things, it tastes very Asian to me, and I just wanted something more universal, but...
Jenn: Yeah. I love that. I do...
Max: Yeah, I think that's why.
Jenn: I do like the spice that comes from it too, I appreciate that there's the kick, that you don't get from a traditional chili oil.
Max: Yeah, like my dad has always...
Jenn: Also you can put it on everything...
Max: Yeah, no, I made it spicy 'cause my dad's always like, "It's not spicy enough." Anything I make... He just eats chilies and chilies. Actually, the very first batch was super spicy, even I was kind of...
Jenn: You were like, "too much."
Max: I couldn't eat too much of it, it was kind of scary, so we had to tone it back a little bit, but we tried to keep it in the spicier range.
Jenn: Realm, yeah.
Max: Realm, yeah.
Jenn: That's awesome. So if you're... You're in Thailand, you're doing pastry chef stuff, Wendi your background's in PR, how do you guys feel like Boon Sauce fits into your kinda overall career goals?
Like where do you guys see... Do you wanna stay in kitchens long-term? Do you want Boon Sauce to blow up and become your guy's main thing, or what's the...
Max: We kinda just want a little bit of it all.
Jenn: Yeah.
Max: If it blows up, it blows up.
Jenn: Yeah.
Max: We're just going with the flow. I'm having fun in the kitchen, I love cooking, but I know eventually I can't stand on my... I can't stand for 13 or 14 hours a day, eventually, I'm gonna have to do something else. We're just going with the flow.
We just love food, both of us, and...
Wendi: Yeah, and this is kind of like our... We're just dipping our toes into starting a new business and even seeing if we can do it, or if...
Hopefully, Boon Sauce takes off and we can do other things maybe, and maybe even open a restaurant one day, who knows?
But we're... With Boon, we're kind of just dipping our toes in the water, seeing if we can do it, hopefully gaining a little bit of confidence, and then from there, we'll definitely, hopefully, start more things and just keep growing in that way, so...
Jenn: I love that.
Wendi: Yeah.
Jenn: What would you guys love to do next if you guys wanted to expand on Boon?
Do you think more products, is it merch? I know you mentioned the restaurant, what does that kind of look like, ideally for you?
Max: We talk about this every day, we have so many ideas. We actually are working on something new for Boon, right now. We can't really talk too much about it.
Wendi: It's a collaboration. We work in collaboration with these really amazing designers. Or he's... Within LA, he's an illustrator/graphic designer, so... And he's one of our friends, so we are pretty excited just to come out with something different and something new for our audience, just to brighten their day a little.
Jenn: That's so exciting.
Max: Yeah, we wanna work with more local artists...
Jenn: Yeah.
Max: And they would hopefully get inspired by the sauce and then I would get inspired by them, and then we'd create... We'd meet in the middle and then I'd create a new sauce based off of their art, their personality, and then they'd create the jar.
Jenn: That's so rad.
Max: So, hopefully, we can get it out soon.
Wendi: Yeah, hopefully, we can finalize all the details and then we'll have something to announce shortly, so definitely exciting.
Jenn: That's so cool. I love... One of the things I love most about your guy's stuff is the creative. Is just the photos and putting Boon in traditional art.
And so I wanna know if you can talk about, sort of your process for that a little bit, or kind of where the inspiration comes from, who does it? Is it just one of you guys or, do you outsource it?
Max: There's honestly no thought process. [chuckle] It's just like, "Oh God, we gotta post... "
Jenn: Yes.
Max: And then, we're like, "How do we just... How do we just stay in people's minds?" I don't know. So yeah, we're kind of struggling with that right now but...
Wendi: Yeah, but ultimately our best... We try to be different 'cause there are so many chili oils on the market and it seems as if it's pretty saturated.
So we're just trying to differentiate ourselves from the other brands. So even with the content and what we decide goes to be posted, I think we just try our best to be different and to have people think of Boon and not the average chili oil sense.
Not just Asian food but... Max and I are fairly young, so we love eating junk food and we'll put it on everything, essentially.
Jenn: Yeah, I loved the, with spaghetti, which is so... But also so unique, so different from, you're right, seeing how things are traditionally marketed.
When you guys looked at starting Boon Sauce and you looked at the market, were there people who you looked at that you were like, "Oh okay, let's emulate what they're doing," or did you reach out to anybody to say, "Let's talk about what you guys are doing or how things went," or do you feel like it was sort of, "Let's carve our own path and... What they're doing is great but we wanna do our own thing completely separate."?
Wendi: It's for sure the second thing you said. It's ‘carve our own path’, figure out if this is a product that people will even respond to, and if they do, then we're just gonna do it differently, and that so far has worked out pretty well for us so we're very, very lucky in that sense.
Jenn: That's awesome. And I know you guys are in some stockists in LA too.
Can you guys talk a little bit about what your wholesale situation looks like, how you guys got into some stores?
Ideally, what sort of... What kind of shop are you looking for or restaurant are you looking to partner with when you're saying, "Yes, we want Boon Sauce to be there"?
Wendi: I personally... So when we started off with the stockists in LA, it was all just friend-based. It was friends of friends. We knew them and we know their reputation within LA, it's all good, so we just decided to start there.
But as we expand, we definitely... I love the idea of very community-based businesses, so we are staying away from going mass market.
I don't know if grocery stores... I don't know if that's in our future. We love the idea of going into a shop and knowing the owner, and being able to talk to people, and just making it very home-grown.
So I personally like that. I like that idea.
Jenn: Yeah, for sure.
Wendi: And in terms of restaurants... Go ahead, Max.
Max: No, I was just gonna say... 'Cause when Wendi and I were walking around and shopping, we love those little boutique shops that are very curated, like you want everything in the store.
So we like Boon being in one of those kind of shops, where just everything is awesome.
Jenn: Yes, I love LA for that though. There are so many little stores that you can go to where you truly are like, "I need everything in here. Just pack it all up and put it in my house."
Wendi: Yeah, definitely, definitely. And in terms of restaurants, we're very open. Pizza concepts, Asian concepts, Thai, Chinese, Italian, we're open. So it's that... I don't have any restrictions towards...
Jenn: Reservations about it.
Wendi: The more, the merrier in that sense.
Jenn: Yeah, okay. So good vibe, good food, it's all good. That's awesome.
What's been the most surprising thing for you guys having the e-commerce store? Is there any learnings that you guys have found or things that you've been... Things you didn't expect about selling online?
Did it help streamline stuff? What's been the best and the most surprising?
Max: That people would actually buy from us. [chuckle] It's super surprising. I don't know, we're just like, "Wow, we got an order today. Another order."
Jenn: I love that.
Max: We're always super excited.
Wendi: Yeah, we had a big freak-out moment the first time Max had posted for reals and we had the website up and running, and everything. We were like, "Oh my God, we got so many orders today." We were just so excited.
Max: It was like 12 but we were like, ‘Oh my god…’
Jenn: That's amazing.
Max: ‘People want Boon."
Jenn: That's awesome.
Max: We were taking pictures. We're going to the post office with all the boxes. [chuckle]
Jenn: "We sold sauce!" I love that. That's cool.
So when you guys are talking about ways to keep things fresh and keep people engaged, how are you guys reaching out to people right now?
What are you guys doing specific for Boon to try to... I saw you guys were in a couple gift guides for the holidays, which was awesome, so is that organic reach or do you guys feel like you're out there... Wendi, with your PR background, are you...
Wendi: The first year... So the last year's gift guides were all organic because Max was in the Eater Young Guns class of 20... Was it last year, 2019? So that was all organic.
This year, I definitely think we need to do a little bit of outreach but hopefully, we're not old news by then, and hopefully, with the new collaboration that we have coming up, maybe it might stir up some fresh eyes and fresh interest, which would be great.
But yeah, as far as outreach, I do outreach sometimes, but it's not like a very consistent thing, just because I know that we aren't really all that new anymore.
So, we don't really have much to talk about in that sense. That's kind of where the new collaboration is gonna come in, so we can do a fresh round of outreach then.
Jenn: Fresh pitch.
Wendi: Yeah.
Jenn: Or do you guys work with influencers at all? What's that vibe look like for you guys as a small business?
Wendi: We haven't done too much influencer outreach. We do have a couple of friends just by being in LA you're bound to know an influencer.
But we have a couple of friends who love the sauce and they're so willing to help us in that sense. And they are our friends. So they have pretty high followings and they post about it.
And we're pretty into the chef community, so I feel like once you know one chef, it kinda just goes all around LA.
But not... We don't do too much influencer outreach at this point. But that's not to say we won't do it in the future, 'cause I think that that's a very real thing. But as of right now, we're just not focused on it.
Jenn: It's such an interesting lens to look at as a small business, so just like "What does your circle look like? Who are the people that you're reaching out to? What does their reach look like?" and then "How do you branch out of that initial market that you are in to sort of reach other people, keep expanding the network?"
Wendi: Yeah.
Jenn: I love that. We have some questions from people, and so I'd love to get into some of those. And then for anybody who's on, if you have questions after, feel free to kind of pop in.
But I'll go through some of these now. And then if there are more questions, we can get to those as well. So how did you start Boon? We kind of went over, but what kind of obstacles have you had from the beginning until now, and then how did you tackle those obstacles?
Max: I think in the beginning, both of us, we've always worked full-time jobs. And then Boon would be... We'd be off of work, super tired, and then we'd make this big batch of sauce, and then I'd be like, "Wow, I never wanna do that again."
It was just kind of like rinse and repeat.
And then I guess now it's just being apart, we can't... It's different time zones. I'm not there casing. I'd like to do more products, but we're kind of stuck right now with just Boon, just because I'm not there cooking.
Jenn: Because you're not there. Yeah.
Max: But other than that, I think that's the biggest. Yeah, the distance.
Wendi: The distance is definitely the biggest obstacle for us.
And that wasn't always the case, because in the beginning when we decided to start doing it for real and pushing it out as an actual product, we... That's my internet connection.
I was supposed to be going back and forth between Thailand and here, LA. So, it was supposed to be... When we ate out, that was content. But now with the whole pandemic, it derailed us and we're now apart.
So we're trying to figure out content in different ways, and it's just not as easy. But eventually, we'll get back to being together and figuring out how to grow this company together.
Jenn: Yeah, definitely. That totally makes sense though, that sort of organic piece of when you eat out, you have content automatically.
Being apart is one thing, but also now not going out to eat is another... It's a completely different beast, I guess, of trying to figure it out.
Wendi: Yeah.
Jenn: Yeah. You guys talked about this...
Max: It looks like we ran out of Boon.
Jenn: Was the market ready for Boon sauce, or did you have to adjust and compromise when you guys were starting?
Max: I don't think we were... We just wanted to share the sauce with people.
I think that was the biggest thing. We weren't really worried about in the beginning of making too much money. We're just like, "Oh, if I break even, that's fine."
I was super excited like, "I want people to try the sauce, it's pretty good." We weren't really focusing on competition or other sauces at the moment, or at that time. We do now, I think we're just... Yeah.
Jenn: When did you guys decide to move from making it at home, in small batches, to moving to a manufacturer?
Max: After the first time, I was like this sucks.
Wendi: But we officially started working with our manufacturer back in October 2019. So, it's still pretty recent.
Jenn: Okay.
Wendi: And it has lightened the load a lot for Max, because he no longer has to slave away in the kitchen making chili oil on his days off.
Jenn: Yeah, so how did you guys find your manufacturer? What was that process like for you?
Max: I actually used to work for another restaurant in LA and we used them as kind of like a...
Wendi: Like a co-packer.
Max: Yeah, co-packer. My head's like... I'm brain dead? But yeah, he does an awesome job. He's super nice. So we just asked, "Hey, would it be possible to pack our sauce?" and he agreed.
Wendi: And this co-packer, he supplies to other restaurants, obviously, that's how Max knows him.
Jenn: Yeah.
Wendi: Supplies to other restaurants around LA. So, he was pretty familiar with what we were trying to do, and it just worked out so perfectly. Because Max was already... Flight was booked on the way to Thailand...
Jenn: To go to Thailand.
Wendi: Yeah, he was like, "I can't make the sauce. Here is the recipe. Can you make it?"
Jenn: And you were like, "Oh my God".
Wendi: Yeah. I was just hanging on by the seat of my pants. I was like, "I hope this works, but we'll see." And it just worked out perfectly. So yeah.
Jenn: That's awesome. And how awesome that it happened before COVID too, so you weren't trying to find a manufacturer in the middle of the pandemic.
Wendi: Yeah, we got so lucky in terms of timing for everything.
Jenn: Yeah.
Wendi: It's crazy.
Jenn: It's really cool.
I mean, I think so much of what we're hearing right now is how small businesses are really struggling and it's really hard, especially if you have a brick and mortar or just kind of making that swap from in-person to online, but it's awesome to hear success stories of people who have been able to thrive or haven't been so negatively impacted by COVID.
Things just kind of have fallen into place. How are you guys feeling about the holidays? Are you guys getting ready for the holidays, are you guys bumping up production? Are you keeping things same-same?
Wendi: So for holiday, we will be bumping it up. And I know I should be planning for it since it's August already, and gift cards are coming out.
Jenn: How is that... I don't understand how it's August, almost September already.
Wendi: I know. It's so crazy.
But yeah, we're gonna be coming back with our new smaller jar for the holidays as well. So that stocking stuffers are huge, and it was a huge sell... A big seller for us last year.
So we're gonna be coming back with the small jars, which is a 4-ounce jar. It's half the size of the one we sell now.
Max: Super-cute.
Jenn: It's super-cute. I like the big jar. But that's just 'cause I want all of it for me. [chuckle]
Wendi: Yeah. And then like you said, the gift cards and all of that. So we'll be pumping up production fairly shortly, very soon. But we're more focused on that collaboration that we were talking about.
Jenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. That makes sense. One more question, this is from our friend, Douglas.
"Given how prevalent food allergies are today, can you explain how difficult it was to source ingredients from suppliers you trust? And as a small business, is it difficult to be competitive on price before you get to a certain scale, or did you always view this as a premium product with a demanding price? And then also do you have a list of allergens?"
Because he's asking for a friend, that is himself. So a lot of questions. Feel free to jump in with whatever makes you happy.
Max: Well, we... I just... I made the sauce for myself originally, so I wasn't thinking... I'm allergic to pine nuts, deathly allergic. So I didn't put any pine nuts. But... [chuckle]
Jenn: You're like, "Automatically off the list."
Max: Should I try it? No. Yeah. So I never really thought about it in the beginning, it was just... I just made the sauce to my specifications.
And then when we started doing larger scales, I just tried to find the best ingredients that I can use, the correct chilies. Now, we... The right arbols, like the ones with the perfect spice.
Yeah, but other than that... I know in the future, we have plans to make a good vegan one, 'cause our sauce does contain anchovies. But I know that's gonna take a little while for me to figure that one out.
Yeah. As for allergens, I think it's just anchovies and alliums with shallots and garlic in it. But as for just the original Boon Sauce right now, we just focus straight on flavor; flavor and spice.
Jenn: Just 'cause I know Douglas is gonna ask, is it safe for celiacs and gluten-free?
Max: It is. But we're not... It's not processed in a factory where they are certified gluten-free.
Jenn: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the ingredient list is...
Max: Yes.
Jenn: Not contain gluten.
Wendi: Yeah.
Max: Yeah.
Jenn: I love that. And then how did you guys feel about price point when you guys launched? How did you price it out? Did you feel like the price was competitive?
Max: It was... It's not a cheap sauce to make.
And at the same time, we were a little hesitant at selling the sauce for such... It's definitely more expensive than your average hot sauce. But at the... We didn't wanna regret it, like, "Oh, we're barely making enough to... "
Everything we make goes back into Boon anyways. But I was... We were talking about it, and we were saying like, "We... It's gotta be at least worth our while." Yeah.
Wendi: Yeah. And ultimately the sauce is for us, and we totally understand that it's not the right price point for everyone.
And we're not trying to please everyone, so it's... Yeah, we're just essentially doing this for us and our family and whoever wants to try it. And it's been...
Max: We're not rolling in cash. It's just... [chuckle] We're just trying to make enough so we can make more...
Jenn: Make more.
Max: Products. [chuckle] And make more Boon Sauce.
Jenn: For everyone that's here, we're gonna give away a jar on Sendle. So randomly draw some folks. So when the next pre-order batch is done, you will get yours in the mail.
And if you're interested in ordering your own, 'cause you did not win, I'm sorry for you, but you can use the code SENDLE for free shipping on any order.
Is there anything else you guys wanna tell us about or talk to us about or should we open it up to see if there are other questions from folks?
Wendi: Not that I can think of. Questions would be great.
Jenn: Yeah. Does anybody have any questions? Let's see. Paolo, sauce for everyone. [chuckle]
Max: You get a sauce. You got a sauce. [chuckle] Everyone look under your seats.
Jenn: Yes.
Wendi: Everyone look under...
Jenn: Everyone. Free sauce for one person. [chuckle] When is the next batch expected to be ready to ship?
Wendi: Next Friday. So, it should be ready next Friday.
Jenn: Very excited.
Max: We have to... We age the sauce for like two weeks just to let the flavors...
Jenn: Oh, awesome.
Max: Kinda meld together.
Jenn: Anybody else have questions?
If you're feeling saucy and you'd like to hop on camera, feel free. If you're feeling shy, feel free to use the chat.
‘How long did it take to get the recipe dialed in?’
Max: So, before, when I was making it, it would kinda change almost every time, because I'd forget which recipe it was, like on my phone, and I'd also kinda like... I'd be like, "Okay, maybe I'll add a little bit of this this time."
Jenn: This is so like chef mentality. 'Cause I feel like this happens... I tried to do a blog with Paulo way back in the day, and it was like my recipes were always very thought out, then my aunt would try to make Paulo's recipes and she'd be like, "I don't know." It changes or the instructions aren't very clear.
Max: Yeah.
Wendi: No, that's totally true. Because one thing about Max is he can never follow a recipe.
It always has to be different in some way and he's gonna do... He's gonna use this ingredient instead and this method because he thinks it's better, so it's never the same, which is hilarious that you say that about...
Jenn: So, does that feel hard for you with Boon, that you're just like, "It's the same every time." or are you like, "It's so dope, so I know it's fine." Do you struggle with that?
Max: I think it's nice 'cause I'm not the one making it now.
Jenn: Oh, yeah. Okay.
Max: But if I were to make, it'd be really bad 'cause it would just... Every batch would be a totally new product.
Jenn: Would be different. You'd be like Batch 1.3. [laughter]
Max: Yeah, seriously. But, yeah.
Jenn: Okay, Trang just ordered sauce. Thanks, Trang.
Wendi: Yay.
Jenn: ‘What's your favorite restaurant in LA or dream restaurant to serve your Boon Sauce?’
Max: I mean, I think our favorite restaurant is Houston's. Any Houston's. Pasadena, Irvine, Manhattan Beach.
Jenn: I love that.
Max: They probably won't serve it there, but it'd be awesome.
Jenn: Alright.
Wendi: Basically, any Hillstone restaurant anywhere we'll be patrons of, so we're gonna support them 'til our death.
Max: Yeah.
Jenn: That's amazing. Okay. ‘What are your favorite foods to put Boon Sauce on?’ The questions are coming in today. It's amazing.
Max: Pizza. It's so good on pizza. I always make chicken salad sandwiches or tuna salad. It's just... 'Cause it's easy to keep in the fridge, put on crackers, and I always add Boon Sauce for that.
Wendi: Yeah.
Max: I know Wendi likes Chipotle.
Jenn: Same.
Wendi: I love Chipotle. And especially during this quarantine, I've just been obsessing over Chipotle and Carnitas.
So yeah, I eat Boon with Chipotle a lot, and then also, I really like bagels with cream cheese and Boon Sauce in the morning. It's like a strange...
Jenn: Have you ever tried eating bagels with cream cheese and Hot Cheetos.
Wendi: I've never tried that. But that sounds delicious.
Jenn: Well, you're welcome. Please do that.
Max: There's no Hot Cheetos here.
Jenn: Yeah, you need to send Max Hot Cheetos. And then put Boon Sauce on top, and you can thank me.
Wendi: That would be so good. It's like the crunchy with the hot.
Jenn: It's so good. ‘Will the vegan sauce utilize shiitake mushrooms?’
Max: Maybe.
Jenn: Alright.
Wendi: He has not figured that out yet.
Jenn: To be determined.
Max: We will see.
Jenn: And then, ‘have you wanted to make a fermented hot sauce to sell?’
Max: I think eventually.
I'm not... I don't really ferment too many things in my cooking, but I do want to do a vinegar-based hot sauce one day, and that could have some fermentation in it. But it all just depends on the flavor, where we're going with it.
Jenn: Yeah.
Max: But I won't make it a point to make a fermented hot sauce.
Jenn: Okay. ‘Is there food most people wouldn't think to put Boon Sauce on that you would recommend to try?’ So I guess other than pizza.
Wendi: Chipotle.
Jenn: I'm gonna order Chipotle for lunch now.
Wendi: It's just so good. Chipotle with Carnitas and Boon.
Max: Oh, Molé. Like Molé, chips and just Boon.
There's a restaurant in LA, Guelaguetza. We brought some Boon there and they serve... Instead of chips and salsa, it's chips and Molé, and we were super surprised how well it went.
Jenn: That sounds amazing. ‘Will you ever make the extra spicy Boon Sauce that your dad likes a.k.a. That I would like to try, too.’
Wendi: Oh my gosh, so funny.
Max: Yes, actually. I wrote the... I updated the recipe not too long ago for the extra spicy one, so we're gonna...
Jenn: I would also like that sauce, so just... If you're looking for requests.
Max: Yeah, we'll try to launch that one soon.
Jenn: Perfect. I love all of these questions. Anybody else have questions? Everyone's super excited. Anyone wanna come on camera and ask questions? Feel free, don't be shy.
Max: Yeah, come on camera.
Jenn: Anyone, anyone?
Paolo: Oh. Yo, what’s up?
Jenn: Oh my gosh. No act right.
Paolo: Great question for the squad. Okay, 'cause we've been doing our community lunches and well, the things that we make don't always translate to larger quantities. You know what I'm saying.
You make a sandwich for one, it's not always the same when you make it for 200. How do you keep it the same? How do you keep that quality going for larger batches?
Boom. You didn't think I was gonna have a good question, did you? But that was a good one.
Jenn: Thank you. Goodbye. [chuckle]
Max: That is a good question.
The recipe is pretty much... I categorize each step by temperature and time, so everything is... Certain things go in at 350... Because not every ingredient cooks the same, like at the same temperature, so I timed it where they would all go into the oil at different times at different temperatures and cook for a certain amount of time.
But the recipe is very organized to where it's... You can read it and you can understand it and yeah, you just set a timer, temperature.
Jenn: So being able to scale it is as long as you follow the steps.
Max: Yeah, as long as you scale it and follow these steps, it's fine.
Jenn: Okay, that makes sense. Alright all, last call for questions. Anybody else? Give everybody a second. Anything else you guys wanna share? Oh, here we go. Okay.
‘Any fun boxing or un-boxing plan for holiday packages?’
Wendi: That's actually a really... A really great question.
Just because we weren't even... So we did have some thoughts on whether or not to come up with some new packaging for the holiday. But this is actually great.
If you guys like the idea of new holiday packaging, then please let us know. But we weren't sure if we were gonna do it just because we were kind of thinking like other brands... Do people... Do other brands do that for the holidays? Do people appreciate it?
Would people buy it specifically for that or is it just because the product is good in itself would people buy it? So, any thoughts or feedback, we're totally open, 'cause we were looking into other holiday packaging and we kind of decided, maybe not this year.
But if people feel like that would be festive, then I'm totally down to do it 'cause I love anything...
Jenn: I feel like we all need more festive things right now. Right?
Max: Yeah, I think so too, actually.
Jenn: Yeah, I just think that more joy that comes in boxes in the mail feels right. Specifically, for right now in this time of so much happening in the world that's not exciting.
Wendi: Yeah. Okay, so maybe I will... Yeah, I'll look into it.
Jenn: Trang would pay 20% more for some joy. [chuckle]
Wendi: Oh, just for your Trang, we'll look into it. [chuckle]
Jenn: I love this.
Wendi: Yeah, it's so cute.
Jenn: Okay, this was awesome. Thank you guys so much for joining. Max, thank you for spending so much time with us so late. I really appreciate it.
Max: No, this was fun.
Jenn: That's awesome.
So I'm just gonna let you guys know again. We'll pull a random person so that you can win a jar of Boon Sauce on Sendle.
If you would like to order your own, please use the code SENDLE for free shipping on any order.
Max and Wendi, please keep us posted when you have un-boxing things and spicier sauce and vegan sauce and fermented hot sauce, 'cause apparently there is a large desire from the people who are here today for all of these things.
And we'll send out the recording probably in a week or so and get it up on the website. And then if anybody has any questions, feel free to reach out.
Do you guys wanna tell everybody how they can find you on the internet?
Wendi: Yeah, so on Instagram we're @officialboonsauce. On our website, we're just boonsauce.com.
And then for the most part, that's where we live.
But if you're looking for some awesome cooking, pastry videos, Max's Instagram is @maxouboon, and mine is @wendiogata, but I don't really post too much on there.
Jenn: Awesome. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate your time. I hope you have a good day.
Wendi: Thank you. So good to see you guys.
Jenn: Good to see you, too.
Max: Bye.
Jenn: Bye. Bye, everybody.
