Big brands look like overnight successes. But most are built in tiny increments. A new batch, a new shelf, a repeat customer. Over time, those small wins compound into staying power.
Selling spicy in the “land of the bland.”
Utah isn’t known for its love of heat, but that’s where Brock Giles and his dad started turning roasted chiles into hot sauces and cocktail mixers.
What began as a family tradition turned into High Mesa Chile, a company that’s tested every corner of the food business: farmers markets, foodservice, co-manufacturing, and now retail. Most brands stay in one lane. High Mesa Chile tried them all, and found growth on their own terms.
Use local markets as testing grounds. High Mesa still runs a booth at the Salt Lake Downtown Farmers Market, not for sales, but for real-time feedback. Putting bottles on tables and seeing what gets picked up (or left) tells them more than a month of online analytics.
Follow the pull, not the plan. The first product was a Bloody Mary mix — a tough sell in Utah, where drinking culture is limited. Brock admits skipping hot sauce early was “the dumbest thing I ever said.” Once they listened to what customers actually wanted, flavor-forward sauces became the core business.
Choose the channel that pays (not just the one that buys). Foodservice gave High Mesa Chile volume, but paper-thin margins at locked-in prices. Retail allowed for better pricing, brand-building, and healthier unit economics.
Let packaging set your place. High Mesa Chile’s retail rebrand was as tough as the recipe development. But it was worth it. Artisan design and screen-printed bottles moved their brand from the commodity aisle and into specialty.
Play the long game. High Mesa Chile was a slow burn: a decade of tweaks, 30–50 recipe iterations per SKU, and shifting channel strategies. That perseverance built a line that could hold shelf space and gave the company room to scale on its own terms.
Market insight → Specialty sauces and condiments are shifting from restaurants into retail aisles, as consumers look to recreate “restaurant flavor” at home.
Finding your special sauce
Customer feedback survey
Turn demos, markets, or tastings into data you can use:
Product tested: (SKU, flavor, format)
First reaction: What did they say immediately?
Flavor notes recalled: Which words stuck — smoky, sweet, bland, balanced?
Buy again? Yes / No / Maybe
Change requested: What would make it better?
Channel-fit checklist
Decide where your product belongs before you commit resources:
Foodservice: High volume, but razor-thin profit. Expect 5–10% gross margin.
Retail (specialty/grocery): More pricing power, but comes with slotting and broker/distributor cuts. Typical 15–25% gross margin.
E-comm (DTC): No broker/distributor costs, but expect shipping and customer acquisition cost (CAC). Ranges from 20–40% gross margin, depending on product weight and fulfillment.
