MADISON, Wis. — For Sandra Morris, Black Restaurant Week is an opportunity to celebrate her beloved Kick Sauce, and try to grow her business.
As the cap popped off the bottle, Morris’ eyes got wide.
“Mmmmm… the smell is so good,” she said.
This sauce is her baby.
“People like it with eggs, Bloody Marys, tacos, rice, barbecuing,” she said. “You can do all kinds of stuff with this.”
She first moved to the U.S. with her family when she was 16. They were from Gabon, in central Africa. When they emigrated, they brought some family recipes with them.
“Peppers makes us feel alive in Africa,” she laughed. “So the sauce is originally from a family recipe from generations, but we tweaked it a little bit.”
It’s called Ernie’s Kick Sauce. She launched it in 2019.
“I tell people when you’re eating a meal, and it's good but it's missing something, it's missing a je ne sais quoi. What is the quoi? Kick sauce is the quoi you’ve been looking for all your life,” she said.
But who’s Ernie?
“People are asking me, 'Who’s Ernie? Who’s Ernie? Who’s Ernie?,' and I’m like, 'Ernie is not my sugar daddy,” she said with a big laugh.
“It’s not Ernest, it’s Ernestine,” she said. “My mom’s name is Ernestine. And her nickname is Ernie.”
It was her mom that really pushed her to find her passion.
“For years she asked me, ‘What do you want to do? What, do you just roam around the Earth, you don't have a purpose?'”
“I just believed that I was going to be a salesperson, but it has to be the right thing. So I found it,” Morris said as she picked up a bottle of her kick sauce. “Finally, she's proud of me because now I have a purpose, I have a direction.”
Every other Sunday, she and her mom make the sauce at Feed Kitchens on Madison’s north side. She’s also a fixture at the Hilldale Farmers Market twice a week, on top of her day job as an executive assistant.
“Usually I serve my samples on a tortilla chips with couscous, with your choice of kick sauce,” she said. “And when you taste that, oh my god!”
Morris hopes to keep growing. She’s been applying for grants, and wants to get two employees to help her expand. Something like Black Restaurant Week, highlighting Black entrepreneurs, can help her do that.
“There is a Black chamber out here that is trying to help us grow our business, and I'm really grateful for that,” she said. “That’s what we need. I've done all I can to get to this level, but I need help with the next level.”
In the future, her hope is that she can have Kick Sauce nationwide.
“We do it because the people love it,” she said. “And we love making it for the people.”
In Dane County, you can find Ernie’s Kick Sauce at the Hilldale Farmers Market, Metcalfe’s, Brennan’s, Willy Street Co-op and Orange Tree Imports.
"Sauce" - Google News
August 12, 2021 at 07:50PM
https://ift.tt/3yCe9IR
Madison mother-daughter's 'kick sauce' brings the heat - Spectrum News 1
"Sauce" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35DSBgW
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Madison mother-daughter's 'kick sauce' brings the heat - Spectrum News 1"
Post a Comment