Dave Hirschkop

Dave Hirschkop, owner of Dave’s Gourmet, in San Francisco, started his business by creating Dave’s Insanity Sauce, a hot sauce so searing, it was actually banned from the National Fiery Food Show in New Mexico. Over the past 13 years, he has built on that success and has grown his business into a diversified food company that offers 70 premium products—including Organic Heirloom Pasta Sauces, Insane Drink Mixes, Insanity Popcorn and Olives in Pain. His products have won numerous industry awards, are distributed throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries, and have been featured on television and in major newspapers. Although each product line has its own image, from the zany to sophisticated, each one is made using fresh, specialty ingredients and unique flavors.

Interview with Dave Hirschkop

You're known as the hot sauce guru who created the hottest sauce in the universe. Have you always loved the searing pain of hot sauce? What’s the allure for you?

I actually didn’t approach this business as a heat-seeking addict. My restaurant had too many drunk college kids in it and I made super hot sauces to get them under control. I thought it was funny and went on a mission to create the world’s hottest sauce. Using a couple of innovative approaches, we created not only the world’s hottest sauce, but the whole super-hot sauce niche. I like spicy foods, but the business was more of a joke gone out of control than anything else.

How did you go from a targeted hot sauce line to carrying more than 70 specialty items, including organic and heirloom pasta sauces?

The initial hot sauces grew incredibly fast, but we never thought of ourselves as a hot sauce company. We always thought of ourselves as a food company whose job it was to push boundaries and to innovate. We have won awards for all sorts of items over time (salad dressing, salsa, Asian sauce, mustard, flavored mayonnaise, Bloody Mary, hot sauce, pasta sauce, snack mixes and more). Despite this success, people really thought of us as a hot sauce company because the Insanity Sauce was so different and had such a big impact on the market. It took the success of our organic pasta sauces to put us where we are now. There are hot food lovers who know us as Dave’s Insanity and specialty food lovers who know us for innovative pasta sauces, and a few who know us for both.

What is the most satisfying or challenging part of your job?

I love to come up with ideas about how to create better offerings (products, services, etc.) and then make the ideas into reality. It is great to hear positive feedback from consumers and to win awards (we won a sofi Gold for Outstanding Pasta Sauce in 2009 and 2010). It is satisfying to have a fantastic retailer bring your product in and tell you it is doing well. While I think that I am competent with details, slogging through the zillions of details of business is definitely challenging.

If someone could shadow you for one day, what would surprise that person most?

People might be surprised by the amount of time and number of details that go into every product, every store placement, and all the most important happenings at Dave’s Gourmet.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I liked the idea of many great careers as a kid. They included being an astronaut (don’t love heights), inventing a handheld laser gun, being a professional football player (too small and slow), a rock star (should have taken guitar lessons), President of the U.S., a comedian and a spy. In college I was a Soviet studies major in preparation for my time as the future James Bond. At this point, I either am a sauce company owner or covert operative using my sauce company as a cover. You guess which.

Aside from your products, what three food items can you always find in your kitchen?

Olive oil, tasty fruit, delicious dressings and prosciutto. Oops, that’s four, but I just love food. —Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog.

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