Hello, my name is Carlos, and I am the founder of Inca Pica Foods. I was born and raised in Peru in a family where cooking was our way to express our love to friends and family. I was raised helping my dad run a family restaurant since I was 10 years old, and I really didn’t think that I will develop a passion for food when I grew up. Gradually, I developed a love of cooking that is unmatched, and my family enjoys. To this day, my father, who still lives in Peru, gives me cooking tips and guides me while I try new recipes over Skype calls.

It just happened that I love hot sauce as many of you do, and in Peru, I grew up cooking with and being exposed to an extensive variety of chilis. Sometimes when I visited Peruvian restaurants, I wanted to buy the hot sauce they make, but they would not sell it to me. That is when I started making my own hot sauce. I started making different hot sauces, but I concentrated on making the green sauce, which was my favorite. Everything started in my small studio apartment when I lived in the city of Long Beach, CA in Belmont Shore with my girlfriend Crista back then, now my wife whom which we have two beautiful children. I thought that if I could accomplish the perfect flavor to my likes, I could sell this sauce but only if it were to perfection, the right flavor, and the right amount of heat. After at least making no less than 32 batches, I came up with the right recipe. I had a very small studio space with a very tiny kitchen, and I had made so much sauce that I had to empty my refrigerator to store all the sauce that I had made. Then I thought “what am I going to do with all this sauce?” I approached one of the local farmers markets, and they told me that I needed to get my local health permit and license in order to sell it at their location. That was when Inca Pica Foods was born.

I had to come up with a name, and as you know, pica means spicy or hot, and since I am from Peru, I wanted to use something that reflects the Peruvian cuisine that is really exquisite and recognized worldwide. I was thinking something related to Machu Picchu, which was the capital of the Incas before we were conquered by the Spaniards. My son, Karlo, one day said, “why don’t you call it Inca Pica?”, and that is how the hot sauce’s name was born. Now you probably wonder “why is there a llama on the logo?” It just happens that I love llamas, and this llama has a name. She is called “Choclo”, which means corn in Castilian.

Inca Pica Foods is a company that started in 2016. Our goal is to deliver a hot sauce as fresh as it can be, made with fresh products, and made to order. We started selling it at the farmers’ markets throughout southern California. We actually started at one local farmer’s market, and due to the acceptance of the flavor, we ended up doing business in 32 different farmers’ markets. The farmers’ markets were a way for me to determine if there was acceptance of the product and get direct feedback from customers on improvements to be made. Although I love having the one-on-one interactions with my customers, being able to consistently handle farmers’ markets was a big load for me alone to handle. Since people loved the product, I thought that I needed to get it out there quicker and to more hot sauce lovers.

At one time, I contacted some food brokers with a lot of rejections. They love the sauce, but it seems that they were too busy with other products. One of them told me that he had a food convention coming up and that he could rent me a small space in his booth. I met with different buyers from different stores. They all seemed interested, and I got a lot of contacts and prospective buyers. However, in order to buy from me, they needed me to get a distributor. Of course, they are not going to pick up the phone to call Carlos to order a few bottles.

After I finished with the convention that day, I thought it was a successful venue and a solid day, but I still needed a distributor. I had a nagging feeling that my work was not over and more needed to get accomplished. Before I got in my car, I decided to go back, and if I can get some more information on how and what distributor I should get it touch with, then and only then, could I go home that day. Hoping for the best, it just happened that walking along the convention, I saw that there was a dinner party happening. I walked in, and as soon as I entered, I was welcomed by some very friendly members and just started to talk to them.  Then after a few cocktails, everybody was called to take a seat because dinner was about to be served. I see that all the tables were full, and I could see that there was only one empty table. I went to the empty table and patiently sat by myself in a party that was only for members and employees of the company that organized the venue. Soon after, people started to sit at the table where I was sitting and soon enough, it was a full table with me talking and laughing with all of these people some of whom I briefly met earlier that day and many of whom I have met for the first time. It was a fun and friendly atmosphere. As the night wore on, I started talking about my hot sauce and what I do and what I was trying to accomplish, like finding a distributor. When it just happened that the person I was taking to, said, “well, you are sitting at the right table”. He pointed to the people around the table and said, “let me introduce you to the CEO of the company, the CFO, the purchase manager…” and so on. Yes, I just happened to be sitting with the head of the corporation at one of the major distributors in United States. This corporation was actually the one that organized the convention. At that moment, I felt like the luckiest man in the world. That is how I got a contact with my first distributor and was able to sell it to some supermarkets that I contacted at this convention. The picture above is actually a picture of when I went to that convention.

The rest is history. We added our products to some store locations locally through direct sales efforts and then we approach other supermarkets getting accounts like Gelson’s, Lazy Acres, Bristol Farms, Grocery Outlet and some local markets.  Currently, we have accounts with some of the major distributors in Unites States, and we distribute our product all over USA. Outside of being in the grocery stores, we also decided to launch this site so people that cannot find our sauces in the stores yet would be able to order it directly. As we grow, we look forward to being on a deli store shelf near you.