Our origin story
It all started at the tail end of 2023, at a classic South African braai. Between bites of boerie rolls and good conversation, someone handed me a chilli sauce that completely blew me away. It was the perfect storm of flavour and burn—bold, balanced, unforgettable. I knew instantly: this sauce wasn’t just delicious, it had potential. The kind of potential that demands to be bottled, branded, and shared with the world.
A few days later, I managed to get my hands on the original recipe. Fast forward to a holiday in St. Francis Bay, where the very first batch of what would become Saucy Berry was born. The inaugural yield? A modest two bottles—both of which mysteriously disappeared within a week (read: we couldn’t stop eating it). That’s when it hit me—this wasn’t just a sauce, it was a business waiting to happen. Inspired, I rushed home and immediately made a second batch, which I handed out to friends and family. The reviews? Glowing. The bottles? Empty.
That was the spark. Saucy Berry became official. The recipe was refined, tested, and perfected to ensure every bottle delivered the same punchy perfection. On March 15th, 2024, we sold our very first bottle. By the end of the year, we’d transformed 5.5 kilograms of chillies into over 580 bottles of fiery, flavour-packed joy.
So, what’s with the name?
One evening over dinner, someone casually asked if we had any chillies on hand. My 3-year-old daughter, affectionally known as Bear to her people, in true toddler know-it-all fashion, confidently announced: “You know a chilli is a berry?”
Naturally, this sparked a lively debate, quickly settled with a Google search. Turns out Bear was absolutely right—chillies are technically berries.
That little nugget of trivia stuck with me. So when it came time to name this spicy side hustle, Saucy Berry felt like the perfect fit. A little unexpected, a little clever, and just the right amount of sass. Just like my daughter!