Fiyah! Heat Store Founders On Chilli Sauces And What's Next For The Brand

Fiyah! Heat Store is a new online platform selling a selection of hot sauces from around the world, borne out of its founders Tim Sedo, Ben Lee and Steve Carr’s love of all things chilli. Here, burgeoning spice merchants Sedo and Carr explain what’s next for their brand

Why did you set up Fiyah! Heat Store and what does the business involve?

Carr: We were disappointed by the limited variety of sauces in Hong Kong. We got drunk on my rooftop last summer and went, “Why don’t we do something about this?” It grew from there.

Sedo: We want to be the undisputed best place to get global hot sauces in Hong Kong and eventually Asia. We host events around the city, such as working with Alvy’s and Young Master hosting wing nights, setting up the hot sauce programme for Shady Acres and working on concepts with Honky Tonks Tavern. I’ve always wanted to work with local chefs to help them commercialise their sauces.

How do events, tastings and markets mesh with the online shop?

Sedo: Events are key because once people taste sauces, they like it. Also, when you go to our site and see close to 200 bottles that you haven’t heard of, it can be too much choice. Usually when we do a market or an event, we bring a mix of sauces and act as hot sauce sommeliers.

What are your best-sellers?

Sedo: Humble House’s Ancho and Morita, a barbecue-based, tamarind sauce that’s unbelievably good. It’s one of the best sauces we’ve ever come across. Flagrant, Reaper Evil and Secret Aardvark sell well too.

What do you want people to understand about chilli sauce?

Carr: That they shouldn’t be afraid of it. When we do markets, we line sauces up in order of heat and guide people upwards until we find their limit. Often, people can handle a lot more heat than they think.

What do you use to combat the heat?

Sedo: Cottage cheese. It’s milky and fatty. Yoghurt works well, too.

Carr: I pray. Generally I’ll have cold water. I’ve tried all the things like milk, but the next day my stomach is all over the place.

What happens at your tastings?

Sedo: Everybody is crying, sweaty and blotchy.

Carr: You really see the best of humanity.

Where do you want to take the brand?

Carr: We’re building co-branded sauces with people all over the world and have four or five collaboration sauces underway with makers in Japan, New York, Taiwan and Hong Kong. We’ve always talked about a hot sauce festival; it will probably happen next year. It sounds ridiculous, but then so was being drunk at a barbecue saying, “Let’s build a hot sauce company”, which I think is now Asia’s biggest online sauce store.

Find out more about Fiyah! Heat Store at instagram.com/fiahheatstore

Topics

fiyah heat store chilli chilli sauce spice tim sedo ben lee steve carr

Tatler Asia