The Official Scott Roberts Web Site

Darrell: With such a variety of products we can wind up eating 4 or 5 different products each day. My favorite is the Habanero Flatlime Salsa and Candy's favorite is the Texas Mesquite Black Bean Salsa, especially warm when it is just poured up. Slobber Sauce is always on the table along with our seasonings.

Scott: The Habanero Flatlime Salsa is one of my faves, too. What inspires you to create new products?

Darrell: Most of our inspiration would come about when we where eating out or cooking a big meal at home. We always loved looking for different things and trying different combinations to enhance the flavor of our foods, some by accident and some planned. A good example would be the time we where eating French fries and we had spilled ketchup in the mustard so we decided to add a little seasoning to it and low and behold Slobber Sauce was born! We do pay attention to national trends but the majority of our focus is on local wants and needs.

Scott: Anything you're still in the development stages with currently?

Darrell: We have a Green Salsa in the works as we speak, but we're in no big hurry. Green Salsa in the market is either hit or miss so we are taking our time and getting the flavor the way we like it. We just launched our Enchimaleaco (enchilada/tamale/taco) Sauce, which just reminded me I need to update the web site.

Scott: What the most off-the-wall usage of one of your products you've ever heard?

Darrell: We thought we had heard it all until we found out one of our customers likes Slobber Sauce on cereal! Been meaning to ask him which brand of cereal he uses. As far as the most interesting recipe we have seen it would have to be when Nick Lindauer with Hot Sauce Blog put Slobber Sauce in a meatless meatloaf. Not unusual to add Slobber Sauce to meatloaf...but being from Texas I had never heard of a meatless meatloaf.

Scott: No meat? Sounds like a sacrilege to me! What's your favorite salsa or hot sauce that you don't make yourself?

Darrell: There's quite a few...Zane and Zack's Chipotleyaki Sauce, Defcon Sauces' Defense Condition Wing Sauce, Danny Cash's Ranch, JAC's Tailgaters' Soups, CaJohn's Oaxacan Hot Sauce, Intensity Academy's Chai Chipotle Chup and Redd Eye Brand's Salsa.

Scott: What's the story behind the opening of your shop, the Big Dawg Salsa Shack?

Darrell: The restaurant we where cooking at was only open till 2:00 in the afternoon but decided to go until midnight when they added a bar. We tried cooking the night shift from midnight till 5:00 am but I was wearing the crew out with the odd hours.

We looked around the Dallas/Fort Worth but weren't too excited about the possibilities. My father-in-law had an old bakery building in Gainesville that was available so we jumped at the chance even though it was a one hour drive from our house we knew we where ready to expand our fan base further north and be in our own kitchen. While we where setting up the kitchen we realized we had plenty of room for a retail front, so we slopped up some paint and put up some shelving and low and behold the Big Dawg Salsa Shack was born. Every now and then we have this crazy idea to serve a lunch menu but then the thought of 80 plus hours a week stops those thoughts.

Scott: When can people around the Gainesville, Texas area visit the Salsa Shack?

Darrell: Candy is there Tuesday through Friday from 11:00 am through 5:00 pm. We do the majority of our deliveries Monday and Saturday. I am there usually 3 times a week cooking due to Fire Department schedule. We put a fire ladder outside to let people know when we are OPEN! Some weeks can be a little crazy and it's not uncommon for us to be there everyday of the week.

Scott: What do you think has been the most important thing you've done to market yourself?

Darrell: Other than a few special events outside of our local area, we spend the majority of our time growing our fan base locally. During the holiday season it's not uncommon to be a part of three local shows in one weekend. We also do a lot of marketing with local school and youth athletic programs. And of course having the Salsa Shack is like being at a hot sauce festival everyday!

Scott: What do you think about social networking sites, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.?

Darrell: We are big fans of social networking, especially Facebook both professionally and personal.

We also have a Twitter account. They are great marketing tools if utilized properly.

Caution! Your readers may want to skip to next question if you don't want to read a Facebook rant. Other than the occasional post I do think that businesses should utilize a "fan page" when marketing their business. Use your business "fan page" wall to tell everyone about your next "can't miss" project, but don't start posting that on everyone else's personal or business wall. Makes you wonder how many really want to get to know you and be your friend. Here's a concept...create a "fan page" and invite people to "like" it, if they do they will. Then talk till your blue in the face about how great your stuff is!...end of rant!

Scott: Outside of creating hot products, what else keeps you occupied or out of trouble?

Darrell: Our extra time is pretty non-existent, but when we do get some time we are big on doing things together as a family. We love to spend time with our granddaughter. We have a one-year-old black lab that makes everything around the house an adventure. I am a huge sports fan so I have to keep up with all the local teams, like the new NBA Champions, the Dallas Mavericks! Candy likes to keep up with all things on HLN, especially Nancy Grace, which usually means I am working on a few drawings with my radio headset on. We do agree on one show on Sunday nights...Game of Thrones.

Scott: Darrell, you do absolutely phenomenal graphite pencil artwork. I was floored when I heard that you've only been drawing for 3 years...is this true?

Darrell: It is actually true as far as the graphite pencil artwork. I have actually been doing a lot of computer graphics and logos over the past 10 years but had not done any real pencil drawings since middle school. My daughter was graduating high school and I drew a portrait of her for a graduation present. Right after that Candy and I where on an airplane in 2008 heading to Peru on a mission trip and I picked up a football magazine and started drawing some of the players with pencil and paper and have been hooked ever since.

Some of Darrell's amazing artwork

Scott: What is the impetus behind creating Fire Medic Art? What kind of services do you provide through it?

Darrell: Initially it was a springboard to get my name out there as a pencil artist but has turned in to so much more. I started to get a lot of request from fellow fire fighters who wanted original hand drawn fire department logos and station art and not just clipart that floods the market. It has now grown to include tattoo art work as well as labels for other gourmet companies. I have a lot of logo art work on the drawing board right now and once it is finished I will get it posted. My website mainly has my pencil work and my Facebook fan page "Fire Medic Art" carries a little of everything along with my "Works In Progress" of my pencil work.

Scott: Do you make an effort to keep up with goings-on within the industry? If so, where do you get your info from?

Darrell: We definitely keep up with what's going on in the industry. Mainly keeping up with all the friends we have made along the way. The main place we go to keep up is Facebook and then some of the blogs we mentioned earlier along with a few others.

Scott: What advice would you give for an up-and-coming company?

Darrell: One, don't try to get too big too fast. Two, grow your business locally. Strive to make your business a cult following in your area. Then work your way outward. And Three, don't forget the 80 percenters.

Scott: What trends do you see for the spicy foods, BBQ or specialty foods industries in the coming years?

Darrell: We still see it growing and expanding like it has the last few years due to families eating more meals at home and the ever expanding trend on new ingredients made popular by food channels. We think the one thing to keep an eye on is the trend we are starting to see locally, in the grocery store chains, less gourmet products from ma and pa gourmet companies and more private label store brands at cheaper prices. Even in the local Central Markets the salsa and especially the hot sauce products have decreased in shelf space.

Scott: What's your overall opinion on spicy food trade shows and festivals?

Darrell: We think they can be a good marketing tool for companies looking to get their name out there, have fun, and meet new friends and customers. The key is you must think it through and be prepared. Do your homework when researching these festivals. Ask yourself a few questions:

 • Does the show or events location give me a chance to expand in that market or other markets I am looking at?
 • What locations around the event would be interested in my products?
 • If they do like my products how am I going to get it to them?
 • Does my product even fit in with that location or show?
 • What trade buyers will be there and what are they looking for?
 • How does the show treat its vendors?
 • Am I trying to get too big too fast? Does this help me grow locally?

Sound familiar? See my answer to your above question of "what advice would you give for an up-and-coming company?"

If you are now frustrated that your significant other is standing over your shoulder and yelling, "see, I told you we didn't need to do any of those shows!" there is still hope! Remember, do your homework.

 • You can make money.
 • Some of the shows are a ton of fun.
 • You get to try comparable products all under one roof or sky.
 • Make new friends and long distance customers.
 • Pick up good future accounts.

And best of all...you can buy a few drinks for the "Old Timely Veterans" and they might just answer any questions you have about the fiery foods industry. As long as you don't preach on about how your stuff is so good that when the rapture comes it will be the only sauce taken.

Okay, off the soap box!

Scott: What's your favorite Texas hot sauce show - ZestFest, Austin or Houston?

Darrell: All three are completely different shows.

It's really tough for any hot sauce show to beat out the Houston Hot Sauce Festival. Carol Borge is superhuman when it comes to throwing a show not only for the customer but equally for the vendor. Definitely a show to put on your list if you are thinking about getting your feet wet. The only downfall is you could be dodging hurricane weather during the September month when it is held.

Austin? Well...it's Austin. As they say, "Keep Austin Weird". This is a fun and a very well put-on show and you will meet tons of people. Load up on sun screen and cold beverages, and when you think you have enough, double it. We've never been at this show when it was less than 100 degrees...ah those August days in Texas! The main focus is their amateur salsa competition, and then they also have a competition for commercial bottlers. Oh, and Austin loves to sample, went through 40 lbs of chips sampling salsa during one 6-hour show.

ZestFest is a good show and many times teeters on being a great show and then they change things up. The show use to be down the street from us in Fort Worth and the majority of vendors stayed in the Stockyards. The show moved over closer to Dallas this year after changing their date from September to January. Seemed to be a pretty good crowd, but from a vendor standpoint the uncertainty of locations, dates, and lack of nightlife around vendor hotels seemed to have a few cringing along with the 8-dollar parking and 10-dollar event fee.

From the things I am hearing, and being just a stones throw from Texas, the NOLA Hot Sauce Festival is making a big wave in the hot sauce festival arena. Tracy Carter from JAC's Tailgaters does a great job in making sure things are running smoothly. Definitely a show we want to be a part of in the near future. I hear all the vendors have a great time, especially the night life.

Scott: Where do you see Big Dawg five years from now? 10? 20?

Darrell: Open up a second Salsa Shack in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. After seeing the success of the Salsa Shack, in a new but smaller market area, we would like to duplicate the retail process in the area Big Dawg Salsa originated.

We have taken our time and really built our business foundation. We feel its time to start working with a major distributor so we can take advantage of the fan base we have built in Texas and it would also allow us to spend more time cooking.

We'd also like to buy land and build a bigger kitchen facility and warehouse.

Being a family based business, it would be nice to eventually have the kids take over when I retire from the fire department. Candy and I would love to do some traveling. We where thinking about staying at Sam and Tina's of Zane and Zack's in Washington State for a week. Then head down south to Louisiana and crash on the couch at Tracy and Kristi's of JAC's Tailgaters. Then sleep out in the chile fields with Jim Campbell at Open Fields. Catch a hockey game with CaJohn and crew as the Dallas Stars beat up on his Columbus Blue Jackets. Head over to Cindy Reed Wilkins of Cin Chili for some homemade chili and cold beer. Go tailgating with the Defcon Crew. Mechanical bull riding with the Danny Cash Crew...wait, we already did that! Stop in on the Redd Eye Brand Crew for some real Southern cooking. I better stop for now, just listen for the doorbell it will probably be us.

Scott: What sets you apart from other salsa companies?

Darrell: Her name is Candy...there's NO one like Candy. All the people that know or have met her just nodded their head in agreement as they where reading.