LAS VEGAS (FOX5) β What started as experimenting with recipes at home has grown into a full-scale hot sauce business for one Las Vegas college student.
Max Maroe said he began cooking at age 5, learning from his grandmother in Guadalajara, Mexico. Years later, she passed down her familyβs hot sauce recipes β recipes Maroe said he still thinks about every time he tastes his product.
βI donβt know, I wish I could ask grandma if I did a good job,β Maroe said. βBut I taste it and I think of, like, my grandma whenever I, like, try hot sauce.β
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From home kitchen to national distribution
Maroe added his own twist to those family recipes and launched his hot sauce brand in May 2023 at just 16 years old. He said he wanted to test his skills and try something new.
βSo, I wanted to, you know, actually test my skills and do something new,β Maroe said. βAnd thatβs why, like, I love cooking at home so much.β
His sauce is now sold and distributed to customers across the United States, including through Amazon and his own website, with an FDA label.
βSo, I can actually, like, commercialize it and actually like produce it on a larger scale so I can sell it β with the FDA label β and, like, retail spaces, online,β Maroe said.
Advice for young entrepreneurs
Maroe said every young entrepreneur has to start somewhere and offered this advice:
βYouβve got to start making the mistakes now while youβre small so that later on youβll be prepared,β he said.
Maroe is currently studying food science and hopes to develop new recipes and one day expand beyond hot sauce.
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