The idea of a redneck deli may sound counterintuitive, but it seems to
be working in Bradenton. "You've heard of girls going wild, now we've
got redneck's goin' gourmet," says owner Curtis "Shag" Sears in an
Indiana drawl.
The
Redneck Hot Sauce Company opened
its Specialty Gourmet Sandwich Deli at 3409 Cortez Road W. to serve its
signature sauces on sandwiches made with Boar's Head meat and bread
from
St.
Armands Bakery. The deli also sells bottles of Redneck's original
sauces and popular Bloody Mary mix along with salads, beer and wine.
Sears says an outpouring of public support made
the deli happen. "The recession shut me down and an overwhelming number
of calls have brought me back. And now we have this great location. That
means a lot."
Sears has been selling his hot
sauces under the Redneck Sauce Company label for a couple years now.
They include BBQ, hot sauces, mustards and relishes with such names as
Kick Ass and Bee Sting'n. And of course its private-stock Bloody Mary
mix is also available. "It's all about flavor. You can have a sauce as
hot as you can make it, but if it doesn't have flavor, you got nothin'."
Sears plans to enter his sauces in the next Fiery
Food and BBQ competition for its coveted and internationally recognized
Scovie award.
There are people from all over the world at this huge resort on the side
of a mountain in Albuquerque, New Mexico," says Sears. "We want to
place or win it. With all the notoriety that comes with it, we could be
global."
It seems Redneck is already enjoying
international success. "We've got calls about our sauces coming from
Germany, England … the Bahamas. Someone's probably enjoying our Bloody
Mary mix somewhere in the Caribbean about now," Sears muses.
Writer:
Missy Kavanaugh
Source:
Curtis Sears, Redneck Hotsauce Company Gourmet Sandwich Deli
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