Carolyn Barrett of Altamont is getting to know New York City well, and she's doing it the hard way. She travels the city alone and she doesn't have GPS.
Since last July she has spent many -- perhaps most -- weekends in the city trying to get stores to carry her product. Her Pleasant Valley Kitchen Co. LLC makes and markets Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce, an alternative to barbecue sauce.
It's been tough, she acknowledges. New York City shopkeepers are not easy sells.
Getting around the city is, of course, impossible. She often has to park illegally, though miraculously she's gotten only two parking tickets. She's becoming more and more inventive in navigating. Lately she's propped a sign in her window saying "This Vehicle is a Delivery Vehicle," in hopes of keeping the ticket writers away.
Sometimes the sign is not necessary because there's no place to park anywhere near her destination. Once she had to walk 15 blocks to get to a potential customer.
She seems to epitomize the pluck and the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to turn a fledgling business into a going concern. "I kind of always knew this product would be very successful," she says. Her husband Charles is not directly involved in the business, but he supports it and built the commercial kitchen where Carolyn makes her sauces.
Award Winners
She got good news recently when her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauces won second place (for the hot version) and third place (for the mild) in an internatnional competiton sponsored by www.thehotpepper.com. Sauces from as far away as Europe, Africa and Australia were among the competition. The contest was restricted to commercial products containing no artificial ingredients. She learned about her win in an e-mail. "I was overjoyed."
It's not her recipe. She got it from a friend who got it from a bartender in Rochester who served it on chicken wings. "He got me into wings," she said of the friend. She'd never eaten them before because she doesn't like barbecue sauce. But this sauce was different.
I've sampled her sauce and liked both versions, especially on chicken and chicken wings. The mild has some zing and the hot is indeed hot; if you don't like heat, try the mild. She's modified the recipes recently and is phasing out the use of ketchup with high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient because that was a turn-off to many possible customers.
She describes her Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce as a syrupy sweet, vinegar-based alternative to barbecue sauce for use on ribs, wings, grilled meats and seafood and other fried foods. She says it's popular with vegetarians and is good on fried veggies, with sushi and even on plain cooked broccoli.
It's not a marinade nor a cooking sauce but a finishing and dipping sauce. You can find a picture of Carolyn Barrett here and a photo of the product here.
Where to get it
Sugar & Spice Sweet Sauce is marketed throughout New York state outside of the New York metro area by the new Statewide Marketing/Distribution Program for shelf-stable food products offered by Nelson Farms Marketing Group and the Pride of New York. It's also available by mail order via the Internet and at gourmet grocery stores in New York City.
In the Capital Region, you can buy the sauces at a number of outlets including Greulich's Market, 3403 Carman Road, Guilderland; Bolton's Market, 4919 Western Turnpike, Duanesburg; Jonesville Country Store, 989 Main St., Jonesville; Waterwheel Village Ltd., 2259 Route 29, Galway; and Perrone's Farm, 2447 State Route 7, Cobleskill. For a complete list of outlets visit www.SugarandSpiceSweetSauce.com.
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